What is the single worst decision your team ever made?

[Bouboumaster]

The easy answer would be the hiring of Réjean Houle

 

[apadilla]

Kings: Braking the rules. Couldn't choose just one.

1a. Trading Larry Murphy to the Washington Capitals in 1983.

1b. Losing Billy Smith to the NY Islanders in the 1972 Expansion Draft.


Note: A trade that might be 1c someday is trading Brock Faber to the Wild in 2022.

 

[Dog]

Trading Rask for Raycroft has to be up there. Also, trading pick that turned out to be Scott Niedermeyer is also pretty bad.

 

[SeanAveryTheGreatOne]

Hugh Jessiman

 

[KevinRedkey]

Prioritizing the savings Redden offered over paying the premium to keep Chara ($1.000 more per year)

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

Trading Kipper away to the Flames for a second. It made perfect sense at the time, but I'm convinced it's the main reason the Sharks aren't a cup champion by now.

At least, they chose well with that pick (Vlasic, second in games played from that 2005 draft, behind Kopitar).

 

[karltonian]

Saying karlsson for the sharks in 2024 is imbecilic, given how we know things played out. Pavelski does not in any way help the Sharks over Karlsson, both as a player and asset. We'd still be in the window of suck right now with no end in sight. Nothing was going to make up for Thornton aging out, no team in the cap era survives losing a superstar.

Trading Kipper away to the Flames for a second. It made perfect sense at the time, but I'm convinced it's the main reason the Sharks aren't a cup champion by now.

There's a reason Kiprusoff was traded. He wasn't developing well with the sharks and the sharks lacked the defensive personnel and structure the flames had.

The Sharks biggest mistake is drafting Setoguchi over Kopitar. Several teams missed on Kopitar but the Sharks were right there looking for a forward and he was BPA. They went off board to get Seto.

 

[ManofSteel55]

Selling Wayne Gretzky to the Kings.

 

[HockeyWooot]

Hiring Jim Benning.

 

[HugginThePost]

Not getting Iggy a #1 Center.........

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Saying karlsson for the sharks in 2024 is imbecilic, given how we know things played out. Pavelski does not in any way help the Sharks over Karlsson, both as a player and asset. We'd still be in the window of suck right now with no end in sight. Nothing was going to make up for Thornton aging out, no team in the cap era survives losing a superstar.


There's a reason Kiprusoff was traded. He wasn't developing well with the sharks and the sharks lacked the defensive personnel and structure the flames had.

The Sharks biggest mistake is drafting Setoguchi over Kopitar. Several teams missed on Kopitar but the Sharks were right there looking for a forward and he was BPA. They went off board to get Seto.

hi

 

[HighLifeManIsHigh]

Not getting Iggy a #1 Center.........

That’s not a super easy thing to do…….

 

[GreatSaveLuongo]

Hire Jim Benning for too long

 

[Jovavic]

Hiring Doug MacLean

 

[JPT]

People likely will forget about it in 12-18 months because by then some other franchise will have hired the spineless Quenneville to coach their team.

Bettmans been working PR for these guys since they were out of the league so it’s only a matter of time.

I'm a stubborn bastard, so I'm taking this grudge to the grave.

 

[DingDongCharlie]

Realistically, probably drafting Brian Lee instead of Anze Kopitar.

Kopitar draft haunts a few teams.

 

[LuckyDay]

The trade that killed my Whalers:
Ron Francis, Ulfie and Grant Jennings for John Cullen, ZZ and Jeff Parker. The single most disastrous trade in hockey history as it was THE move that permanently severed the bond the team had with fans as the beloved local institution and sent it on course for an inevitable demise.

I would have thought selling too many homeowner and commercial real estate properties in California.

 

[LuckyDay]

Since there are so many blunders in the Vancouver Canucks history. I'll just go with the 3 most recent. The above poster got it right with the Jim Benning hiring, but these are some of Benning's most moronic moves in recent times.

1. Trading for Ekman-Larsson at a point where the team should of been rebuilding. Now the Canucks have one of the worst contracts in the league and a player who is shell of his former self. While the Yotes deepen their prospect pool with Dylan Guenther.

2. Treating Chris Tanev like trash and leaving him hang while Jim Benning actively pursued Ekman-Larsson a year before. Then only to come back at the last minute when the Larsson talks fell through. The Canucks D has been in shambles ever since and Tanev should of retired a Canuck.

3. Drafting Olli Juolevi over Matthew Tkachuck. Enough said.

Hiring Bill Laforge?

Remember, Laforge coached junior football. He knew nothing about hockey.

Honourable mentions
Gambling on tiny, flaky Petr Nedved instead of sure things Keith Primeau, Mike Ricci, or Jaramir Jagr.

Getting rid of Gary Smith, your star player and future Avco Cup winner, for nothing, because, oh dear, he made a joke about your wife at a party.

New ownership negotiating hard with Bure then paying him in C$ instead of US$ which Mogilny was already getting.

Firing Roger Neilsen on a slump after he takes you to the finals for the first time. Then trying not to pay him.

Hanging onto Jim Sandlak when he still had trade value out of fear he'd do well somewhere else.

Telling Igor Larionov there's no room for him on the team after he saved the team $1m in transfer fees. Also, expecting Krutov to slide right in without managing him. Then not paying him when he busted, forcing Quinn and Burke to fly to Switzerland in the middle of the season.

Letting Sergio Momesso go. Letting Cliff Ronning go.

Kirk MacLean's off ice issues.

Arthur Griffiths Jr. running the team that one season. ("Get a job!" --Tiger Williams).
Arthur Griffiths Jr. thinking Vancouver is a basketball town and expanding, building an arena etc. Forced him to get partners Orca Bay and he had to sell the rest of the team to him when he lost his money.

Letting Pat Quinn walk. Letting Brian Burke walk.

Burke (as assistant) nixing any offer to Gretzky when he showed interest. If he had offered and he did still sign in New York, at least it would have cost them more money.

Most infamous is the Cam Neely trade but Neely was all tools without the toolbox as a prospect and Barry Pederson did a point a game for us for the first couple of years he was here. Its very likely Neely would have sank in the Canucks system.

edit: yikes, I'm repeating myself from 2023. This is a really old thread.

 

[LuckyDay]

Saying karlsson for the sharks in 2024 is imbecilic, given how we know things played out. Pavelski does not in any way help the Sharks over Karlsson, both as a player and asset. We'd still be in the window of suck right now with no end in sight. Nothing was going to make up for Thornton aging out, no team in the cap era survives losing a superstar.


There's a reason Kiprusoff was traded. He wasn't developing well with the sharks and the sharks lacked the defensive personnel and structure the flames had.

The Sharks biggest mistake is drafting Setoguchi over Kopitar. Several teams missed on Kopitar but the Sharks were right there looking for a forward and he was BPA. They went off board to get Seto.

Sharks were stacked in net with Nabakov and Kiprusoff. Nabakov invented the "let the puck hit you and drop (instead of making a big rebound) then fall on it" which no goalie had considered before because it seems so dangerous.
Kipper was gravy they didn't need so naturally he's worth something in trade.

Kings: Braking the rules. Couldn't choose just one.

1a. Trading Larry Murphy to the Washington Capitals in 1983.

1b. Losing Billy Smith to the NY Islanders in the 1972 Expansion Draft.


Note: A trade that might be 1c someday is trading Brock Faber to the Wild in 2022.

I would think Coffey for Jimmy Carson is up there with Larry Murphy

And somehow thinking that Fuhr would be better than Hrudy. But in this case, Mr. McNall was on borrowed time and he wasn't thinking straight.

 

[wunderpanda]

trading ray sheppard for a dollar

 

[HugginThePost]

That’s not a super easy thing to do…….

How many years did they have? We're not talking about a season or two. We're talking about a career.

 

[Harvey Birdman]

Pittsburgh: If you want to go trades. Hard to go against the Naslund trade being absolutely horrible.

If you want to go organizational. Sticking with Dan Blysma for far... FAR to long and wasting a big portion of the prime years of Crosby, Malkin, Letang, and Fleury...

 

[amigo]

Trading away Sundin. Imagine him with Joe and Forsberg.

 

[nbwingsfan]

Saying karlsson for the sharks in 2024 is imbecilic, given how we know things played out. Pavelski does not in any way help the Sharks over Karlsson, both as a player and asset. We'd still be in the window of suck right now with no end in sight. Nothing was going to make up for Thornton aging out, no team in the cap era survives losing a superstar.


There's a reason Kiprusoff was traded. He wasn't developing well with the sharks and the sharks lacked the defensive personnel and structure the flames had.

The Sharks biggest mistake is drafting Setoguchi over Kopitar. Several teams missed on Kopitar but the Sharks were right there looking for a forward and he was BPA. They went off board to get Seto.

Eh, Boston has lost Chara and Bergeron and done alright (so far).

 

[miscs75]

Kings: Braking the rules. Couldn't choose just one.

1a. Trading Larry Murphy to the Washington Capitals in 1983.

1b. Losing Billy Smith to the NY Islanders in the 1972 Expansion Draft.


Note: A trade that might be 1c someday is trading Brock Faber to the Wild in 2022.

Thanks for Butchie as well.