Worst Habs trade in the last 15 years

[BehindTheTimes]

I disagree. The deal slants even more in favor of Gomez when you factor in we dumped the useless Higgins in the trade and got an effective 3rd liner in Pyatt.

They are both bad trades but the Gomez trade at least had some redeeming qualities. The Drouin trade had none.

The Gomez trade was worse imo. It was known that NYR were trying to dump Gomez at the time. They should have been paying us. Instead we gave up one of our 1a/1b d prospects. Drouin had some upside most ppl thought, but in the context of that offseason as a whole I think Drouin was worse. You can’t make that deal and lose Radulov/markov. It’s one step forward, 3 steps back. At least Gomer contributed to a team that had a competitive run.

I’d say in an isolation the Gomez trade was worse. With team building and off-season context added there is no way to justify the Drouin trade. It could only make sense with marky and radulov included. At least gainey followed it up with moves that showed a consistent plan to compete. I dunno wtf Bergevin did.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

I have to give another honorable mention to the PK Subban trade that others are mentioning. Not because it's the worst pound-for-pound trade on the list, far from it.

But because it was a microcosm of their conservative, loser organizational philosophy that seems to exist to this day.

This trade was the last time I stopped following the team. Don't think I missed much.

Same brother, same.

 

[Lucky Luke]

Drouin Who?

 

[moody1122]

Here's a reminder from the past on the Drouin/Sergachev trade:

Confirmed with Link: - [MTL/TB] Sergachev/Drouin II

Habs sign Jonathan Drouin for 6 years (5.5M) Habs sign Jonathan Drouin for 6 years per rds.

forums.hfboards.com

Confirmed Trade: - [MTL/TBL] Jonathan Drouin + cond. 2018 6th for Mikhail Sergachev + cond. 2018 2nd

https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/875429633860263936 Wow. I'm surprisingly happy with this deal. Thoughts? MOD EDIT: Conditions on picks

forums.hfboards.com

The easy general consensus by far here and on the trades board was that the Habs won the trade and that the contract was great. People around here like to pretend that they knew better but sometimes things don't turn out the way you planned.

Sergachev developed (on a loaded team and playing behind a multiple Norris-winning D) while Drouin had about a dozen injuries that destroyed his game. It happens.

those threads are hillarious to read now

people saying tampa got screwed

 

[DAChampion]

Here's a reminder from the past on the Drouin/Sergachev trade:

Confirmed with Link: - [MTL/TB] Sergachev/Drouin II

Habs sign Jonathan Drouin for 6 years (5.5M) Habs sign Jonathan Drouin for 6 years per rds.

forums.hfboards.com

Confirmed Trade: - [MTL/TBL] Jonathan Drouin + cond. 2018 6th for Mikhail Sergachev + cond. 2018 2nd

https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/875429633860263936 Wow. I'm surprisingly happy with this deal. Thoughts? MOD EDIT: Conditions on picks

forums.hfboards.com

The easy general consensus by far here and on the trades board was that the Habs won the trade and that the contract was great. People around here like to pretend that they knew better but sometimes things don't turn out the way you planned.

Sergachev developed (on a loaded team and playing behind a multiple Norris-winning D) while Drouin had about a dozen injuries that destroyed his game. It happens.

A lot of people liked the Drouin until they found out that Markov and Radulov weren't coming back. Once that was clear, a few weeks later, the trade was largely understood as a bad trade.

 

[Naslundforever]

Boring hockey day so.

When they traded PK for the Mountain I lost 50% interest in the team in one day. I have been at best hoping to regain interest since, with the cup run being a very entertaining anomaly when lockdown had us all beat up. So the PK trade hit me in the gut. I’d have to go back to Roy before that. Worse trade for me in that sense. Thank goodness management seems to want a new brand of entertainment.

 

[Lshap]

A lot of people liked the Drouin until they found out that Markov and Radulov weren't coming back. Once that was clear, a few weeks later, the trade was largely understood as a bad trade.

This was my exact reaction. Drouin was a kid with a ton of potential who looked like Step-One in a master plan to add desperately needed scoring.

Little did we know there was no master plan. Turns out 'Step-One' was the only step.

 

[moody1122]

Drouin was a kid with a ton of potential

He was also a kid with a selfish, whining, baby attitude,

That was well known BEFORE the trade,

MB always preached how important KARAKTER was,

And then he turns around and trades for a player that has PROVEN POOR KARAKTER!!!

Talk about a hypocrite

 

[Lshap]

He was also a kid with a selfish, whining, baby attitude,

That was well known BEFORE the trade,

MB always preached how important KARAKTER was,

And then he turns around and trades for a player that has PROVEN POOR KARAKTER!!!

Talk about a hypocrite

Very few things about a 22 year old's character are proven. I say that as a dad of two adult sons and as a former 22-year-old myself. Most negative traits in young men can be improved or changed with the right mentorship.

That said, we have no idea what information Bergevin was given and what type of red flags were attached to Drouin. If he was warned Drouin had more serious issues than the need for more maturity and chose to ignore it, then shame on him for prioritizing a marketing gimmick over legitimate team building.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Very few things about a 22 year old's character are proven. I say that as a dad of two adult sons and as a former 22-year-old myself. Most negative traits in young men can be improved or changed with the right mentorship.

That said, we have no idea what information Bergevin was given and what type of red flags were attached to Drouin. If he was warned Drouin had more serious issues than the need for more maturity and chose to ignore it, then shame on him for prioritizing a marketing gimmick over legitimate team building.

Only way he couldn't have found out those issues on Drouin is if he didn't try to look.

I knew all about them just as a Mooseheads fan living in Halifax.

Those issues persisted as we can see with his extended absence during the cup run.

 

[the valiant effort]

Only way he couldn't have found out those issues on Drouin is if he didn't try to look.

I knew all about them just as a Mooseheads fan living in Halifax.

Those issues persisted as we can see with his extended absence during the cup run.

Making himself unavailable for those playoffs is actually the biggest kurktr move of Drouin's career.

 

[Lshap]

Only way he couldn't have found out those issues on Drouin is if he didn't try to look.

I knew all about them just as a Mooseheads fan living in Halifax.

Those issues persisted as we can see with his extended absence during the cup run.

I never knew that stuff; in fact, I hadn't heard much about Drouin beyond the bullet points. He sounded like an exciting up and coming player. And in fairness, he made a pretty good debut in the NHL with Tampa. But yeah... it took less than a year to realize we didn't get the player we bargained for. And then it became even clearer that we had taken on another team's problem-child.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I never knew that stuff; in fact, I hadn't heard much about Drouin beyond the bullet points. He sounded like an exciting up and coming player. And in fairness, he made a pretty good debut in the NHL with Tampa. But yeah... it took less than a year to realize we didn't get the player we bargained for. And then it became even clearer that we had taken on another team's problem-child.

Even the stuff you didn't know about.

I won't get into the specifics of it, but he moved around from a couple billet families and it was his own conduct that forced the moves.

There's no way Bergevin wouldn't have known that unless he didn't want to know.

 

[Lshap]

Making himself unavailable for those playoffs is actually the biggest kurktr move of Drouin's career.

I won't dunk on Drouin for issues that go beyond 'character' and enter the domain of brain chemistry. I doubt the scouts realized the extent of his problems. But whoever missed whatever, it remains one of the Habs' most embarrassing trades.

 

[Lshap]

Even the stuff you didn't know about.

I won't get into the specifics of it, but he moved around from a couple billet families and it was his own conduct that forced the moves.

There's no way Bergevin wouldn't have known that unless he didn't want to know.

Fair enough. The upside is the trade can always be used as a fun anecdote ("Remember the Drouin trade??") or be a message of encouragement when times are tough ("Hey man, at least it's not as bad as Drouin as our #1C"). It's even a good metaphor: "What happened to you last night? You were Jonathan Drouin in the 2021 playoffs!"

On the other hand, what's there to say about Sergachev? Solid defenceman. Next subject.

 

[BeliveauFan4ever]

Man, I still can't believe we went out and got a guy named Michael Busto.

Edit: Voted Drouin.

 

[OldCraig71]

The Drouin trade was bad for a variety of reasons but the biggest one was giving away a potential number one left defenceman when we were so weak at that position to begin with. MB made a PR trade instead of a hockey trade and it cost us big time.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

I never knew that stuff; in fact, I hadn't heard much about Drouin beyond the bullet points. He sounded like an exciting up and coming player. And in fairness, he made a pretty good debut in the NHL with Tampa. But yeah... it took less than a year to realize we didn't get the player we bargained for. And then it became even clearer that we had taken on another team's problem-child.

Well I mean, we sort of threw him to the wolves. Brought him in as our number 1 center when he was a winger ffs. Not to make excuses for Drouin, but that first year wasn’t his fault. That was all on MB.

If we hadn’t f***ed with the kid so bad maybe his path ends differently. I doubt it, but you never know.

 

[JianYang]

I never knew that stuff; in fact, I hadn't heard much about Drouin beyond the bullet points. He sounded like an exciting up and coming player. And in fairness, he made a pretty good debut in the NHL with Tampa. But yeah... it took less than a year to realize we didn't get the player we bargained for. And then it became even clearer that we had taken on another team's problem-child.

There were questions about his character, however, there's also no doubt that injuries have compounded the issue, and I'd say they have been the biggest limiting factor to his time in Montreal.

Particularly, that ovechkin hit that required surgery on his wrist. I don't think he was ever the same after that. I got the sense that he completely lost faith in his shot, and became even more of a passer/deker.

 

[Belial]

There were questions about his character, however, there's also no doubt that injuries have compounded the issue, and I'd say they have been the biggest limiting factor to his time in Montreal.

Particularly, that ovechkin hit that required surgery on his wrist. I don't think he was ever the same after that. I got the sense that he completely lost faith in his shot, and became even more of a passer/deker.

Not to mention that he started to play even more on the perimeter as if that was possible.

 

[HuGort]

Can you imagine the playoffs of '21, if we had never made the Drouin trade?

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

Dvorak trade. With Danault and KK gone the team was done. No need to bother to vastly overpay for a mediocre centre.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

Dvorak trade. With Danault and KK gone the team was done. No need to bother to vastly overpay for a mediocre centre.

That year we lost Danault and KK and the replacement was Dvorak and Hoffman. Armia was signed 3,5 and Evans was signed too. Also Schueneman and Wideman. An obsession with any family name that ends with man? Hey man, man !! But it's strange because 80% of this board was saying Dvorak was better than Danault for cheaper (at the time). Tell that to LA fans now, would they lke to trade Danault for Dvorak, lol?

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Context is important and it's easy the Gomez trade.

Why?
He was already overpriced and NYR wanted to sign Gaborik through free agency and were looking for a sucker to take on the awful contract of Gomez, the feeling was that he was carrying negative value because of the awful terms in his contract. The habs decided to move away from Koivu, Higgins that summer and to bring in new face to the team. The problem was including McDonagh, that was pointless and it was clearly a thrown in that NYR insisted on. Not only Gomez was a huge failure and he had to be eventually bought out but McDonagh florished elsewhere he became a top pairing defenseman we desperatly needed.

The Drouin trade is 2nd but it is not that awful because, with Drouin you acquired a 21 years old with decent upside, we all know it did not turn out good but very few people could have predicted he would bust hard like he did. The habs also had no solution and proper development path and he lost all his confidence and could not be salvaged. My biggest issue was the 6 year contract, Bergevin is a weird guy, he insisted for all his prospect within the organisation to sign bridge deal but when he acquired younger players from other teams he always signed them with long terms (Shaw, Drouin, Anderson)

With Gomez, he was already dead weight with the Rangers when we acquired him.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

Context is important and it's easy the Gomez trade.

Why?
He was already overpriced and NYR wanted to sign Gaborik through free agency and were looking for a sucker to take on the awful contract of Gomez, the feeling was that he was carrying negative value because of the awful terms in his contract. The habs decided to move away from Koivu, Higgins that summer and to bring in new face to the team. The problem was including McDonagh, that was pointless and it was clearly a thrown in that NYR insisted on. Not only Gomez was a huge failure and he had to be eventually bought out but McDonagh florished elsewhere he became a top pairing defenseman we desperatly needed.

The Drouin trade is 2nd but it is not that awful because, with Drouin you acquired a 21 years old with decent upside, we all know it did not turn out good but very few people could have predicted he would bust hard like he did. The habs also had no solution and proper development path and he lost all his confidence and could not be salvaged. My biggest issue was the 6 year contract, Bergevin is a weird guy, he insisted for all his prospect within the organisation to sign bridge deal but when he acquired younger players from other teams he always signed them with long terms (Shaw, Drouin, Anderson)

With Gomez, he was already dead weight with the Rangers when we acquired him.

Yes, context is important. With Gomez it was all well knowned. There was no mystery, he sucked, he was booed in Madison SC.
Drouin on the other side was an enigma*. He was young and was maybe a good deal. The problem was more his long term signing. I know Sergachev was an interresting prospect but McDonagh was a bigger prospect because he became a top defenseman, invited often in the all star game and nominee for the Norris.

*Many will tell he wasn't an enigma, many will say they knew he was a big baby, bad attitude, etc. But this is what everybody says on internet because the negative is predominant among the positive. Players in many sports have to deal with tough personality coaches, pressure from the media, etc. I take with a grain of salt the personality stuff because so many variables. And the same people who claim Drouin had a personality problem will say the personality problem of Michkov was not a factor. So that personality stuff applies when someone wants to make a point about it. It's selective.