Notable Canuck Trades That Almost Happened (Discussion)

[Kevin Biestra]

2 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said:

We had the money to sign Gretzky as evidenced by the signing of Messier the following year in 1997.  John McCaw had already become involved with the franchise when Arthur Griffiths bought the Grizzlies in 1995 and finished building GM Place.  Arthur was in way over his head and needed financial assistance, so he got his "friend" McCaw involved as a part owner of both the Grizzlies and the Canucks. 

 

The issue withy Gretzky was that Stan McCammon was basically John McCaw's guy and was made CEO of the team even though he had zero hockey experience.  From what I remember Gretzky wanted to come to Vancouver over New York and met with Quinn and McCammon and they had a handshake deal.  Gretzky was going to sleep on it and sign the contract in the morning.  McCammon tried to force him to sign the contract that evening and the negotiations went sour after that and Gretzky decided to go to New York instead.  

 

Sigh...  Gretzky was a businessman but he was also a good Canadian kid.  Pat Quinn was the guy to relate to.  It's really easy to imagine Pat and Walter having a few beers.

[Canuck Surfer]

Schneider to CBJ for Jeff Carter?

[IBatch]

6 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said:

We were much closer to landing Gretzky in the summer of 1996 for free when he was a UFA than in 1988.  If it wasn't for Stan McCammon we would have had Gretzky that summer to play with Bure and Mogilny.  It would have changed everything as Bure and Linden would never have been traded, Quinn would never have been fired, and Messier and Keenan would never have arrived.

Gretzky touches on this in his book .... why in the world would you force a phone call late at night to finalize a deal with the greatest player ever to lace them up - or anyone for that matter - when it was already a done deal and all you had to do was wait until the morning.  PLUS isn't this what agents are for?  One of the stupidest things our franchise has ever done.  Especially when the consequences were going for the second choice in Messier not much after that....in some hockey multi-verse we would have Gretzky between Bure and Mogilny and Linden as our Captain and second line center..and a couple cups.  WG had hinted several times before 96 that he would like to play with Bure at some future point.  Could you imagine how many break-aways those three would set off?  He was still a 100 plus point player for several more seasons at that point - and if the team stuck together a much better one then NYR managed in the late 90's (in other words he would have got  even more points if he did this deal and the Canucks stayed together).

[Kevin Biestra]

5 minutes ago, IBatch said:

Gretzky touches on this in his book .... why in the world would you force a phone call late at night to finalize a deal with the greatest player ever to lace them up - or anyone for that matter - when it was already a done deal and all you had to do was wait until the morning.  PLUS isn't this what agents are for?  One of the stupidest things our franchise has ever done.  Especially when the consequences were going for the second choice in Messier not much after that....in some hockey multi-verse we would have Gretzky between Bure and Mogilny and Linden as our Captain and second line center..and a couple cups.  WG had hinted several times before 96 that he would like to play with Bure at some future point.  Could you imagine how many break-aways those three would set off?  He was still a 100 plus point player for several more seasons at that point - and if the team stuck together a much better one then NYR managed in the late 90's (in other words he would have got  even more points if he did this deal and the Canucks stayed together).

 

There's actually footage of Stan McCammon trying to close the deal.

 

 

Edited April 4, 2020 by Kevin Biestra

[canucklehead44]

We almost acquired PK Subban twice, once in 2016 and at this recent trade deadline.

 

Kesler to Pittsburgh for Sutter, Pouliot, and likely a first round pick but Pitts backed out. Nearly identical package as the one we got from Anaheim (we traded Bonino for Sutter, Sbisa and Pouliot ended up being waiver level dmen, and McCann was selected two spots after Kapanen). Given we went out and got Sutter and Pouliot later means Benning was probably pushing this deal.

 

I heard one rumour that Burke really wanted Rick Nash. The offer was Mattias Ohlund and a pick (not sure if it was a 2nd that year or a first the following year) but it was for the 2nd overall pick to Atlanta. Bouwmeester was the #1 ranked player and it is never a bad idea to build a team around a well rounded stud dman. 

 

Nearly acquired Vincent Damphousse at the 2003 trade deadline.

 

 

 

 

[IBatch]

Im bored - a fair amount has been said about Wayne Gretzky almost coming here - this is word for word what Wayne Gretzky himself says about this in his only book 99 Stories of the Games.   This is a dictation of what he said about it and then written down by the co-author:

 

" I was interested in playing for Vancouver but didn't approach them until Toronto was off the table (wow! we were his second choice ha ha).  At that time Mike and I flew out on our own dime to Vancouver as a show of good faith.  I loved the team, loved the city, and really respected Pat Quin (more on that after..) who was now GM.   They had a deep, talented lineup.   Marty Gelinas had won a cup with Oilers in 1990, Pavel Bure led the league in goals in 1993-1994, and Alexander Mogilny was an absolute wizard with the puck.  They had defense covered with Dave Babych and Bret Hedican, and they had goaltending in Kirk McLean and Corey Hirsch.  Needless to say, Trevor Linden was a well respected young captain, who had led his team to the finals in 1994."

 

"Mike and Canucks VP Stan McCammon were negotiating final terms and it got late.  I went to bed pretty happy at the thought of playing in Vancouver.  At about 1 am., Stan said, "This is the best we can do, this is where we're at."

 

"Mike said, "well its pretty close.  We'll have an answer in the morning after breakfast".   But Stan wanted an answer that night.  Mike assured him the offer looked postive but told him it was unreasonable to wake everyone up when he could get a decision first thing in the morning."

 

"Stan said, " If you don't giv me an answer now, the offer's off the table."

 

"Mike came to my room and woke me up (WTF is wrong with this!! idiots!).  I told him " I like it, but I'm not going to call Janet in the middle of the night and I'm not going to make the decision without talking to her (anyone who's married gets this right?!).  So if they honestly are giving me an ultimatum after we've come up here at our own expense (usually the team pays for this I guess) and told them we like the offer and given our word were are not going to shop it, then it's up to them if they take it off the table, but i hope they don't."

 

"Mike called Stan back and said " Look, we are not attempting to do any better in negotiations (that means the accept the terms).  We are not taking the offer anywhere else.  It's simply that Wayne's not going to bring his wife into the final decisions and choice of cities and schools and lives and all that in the middle of the night.  He'll call us as soon as he gets up so you won't need to wait long.  We'll be back here early.'

 

Stan said " Well, I wish you would have told me otherwise."  And the next morning they told us that the offer was off the table.  Then followed up by sending out a fax to all the other teams in the NHL, saying that they were ceasing further negotiations to acquire my services.

 

AND thats what he said (and goes on to say right away NYR got in touch with him and the rest is history).  

 

As far as Pat Quin goes - he writes about him a few times in his book including that he was his first choice to Coach the 2002 Olympic Team,  first thing he did when getting the post as ED was make the recommendation that they pick Quin to coach the team - because they need a coach who's good with players given its such a short tournament...so no love lost with him over this stupid chapter in our history.

[IBatch]

8 hours ago, Kevin Biestra said:

 

I remember when we traded for Luongo, I was like, holy crap that's incredible.  We acquired Mogilny, holy crap that's incredible.

 

And I remember the day it was announced that we had signed Messier.  I was just like...that's odd.

 

Man that guy was such an a-hole.  Maki's 11 and Linden's C.  Why disrespect just one Canuck when you can disrespect two?  Even Gretzky didn't take the C when he went to the Kings.  He left it on Dave Taylor's shirt.

A few day before the deal was announced I met him incognito on the ferry in the gift shop.  My first thought was it can't be him because he's too small.   But it was him wearing a trench coat like some streaking perv and a hat.  Part of me wanted to go and talk to him - but I was worried I might say something mean so instead we just stared at each other for a half minute or so.  Then he smiled and I smiled back awkward.   When I heard the deal on the radio - I was like it was a hoax - even though Id just met him.  Then I was like well he did just score two seasons of 90ish points and almost 50 goals one of them - wow maybe this could really help us.   Then Maki.  Then Linden giving him the C.  Barf.  And doom ensued.

[Kevin Biestra]

Dear Stan

I really do want to sign in Van

I thought you and Pat understood that when I went to shake your hand

I just don't want you to go and do some crazy sh**

Like bounce off the walls, when I'm trying to sleep you're throwing a fit

Just chill Stan, I think you need some counseling

Take a pill and maybe you won't try to make me wake my wife up over nothing

Like this other guy, I heard he went crazy and sent the whole league a fax

About how the deal with Gretzky's done when it's 2 a.m. and he just couldn't relax

Then he ran himself in circles all night till his whole head came unglued

Come to think about it...it was you

Damn

 

 

[Silky mitts]

10 hours ago, luckylager said:

He said Canucks, not Grizzlies 

 

Fun fact, I made Big Country Reaves cry. 

You got to drop the back story

[Kevin Biestra]

2 minutes ago, Silky mitts said:

You got to drop the back story

He probably told him the concession was sold out of ice cream and Twinkies.

[peaches5]

11 hours ago, KKnight said:

Out of pure boredom. I thought it would be fun to bring up notable trades that reportedly almost happened. Any that you remember? 

 

One I remember is the package to Tampa:

 

Bieksa 

Burrows 

First 

 

For Tampa's first that ended up being Hedman. 

 

 

Didn't almost happen it was the offer on the table that Tampa laughed at.

[86Viking]

Back in 2006, Vancouver had just acquired Roberto Luongo from the Florida Panthers and had an elite goaltending prospect by the name of Cory Schneider coming up. Dave Nonis was Vancouver's GM at the time gave former Columbus GM Doug MacLean a call for a one-for-one. Nonis offered prospect Cory Schneider (drafted 26th overall by Vancouver in 2004) for 2005 6th overall pick Gilbert Brule. MacLean declined the trade and was later fired at the end of the 2006-07 season. Brule was later traded to Edmonton for Raffi Torres, not the same return that they could have landed.

 

Oilers owner Peter Pocklington was shopping Gretzky around following the 1987-88 season and offered him to Vancouver for five 1st round picks and $22 million

 

A surprising one here is that the Buffalo Sabres almost dealt Sam Reinhart to the Canucks for Hunter Shinkaruk (2013 24th overall pick), 2014 6th overall pick (which turned into Jake Virtanen) and their 2014 24th overall pick (which ultimately turned into Jared McCann). Multiple mixed reports been out, but the most believable one it was Buffalo that backed out due to the fact of not being sure if they really wanted to deal Reinhart.

 

Canucks tried to trade Gudbranson for Demers but Demers wouldn't waive to Vancouver

 

 

 

[IBatch]

31 minutes ago, peaches5 said:

Didn't almost happen it was the offer on the table that Tampa laughed at.

That would have been a very solid offer.   Burrows was very good top six winger with intangibles and Bieksa Hamhuis was considered our top defensive line in 2011...plus our first...most teams would take that and run over a second overall...Hedman obviously worked out but it doesn't always work out with highly touted prospects ...  Tampa at the time needed players and this would have been a very good shot in the arm for them if it's even true...i'm sure they at least considered it.  

[peaches5]

23 minutes ago, IBatch said:

That would have been a very solid offer.   Burrows was very good top six winger with intangibles and Bieksa Hamhuis was considered our top defensive line in 2011...plus our first...most teams would take that and run over a second overall...Hedman obviously worked out but it doesn't always work out with highly touted prospects ...  Tampa at the time needed players and this would have been a very good shot in the arm for them if it's even true...i'm sure they at least considered it.  

Okay, why are you saying top defensive "pairing" in 2011 when this offer was years before that? Burrows was coming off one good year playing with the Sedins. He was a bottom 6 forward. Bieksa was having a solid year but he was a 3/4 dman and definitely not top 2 material. Our pick was the 22nd overall, not a great 1st. It was 11+ years ago but I do remember Yzerman making comments he never considered trading the Hedman pick. Hedman was seen as a lock for a number 1 dman by most scouts.

[BoKnows]

12 hours ago, lmm said:

Shariff Abdur Rahim for Steve Nash in about 2000 

 

 

That would of been highway robbery.

[luckylager]

2 hours ago, Silky mitts said:

You got to drop the back story

Ruthless heckling for the entire game

 

11 hours ago, luckylager said:

My voice is loud. We could see him crying at the free throw line.

He actually looked up at us, with tears in his eyes, right before he missed his 475th consecutive free throw

Sure, maybe it was sweat... but I doubt it. Dude was crying.

Big baby

[lmm]

1 hour ago, BoKnows said:

That would of been highway robbery.

a franchise saving deal

[lmm]

4 hours ago, IBatch said:

Im bored - a fair amount has been said about Wayne Gretzky almost coming here - this is word for word what Wayne Gretzky himself says about this in his only book 99 Stories of the Games.   This is a dictation of what he said about it and then written down by the co-author:

 

" I was interested in playing for Vancouver but didn't approach them until Toronto was off the table (wow! we were his second choice ha ha).  At that time Mike and I flew out on our own dime to Vancouver as a show of good faith.  I loved the team, loved the city, and really respected Pat Quin (more on that after..) who was now GM.   They had a deep, talented lineup.   Marty Gelinas had won a cup with Oilers in 1990, Pavel Bure led the league in goals in 1993-1994, and Alexander Mogilny was an absolute wizard with the puck.  They had defense covered with Dave Babych and Bret Hedican, and they had goaltending in Kirk McLean and Corey Hirsch.  Needless to say, Trevor Linden was a well respected young captain, who had led his team to the finals in 1994."

 

"Mike and Canucks VP Stan McCammon were negotiating final terms and it got late.  I went to bed pretty happy at the thought of playing in Vancouver.  At about 1 am., Stan said, "This is the best we can do, this is where we're at."

 

"Mike said, "well its pretty close.  We'll have an answer in the morning after breakfast".   But Stan wanted an answer that night.  Mike assured him the offer looked postive but told him it was unreasonable to wake everyone up when he could get a decision first thing in the morning."

 

"Stan said, " If you don't giv me an answer now, the offer's off the table."

 

"Mike came to my room and woke me up (WTF is wrong with this!! idiots!).  I told him " I like it, but I'm not going to call Janet in the middle of the night and I'm not going to make the decision without talking to her (anyone who's married gets this right?!).  So if they honestly are giving me an ultimatum after we've come up here at our own expense (usually the team pays for this I guess) and told them we like the offer and given our word were are not going to shop it, then it's up to them if they take it off the table, but i hope they don't."

 

"Mike called Stan back and said " Look, we are not attempting to do any better in negotiations (that means the accept the terms).  We are not taking the offer anywhere else.  It's simply that Wayne's not going to bring his wife into the final decisions and choice of cities and schools and lives and all that in the middle of the night.  He'll call us as soon as he gets up so you won't need to wait long.  We'll be back here early.'

 

Stan said " Well, I wish you would have told me otherwise."  And the next morning they told us that the offer was off the table.  Then followed up by sending out a fax to all the other teams in the NHL, saying that they were ceasing further negotiations to acquire my services.

 

AND thats what he said (and goes on to say right away NYR got in touch with him and the rest is history).  

 

As far as Pat Quin goes - he writes about him a few times in his book including that he was his first choice to Coach the 2002 Olympic Team,  first thing he did when getting the post as ED was make the recommendation that they pick Quin to coach the team - because they need a coach who's good with players given its such a short tournament...so no love lost with him over this stupid chapter in our history.

that is just so sad

[Drakrami]

13 hours ago, HC20.0 said:

I remember in 08, the Canucks were hell bent on getting Brad Richards from Tampa.

 

Apparently they were close to a deal, something like: 

Schneider

Bourdon (Rest in Peace)

1st in 08 (Hodgson)

 

for

Richards.

 

I remember I was really upset when we didn’t get Richards. In hindsight, I’m pretty relieved that we lost those sweepstakes.

You do realize if we pulled a Brad Richards trade in 08; we might have won in the 2011 cup final right? 

[HC20.0]

1 hour ago, Drakrami said:

You do realize if we pulled a Brad Richards trade in 08; we might have won in the 2011 cup final right? 

Perhaps. Tampa wouldn't bite though because they wanted either Edler or Kesler in the deal, so I don't know how far we get in 2011 without either of them,as they were both key contributors in that run. Plus if we trade Schneider to Tampa, we wouldn't have our captain today.