Best/Favourite Hockey Trades?

[canucklehead44]

I am curious as to what people think were the best hockey trades? Most lists/articles written focus on the "best" or "worst" trades from a perspective of the deal being lopsided. 

The purpose behind a trade is for both teams to get better - not necessarily for one to come out a winner and the other a loser. Better can mean short-term or long-term. 

I love solid hockey trades, especially 1 for 1 of two players who are a similar age/calibre. 

A classic example is the Salo for Schaefer trade. At the time it was a very minor deal but ended up being a huge win-win for both teams (Salo was a 6/7 dman, Schaefer was sitting out). Now if you were to name a winner it was obviously the Canucks, but both teams really won on this deal. 

Lose-lose trades also exist. A classic example is Ballard & Oreskovich for Bernier, Grabner, 1st. As bad as this deal was for Vancouver, from Florida's perspective it was also a disaster. Ballard played two seasons, 164 games, and finished +7 with 62 points. So a solid #3 dman for 1 season of an overpriced 4th liner (15 points -14) and another 17 points, -12 from Howden over three seasons. 

Just to make this more interesting, picks/prospects can't be the centrepiece of the deals (with the exception of can't miss, "A' prospects or top 3 picks) but can be included as the "sweetener" or a piece that evens out a trade. 

Recent Hockey Trades to Follow:
Schmaltz for Perlini, Strome
Max Pacioretty for Tatar, Suzuki, 2nd round pick (this borders on dumping a higher value player for smaller assets BUT Tatar is an established goal scorer, one-for-one Tatar is outproducing Patches thus far)
Hanifin & Lindholm for Hamilton, Ferlund, Fox
Galchenyuk for Domi

Recent Win-Win trades:
Johansen for Jones - Johansen has lived up to expectations and leads the Predators in scoring. Seth Jones as far exceeded expectations. That said, Nashville needed a good centre and CBJ needed D. Both players are doing well and both teams are winning. 

Other Win-Wins Trades:
Hossa for Heatley 
Sykora for Friesen (both players posted better numbers - both teams made the cup finals)
Mogilny for Morrison - Devils won the cup and made it to the finals the following year. Mogilny scored 43 goals in 75 games in the full season. Morrison played 8 seasons for the Canucks and was a big part of the team's success. 
Bure for Jovanovski - JovoCop played seven years (six full seasons) in Vancouver and was a Canadian Olympian and all-star. Four seasons in Florida he topped off at 23 points. In Vancouver he had three 40+ years in a row. Bure was a true superstar that brought excitement to a poor hockey market. While he was better than Jovo he played just three full seasons and saw just 4 games of playoff action. 
Nieuwendyk for Iginla 

 

[SingleThorn]

Agree that a 'good' trade means two winners. A winner/ loser situation often means that a GM might not want to do a 2nd deal ( especially if something was hidden, like an after hours problem or injury ).

 

I always thought that the Salo/ Schaefer trade was a good trade.

[Ghostsof1915]

Leivo for Carcone was a fantastic deal.

 

We got a useful player.

Toronto got depth in the farm.

 

Win/win. 

[skolozsy2]

From a Blackhawks perspective...

 

Patrick Sharp for Matt Ellison and a 3rd pick.  Patrick Sharp goes on to score 229 goals for the Hawks, while Ellison winds up with a whopping 7 career games played in the NHL.

[milk and honey]

luongo for big bert for a hockey trade to.

weber for subban kinda I guess to 

Gaborik for a steal

carter trade as a hockey trade

 

 

kovalchuk trade was terrible.

 

my favorite team in recent time was Seguin for kessel

 

 

[6string]

22 minutes ago, milk and honey said:

luongo for big bert for a hockey trade to.

weber for subban kinda I guess to 

Gaborik for a steal

carter trade as a hockey trade

 

 

kovalchuk trade was terrible.

 

my favorite team in recent time was Seguin for kessel

 

 

And Dougie Hamilton for Kessel.

[ChuckNORRIS4Cup]

Nov. 10. 2001

 

Trevor Linden comes back home!

[Cramarossa]

Granlund for Shinkaruk 

 

One plays in the NHL, one does not. 

[Hockey God]

This may sound a bit weird, but I really think the best win-win trade was a trade that killed off 2 expansion teams, created 2 good teams, and made a team for an entire decade, the one where the Canadiens got the Golden Seals' 1st round pick (1970, I think), and that became The Flower.  The Canadiens might still have won a cup or two in the 70s, but Guy Lafleur was a vital cog in that decade of dominance.  However, it was a win for the NHL and fans as well, as the trade basically killed the chances for the Golden Seals to be a real NHL team, and forced them, after becoming the Barons, into being part of the North Stars, which did give us some good hockey as NHL fans, especially during their run to the Finals to go up against the Penguins.  That they eventually became the Dallas Stars and won a cup makes the process look even better.  There was no Gretzky to lead a California team into the American sporting consciousness in the 70s, so I'd have to say things worked out well for both sides in this trade.  Plus, in a roundabout way it also got the San Jose Sharks into the NHL, with the Gunds (the owners of the Seals) working with the new owners of the expansion Sharks to make it all happen.  Sorry, forgot a lot of the ins and outs of what happened, but 5 Cups on one side versus killing off 2 bad teams and ushering in 2 better teams has to be a great trade.   

[Ghostsof1915]

3 minutes ago, Hockey God said:

This may sound a bit weird, but I really think the best win-win trade was a trade that killed off 2 expansion teams, created 2 good teams, and made a team for an entire decade, the one where the Canadiens got the Golden Seals' 1st round pick (1970, I think), and that became The Flower.  The Canadiens might still have won a cup or two in the 70s, but Guy Lafleur was a vital cog in that decade of dominance.  However, it was a win for the NHL and fans as well, as the trade basically killed the chances for the Golden Seals to be a real NHL team, and forced them, after becoming the Barons, into being part of the North Stars, which did give us some good hockey as NHL fans, especially during their run to the Finals to go up against the Penguins.  That they eventually became the Dallas Stars and won a cup makes the process look even better.  There was no Gretzky to lead a California team into the American sporting consciousness in the 70s, so I'd have to say things worked out well for both sides in this trade.  Plus, in a roundabout way it also got the San Jose Sharks into the NHL, with the Gunds (the owners of the Seals) working with the new owners of the expansion Sharks to make it all happen.  Sorry, forgot a lot of the ins and outs of what happened, but 5 Cups on one side versus killing off 2 bad teams and ushering in 2 better teams has to be a great trade.   

Sam Pollock was a clever, perhaps sneaky GM. He traded two college prospects for Ken Dryden. He also traded Ralph Backstrom for practically nothing to LA. It may not have been instrumental keeping LA from the basement. But it kept the Kings ahead of the Seals. 

 

Charlie O Finley was pretty much the killer as an owner of the Seals. They should just have kept the name Oakland Seals. But the arena was much like Key Arena in Seattle. Good for basketball, not so much for Hockey.

 

One wonders two things:

1) If in 1967-8 if the the owners of the Seals and the NHL accepted Labbat's offer to buy the team and move to Vancouver, we'd have a hockey team since 1969?

2) What if the ownership of the Seals got an arena deal in San Francisco in 1975?  Would there be a San Francisco Seals team today? 

 

There's a fantastic book of the era I highly recommend.

Shorthanded: The Untold Story of the Seals (Hockey's most colorful team) by Brad Kurtzberg. 

[goalie13]

1 hour ago, ChuckNORRIS4Cup said:

Nov. 10. 2001

 

Trevor Linden comes back home!

Don't forget the other side of that deal.  Linden to the Islanders for Bertuzzi, McCabe and a 3rd (Jarkko Ruutu).  And then McCabe was part of the deal to get the extra pick to land both Sedins.

 

My other favourite Canucks trades...

Stojanov for Naslund.

Quinn and Butcher for Courtnall, Dirk, Momesso, Ronning and future considerations.

[Rick Blight]

A few of my favorites....

 

Vancouver Canucks acquire	Date	St. Louis Blues acquire
Geoff Courtnall Robert Dirk Sergio Momesso Cliff Ronning 1992 5th round pick (#110-Brian Loney)	March 5, 1991	Garth Butcher Dan Quinn

 

Vancouver Canucks acquire	Date	St. Louis Blues acquire
Jeff Brown Bret Hedican Nathan Lafayette	March 21, 1994	rights to Craig Janney

 

New Jersey Devils acquire	Date	Vancouver Canucks acquire
Patrik Sundstrom 1988 4th round pick (#65-Matt Ruchty)  Devils option to swap 1988 2nd round picks (#23-Jeff Christian)	September 15, 1987	Greg D. Adams Kirk McLean Devils option to swap 1988 2nd round picks (#33-Leif Rohlin)

[Hockey God]

1 hour ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

Sam Pollock was a clever, perhaps sneaky GM. He traded two college prospects for Ken Dryden. He also traded Ralph Backstrom for practically nothing to LA. It may not have been instrumental keeping LA from the basement. But it kept the Kings ahead of the Seals. 

 

Charlie O Finley was pretty much the killer as an owner of the Seals. They should just have kept the name Oakland Seals. But the arena was much like Key Arena in Seattle. Good for basketball, not so much for Hockey.

 

One wonders two things:

1) If in 1967-8 if the the owners of the Seals and the NHL accepted Labbat's offer to buy the team and move to Vancouver, we'd have a hockey team since 1969?

2) What if the ownership of the Seals got an arena deal in San Francisco in 1975?  Would there be a San Francisco Seals team today? 

 

There's a fantastic book of the era I highly recommend.

Shorthanded: The Untold Story of the Seals (Hockey's most colorful team) by Brad Kurtzberg. 

A different era to be sure, but I agree, Pollock was as crafty a GM as they come.  The Seals, if they could have had a superstar like Lafleur, may have been able to make a go of it in SoCal, especially if they had a suitable place to play.  I'm going to have to read Kurtzberg's book at some point, as I've seen it referenced a few times when talking about the Seals and hockey in the early 70s.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't one of the reasons that the Seals moved to Cleveland because the NHL saw their arena situation as unsuitable, but it was the same arena, the Cow Palace, that the Sharks ended up using?  NHL hypocrites, looking for the expansion money above all else.  And, we can only imagine if Labbat's had been behind a Vancouver team, what might have happened.  For one thing, that Greek tragedy of a wheel spin might not have happened, and we might have had a GM with corporate support who could have a Vancouver team much better, sooner. Good story in Ice Warriors, by Jon Stott, about Labatt's and Canuck's being denied permission by the NHL to relocate the Seals. 

          

[22Sedinery33]

Hmm this brings back a lot of memories...

 

The one that sticks out to me from that is non-Canucks related is probably the Alexei Yashin trade from Ottawa to NYI for Bill Muckalt, Zdeno Chara & 1st round pick (2nd Overall) in the 2001 draft which became Jason Spezza. Boy oh boy, Mike Milbury wasn't a smart cookie since he signed to a 10 year $87.5m deal which he got bought out of...

[Rick Blight]

14 minutes ago, Hockey God said:

A different era to be sure, but I agree, Pollock was as crafty a GM as they come.  The Seals, if they could have had a superstar like Lafleur, may have been able to make a go of it in SoCal, especially if they had a suitable place to play.  I'm going to have to read Kurtzberg's book at some point, as I've seen it referenced a few times when talking about the Seals and hockey in the early 70s.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't one of the reasons that the Seals moved to Cleveland because the NHL saw their arena situation as unsuitable, but it was the same arena, the Cow Palace, that the Sharks ended up using?  NHL hypocrites, looking for the expansion money above all else.  And, we can only imagine if Labbat's had been behind a Vancouver team, what might have happened.  For one thing, that Greek tragedy of a wheel spin might not have happened, and we might have had a GM with corporate support who could have a Vancouver team much better, sooner. Good story in Ice Warriors, by Jon Stott, about Labatt's and Canuck's being denied permission by the NHL to relocate the Seals. 

          

Barry Van Gerbig was the owner of the San Francisco Seals WHL franchise along with partners like Bing Crosby and 49er's QB John Brodie. Van Gerbig bought the Seals knowing the NHL wanted to expand into the San Francisco area and believed he could get a new arena built in San Francisco. His WHL Seals played in the Cow Palace (worst name ever for an arena) and when the plans for a new San Francisco arena fell thru he moved his now NHL Seals team to Oakland to play in the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum.

The move to Oakland did not go well for him. The NHL did not like the move as they wanted the team to be in the more highly regarded market of San Francisco and attendance was really bad in Oakland. As a result, Van Gerbig went through a number of proposed sales that the NHL rejected, including potential sales to Vancouver and Buffalo. Eventually, he gave up and sold the franchise to Charles O. Finley in 1970.

 

[HC20.0]

54 minutes ago, Hockey God said:

A different era to be sure, but I agree, Pollock was as crafty a GM as they come.  The Seals, if they could have had a superstar like Lafleur, may have been able to make a go of it in SoCal, especially if they had a suitable place to play.  I'm going to have to read Kurtzberg's book at some point, as I've seen it referenced a few times when talking about the Seals and hockey in the early 70s.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't one of the reasons that the Seals moved to Cleveland because the NHL saw their arena situation as unsuitable, but it was the same arena, the Cow Palace, that the Sharks ended up using?  NHL hypocrites, looking for the expansion money above all else.  And, we can only imagine if Labbat's had been behind a Vancouver team, what might have happened.  For one thing, that Greek tragedy of a wheel spin might not have happened, and we might have had a GM with corporate support who could have a Vancouver team much better, sooner. Good story in Ice Warriors, by Jon Stott, about Labatt's and Canuck's being denied permission by the NHL to relocate the Seals. 

          

The SAP Center was already under construction when the Sharks broke into the league. The Cow Palace was just a temporary home for the team until the SAP Center was built, as the Cow Palace was unsuitable for hockey.

[MikeyBoy44]

My favourite was Linden to Islanders for My boi Bert, BM24 and (Jarko Ruutu)

[Alflives]

Coilers trading Hall for Larsen was pretty funny.  But maybe even better was giving up #15 in the draft (Turned out to be Matthew Barzel) for Griffin - I’m not an NHL player - Reinhardt.  Chia Pet is the best for funny trades.  

[189lb enforcers?]

The Max Domi trade is a good one.

I think most of us wanted to see that guy succeed.

 

[hammertime]

Lindros-Forsberg, Hextall, Ricci, +++

 

If Stevens didn't destroy Lindros this was a win for everyone and their respective teams.