[DEBATE] Which is the worst trade in Vancouver Canucks history?

[D.B Cooper]

There are the two obvious ones.   

The difference was huge though.  

With the Neely trade, we just lost out on an amazing player.  
 

With the OEL trade, the only real asset we lost was the 9th overall.  
However, it has caused an almost decade long cap problem and has handcuffed our team since day 1.   
 

Losing Cam and seeing what he became was terrible, but the continued interference in this team from the trade will be felt for too long and will lessen our chances of success 
 

[Elias Pettersson]

1 hour ago, BlakeQuinnAndEggs said:

How is a trade involving Alex moginly coming to van or a trade that was instrumental for the 82 finals run even remotely considered.

 

This poll sucks.

Mogilny had one great year and then didn't do much after that.  Mike Peca became a Selke trophy winner and consistent top 3 best defensive player in the NHL.  As for 1982, that was one run to the finals.  Tiger didn't do much after that and Vaive and Derlago were lights out with Toronto.  Vaive became a 3 time 50 goal scorer.  

[Ghostsof1915]

9 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said:

Mogilny had one great year and then didn't do much after that.  Mike Peca became a Selke trophy winner and consistent top 3 best defensive player in the NHL.  As for 1982, that was one run to the finals.  Tiger didn't do much after that and Vaive and Derlago were lights out with Toronto.  Vaive became a 3 time 50 goal scorer.  

Just wait when Petey says he wants to play for a winner, and won't sign an extension.

If we don't get a massive haul for him. That could turn out to be the worst trade ever.

[johngould21]

16 minutes ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

He really had eff'd up hands fighting literally everyone as a Canuck.  That had to have an impact (negatively) on his offensive production (not the least of which he'd be sitting in the penalty box for that time.

I checked Wiki, he had 18 in his rookie season. 3 years as a Canuck, he hits the ground running in Bawston in his 4th season in the league.

[ABNuck]

Worst trade in Canucks history was Naslund for Stojanov...so one-sided it's laughable. Second worse was the Luongo trade...I know Bert had to go, but, man did we fleece Florida on that one.

 

Worst trade that affected US the most (which I assume is what the thread is more about)...hmmm...I know the Neely traded eventually worked out pretty one-sided (like the 2 mentioned above), but for immediate impact I'd have the say the OEL trade is bad simply because Benning couldn't convince AZ to keep more of his salary...made the trade based on a feeling and on emotion rather than stats and facts. It was right there for him. OEL was playing at a #3 Dman level worth about 4 - 4.5 mil a year. The cap hit was the stupid part, not necessarily the player.

[Ghostsof1915]

3 minutes ago, ABNuck said:

Worst trade in Canucks history was Naslund for Stojanov...so one-sided it's laughable. Second worse was the Luongo trade...I know Bert had to go, but, man did we fleece Florida on that one.

 

Worst trade that affected US the most (which I assume is what the thread is more about)...hmmm...I know the Neely traded eventually worked out pretty one-sided (like the 2 mentioned above), but for immediate impact I'd have the say the OEL trade is bad simply because Benning couldn't convince AZ to keep more of his salary...made the trade based on a feeling and on emotion rather than stats and facts. It was right there for him. OEL was playing at a #3 Dman level worth about 4 - 4.5 mil a year. The cap hit was the stupid part, not necessarily the player.

Bottom line is if Arizona didn't retain at least 30%+ of the salary, Benning should have walked away.

[johngould21]

29 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said:

Mogilny had one great year and then didn't do much after that.  Mike Peca became a Selke trophy winner and consistent top 3 best defensive player in the NHL.  As for 1982, that was one run to the finals.  Tiger didn't do much after that and Vaive and Derlago were lights out with Toronto.  Vaive became a 3 time 50 goal scorer.  

His knees gave out on him before he ever became lights out as you say. He played 7 NHL seasons. Vaive could score goals but he was one of the laziest players I've ever seen in a Canuck uniform. He fit the TML's to a tee. There's a reason they've gone SC winless since '67.

Edited June 17, 2023 by johngould21

[NewbieCanuckFan]

24 minutes ago, johngould21 said:

I checked Wiki, he had 18 in his rookie season. 3 years as a Canuck, he hits the ground running in Bawston in his 4th season in the league.

Barry Pederson actually had one or two decent seasons as a Canuck but he was 'damaged goods'.  Boston knew that (reason why they wanted to unload him).

[NewbieCanuckFan]

56 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said:

Mogilny had one great year and then didn't do much after that.  Mike Peca became a Selke trophy winner and consistent top 3 best defensive player in the NHL.  As for 1982, that was one run to the finals.  Tiger didn't do much after that and Vaive and Derlago were lights out with Toronto.  Vaive became a 3 time 50 goal scorer.  

Toronto didn't do much during the seasons Vaive was on that team.  I think a couple times they went beyond the 1st round (and that's it falling in the 2nd round).  Tiger help bring about respectability to the franchise.  Franchise did squat prior to his arrival.  Not even advancing beyond the 1st round in the few times they made the postseason.  That changed, albeit only for a short-time, when Tiger wore the Canucks jersey.

Edited June 17, 2023 by NewbieCanuckFan

[JamesB]

10 hours ago, Kevin Biestra said:

 

The OEL trade is by far the stupidest and least justifiable.

 

I would say we lost the Neely trade in the end but it wasn't stupid at the time.  Neely had stalled in his development...three straight years with under 40 points.  Barry Pederson was going to be a Hall of Famer before his shoulder problems.  As it was he was still a very good player for the Canucks.  Boston got the better of it in the end but the trade wasn't demonstrably stupid.  If Pederson had kept his pre-surgery form he would have likely been the best player the Canucks had ever had.  Benning should have been fired the morning after the OEL trade.

 

I was going to write something similar. The Neely trade worked out badly. But when the trade was made Neely was still a young guy who had not really figured out the defensive side of the game. But Neely really took off after leaving Vancouver.

 

The OEL trade is in a different category because this trade was obviously bad from the moment it was made -- a desperate attempt for a short-run gain by a desperate GM.trying to save his job no matter what the long term cost. And it did not even help the team in the short run.

 

The trade illustrated some of Benning's biggest flaws. First, OEL's underlying analytics were poor for a couple of seasons in Arizona. But Benning did not really "get" analytics. Benning also did not really "get" the cap -- or how to manage in the cap era.  He was constantly making moves that had negative value relative to the cap. So, yeah, Beagle was a decent bottom 6 forward, but his contract had negative value because his cap hit was too high.

 

Also, the Garland aspect illustrated another Benning flaw. He traded for a guy approaching the end of his current contract and re-resigned him to a contract with negative value. That is way Garland cannot be traded now. He is a good player but the cap hit it too  high. But having traded for Garland, Benning was under pressure to re-sign him, putting him in a very bad bargaining position.

 

This trade encapsulated in a single deal a lot of the reasons why Benning was the worst GM in the NHL over his 7+ years with the Canucks.

[Kevin Biestra]

10 minutes ago, JamesB said:

This trade encapsulated in a single deal a lot of the reasons why Benning was the worst GM in the NHL over his 7+ years with the Canucks.

 

"What the hell?  What idiot signed this Loui Eriksson deal and these other contracts?  I need to come up with a way to fix this."

 

[NewbieCanuckFan]

25 minutes ago, Kevin Biestra said:

 

"What the hell?  What idiot signed this Loui Eriksson deal and these other contracts?  I need to come up with a way to fix this."

 

Don't forget that JR did Benning a HUGE favor by taking off our hands Gudbranson (obtained by dealing a future 40 goal scorer & high 2nd round pick).  He's an ok guy to have on your 3rd pairing but not at $4+ million a year.  Gave us a servicable player in return as well (Pearson).

Edited June 17, 2023 by NewbieCanuckFan

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

1 hour ago, ABNuck said:

Worst trade in Canucks history was Naslund for Stojanov...so one-sided it's laughable. Second worse was the Luongo trade...I know Bert had to go, but, man did we fleece Florida on that one.

 

Worst trade that affected US the most (which I assume is what the thread is more about)...hmmm...I know the Neely traded eventually worked out pretty one-sided (like the 2 mentioned above), but for immediate impact I'd have the say the OEL trade is bad simply because Benning couldn't convince AZ to keep more of his salary...made the trade based on a feeling and on emotion rather than stats and facts. It was right there for him. OEL was playing at a #3 Dman level worth about 4 - 4.5 mil a year. The cap hit was the stupid part, not necessarily the player.

We also fleeced New York by trading away Trevor Linden FOR Todd Bertuzzi.  #16's career went sideways before he returned to Vancouver in a secondary role.  So... thank you, Messier...?

[NewbieCanuckFan]

2 minutes ago, Bob.Loblaw said:

We also fleeced New York by trading away Trevor Linden FOR Todd Bertuzzi.  #16's career went sideways before he returned to Vancouver in a secondary role.  So... thank you, Messier...?

Not just Todd Bertuzzi but also a mid-round pick who turned out to be this guy:

 

 

As well of course one of the MAIN assets Burke used to be able to draft both Sedins (McCabe).

Edited June 17, 2023 by NewbieCanuckFan

[DSVII]

Considering we had all the leverage in this OEL deal (OEL wanted only to come here or Boston and Boston said no way in hell) AND we end up paying the 1st along with all the dead cap. I  think this one hurts more in terms of opportunity cost.

 

We couldn't be in on the Marino trade and God knows how many other past and future moves to come because of this. 

Edited June 17, 2023 by DSVII

[Ghostsof1915]

11 minutes ago, DSVII said:

Considering we had all the leverage in this OEL deal (OEL wanted only to come here or Boston and Boston said no way in hell) AND we end up paying the 1st along with all the dead cap. I  think this one hurts more in terms of opportunity cost.

 

We couldn't be in on the Marino trade and God knows how many other past and future moves to come because of this. 

Marino has the same hype as Tram, and is meh for $4.4 million dollars. He has one good attribute, he at least can defend.

But he's very overrated too.

[Kevin Biestra]

2 hours ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

Barry Pederson actually had one or two decent seasons as a Canuck but he was 'damaged goods'.  Boston knew that (reason why they wanted to unload him).

 

During Barry Pederson's time as a Canuck he was basically in a five horse race with Tanti, Skriko, Sundstrom and Lidster for best player on the team.  Smyl and King Richard were nearing the end of their run as NHLers.  At the time Pederson left and retired he had been one of the best Canucks of all time.  We still lost the trade...Neely went on to the Hall of Fame and we lost the draft pick.  But Pederson really gets undersold in Vancouver.

 

Gary Leeman in Calgary after the Gilmour trade is an example of a player going over a cliff.

 

Edited June 17, 2023 by Kevin Biestra

[DSVII]

16 minutes ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

Marino has the same hype as Tram, and is meh for $4.4 million dollars. He has one good attribute, he at least can defend.

But he's very overrated too.

I'll take that over all the failed pro-scouting acquisitions from Benning era.

[chon derry]

Maple Ridge’s Cam Neely in June 1983, when the 18-year-old winger was taken ninth overall in the NHL draft by his hometown Canucks. PHOTO BY JOHN DENNISTON / PROVINCE /PNG files

[NewbieCanuckFan]

16 minutes ago, Kevin Biestra said:

 

During Barry Pederson's time as a Canuck he was basically in a five horse race with Tanti, Skriko, Sundstrom and Lidster for best player on the team.  Smyl and King Richard were all nearing the end of their run as NHLers.  At the time Pederson left and retired he had been one of the best Canucks of all time.  We still lost the trade...Neely went on to the Hall of Fame and we lost the draft pick.  But Pederson really gets undersold in Vancouver.

 

Gary Leeman in Calgary after the Gilmour trade is an example of a player going over a cliff.

 

That he was able to put up those points (even in that inflated points era) is a testament on just how good he was even while playing less than 100%.