Worst Trade In Franchise History?

[robinhood]

Here'sOne:

Russ Courtnall to the Montreal Canadiens for John Kordic, who by accounts was nothing more than a goon.

Way to go Stellick


Any Others out there?

[TheGreenHornet]

tom kurvers for a first round pick. it turned out to be scott niedermayer.

[robinhood]

thegreenhornet said:

tom kurvers for a first round pick. it turned out to be scott niedermayer.

I remember Kurvers. The next year didnt we Trade Kurvers to Vancouver for Brain Bradley. The same Brian Bradley who Sucked as a Leaf but when acquired by Tampa in the NHL Expansion Draft, he went on to score 40+ goals that year.

[BeLeafer]

The Nolan trade is definitely up there -- hated it from the get-go.

Leetch is another I totally despised. It did not address a serious weakness, left a hole, coughed up the farm and vastly overpaid.

Nice first move for the rookie GM -- set the tone for his neverending stupidity of weak moves. They can't fire his buttocks fast enough.

[BeLeafer]

Heh, a s s is converted into buttocks -- crafty, but I prefer a s s.

[jon]

beleafer said:

coughed up the farm

Yeah how are those two impact players doing anyway?

[mbow30]

Kondratiev was traded for a multiple-time former 30 goal scorer while Immonen was a top player in the AHL (and performed well in limited NHL action). They aren't impact players but at the end of the day Kondratiev and Immonen should both be good NHL players.

[jon]

While I'm a fan of Sykora, it's not like Maxim's value was the real edge in the trade to aquire him, last I remember it was something of a money issue was it not?

Our two draft picks were the only part of the deal worth having regrets over. Well, that and the lockout that kept us from a full season of Leetch.

[BeLeafer]

Immonen was a ppg player in his rookie AHL season. Those two players were not the only part of that deal.

Bumbalina blew his wad on that deal -- 1st, 2nd, Kondratiev and Immonen. Leetch for 15 games. Sheer genius.

[jon]

beleafer said:

Immonen was a ppg player in his rookie AHL season. Those two players were not the only part of that deal.

Wasn't Wellwood way up there in points per game in the AHL when he played? And insert whichever (to steal a baseball term) AAAA player that can't do it in the NHL but dominates the minors, can put up nice PPG ratios as well.

Let us know when Immonen does anything at the NHL level, which is what matters.

Bumbalina blew his wad on that deal -- 1st, 2nd, Kondratiev and Immonen. Leetch for 15 games. Sheer genius.

Yeah I hate the fact we gave up those two draft picks as well, you know what it SUCKS, but get over it already.

And if you didn't realize that was supposed to be a at least 97 games out of Leetch, but we had that lockout thingy that got in the way. Was "bumbalina" supposed to have known the whole season would be cancelled? I'd say it as one draft pick too many, but otherwise a fine deal for what it was supposed to do for our team.

[tuckered]

I'm pretty sure most general managers knew before hand there was a good chance of there being a lockout...

[jon]

Yeah, but it's his job to improve the team and give it the best chance at winning in the playoffs. Should he have stopped and said to himself "screw it, there might be no hockey next year so I'll just not bother"?

Everyone would have ripped into him had he stood still, because he didn't try and put a contending team out in what might be our last real chance to win a cup with that group.

Damned if he does damned if he don't.

[Awesomeness Reeker]

The series of trades with the Isles in the mid-late 90s which saw us snare Muller and a useless Clark for Jonsson and the pick that would be Luongo is pretty high up on my list.

[leafgm]

bh said:

The series of trades with the Isles in the mid-late 90s which saw us snare Muller and a useless Clark for Jonsson and the pick that would be Luongo is pretty high up on my list.

Yeah, this is true. The trade breaks down exactly like this:

To Toronto: Wendel Clark, Mathieu Schneider, D.J. Smith
To NYI: Kenny Jonsson, Roberto Luongo, Darby Hendrickson, Sean Haggerty

The Nolan and Leetch trades may be bad, but it doesn't get much worse than that, considering Clark was all but done and Schneider probably played the worst hockey of his career in Toronto. That, and when Mike Milbury is fleecing YOU, then that's a bit of a problem.

[Awesomeness Reeker]

Y'know, I've made this defence before of Milbury, but I don't think he's the idiot he's made out to be. While the Isles have made some bonehead deals in recent years ALL OF THEM have occured since Wang and Kumar bought the franchise. Milbury and Gordie Clark built that team through drafting and trading quite brilliantly until 1999. They assembled an awesome array of talent, particularly on defence and in goal during that time.

Seriously, it isn't MIlbury's fault he's got an even dumber version of Ballard as his boss.

[Jeremy]

The trade mentioned by Bill Hicks/Leaf GM was a poor one, but it certainly helps that we turned Schneider into McCabe (via Karpovtsev).

I've hated the Leetch trade since it was made, and I still believe JFJ massively overpaid, regardless of the impending strike and the chance that Leetch could have bolted after the second year of his contract (both of which did happen).

[glg]

bh said:

Y'know, I've made this defence before of Milbury, but I don't think he's the idiot he's made out to be. While the Isles have made some bonehead deals in recent years ALL OF THEM have occured since Wang and Kumar bought the franchise. Milbury and Gordie Clark built that team through drafting and trading quite brilliantly until 1999. They assembled an awesome array of talent, particularly on defence and in goal during that time.

Seriously, it isn't MIlbury's fault he's got an even dumber version of Ballard as his boss.

Don't waste your time. I tried this also, but the truth hurts in Leafland.

[glg]

jeremy said:

and the chance that Leetch could have bolted after the second year of his contract (both of which did happen).

Did he really bolt, though?

Wasn't he one of the Leafs not even offered a contract once Hockeygeddon was over?

If you're going to chastise JFJ about Leetch, it shouldn't be because of the deal made to get him. While it may not have been the greatest deal, Leetch was a solid addition to this team for the short time that he was here.

The bigger problem was in NOT even offering Leetch a deal after Hockeygeddon, allowing him to walk over to Boston.

Meanwhile, Eddie; Domi; Belak; Allison; Lindros, and even Quinn all got signed, and to this day, everyone complains about all those signings also.

JFJ may have overpaid to get Leetch, but letting him walk was an even bigger mistake, especially considering who he did sign.

McCabe was tied for most points from a defender before his injury last season. Imagine what it would have been if he had Leetch on his line again?

[TheGreenHornet]

bh said:

The series of trades with the Isles in the mid-late 90s which saw us snare Muller and a useless Clark for Jonsson and the pick that would be Luongo is pretty high up on my list.

if memory serves me i don't think the pick ended up being luongo. wast it eric fichaud? i don't recall us being bad enough at that time have had a pick that high

[leafgm]

if memory serves me i don't think the pick ended up being luongo. wast it eric fichaud? i don't recall us being bad enough at that time have had a pick that high

No, Fichaud was drafted by the Leafs, not by the Islanders. And he was drafted three years before the deal happened. Anyways, unfortunately, yes, the Leafs were that bad at that point, and the pick the dealt away was the fourth overall pick in 1997. That pick was used to select Luongo.

As for Milbury, I guess it's debatable how much of his bad trading was the result of ignorant, meddlesome owners, and how much was the result of his own stupidity. But either way, whether he's a puppet or a complete idiot, it doesn't look good on him.

[mbow30]

Did he really bolt, though?

Wasn't he one of the Leafs not even offered a contract once Hockeygeddon was over?

If you're going to chastise JFJ about Leetch, it shouldn't be because of the deal made to get him. While it may not have been the greatest deal, Leetch was a solid addition to this team for the short time that he was here.

The bigger problem was in NOT even offering Leetch a deal after Hockeygeddon, allowing him to walk over to Boston.

What are you talking about?

Leetch said, in almost these exact words, that he wanted to return to the Leafs but didn't want to get stuck playing on a rebuilding team at this stage in his career--which (again, in his words) he thought would happen in Toronto when it appeared that Domi would be bolting.

[glg]

mbow30 said:

What are you talking about?

I guess I'm talking about Leetch not even given an offer to stay after Hockeygeddon.

That is what I said.