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Semi-Finals Round: Vote for five worst trades in Rangers' history |
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To help frame up this blog and the next one that will come, here is what I wrote before posting the first blog:
The next series of blogs will have you the reader help decide which was the worst trade in Rangers' history. I have identified 36 trades that to me fall under the header trades in which New York got the worst end of the deal, and if many cases, the far worst end of it. Free agent signings are not part of this equation or we might be here forever. Instead, I have broken the trades into two groupings - 1963-1994 and then 1995 to present.
Here is how the voting will work. You will vote for the five worst trades of the 16 identified from 1963-1994 (done, see below for the voting). The next blog will have you vote on the five worst trades of the 20 identified from 1995 to present (see below). Of the 10 (now 12) remaining, you will then vote for the five worst (this blog). Finally, from those five, you will vote for the worst of the lot and what should be the worst trade in Rangers history.
Final standings for voting of five worst trades from 1963-1994:
Here are the top-seven from the voting in order:
BOS acquires Rick Middleton. NYR acquire Ken Hodge, Sr. - 184 votes
EDM acquires Doug Weight. NYR acquire Esa Tikkanen - 108 votes
BOS acquires Brad Park, Jean Ratelle and Joe Zanussi. NYR acquire Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais - 86 votes
CHI acquires Tony Amonte and rights to Matt Oates. NYR acquire Stephane Matteau and Brian Noonan - 81 votes
TOR acquires Mike Gartner. NYR acquire Glenn Anderson, pick and player - 66 votes
WAS acquire Bob Crawford, Kelly Miller & Mike Ridley. NYR acquire Bobby Carpenter - 66 votes
LA acquires Tony Granato and Tomas Sandstrom. NYR acquire Bernie Nicholls - 60 votes
802 votes.
Final standings for voting of five worst trades from 1995-present:
Here are the top-seven from the voting:
MTL acquires Alexei Kovalev. NYR acquire Josef Balej & 2004 2nd round pick - 153 votes
CGY acquires Marc Savard, '99 1st rd pk/'00 3rd pk. NYR acquire #9 pk '99 (J. Lundmark), Jan Hlavac - 137 votes
ARI acquire Anthony Duclair, John Moore, 2015 2nd rd pk & 2016 1st rd pk. NYR acquires Keith Yandle - 130 votes
ANA acquires Carl Hagelin, 2015 2nd/6th rd pk. NYR acquires Emerson Etem & 2015 2nd rd pk (R Gropp) - 125 votes
EDM acquires Cam Talbot & 2015 7th rd pk. NYR acquire 2015 2nd/3rd (Zborovskiy)/7th rd (Huska) pk - 112 votes
PIT acquires Petr Nedved and Sergei Zubov. NYR acquire Luc Robitaille and Ulf Samuelsson - 94 votes
CAR acquires Aleksei Saarela, 2017 2nd rd pick (Luke Martin), 2016 2nd rd pk. NYR acquires Eric Staal - 94 votes
Total of 595 votes
What did I learn from this exercise. First, that the more recent trades receive a lot more voting that I expected. That is either due to the blog having a younger demographic and/or individuals not really knowing the team's history. While I wasn't around for all of the deals and very young when some occurred, as a fan of the team, I felt it important to know the history of the franchise I root for. I know RangerSaver in the last blog posted a comment regarding the five worst trades in Mets' injury, and trust me, that's a topic - like this one - I could write a ton about. But some of those deals, especially the Nolan Ryan one, occurred when I was a little kid, but I know about it as a fan of the team. In that vein, I am using writer's license and including the Zubov deal as one of the worst in team's history on which to be voted. That would be the six from the 95-present voting to go along with the six from 1963-94, due to the tie for fifth place, making your job to choose five from the 12 up for consideration.
Vote for the five worst trades from the 12 remaining:
Here are the summaries again of the 12 trades up for consideration (in occurrence order):
November 7, 1975:
Bruins acquire Brad Park, Jean Ratelle and Joe Zanussi
Rangers acquire Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais
The blockbuster. New York was looking for splash and acquired Esposito, who Boston felt had started to decline. Espo scored 404 points in 422 games in New York, helping lead the team to the 1979 Cup Finals. Vadnais never was a fan favorite, especially at the cost of Park. Vadnais put up 50 points his first year in the Big Apple but his production fell slightly each of the next three seasons before bottoming out his last three years in New York. Park was the Rangers' version of Bobby Orr and remained very productive in Boston, scoring 417 points in 501 games before finishing his career in Detroit. The big loss was Ratelle, whose jersey will finally be retired this season. Ratelle tallied 450 points in 519 games as a Bruin, helping lead Boston to Cup Finals in back-to-back seasons. For me, giving up Ratelle was a killer as he was one of my favorite players as a kid, even though Espo was solid in NY, at least a player not as a GM. The bigger issue is that it led to the next trade.
May 26, 1976
Bruins acquire Rick Middleton
Rangers acquire Ken Hodge, Sr.
Esposito wanted one of his running mates from Boston, so New York went out and got Hodge. The Rangers may have been forced to deal Middleton due to rumored off-ice activity, but the return was horrific. Hodge scored 21 goals and 41 assists in '76-77 but played just 18 games the following year. Middleton went on to score 402 goals and 496 assists in 881 games in Boston, finishing his career 12 points shy of 1,000 for his career. All in all, a typical Rangers' move, trade a young player for a veteran who plays a year or two and then retires.
January 1, 1987
Capitals acquire Bob Crawford, Kelly Miller and Mike Ridley
Rangers acquire Bobby Carpenter and 1989 2nd round pick (#40-Jason Prosofsky)
Carpenter scored 53 goals in 194-85 but slumped to 27 goals the following season. Washington got a king's ransom for Carpenter, who last just a little over two months in NY before he was moved again. Carpenter did score 135 more goals after he left New York, finishing his career with the Devils as a checking line player, but he was never able to capture his 84-85 magic. Miller and Ridley took great pleasure in tormenting the Rangers. Ridley had 547 points in 588 games in Washington while Miller played 940 games in Washington, finishing his career as a solid, third line winger. A nightmare trade. Either Miller or Ridley would have been an overpayment, giving up both made it twice as worse.
March 17, 1993
Edmonton acquires Doug Weight
Rangers acquire Esa Tikkanen
Tikkanen played a key role in the '94 Cup win but Neil Smith got fleeced on this deal. Weight played 17 more seasons in the NHL, including the Cup Finals with Carolina in 2005-06, finishing with 1,033 points. Tikkanen, whose best years were well behind him, had three separate stints with the Rangers, leaving after the 94 Cup winner to play for the Blues and Mike Keenan. I was a big Tikkanen fan in Edmonton and liked him in New York but seeing what Weight was then and what he became, that deal is even more painful.
March 21, 1994
Blackhawks acquire Tony Amonte and rights to Matt Oates
Rangers acquire Stephane Matteau and Brian Noonan
The first of three major deals that ultimately netted the Rangers a Cup but at a healthy price. The story of Amonte getting dealt has been well-documented. GM Neil Smith wasn't making the deal if it was a 1:1 but getting Matteau and Noonan, so a 2-for-1, was viewed by him as sufficient. Matteau had the two overtime goals against New Jersey. Other than those two games, Matteau didn't do much and he had some success after going to San Jose. Brian Noonan was also a key member of the Cup winning team, playing in 22 of the 23 games in the run. But he was pretty much a third-line winger. Amonte was a true sniper but wasn't a fave of Mike Keenan. He scored 268 goals and added 273 assists in 627 games as a Black Hawk before moving on to Phoenix, Philly and Calgary. Amonte was rumored to be on the verge at one point of coming to the Rangers but that never transpired. He finished his career with 416 goals and 484 assists, and if Weight leaving annoyed me, this one really angered me, despite the end result. Yes, the Cup was worth it but I was a huge Amonte and wonder what he would have done had he remained a Blueshirt.
March 21, 1994
Maple Leafs acquire Mike Gartner
Rangers acquire Glenn Anderson, 1994 4th round pick (#100-Alexander Korobolin) and rights to Scott Malone
Gartner was stolen form Minnesota on March 6, 1990 for Ulf Dahlen and a fourth round pick. Keenan viewed him as soft and couldn't wait to trade him, especially for a proven playoff vet in Anderson. Gartner scored 11 points in 18 playoff games that year for the Maple Leafs while Anderson...He tallied 67 goals his next two full seasons before finishing his career in 1996-97 with 12 goals in Phoenix to end up 708 lamplighters overall. Anderson did little in the playoffs for New York, then moved to St. Louis to play for Keenan in 94-95 and playing his final year in '95-96 with Edmonton and St. Louis. I was a huge Anderson fan in Edmonton when he was a key member of those Cup winning teams but he was a shell of his former self when he arrived in New York to complete Edmonton East.
August 31, 1995:
Penguins acquire Petr Nedved and Sergei Zubov
Rangers acquire Luc Robitaille and Ulf Samuelsson
Nedved came to the Rangers as compensation for the Blues signing Mike Keenan to be their coach. He struggled his first season in the Big Apple and was moved to the Penguins, where he blossomed for two years before returning back to New York. Zubov was brilliant in 94-95, pairing with Brian Leetch to power the power play for the cup winners. He tailed off the following season and with the team looking to get bigger and tougher to face the Flyers, the Rangers stupidly traded Zubie to Pittsburgh. He played a year there before on to Dallas to add a Cup there in 98-99. New York still hasn't replaced Zubov, who should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Robitaillle actually two solid years in NY with 47 goals and 70 assists in 146 games but he was never a game-breaker, despite getting to play with Messier and Gretzky. He had several more solid seasons on the West Coast after going back to the Kings and then won a Cup with the Red Wings. Ulfie had four solid seasons in NY, bringing some toughness, before finishing his career with four games in 98-99 with Detroit and a full year in Philadelphia the following season. He brought a physical presence but to me this deal is lopsided because it included Zubov, who became a true start elsewhere.
June 26, 1999
Flames acquire Marc Savard, 1999 1st round pick (#11-Oleg Saprykin)
2000 3rd round pick (#74-Igor Radulov)
Rangers acquire #9 pick in 1999 (Jamie Lundmark), 1999 3rd round pick (#77-Craig Anderson)
rights to Jan Hlavac
Two deals that have to be viewed together because the goal was to obtain a pair of high picks and select Lundmark and Brendl. We know that both were huge busts and the best player NY got back in the two trades was Hlavac, who was extremely good his two years in New York prior to getting included in the Eric Lindros trade. Cloutier never met the burden of his high selection, but he was the full-time starter for three seasons in Vancouver, winning 97 games in that stretch. I have a warm spot for Sundstrom, as I still think if he, Potsie etc. were healthy in '98, New York beats Philly in the playoffs. Sundstrom was dealt fairly quickly to San Jose, where he played three-plus solid seasons before moving on to Montreal. In the second deal, Savard went from Calgary to Atlanta to Boston, scoring at each stop before a series of concussions ended his career. He finished with 706 points in 807 games, including four tremendous seasons from 2005-06 to 2008-09 and into the following season before he was injured, first on a brutal blind side hit by Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke on March 7, 2010, resulting in a concussion, and then a clean check by Colorado's Matt Hunwick on January 22, 2011 that ended his career.
March 2, 2004
Canadiens acquire Alexei Kovalev
Rangers acquire Josef Balej and 2004 2nd round pick (#51-Bruce Graham)
Let's start the tear down and trade veterans that look to be on their last legs for young assets. the only problem with that is what the veteran lasts longer and is more productive than the kid. Kovalev had five reasonably productive years in Montreal, which is more than can be said about Bale or Graham.
March 1, 2015
Coyotes acquire Anthony Duclair, John Moore, 2015 2nd round pick and 2016 1st round pick
Rangers acquire Keith Yandle, Chris Summers and 2016 4th round pick
Yandle was high risk, high reward. Coach Alain Vigneault didn't use him properly, especially on the power play. But if New York had beaten Tampa in the 2015 ECF, it would have been because of Yandle, as he was brilliant the last two rounds the Rangers played. The deal will look worse if Duclair reverts back to the form he showed as a rookie, rather than how he played last season. The second round pick ended up with Calgary, who took Oliver Kylington. The first round pick ended up with Detroit, who took Dennis Cholowski. Getting Yandle for a year-plus cost a large return, but it could have been worth it, if he was used properly and to his strengths. New York used the fourth round pick on Tarmo Reunanen.
June 27, 2015
Ducks acquire Carl Hagelin, 2015 2nd round pick and 2015 6th round pick
Rangers acquire Emerson Etem and 2015 2nd round pick (Ryan Gropp)
An underwhelming return for Hagelin, who didn't do much in Anaheim but who helped Pittsburgh win a Cup in 2015-16. If Gropp pans out, that will reduce the impact of this trade a bit. New York felt they had to move Hags due to the future cap hit, which proved correct as he is making $4 mil per season. But they could have kept him one more season and then worried about it.
June 27, 2015
Oilers acquire Cam Talbot and 2015 7th round pick
Rangers acquire 2015 2nd round pick, 2015 3rd round pick (Sergei Zborovskiy) and 2015 7th round pick (Adam Huska)
Based on the rumors of what New York was to acquire - 9th pick overall - and what Talbot has become, the return is also underwhelming here. That could change a little if either Huska or Zbirovskiy become regulars in New York, but even if so, Talbot has shown that he is a #1 and should have brought more back.
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