With the news from Leafland slowing to a crawl, there is now a chance to finish up the little writing project that was embarked upon last summer.
Originally, my idea was to write about the 20 worst trades or signings the Leafs made in the post-Original Six era, but about halfway through the list, readers asked if there could be include the best deals as well, so they did not descend into a full-fledged state of depression.
Just as a reminder, here is the list of worst moves so far:
4. Jun 24 2006: Leafs trade Tuukka Rask to Boston for Andrew Raycroft
5. Jun 22 2007: Leafs trade 2007 1st and 2nd round picks(both later traded to STL Lars Eller & Aaron Palushaj) and a 4th round pick in 2009 to San Jose for Vesa Toskala and Mark Bell
6. Mar 6 2003: Leafs trade Alyn McCauley, Brad Boyes and #1(Mark Stuart) for Owen Nolan
7. Dec 29 1979: Leafs trade Lanny McDonald and Joel Quenneville to Colorado for Wilf Paiement and Pat Hickey
8. Sept 4 1987: Leafs trade Rick Vaive, Steve Thomas and Bob McGill to Chicago for Al Secord and Eddie Olczyk
9. Jul 27 1973: Leafs trade rights to Bernie Parent and a 2nd round pick(Larry Goodenough) to Philadelphia for Doug Favell and a 1st round pick(Bob Neely)
10. Jan 20 1982: Leafs trade Darryl Sittler to Philadelphia for Rich Costello, the rights to Ken Strong and a 2nd round pick(Peter Ihnacak)
11. Oct 21 1999: Leafs trade a 2nd round pick for rights to match Dmitri Khristich's arbitration award to Boston, then waive Steve Sullivan.
12. Jun 26 1975: Leafs trade Doug Jarvis to Montreal for Greg Hubick
13. Mar 13 2001: Leafs trade Adam Mair and 2nd round pick(Mike Cammalleri) to Los Angeles for Aki-Petteri Berg
14. Nov 24 2008: Leafs trade Alex Steen and Carlo Colaiacovo to St. Louis for Lee Stempniak
15. Oct 1 1999: Leafs trade Fredrik Modin to Tampa for Cory Cross and a 7th round pick.
16. Mar 18 1997: Leafs trade Larry Murphy to Detroit Red Wings for future considerations
17. Dec 24 1979: Leafs trade Pat Boutette to Hartford for Bob Stephenson
18. Jul 1 2007: Leafs sign Jason Blake
19. Oct 14, 1998: Leafs trade Mathieu Schneider to the New York Rangers for Alexander Karpovtsev and a 4th round pick.
20. Mar 23, 1999: Toronto trades Jason Smith to the Edmonton Oilers for a 4th round pick in 1999(Jonathan Zion) and 2nd Round Pick in 2000 (Kris Vernarsky)
The deal next on the list was one that was intended to add a tough defensive defenseman to the late 70’s Toronto club thought to be one or two pieces away from being a Stanley Cup winner.
#3: Jun 14 1978: Leafs trade Randy Carlyle and George Ferguson to Pittsburgh for Dave Burrows
The 1977-78 Maple Leafs were the most successful in the post-season since the club’s Cup victory in 1967. With Coach Roger Neilson at the helm, Toronto swept Los Angeles and defeated the young and talented New York Islanders with Lanny McDonald’s overtime winner in Game 7, but then ran into the two-time Cup champion Montreal Canadiens, who promptly swept them in four straight en route to another championship.
GM Jim Gregory knew that if Toronto were ever to have a chance at beating the Canadiens, they would have to upgrade defensively. The Leafs had two of the better offensive defensemen in the NHL in Borje Salming and Ian Turnbull, but the rest of the defensive corps was a hodge-podge of veterans like Brian Glennie, Mike Pelyk, Jim McKenny and inexperienced youngsters like 22 year old Ron Wilson, their 1977 first round pick Trevor Johansen and 21 year old Randy Carlyle.
Gregory saw his chance in mid-June, as the Penguins were looking to move two-time All Star defenseman Dave Burrows, who had struggled through injuries the previous year for a depth forward and a younger blueliner. Seeing his chance, the Leafs GM swapped center George Ferguson and Carlyle to Pittsburgh.
The 29 year old Burrows at the time of the deal had been in the league for seven years and was considered one of the top “shutdown” defensemen, modeling his game after boyhood idol Tim Horton. His offensive game was non-existent(29 career goals), but that was not the reason the Leafs had traded for him.
Ferguson was 25 at the time of the deal and considered an expendable commodity by the club that selected him 11th overall in 1972. In six years with Toronto, his career high scoring mark was 19 goals in 1974-75 and he had not reached double figures the previous two seasons.
Carlyle was the Leafs 2nd round selection in 1976 and had split time between their affiliate in Dallas and Toronto the first two seasons. To that point, he was mostly potential and not performance, with only 2 goals and 16 assists in 94 games, but Pittsburgh was suitably impressed with the young defenseman when he filled in for an injured Salming during Toronto’s playoff run.
The trade did not have the desired effect for the Leafs. Burrows played only 65 games in 1978-79 and Toronto was again swept by Montreal in the Quarter Finals. In 1979-80, he played the entire 80 game season, scoring 3 goals and 16 assists and was selected for the All Star Game for the third time, but the team was systematically being dismantled by owner Harold Ballard and GM Punch Imlach. After just over two seasons in Toronto, Burrows was not happy with the state of his career and was shipped back to Pittsburgh along with Paul Gardner early in the 1980-81 season for Paul Marshall and Kim Davis(who collectively played 15 games for the Leafs). By 1981, Burrows was out of hockey.
Ferguson enjoyed a career renaissance in Pittsburgh, scoring 20+ goals for four consecutive seasons, but the real prize was Carlyle, who bloomed into a tough, hard-nosed defenseman with offensive ability. He scored 13 goals in his first season with the Penguins. After struggling slightly in 1980, the blueliner rebounded with a spectacular 16 goals and 67 assist season, winning the 1981 Norris Trophy.
Carlyle’s career spanned 17 seasons between Toronto, Pittsburgh and Winnipeg before retiring in 1993. Between 1978 and 1988, he scored 10 or more goals eight times. As a coach, he won the Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007 and is now the coach of the Maple Leafs.
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