BY ANDREW GHARIB – FAN FUEL BLOGGER
The NHL trade deadline is an exciting time for NHL fans, the anticipation, wondering who is buying and who is selling, and how that will dictate how teams will add to their playoffs and what they’ll have to give up. Sometimes the trades work, sometimes they don’t. On top of that, sometimes they are so one-sided that they leave you scratching your head as teams become desperate to make the playoffs and push themselves over the top. Here are a few head scratchers. I present to you the worst trade deadline deals ever made by Canadian teams:
1. Brett Hull
Without a doubt, Brett Hull absolutely tops this list. One of the best scorers in NHL history was dealt from the Calgary Flames along with Steve Bozek to the St. Louis Blues for Rick Wamsley and Rob Ramage in 1988. Wamsley was a serviceable backup and Ramage chipped in here and there but ultimately this one of the worst trade deadline deals ever made. Especially since Hull went on to score 741 regular season NHL goals.
2. Miroslav Satan
The Oilers traded Miroslav Satan to Buffalo for Craig Millar and Barrie Moore in 1997. Both Millar and Moore had little to no impact on the Oilers, while Satan had a successful seven year stint in Buffalo scoring over 450 points in that time span. No doubt about who won this one.
3. Jason Smith
The Toronto Maple Leafs traded Jason Smith to Edmonton in 1999, at which point Smith captained the Oilers for five years, leading them to the Stanley Cup final in 2006. The Leafs received a fourth round pick and a second round pick in the following draft, one of which never played in the NHL, and the other who played 17 NHL games.
4. Vincent Damphousse
Montreal traded Vincent Damphousse to San Jose in 1999 for draft picks that amounted to be Marcel Hossa and a player who never played an NHL game. Hossa scored seven goals over two seasons in Montreal. Damphousse went on to captain the Sharks during his five-year stint with the team while scoring almost 300 points.
5. Larry Murphy
Sorry Leafers, you make the list again when Larry Murphy was given away in 1997 to the Detroit Red Wings for future considerations. One of the best defencemen to ever play the game, he went on to win two Stanley Cups with the Wings in 1997 and 1998.