Highly rated prospects who flourished after being traded from their 1st team? "Bust!"
- Thread starter I Hate Blake Coleman
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reckoning
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- Jan 4, 2005
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Reggie Leach: Drafted 3rd overall in 1970 by Boston, had four somewhat substandard seasons with Boston and California before being traded to Philadelphia and immediately became one of the league's top scorers.
Craig Simpson: Drafted #2 overall in '85 (many thought he would go #1), didn't show much of his scoring ability with Pittsburgh but after going to Edmonton in the Coffey trade his production started to improve to the point where he was their leading playoff scorer when they won the Cup in '90.
J.S. Giguere: 1st round pick in '95, couldn't get many starts in Hartford or Calgary but became a Conn Smythe and Stanley Cup winner in Anaheim
Craig Simpson: Drafted #2 overall in '85 (many thought he would go #1), didn't show much of his scoring ability with Pittsburgh but after going to Edmonton in the Coffey trade his production started to improve to the point where he was their leading playoff scorer when they won the Cup in '90.
J.S. Giguere: 1st round pick in '95, couldn't get many starts in Hartford or Calgary but became a Conn Smythe and Stanley Cup winner in Anaheim
What? The Blues drafted him in like the 7th round, he became one of their best defensive forwards, had a couple seasons of at least a point per game before moving on to Calgary. I'd say being drafted in the 7th round and scoring 100 points with the team that drafted said player is the exact opposite of what this thread is about
seventieslord
Student Of The Game
yeah, and not just a point per game season, either. Top-10 in scoring, and top-5 in Hart voting. He also led the playoffs in points in 1986. This was well above expectations.
as for Larionov - ha! you don't call a 29-year old a prospect.
HOCKEYTOWN1990
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- Feb 9, 2010
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seventieslord
Student Of The Game
He had never even played for Dallas, though. He was highly touted, and continued to be highly touted. He was traded for a star forward who was in his prime.
Not to devalue your response, but that's why I said "sort of."
He was a touted draft pick, traded with a valuation that implied he's mediocre, then afterwards played to his pre-draft expectations. The difference is that he played that well before the trade too, so the GM had less excuse
vadim sharifijanov
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- Oct 10, 2007
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i don't think guys like neely should count. keep in mind who they're traded for. as stated above, some of these guys hadn't blossomed yet but GMs knew that there was a good chance they would with more patience or a change of scenery, but traded them for immediate help. i don't think you could call them busts at this point. neely fits this category, as does brett hull, todd bertuzzi, joe murphy, and others.
markus naslund is a good example. a guy who dominated the WJC and who was at one time rated higher than forsberg traded for complete garbage.
don't know if this counts, but giguere, not the hartford to calgary trade, but the calgary to anaheim trade where they dumped the former best goalie of a draft for a 2nd rounder that they would turn around and trade for a 23 year old career minor leaguer/finnish leaguer and a 4th rounder.
ray whitney, who was supposed to run san jose's offense with his junior linemate pat falloon was released by the sharks, then picked up and waived by edmonton before catching on with florida and becoming one of the most consistent offensive producers of his era.
another guy in the gelinas/cleary mould: philippe boucher didn't become an NHL regular until he was 28, seven years after he was traded from buffalo. but ended up being a pretty good offensive d-man when all was said and done, even made the all-star game one year.
manny malhotra is another guy who was a huge disappointment, bounced around a bit, but eventually turned himself into a valuable player.
markus naslund is a good example. a guy who dominated the WJC and who was at one time rated higher than forsberg traded for complete garbage.
don't know if this counts, but giguere, not the hartford to calgary trade, but the calgary to anaheim trade where they dumped the former best goalie of a draft for a 2nd rounder that they would turn around and trade for a 23 year old career minor leaguer/finnish leaguer and a 4th rounder.
ray whitney, who was supposed to run san jose's offense with his junior linemate pat falloon was released by the sharks, then picked up and waived by edmonton before catching on with florida and becoming one of the most consistent offensive producers of his era.
another guy in the gelinas/cleary mould: philippe boucher didn't become an NHL regular until he was 28, seven years after he was traded from buffalo. but ended up being a pretty good offensive d-man when all was said and done, even made the all-star game one year.
manny malhotra is another guy who was a huge disappointment, bounced around a bit, but eventually turned himself into a valuable player.
He was drafted low because he was Czech, which was part of the USSR at the time, so they didn't know if he'd ever come over.
The Blackhawks knew he was great when they traded him and did so reluctantly, I believe because they already had Belfour. They just didn't know he'd ever play that good.
Czechoslovakia wasn't part of the USSR. It was Communist and behind the Iron Curtain, but a sovereign country.
I can see what the Blackhawks were thinking on the Hasek trade. After all Belfour had won the Calder, Vezina, won 40 games, and was a Hart nominee, all in his first couple years. It would have been poor managment on Chicago's part to keep Hasek around when they had a proven winner in Belfour. Of course they should have gotten more for Hasek, but that's Buffalo's gain.
Well, technically sovereign. Whether the warsaw pact countries were de facto sovereign is open to debate.
But you were right to make that correction, yes, it wasn't actually part of the USSR in the sense that Kazakhstan and the Ukraine were.
Bob Kudelski
Registered User
Brandinho
deng xiaoping gang
Marc Savard fits this to a tee, with the only exception being he wasn't drafted highly.
Dominant OHL and AHL scorer, New York gave up on him after 2 years, he had four seasons of varying quality in Calgary, scoring as many as 65 points before they gave up on him. He found a home in Atlanta, became a dominant scorer with two nearly 100 point seasons and is still an elite player when he's healthy.
Dominant OHL and AHL scorer, New York gave up on him after 2 years, he had four seasons of varying quality in Calgary, scoring as many as 65 points before they gave up on him. He found a home in Atlanta, became a dominant scorer with two nearly 100 point seasons and is still an elite player when he's healthy.
charliolemieux
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- Apr 1, 2010
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Marty St. Louis might not have had enough hype in CGY to qualify but he sure improved after his trade to TBL.
Right now Alex Steen is looking good for this thread.
Right now Alex Steen is looking good for this thread.
liquid swords
bring the ruckus
yeah. the hawks knew that they had a very good goalie in hasek -- but belfour had proven to be a dominant (no pun intended) goaltender, and they weren't going to take the reins from him and hand them to hasek.
the real question with the hasek trade, IMO, is why he went for beauregaurd (no idea if i spelled that correctly) and futures. you'd imagine a guy who had dominated (pun intended) europe and international play would fetch more in a trade, when he was already in NA playing..
hototogisu
Poked the bear!!!!!
Terrible example. For starters he was never highly rated (he was a 9th round pick!) and his best statistical season to date is still with the Canadiens, so how could he have "flourished" elsewhere?
McGuillicuddy
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- Sep 6, 2005
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My first thought when I saw this thread was Brett Hull. Although I don't recall how highly touted he was when with the Flames. Was drafted in the 6th round so I supposed he couldn't have been that highly regarded 
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I Hate Blake Coleman
Bandwagon Burner
My first thought when I saw this thread was Brett Hull. Although I don't recall how highly touted he was when with the Flames. Was drafted in the 6th round so I supposed he couldn't have been that highly regarded
To be fair, Hull was traded for Doug Gilmour and did have 50 points in 52 games that season.
Hull for Gilmour is the less talked about Iginla for Nieuwendyk.
Poignant Discussion*
I tell it like it is
Wow, you need to take a few history lessons.
Back to the thread I agree with Hasek, was hard to get time in when you have an Eddie Belfour on your roster
