Worst Rangers trade of all time

alkurtz

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Just thought of another one during the Francis era (Syl Apps, wow, have not thought of him for years). Dennis Hextall for Real Lemieux from LA in 1969. Hextall had some pretty good years for the North Stars, lasted in the league for a long time. But then, after just one year as a 3rd line player, we traded Lemieux back to LA for Ted Irvine, so I guess looking at it that way it wasn't so bad. But then again, aside from Lemiuex we also included Juha Widing, from Finland but grew up in Canada, who had some good years in LA at center. I think that was how it went....
 

n8

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A lot of people are ignoring the context of the Zubov trade. The Rangers had just gotten absolutely destroyed by a big, physical Flyers team in the playoffs. Samuelsson brought a much needed element to the team. I understand not liking the trade. I didn't really either. But there was definitely a certain logic to it.

I gotta say that this is the same logic that brought us McCarthy, Brashear, Simon, McKenna, Boogaard, Voros, and Glass. Players like Dorsett, Prust, Barnaby, Avery at least would contribute in other ways. Chris Simon gets like a C-

Anyways, I understand the logic. It was just flawed.
 

Tawnos

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I gotta say that this is the same logic that brought us McCarthy, Brashear, Simon, McKenna, Boogaard, Voros, and Glass. Players like Dorsett, Prust, Barnaby, Avery at least would contribute in other ways. Chris Simon gets like a C-

Anyways, I understand the logic. It was just flawed.

Except that Samuelsson had been or still was a 1st pairing caliber player. It was an overreaction, but an understandable one. None of those players you listed were even top-6 guys.
 

n8

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1988-Oct-11 Mark Tinordi Traded from New York Rangers with Brett Barnett, Paul Jerrard and round 3 pick in the 1989 draft (Murray Garbutt) to Minnesota North Stars for Rick Bennett, Brian Lawton and Igor Liba

1986-Dec-18 Bob Froese Traded from Philadelphia Flyers to New York Rangers for Kjell Samuelsson and round 2 pick in the 1989 draft (Patrik Juhlin)


I hated the Tinordi trade when it happened.

I liked getting Frosty, but he was done soon thereafter, and Big Kjell played another (almost)800 games after the trade, almost all of which were played for our Patrick Division rivals.

good ones

The Turcotte for Larmer deal was smart. Larmer was a stud, both offensively and defensively. And although he was on the decline (nobody knew it since he was coming off a great season with Chicago), Turcotte would never be the same again either (again, no one knew at the time but he did have a terrible start to the 1993-94 season).

Larmer wound up having a better season for us than Turcotte would have, even though he was off his career averages, and he had an awesome playoffs where he was exactly as advertised.

The Amonte deal was terrible, but yeah, Matteau. You could argue that we would have had an easier time in the playoffs with Amonte and hence wouldn't have needed the Matteau magic OT goals, but I certainly wouldn't want to go back and find out.

Gartner for Anderson though, what a waste. Anderson did absolutely nothing for us, and Gartner was still awesome. No question we still win the Cup with Gartner.

if we're talking about underrated good trades, +1 for Larmer and +1 to the Pat Verbeek acquisition. Was sad we did not resign him. Thought he changed the dynamic of our team and actually made Messier 2.0 relevant.
 

n8

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Except that Samuelsson had been or still was a 1st pairing caliber player. It was an overreaction, but an understandable one. None of those players you listed were even top-6 guys.

Samuelsson is not 1st pairing. 2nd pairing, yeah. Mid 90s man. 1st pairing calibre was Leetch, Chelios, McInnis, Coffey, Suter, Bourque, Housley, Lidstrom, Zubov, Larry Murphy, Teppo, Stevens, Hatcher, Gonchar. We traded a legit 1st pairing power play specialist (and how long have we been chasing that horse in the last 2 decades?) for a slow but tough as nails defenseman who would last us all of 4 seasons and 2 year stint with an underproductive Robitaille. Again, flawed logic. There's a bear attacking us. Let's use one of the support beams in the cabin as a bludgeoning weapon - type of flawed logic.
 

HFBS

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Rick Middleton for Ken Hodge


Anytime this thread is brought up someone should have a rubber stamp, print this and close the thread.

This really is no contest, even for those who are not old enough to remember it.
 

ReggieDunlop68

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Samuelsson is not 1st pairing. 2nd pairing, yeah. Mid 90s man. 1st pairing calibre was Leetch, Chelios, McInnis, Coffey, Suter, Bourque, Housley, Lidstrom, Zubov, Larry Murphy, Teppo, Stevens, Hatcher, Gonchar. We traded a legit 1st pairing power play specialist (and how long have we been chasing that horse in the last 2 decades?) for a slow but tough as nails defenseman who would last us all of 4 seasons and 2 year stint with an underproductive Robitaille. Again, flawed logic. There's a bear attacking us. Let's use one of the support beams in the cabin as a bludgeoning weapon - type of flawed logic.

Zubov was on the second pair in Dallas with Sydor. Zubov was on the first unit of the power play. Although he was certainly under-rated, he was not on par with the crowd you mentioned. That being said the Zubov + Nedved for Sameulson + Robitaille was certainly stupid on paper. One would think there was a behind the scenes issue, but I haven't read anything conclusive about it.
 

Roo Returns

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Getting rid of Zubov and Norstrom was the end of the Rangers 1990s success. It was sad seeing those guys play together in Dallas post lockout...like, hey's it's the guy who should have been the Rangers captain (Norstrom) and the All Star PMD (Zubov).

Everything has been covered to death but the one trade that really pissed me off was Aaron Miller for Joe Cirella. Miller had a nice career and Cirella was on the Rangers for 2.5 years.
 

alkurtz

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Samuelsson is not 1st pairing. 2nd pairing, yeah. Mid 90s man. 1st pairing calibre was Leetch, Chelios, McInnis, Coffey, Suter, Bourque, Housley, Lidstrom, Zubov, Larry Murphy, Teppo, Stevens, Hatcher, Gonchar. We traded a legit 1st pairing power play specialist (and how long have we been chasing that horse in the last 2 decades?) for a slow but tough as nails defenseman who would last us all of 4 seasons and 2 year stint with an underproductive Robitaille. Again, flawed logic. There's a bear attacking us. Let's use one of the support beams in the cabin as a bludgeoning weapon - type of flawed logic.

People are forgetting the context of the times and the impact that the Flyers, and in particular Eric Lindros and the Legion of Doom, had not only on the Rangers but the entire league.

If there were two trends that typified the mid-90s, it was size and the trap. All of a sudden everyone was trying to get bigger, stronger, and tougher. That trend lasted until 04-05 lockout after which their was the crackdown on obstruction that has allowed players like Zucc to thrive. When teams set out to draft players it seemed like they often valued size over skill. There are few players in the history of the league who had the impact that Lindros had. Before his concussions sidetracked his career, he was an incredible hockey player. At the time, there weren't many players of his size and few had the combination of size, skating ability, strength, hands, and toughness that he had.

So it wasn't just the Rangers: it was everybody.

Now Ulfie wasn't really that big but he had a reputation as a tough, dirty, take-no-prisoners defenseman, particularly in the crease in front of his own goalie: the perfect antidote to Lindros. It's not a question of him being 1st, 2nd, or 3rd pair (and people made much less of those terms then but talked more of TOI), it was a question of how he would be deployed.

It's always and interesting question of how teams around the league react to the previous year's Cup winner: particularly if that team uses a particular strategy or style. While the Flyers never won the Cup during that era, the Devs with their emphasis on the other trend (the trap) that was the dominant team, Lindros and the Flyers influenced the Rangers and the league in a myriad of ways.

Like Tawnos and others I didn't like the trade but I certainly understood it.
 

True Blue

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I gotta say that this is the same logic that brought us McCarthy, Brashear, Simon, McKenna, Boogaard, Voros, and Glass. Players like Dorsett, Prust, Barnaby, Avery at least would contribute in other ways. Chris Simon gets like a C-

Anyways, I understand the logic. It was just flawed.
Seems that type of thinking is cyclical in Rangers land. Once upon a time, it brought Chris Nilan and Joe Patterson overnight. Now, Knuckles was a useful player and did not play poorly. But it was in reaction to getting pushed around.

Then came the 90's and after getting pushed around again came the trade for Kris King as well as Joe Kocur. And the call up for Tie Domi. And then the desire for more skill came and King and Dome were shipped out. I NEVER liked that trade.
 

True Blue

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It's always and interesting question of how teams around the league react to the previous year's Cup winner: particularly if that team uses a particular strategy or style. While the Flyers never won the Cup during that era, the Devs with their emphasis on the other trend (the trap) that was the dominant team, Lindros and the Flyers influenced the Rangers and the league in a myriad of ways.
True, but those 90's Devils teams were not ones that were going to get pushed around either.
 

Edge

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The Turcotte for Larmer deal was smart. Larmer was a stud, both offensively and defensively. And although he was on the decline (nobody knew it since he was coming off a great season with Chicago), Turcotte would never be the same again either (again, no one knew at the time but he did have a terrible start to the 1993-94 season).

Larmer wound up having a better season for us than Turcotte would have, even though he was off his career averages, and he had an awesome playoffs where he was exactly as advertised.

The Amonte deal was terrible, but yeah, Matteau. You could argue that we would have had an easier time in the playoffs with Amonte and hence wouldn't have needed the Matteau magic OT goals, but I certainly wouldn't want to go back and find out.

Gartner for Anderson though, what a waste. Anderson did absolutely nothing for us, and Gartner was still awesome. No question we still win the Cup with Gartner.

What's interesting is how many long-term guys or popular home grown players were moved or left the organization over a span of two seasons in 1993 and 1994.

Beezer, Erixon, Gartner, Patrick, Turcotte, Weight, Domi, King, Neilson, etc.

I almost can't help but feel we are at a somewhat similar crossroads with this group.
 

NYRFANMANI

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For our days and time, I have to go with the MSL trade.


And the Yandle deal, unless we get something back like a Duclair and a 1st ... yeah. If we sign him, it's still pretty bad.
 

Vitto79

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So many but Norstrim really pissed me off . They had so many Good young players . Amonte, merchant , weight , zidlicky. Even getting then dealing dupuis. Look what he did after
 

*Bob Richards*

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I absolutely despised when we traded Gaborik to Columbus. Obviously turned out to be great.

I wasn't particularly happy losing Gabby (a player I loved) after a 30(?)ish games experiment with having him, Richards and Nash.

Very happy to be wrong though. Dorsett and Moore were solid and Brassard is self explanatory.

Then again, the ****ing guy went and scored 14 goals for LA and the Cup. :facepalm: :laugh:
 

True Blue

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What's interesting is how many long-term guys or popular home grown players were moved or left the organization over a span of two seasons in 1993 and 1994.

Beezer, Erixon, Gartner, Patrick, Turcotte, Weight, Domi, King, Neilson, etc.

I almost can't help but feel we are at a somewhat similar crossroads with this group.
We are. But the question is can the current players be traded in smart deals? Hopefully, IF the deals come, the results will be far better than some of the past deals.
 

True Blue

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Oh, and while we are on the topic, the trade for Lindros was very poor. In hindsight, the assets that were given up did not turn out too great. But at the time of the trade they had value that could have been traded for something else. Trading for a shell of his former self, Lindros was endemic of the way that Sather did business then. You can be a lion or a mouse.
 
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York for Poti

I thought about this one too. What I remember being the most upset about was supposedly the trade was supposed to be Dvorak for Poti. Dvorak got hurt and the trade became York for Poti.

Mike York really disappeared after leaving NY. Poti was a guy that I just loathed.
 

True Blue

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Mike York really disappeared after leaving NY. Poti was a guy that I just loathed.
Ahh....for the glory days of the FLY line!

I feel the same way about Poti. During the Dark Ages,I used to go at least 20 or so games a year. The cries of "Hit 'em with your purse, Poti" would fill the arena.
 
Feb 27, 2002
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Ahh....for the glory days of the FLY line!

I feel the same way about Poti. During the Dark Ages,I used to go at least 20 or so games a year. The cries of "Hit 'em with your purse, Poti" would fill the arena.

It was amazing. Poti seemed to actually prefer being hit to hitting someone. He was 6'3 and could skate and he would avoid hitting people.

Only redeeming part of Poti is his middle name is Emilio. That's pretty sweet.
 

ReggieDunlop68

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It was amazing. Poti seemed to actually prefer being hit to hitting someone. He was 6'3 and could skate and he would avoid hitting people.

Only redeeming part of Poti is his middle name is Emilio. That's pretty sweet.

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Poti was a cream puff, but at the time he was projected to be a top 4 power play specialist. I mean he did have decent points given the terrible scoring at the apex of the dead puck era. In all fairness, I really think Poti was a venting spot for a fandom that was about to spontaneously combust while watching the franchise swirl down the porcelain pee-hole. Trust me. I was one of them.

Anyway, York turned out to be a flash in the pan. Also, RangersTown® has always been harder on defenseman than forwards. I think the "hit them with your purse" line was also said to aging HOF Harry Howell during another ****** period of Rangers history in the 60s.
 

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