20 years ago today

[Masao]

It was April 5, 1995

Canadiens traded captain Kirk Muller and Mathieu Schneider, as well as AHL'er Craig Darby, to the Islanders for Pierre Turgeon and Vladimir Malakhov

Would have been a good trade perhaps, if they could have somehow spared Mathieu Schneider. Trading both Desjardins and Schneider in a couple of months left them with Patrice Brisebois as the number 1 defenceman.

Not to mention Kirk Muller was in tears as he learned about the trade.

That night they won 6-5 against the Nordiques (best team in the league at that point in the season). It was an amazing game. Turgeon had 1 goal and 2 assists. Damphousse played a crazy game. Bryan Fogarty seemed to temporarily live up to his former hype and scored two goals. Of course, Garth Snow was in net.

Guest who was the guest color commentator for that game on TQS? Rene Angelil lol. Funny to see Rene Angelil call a hockey game.

Outside the Forum that night the fans were all super happy with the trade because Turgeon played well. Everyone was thinking the team would make the playoffs.

Still think that trade should not have been made.

Malakhov was very talented but obviously didn't give a crap.
Turgeon would have been a star forward but they got rid of him for a bag of pucks.

http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/06/sports/hockey-turgeon-exits-as-isles-make-their-move.html

Feels like yesterday.

Click to read more...

 

[CupInSIX]

If Malakhov lived up to his potential the trade would have been worth it. He was insanely talented.

The Damphousse-Turgeon-Recchi line was fun to watch for a short while.

 

[Habs13]

I remember that. Big gamble trade

 

[googlymoogly]

This trade was really not that bad. It was the trade for Midget Recchi and giving up Desjardin and power forward LeClair that was bad. Recchi wasn't even worth Desjardin strait up.

 

[donghabs98]

It's sad to see how the Canadiens were dismantled trade by trade during the 90's. Heart and soul guys like Muller,Carbo,Keane were traded away and guys who didn't show much heart like Turgeon (who never should have been named captain) and Malakhov were brought in. The asset management in the 90's was horrific to say the least and the drafting didn't make up for it. The Roy trade was like the final nail in the coffin.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I remember thinking this was a good trade...

 

[CheldishGamibno]

But is there a reason why the Canadiens traded Turgeon for a bag of pucks 3 years later while he was having a good start of a season?

 

[deandebean]

The trade was good at the time. Muller was all soul, but couldn't skate anymore. If we'd had better coaches and a better GM afterwards you eould have had a center line of Turgeon, Damphousse and Koivu for YEARS.

 

[googlymoogly]

But is there a reason why the Canadiens traded Turgeon for a bag of pucks 3 years later while he was having a good start of a season?

Management felt they had to many centers with Vinny and Saku offering two way play Turgeon was expendable to get winger depth. Corson was no longer the guy we knew in the 80s so it was not a good trade then Koivu who was actually leading the league in points gets his first knee injury which leads to us having only Vinny left to take up the slack.

 

[deandebean]

Management felt they had to many centers with Vinny and Saku offering two way play Turgeon was expendable to get winger depth. Corson was no longer the guy we knew in the 80s so it was not a good trade then Koivu who was actually leading the league in points gets his first knee injury which leads to us having only Vinny left to take up the slack.

Bad GM led to this. And then a disagreement between an inexperienced Vigneault and Damphousse led to his trade.

With a better GM, you would have had a great center line and Roy back there. Mmmmm...

Could have, should have, would have blablablabla...

 

[Mynameismark*]

My mind immediately thought Kurt Cobain.

Forgot about this trade being on this day.

 

[optimus2861]

We traded 3 captains in a little over a year during this time period (Carbonneau, Muller, Keane). You could see that the Canadiens were dismantling themselves and it hurt like hell.

Muller was starting to decline but that trade broke him. He never wanted to leave Montreal and certainly not to go to the gongshow that was the Islanders. He was never the same after that.

 

[Scintillating10]

Muller had started to decline and Schneider had that blowup with Roy.

 

[beowulf]

Was a better more than the Recchi one but as mentioned the less of the teams two best dman at the time was killer.

 

[Harry Wong]

Management felt they had to many centers with Vinny and Saku offering two way play Turgeon was expendable to get winger depth. Corson was no longer the guy we knew in the 80s so it was not a good trade then Koivu who was actually leading the league in points gets his first knee injury which leads to us having only Vinny left to take up the slack.

I remember that Koivu looked like the next Gretzky ('the best player outside the NHL before he came to the Habs they said). Can you believe, we had too many great centres with Turgeon being expendable?

And the Rechi trade I remember as the press calling for the Habs to get him at all costs and all of our problems would be solved...

Malakov was very talented guy who if I remember correctly was spotted skiing with his family at (?)Tremblant when he was out with a knee injury.

 

[Masao]

I remember that Koivu looked like the next Gretzky ('the best player outside the NHL before he came to the Habs they said). Can you believe, we had too many great centres with Turgeon being expendable?

And the Rechi trade I remember as the press calling for the Habs to get him at all costs and all of our problems would be solved...

Malakov was very talented guy who if I remember correctly was spotted skiing with his family at (?)Tremblant when he was out with a knee injury.

http://www.canoe.ca/HockeyMontrealArchive/feb11_can.html

Malakhov was a nightmare.

I remember watching the 1995-96 All Star game and seeing all the former Canadiens who were in there, LeClair, Desjardins, Schneider, Roy... lol.

 

[LaP]

If Malakhov lived up to his potential the trade would have been worth it. He was insanely talented.

<

Which potential? He was a 10th round draft pick and his offensive stats in russia were nothing to write home about. In russia he was a 2nd pairing d man. Malakhov was used correctly once in his career and it was when he won the cup with NJ where he was used behind Stevens, Niedermayer and Rafalski as a 2nd pairing d man with no pressure. It was crystal clear the guy never wanted to be a star.

That's often the problem with russian players. They all have great skills even the defensive ones. It doesn't mean they all have what it takes to be top players and stars. It requires more than just skills. Malakhov had a great shot but he was more effective as a big 2nd pairing defensive d man able to bring around 30 points a season.

 

[SOLR]

Which potential? He was a 10th round draft pick and his offensive stats in russia were nothing to write home about. In russia he was a 2nd pairing d man. Malakhov was used correctly once in his career and it was when he won the cup with NJ where he was used behind Stevens, Niedermayer and Rafalski as a 2nd pairing d man with no pressure. It was crystal clear the guy never wanted to be a star.

So basically he was used behind the best D duo of that generation and somehow it means that he didn't want to be a star?

 

[Masao]

Which potential? He was a 10th round draft pick and his offensive stats in russia were nothing to write home about. In russia he was a 2nd pairing d man. Malakhov was used correctly once in his career and it was when he won the cup with NJ where he was used behind Stevens, Niedermayer and Rafalski as a 2nd pairing d man with no pressure. It was crystal clear the guy never wanted to be a star.

That's often the problem with russian players. They all have great skills even the defensive ones. It doesn't mean they all have what it takes to be top players and stars. It requires more than just skills. Malakhov had a great shot but he was more effective as a big 2nd pairing defensive d man able to bring around 30 points a season.

Did he even win the cup in 2006? From what I can get the Devils suspended midway through the season and he never played again

 

[calder candidate]

You don't think that trade should have been made???
Kirk Muller and Mathieu Schneider and AHL'er Craig Darby for Pierre Turgeon and Vladimir Malakhov
Muller was done... Played like 8 more season for 4 teams and is best season was like 40pts.
Turgeons was a star player (from Qc) when on to play for 10 more season never scoring less than 40 pts
Schneider was a great but Malakhov was a good Dman (he was traded for Sourray) but he was the punching bad for media and fan before Brisebois took over ...
Darby was and remainned a AHLer
That was a great trade... The probleme is that we trade Turgeon away for nothing and that it was the team only good move between 93 and like 97, Haller, Carbonneau, Reechi, Bellows, Roy/Keane and the Turgeon/Conroy to STL trades were all pretty horrible trade...


That was a great trade

 

[CupInSIX]

Which potential? He was a 10th round draft pick and his offensive stats in russia were nothing to write home about. In russia he was a 2nd pairing d man. Malakhov was used correctly once in his career and it was when he won the cup with NJ where he was used behind Stevens, Niedermayer and Rafalski as a 2nd pairing d man with no pressure. It was crystal clear the guy never wanted to be a star.

That's often the problem with russian players. They all have great skills even the defensive ones. It doesn't mean they all have what it takes to be top players and stars. It requires more than just skills. Malakhov had a great shot but he was more effective as a big 2nd pairing defensive d man able to bring around 30 points a season.

He played on a stacked Soviet men's team with the likes of Fedorov, Zubov, Mogilny, Makarov, Konstantinov etc and had 52 points in his rookie year with the Islanders. Yeah I'd say he had a lot of potential that he never ended up using.

 

[Scintillating10]

Which potential? He was a 10th round draft pick and his offensive stats in russia were nothing to write home about. In russia he was a 2nd pairing d man. Malakhov was used correctly once in his career and it was when he won the cup with NJ where he was used behind Stevens, Niedermayer and Rafalski as a 2nd pairing d man with no pressure. It was crystal clear the guy never wanted to be a star.

That's often the problem with russian players. They all have great skills even the defensive ones. It doesn't mean they all have what it takes to be top players and stars. It requires more than just skills. Malakhov had a great shot but he was more effective as a big 2nd pairing defensive d man able to bring around 30 points a season.

Malakhov was pretty good in Islanders upset of Penguins in '93.

 

[Forsead]

Did he even win the cup in 2006? From what I can get the Devils suspended midway through the season and he never played again

He talked about his stint with the Devils in 2000. They didn't won the cup in 2006, it was Carolina.

 

[Tyson]

Habs won that trade easily. Turgeon was awesome! When stupid Houle traded Turgeon for Corson that was the straw that broke it all.

 

[Brainiac]

Habs won that trade easily. Turgeon was awesome! When stupid Houle traded Turgeon for Corson that was the straw that broke it all.

That trade was horrible, indeed. And after that, the team was just putrid. Too many great players traded away (Roy, Desjardins, Damphousse, Turgeon etc).

And thank god we were not all on internet forums back in the days. Just imagine the thread(s) about the Roy/Tremblay incident. It would have gone to part MMDCCCXLV in no time.