News Article: 5 Worst Trades in Senators History

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Karlsson
Spezza
Hossa
Havlat
Hoffman

 

[FlyingJ]

Moving Heatley instead of firing the coach was IMO the biggest mistake this franchise ever made & they have made plenty & continue to make lots of mistakes. While Michalek had a good run here he was nowhere near as prolific a scorer as Heatley was here & Heatley almost single handedly turned the franchise around. The incompetence starts at the top & runs right through the organization at every level it seems including on the ice with most of their acquisitions & their record continues to prove it. The two worse culprits IMO are the owner & the GM, both have to go.

Keeping Heatley was not a possibility, and there was more to it than his dislike of Clouston. I'm completely confident in my source, but I won't post the reason here as it would fall under "rumours/hearsay." If you want more, you can DM me.

But even if Clouston was THE reason Heatley wanted out, it doesn't change the fact that Heatley had only one good year in San Jose before his game started to drop-off (he was never exactly a speedster like Havlat or Hossa even before the accident, post-injury, well, losing another step was devastating). Also, I'm genuinely curious as to what you mean by "turned the franchise around." The team had already been a contender for years prior to Heatley's arrival. I'd actually say he was the least important of the big 3 en route to the Finals.

 

[Beville]

Duchene
Heatley
Karlsson
Hoffman

These are the minimum, sod the draft pick ones (Vlad) because you’re never going to know what happens - Vlad could end up a bust had we drafts him etc.

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDoo]

Not sure if you've followed, but at this point, Dahlen seems to be nothing special, already traded from Vancouver and hints of attitude issues.

Yeah, I was being cheeky.

Burrows was terrible though.

 

[thinkwild]

I differentiate between Hossa, Havlat, non-Chara trades which were forced on us as a result of the salary cap, and Ownership forced trades like alfie etc.

Havlat actually wasn’t that bad a trade given the new cap era's constraints on our abilities to trade. We were cap pressed and he was due to triple his salary or walk. Getting a 40 pt, top 4 dman, playing for less than a million dollars in a cap era is a pretty smart move given the danger of getting nothing and the need to manage cap space wisely.

The Spezza trade ( not getting at least one 1st really surprised me) really reinforced the idea to me that the trade values I used to apply were no longer good. Trade values went way down. That should have prepared me for the terrible EK return.

I still think that the Sens latest fact pattern all makes sense if I operate on the assumption that Melnyk could see he was never going to give EK a $90mil contract, rather that would be an inflection point where he would tear down, spend to the floor for a few years, and pay off debt which can also help him sell too if he is ever so inclined. If that is true, and until he does one of those spend-for-a-draft-pick trades im sticking with it, then the Duchene trade has to be framed in a different light. If Dorion knew that it was all in for one last year, do whatever and don’t worry about the future, cause it'll be bleak rebuilding with a total roster turnover quickly, then the Duchene overpayment due to desperation makes sense at least a tiny little bit more.

But mostly it’s the idea to me that what I used to consider proper trade values, when looking about at the other trades lately, I have to recognize has changed in the cap era (unless desperate for Duchene in a one last gasp, to heck with the consequences trade.) Some of what we consider terrible trade value, can perhaps also be attributed to our terrible lack of recognizing the lesser trade values that are appropriate now. The best trade value is now framed by the RFA compensation schedule.

 

[aragorn]

Keeping Heatley was not a possibility, and there was more to it than his dislike of Clouston. I'm completely confident in my source, but I won't post the reason here as it would fall under "rumours/hearsay." If you want more, you can DM me.

But even if Clouston was THE reason Heatley wanted out, it doesn't change the fact that Heatley had only one good year in San Jose before his game started to drop-off (he was never exactly a speedster like Havlat or Hossa even before the accident, post-injury, well, losing another step was devastating). Also, I'm genuinely curious as to what you mean by "turned the franchise around." The team had already been a contender for years prior to Heatley's arrival. I'd actually say he was the least important of the big 3 en route to the Finals.

Until Heatley got here they were unable to beat the Leafs in the playoffs, Heatley's ability to score & McGratton dropping Domi IMO ended the Leafs curse over Ottawa & they were no longer a concern. But you're right after he left his career took a nose dive.