BostonBob
4 Ever The Greatest
You have to admire Savard admitting to backing out of this Neely deal. 
from si.com:
Suspend your disbelief for a moment and imagine this, if you can. While struggling mightily as a third-year NHL player with the Vancouver Canucks and on the precipice of becoming a bust, Cam Neely is dealt, not to the Boston Bruins, but to their hated rival, the Montreal Canadiens during the 1985-86 season. Just think about that for a minute and how so much would have been so different if that had happened. Mind blown, right?
Now you have to know that this is actually not just some sort of fantasy. It came very, very close to happening, according to the man who was at the center of the trade talks. In his recently released authorized biography, Serge Savard – Forever Canadien, the Habs legend detailed how he had a deal in ’85-86 with the Canucks that would have had the future Hall of Famer in a Canadiens uniform in exchange for the very workmanlike and unspectacular Mike McPhee. Savard balked on the deal and Neely was dealt to the Bruins that summer for Barry Pederson in one of the most lopsided trades in NHL history. (It turns out the McPhee traded probably would have worked out better for Vancouver, but would have been larceny nonetheless.)
“I was scared to death because I was a young manager,” Savard told TheHockeyNews.com. “I went to Vancouver and Tom Watt was the coach and he was my coach in Winnipeg so I knew him very well. And (Watt) was in love with McPhee. (Neely) was a young player and he wasn’t playing well and I knew McPhee was a pretty good player who would give me character. Not a lot of goals, but I kept him because I didn’t have the guts to make that trade.”
Full story: What if Cam Neely had been dealt to Montreal instead of Boston?
from si.com:
Suspend your disbelief for a moment and imagine this, if you can. While struggling mightily as a third-year NHL player with the Vancouver Canucks and on the precipice of becoming a bust, Cam Neely is dealt, not to the Boston Bruins, but to their hated rival, the Montreal Canadiens during the 1985-86 season. Just think about that for a minute and how so much would have been so different if that had happened. Mind blown, right?
Now you have to know that this is actually not just some sort of fantasy. It came very, very close to happening, according to the man who was at the center of the trade talks. In his recently released authorized biography, Serge Savard – Forever Canadien, the Habs legend detailed how he had a deal in ’85-86 with the Canucks that would have had the future Hall of Famer in a Canadiens uniform in exchange for the very workmanlike and unspectacular Mike McPhee. Savard balked on the deal and Neely was dealt to the Bruins that summer for Barry Pederson in one of the most lopsided trades in NHL history. (It turns out the McPhee traded probably would have worked out better for Vancouver, but would have been larceny nonetheless.)
“I was scared to death because I was a young manager,” Savard told TheHockeyNews.com. “I went to Vancouver and Tom Watt was the coach and he was my coach in Winnipeg so I knew him very well. And (Watt) was in love with McPhee. (Neely) was a young player and he wasn’t playing well and I knew McPhee was a pretty good player who would give me character. Not a lot of goals, but I kept him because I didn’t have the guts to make that trade.”
Full story: What if Cam Neely had been dealt to Montreal instead of Boston?
