There are many instances of a trade that looks horrible because a draft pick involved turned into a superstar. A lot of that is left up to chance; the team that traded for the pick may have chosen that player, but there's no guarantee that the team that traded the pick would have taken him even had they had the opportunity. That wasn't even the worst deal Savard was involved in, which is why people may overlook it.
The Denis Savard for Chris Chelios deal looks ludicrous today, but it seemed understandable at the time, at least to the majority; both players were at a similar age, and had similar questions about durability, having being injured for much of the previous season. Montreal lacked a top line center and Chicago needed a defenseman to take the reigns from an aging Doug Wilson. Seemed fair, didn't it? For some reason, though, I just never liked that trade, even when it happened. I didn't think Savard was going to completely drop off the way he did, but I also didn't think he was going to provide an impact nearly large enough to make up for losing Chelios. Sure, Montreal won the Cup in 1993, but that was in no way due to Savard and to say that Chelios was dominant that year would be one of the biggest understatements ever made. I always beleived that the Chelios deal paved the way for the dismantling of the team that happened in the first half of that decade, with Roy, Desjardins, Leclair, and Schneider all being sent out.