Detroit Red Wings Trade History: Best and Worst Trades of All-Time

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

I will never understand how these guys think playing under Yzerman would hurt them rather than help them.

It's actually ****ing baffling.

I think leading up to the Oates trade the Wings felt like they were deep in centers and Oates might even end up the #3 center. Can't think of who could've been ahead of him though. Joe Murphy maybe?

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Ego.

If you think you're the best around, you want to get treated like you're the best around.

It might even be advantageous to hang around and feast on second line matchups, but that won't help when you get the gnawing feeling at your heart that you're not getting the credit you deserve.

See Rocky 5. Tommy Gunn dominated people and ran to the title. But the whole time, he was Rocky's boy and everything was "Rocky this, rocky that". The climax of the movie happens because he listens to the Don King knockoff and goes off on his own because he wanted to have the spotlight on himself. Whereas in that movie world, if he had just stayed with Rocky, he'd be further along because he was wrecking crap left and right when he did that.

Ego and competitiveness.

If you think you can help the team you want to be out there and not watching from the bench. You want the ice time.

Like with Filppula. I doubt he thought he was better than Datsyuk or Zetteberg but knew that on another team could be the #2 center and could get the minutes that go with it.

 

[Winger98]

Ego and competitiveness.

If you think you can help the team you want to be out there and not watching from the bench. You want the ice time.

Like with Filppula. I doubt he thought he was better than Datsyuk or Zetteberg but knew that on another team could be the #2 center and could get the minutes that go with it.

And if a guy doesn't have that sort of ego/competitiveness, he's going to have a hard time being great. Credit to Oates, he became a HoFer in his own right.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

Ego and competitiveness.

If you think you can help the team you want to be out there and not watching from the bench. You want the ice time.

Like with Filppula. I doubt he thought he was better than Datsyuk or Zetteberg but knew that on another team could be the #2 center and could get the minutes that go with it.

I was speaking more to the Fedorov and Oates level player than Filppula when talking about ego.

Guys who are Hall of Famers who by virtue of being behind Steve Yzerman will never be the #1 guy. Guys who can be The Man on a successful team.

There are certainly the guys like Filppula who will do it to get more icetime and better opportunities, but for a guy like Fedorov, he was one of the best hockey players on the planet in 93-99 but he was never going to be the true franchise in Detroit with Yzerman there. Oates probably felt the same way, but even more so in the 80s, when Yzerman was an offensive juggernaut and not just a fantastic offensive player who turned into a great defensive one as well.

 

[Mount Suribachi]

Ego and competitiveness.

If you think you can help the team you want to be out there and not watching from the bench. You want the ice time.

Like with Filppula. I doubt he thought he was better than Datsyuk or Zetteberg but knew that on another team could be the #2 center and could get the minutes that go with it.

Flip was the 2C in the 08 cup run and he left because he didn't want to play for Babcock anymore.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Flip was the 2C in the 08 cup run and he left because he didn't want to play for Babcock anymore.

Ah this old revisionist history again. Feel free to provide a link that he didn't want to play for Babcock. It's interesting what a monster Babcock was this whole time but no one really noticed until he left for Toronto.

All the information I've seen is that Filppula turned down an early offer from the Wings to go explore the market, then came back around to them and a deal couldn't be worked out to his liking. Plus in Tampa he would be the clear #2 Center.

Brief usage in the 2008 Cup Run aside, Flip would always be behind Zetterberg and Datsyuk, moving up to the second line only when Babcock felt like reuniting the Euro twins.

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

Ah this old revisionist history again. Feel free to provide a link that he didn't want to play for Babcock. It's interesting what a monster Babcock was this whole time but no one really noticed until he left for Toronto.

All the information I've seen is that Filppula turned down an early offer from the Wings to go explore the market, then came back around to them and a deal couldn't be worked out to his liking. Plus in Tampa he would be the clear #2 Center.

Brief usage in the 2008 Cup Run aside, Flip would always be behind Zetterberg and Datsyuk, moving up to the second line only when Babcock felt like reuniting the Euro twins.

There is a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest Filppula didn't like Babcock, he apparently vetoed a trade to Toronto this past deadline as well. I don't think this says anything bad about either Filppula or Babcock necessarily, it's just that it's likely that Filppula didn't like playing for him.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

There is a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest Filppula didn't like Babcock, he apparently vetoed a trade to Toronto this past deadline as well. I don't think this says anything bad about either Filppula or Babcock necessarily, it's just that it's likely that Filppula didn't like playing for him.

Circumstantial evidence?

I think passing on Toronto has more to do with the wealth of young players they have and the possibility of vets with contracts like his getting buried in the minors.

At the time of the potential trade to the Leafs, these were Flip's thoughts on Babcock:

I felt like he taught me to play the right way, Filppula said, play well defensively and after that the good things will happen offensively as well. Obviously, I was really fortunate in Detroit having so many good players to kind of look at what they do on and off the ice. So I feel really lucky about that.

And Babcocks thoughts on Flip:

He gives Flyers more depth down the middle so they can play more of a four-line game, the coach noted. He's probably a better player (than in Detroit). No. 1, he's a real good man, a good pro. He's also a really good skater, he plays with and without the puck and distributes it well.

 

[vladdy16]

Speaking from personal experience, during the time that 51,26 and Babcock were all Red Wings, there was plenty of discussion about a rift between those players and the coach that seemingly ended in the departure of the players. Not revisionist at all imo.

As for Oates, not to be a gossip, but I believe his departure had more to do with an off-ice Prince Fielder type situation than Steve Yzerman.

 

[Peter Tosh]

Maybe the most important thing about this thread is the fact that trades have been a huge part of our success in the past. The Shanahan-trade lead to the cups in '97 and '98, the Hasek-trade lead to the cup in '02 and Brad Stuart was a important piece of the '08 puzzle.

For some reason, Ken Holland doesn't use this important tool. Keith Primeau and Paul Coffey where big names back in '97, but sending them to Hartford for Shanahan proved to be worth it. Slava Kozlov was a Nyquist/Tatar-ish top 6 winger, but getting Hasek required to send something back.

Successful teams makes trades. Just look at Pittsburgh and Chicago. We need to start making trades as well.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Speaking from personal experience, during the time that 51,26 and Babcock were all Red Wings, there was plenty of discussion about a rift between those players and the coach that seemingly ended in the departure of the players. Not revisionist at all imo.

As for Oates, not to be a gossip, but I believe his departure had more to do with an off-ice Prince Fielder type situation than Steve Yzerman.

Mitch Albom had an interesting article about Oates some years back.

When the heat came down  “Why did they make such a move?† Red Wings management began to squirm. And then I started to hear things about Oates. Rumors. Whispers. “Did you know he had a drug problem?â€Â
This was news to me. I’d known Oates while he was here. He always seemed pretty straight.
“Well,†these voices said, “he was a big party guy. He was getting out of control. That’s why the Wings traded him.â€Â

“My drug problem,†he said, shaking his head in disbelief. “You saw me play. Did I play like a had a drug problem?
“I was a single guy here. I went out a lot. So what? I never abused myself. I never went out the night before a game.
“When these rumors came up, I didn’t want to debate them, because if you do, you look cheap. I don’t want to be that kind of person. . . .
“And I was never confronted with these rumors by the Wings. As far as I was told, I was traded for (Federko’s) leadership.â€Â

“Come on, just because you go to a bar where some people do drugs doesn’t mean you do them,†Oates said. “Maybe the Wings were trying to cover themselves on the trade with this stuff.

http://www.mitchalbom.com/as-oates-will-attest-whispers-can-be-nasty/

It's hard to know where the truth lies. Was there some merit to Oates' reputation? Was the franchise scrambling for excuses for one of the worst trades in their franchise history?

Based on the rest of his career, the Wings badly misjudged him in some way, be it in talent or character. Albom believes Oates never had a drug problem.

 

[Suavecito]

Best trade?

Shanahan coming to Detroit...IMHO he's a big reason why the Wings won 3 Cups with him.

 

[GMR]

I would say the Red Kelly fiasco was the worst. Guy went on to win four Cups in Toronto after that, while the Wings won nothing. The Dionne traded is also very bad, though the team likely didn't have the pieces to compete even with Dionne on it.

The best has to be Chelios because he was an effective player for 10 years in Detroit. Chicago thought he was done when they traded him for sour face Eriksson. The Shanahan trade was also a great candidate for the best trade, though they did give up two pretty good pieces for him.

 

[14ari13]

Hasek and Lang trades.

 

[Sadekuuro]

It's hard to know where the truth lies. Was there some merit to Oates' reputation? Was the franchise scrambling for excuses for one of the worst trades in their franchise history?

No idea in Oates' case, but FWIW this kind of thing is standard operating procedure with some organizations and their media markets. Boston, for instance, does this with every star they run out of town.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

No idea in Oates' case, but FWIW this kind of thing is standard operating procedure with some organizations and their media markets. Boston, for instance, does this with every star they run out of town.

The Wings do it. They smeared Oates, Primeau, heck they just did it to Mrazek and he is still here...

I don't like this aspect about them. It is easier to do when you control the media in the way the Ilitch family does. CuJo was the worst in terms of treatment, well him or what they have forced the Aurie family through.

But the Oates Yzerman thing was a big deal from everything I have ever heard. I love Stevie Y like virtually everyone else from Detroit, but lets not pretend he didn't throw his weight around because he did. Fedorov has by far the longest tenure of anyone reported to have some friction with him and nothing like what we have heard on other guys that were sent packing.

For the record I want a superstar just like him with our next high pick. It was Stevie's dressing room, get on board or get out. Oates and Primeau were guys that openly talked about needing ice time, they got it elsewhere and never won a thing.

 

[Henkka]

Oates-Yzerman is interesting case.

Both were right handed playmakers, Yzerman more of a goal-scorer. Kind of what Zetterberg-Datsyuk was. Dats was the "Oates" in the big picture.

Devellano maybe thought that they wouldn't work together at 1st line and Oates would suffer as a 2nd liner. That was over-thinking, which he had regret later.

If Yzerman would have been a lefty, he would been a perfect fit as a right-handed playmaker Oates on the PP. But righty-righty won't work on paper. Like Devellano did think. Like fans would think. And trading Oates was a mistake.

Same handnesses at top line stars will work as further as Stanley Cup win as Dats+Z proved.

 

[cole von cole]

Best: Shanahan for Coffey and Primeau
Worst: Hall and Lindsay for Bassen, Wilson, Preston, and Kennedy

 

[Sadekuuro]

The Wings do it. They smeared Oates, Primeau, heck they just did it to Mrazek and he is still here...

I don't like this aspect about them. It is easier to do when you control the media in the way the Ilitch family does. CuJo was the worst in terms of treatment, well him or what they have forced the Aurie family through.

I suspect every org does it to some degree, but I don't have firsthand knowledge of how most of the rest do their business. I don't like it either, but I also don't find it terribly surprising.

 

[Hobnobs]

One of the worst trades was actually a series of trades during "the Darkness"-era where Ned Harness replaced Mahovlich, Unger (because of the length of his hair) and a good checking center in MacGregor with Mickey Redmond and Berenson. Took us about 30 years to recover.

Harkness turned a franchise that was on its way up and had just made the playoffs again into the Dead Things...

 

[Hobnobs]

I think leading up to the Oates trade the Wings felt like they were deep in centers and Oates might even end up the #3 center. Can't think of who could've been ahead of him though. Joe Murphy maybe?

Nah it was a failed try to shake up the team after losing to the hawks. Federko was loved by coach Demers so they thought it would be a good move. Red Wings already had eyes on younger replacements as well as they two days later drafted Sillinger and Fedorov.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I suspect every org does it to some degree, but I don't have firsthand knowledge of how most of the rest do their business. I don't like it either, but I also don't find it terribly surprising.

It is life there is gossip to be had around the Wings just like at any other workplace. I just don't like when they make an active hit campaign. Like what they did to Mrazek, where they get the press attacking in unison.