Eric Desjardins

[Jim MacDonald]

Montreal received Mark Recchi in the trade.

February 9, 1995: Traded to Philadelphia by Montreal with Gilbert Dionne and John LeClair for Mark Recchi and Philadelphia's 3rd round choice (Martin Hohenberger) in 1995 Entry Draft.

Thank you thank you.....wow did Philly get the better of this deal....here the Habs are two years removed from winning the Cup and they send those guys away?!?! It just seems so "one-sided."

 

[Jim MacDonald]

a healthy Desjardins could have been the difference in the Flyers winning a Cup in '04

Oh wow....I watched a bunch of highlights from the Tampa Bay/Philly final but cant remember Desjardins presence.....did he get hurt in the previous series vs the Leafs (or get banged up before that). Regardless a BIG loss on the back end for Philly at that stage of the playoffs....can't think of who the heck else would've been on the back end at that point in time....at the risk of sounding stupid *gulp* Dykhuis or Ninimaa still around? Andy Delmore still there at that point?

 

[GMR]

Thank you thank you.....wow did Philly get the better of this deal....here the Habs are two years removed from winning the Cup and they send those guys away?!?! It just seems so "one-sided."

That was only a few years after they traded Chris Chelios. It's odd, though, that Montreal would trade a French Canadian and another guy with a French name, for a guy with a non-French name. Even then they didn't get it right. They just made terrible trades around that time. A few years later, they made it worse with the Roy trade.

 

[FerrisRox]

i don’t consider scott stevens in his generation. niedermayer was certainly better from 2003 to 2006, but i was talking about 1998 to 2002.

How could Stevens not be in his generation? Scott Stevens was in the league for all but one of the seasons Eric Desjardins played in the NHL.

As for Neidermayer, I don't see any argument at all that he wasn't a better defesneman than Eric Desjardins. You have arbitrarily (not sure why) selected the window from 1998 to 2002... How come?

 

[Jim MacDonald]

That was only a few years after they traded Chris Chelios. It's odd, though, that Montreal would trade a French Canadian and another guy with a French name, for a guy with a non-French name. Even then they didn't get it right. They just made terrible trades around that time. A few years later, they made it worse with the Roy trade.

I wonder who the GM is for Montreal at this time.....During the Roy trade I read Scotty Bowman say the GM at that time was Rejean Houle, and he was a newer GM for them, maybe even a rookie GM? I wonder if the Desjardins/LeClair trades fell in Houle's bailiwick too?

 

[GMR]

I wonder who the GM is for Montreal at this time.....During the Roy trade I read Scotty Bowman say the GM at that time was Rejean Houle, and he was a newer GM for them, maybe even a rookie GM? I wonder if the Desjardins/LeClair trades fell in Houle's bailiwick too?

Pretty sure the Chelios trade was on Savard. Not sure about the latter trades. May have been during Houle's watch.

 

[Asheville]

I'm pleased to see that others liked Desjardins. A guy who did everything well to very well and nothing poorly.

Happy to see y'all enjoying this discussion. I've always considered talking about the Desjardins of the world far more illuminating than the ever-tiring Gretzky vs. Orr vs. Lemieux vs. Howe vs. Jesus vs. Ghandi or whatever other hypothetical nonsense that gets recycled.

 

[Stephen]

between konstantinov’s injury and niedermayer’s breakout, he was imo the clear third best dman of his generation, after blake, lidstrom, and pronger.

Aren't you forgetting Brian Leetch (1968) and Sergei Zubov (1970) for starters?

I'd say Eric Desjardins was closer to the Mathieu Schneider level of defenseman than Lidstrom, Blake, Pronger and Niedermayer.

 

[Asheville]

Aren't you forgetting Brian Leetch (1968) and Sergei Zubov (1970) for starters?

I'd say Eric Desjardins was closer to the Mathieu Schneider level of defenseman than Lidstrom, Blake, Pronger and Niedermayer.

Yet teams found Schneider pretty replaceable. Desjardins? Well, he played on about as many teams as......Blake, Lidstrom and Niedermayer.

 

[CHIP72]

Thank you thank you.....wow did Philly get the better of this deal....here the Habs are two years removed from winning the Cup and they send those guys away?!?! It just seems so "one-sided."

John LeClair was considered a 2nd/3rd line kind of player at the time of the trade; he didn’t really blossom until he played on a line with Lindros. Desjardins was considered the best player the Flyers received at the time of the trade.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

John LeClair was considered a 2nd/3rd line kind of player at the time of the trade; he didn’t really blossom until he played on a line with Lindros. Desjardins was considered the best player the Flyers received at the time of the trade.

he was at the time and he continued to be after, imo

 

[CHIP72]

That was only a few years after they traded Chris Chelios. It's odd, though, that Montreal would trade a French Canadian and another guy with a French name, for a guy with a non-French name. Even then they didn't get it right. They just made terrible trades around that time. A few years later, they made it worse with the Roy trade.

On top of what you said, don’t forget that LeClair was from St. Albans, VT, which is less than 1 1/2 hours (about 70 miles or 110 kilometers) from Montreal.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

How could Stevens not be in his generation? Scott Stevens was in the league for all but one of the seasons Eric Desjardins played in the NHL.

players whose careers started in the 80s—bourque, coffey, chelios, stevens, macinnis, leetch (murphy, etc etc)

players whose careers started in the 90s—blake, lidstrom, konstantinov, zubiv, pronger, gonchar, chara

Aren't you forgetting Brian Leetch (1968) and Sergei Zubov (1970) for starters?

but obviously generations are arbitrary and hard to parse out. yes desjardins and leetch are only a year apart, and yes desjardins technically played 30-odd games in 1989. but you gotta draw a line somewhere. and leetch peaked primarily when bourque was winning norrises, and chelios, stevens, and macinnis peaked. desjardins peaked in the late 90s, when blake won his norris, and pronger and lidstrom were on the verge. he seems much more their peer, chronologically.

no i did not forget zubov

As for Neidermayer, I don't see any argument at all that he wasn't a better defesneman than Eric Desjardins. You have arbitrarily (not sure why) selected the window from 1998 to 2002... How come?

because i was pointing out that there was a time when desjardins was the fourth best player of his cohort. we forget that that was the case once upon a time.

that window is after konstantinov’s injury and before niedermayer’s breakout

 

[FerrisRox]

players whose careers started in the 80s—bourque, coffey, chelios, stevens, macinnis, leetch (murphy, etc etc)

players whose careers started in the 90s—blake, lidstrom, konstantinov, zubiv, pronger, gonchar, chara

Both of Scott Stevens and Eric Desjardins had their careers start in the 1980's, and, as I said in my previous post, there is only one season of Eric Desjardins entire career where Scott Stevens was also in the league.

Desjardins' rookie season was in 1988-89. By the time the 80's had ended he already had two seasons and a Stanley Cup Final appearance on his resume.

 

[Stephen]

but obviously generations are arbitrary and hard to parse out. yes desjardins and leetch are only a year apart, and yes desjardins technically played 30-odd games in 1989. but you gotta draw a line somewhere. and leetch peaked primarily when bourque was winning norrises, and chelios, stevens, and macinnis peaked. desjardins peaked in the late 90s, when blake won his norris, and pronger and lidstrom were on the verge. he seems much more their peer, chronologically.

This is too much post rationalization for a "hot take" and isn't convincing.

To claim Leetch and Desjardins don't belong to the same generation while being 15 month apart in age, while starting their careers within 1.5 years of each other and retiring the same season is strange. Yes, Leetch did "peaked" earlier than Desjardins but Desjardins never reached Leetch's peak. Their primes were in the same era. They won their cups in 1993 and 1994 as number one defensemen. I also would have taken Leetch every year over Desjardins post 1997 Norris Trophy too. Leetch just had the misfortune of being on some terrible Rangers teams.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

He was a defensive anchor on those habs team as well as a RHD. Which Canada felt they needed.

even in 1991? it was his first season as a full time player (he didn’t dress for every playoff game in 89 or 90). and as of the 91 cc desjardins still hadn’t played 65 games in a single season yet.

i remember he was considered promising but i don’t remember him being a defensive anchor per se. but i certainly didn’t watch the habs game in game out.

blake was a RHD too of course.

He was simply too young and in context "unknown". I don't think anyone at the time said "What about Rob Blake?". The only players I can think of that might have been somewhat thought of is McSorley, Macoun, Wilson and perhaps Patrick.

blake scored almost as much in his rookie year (46 pts) as desjardins had in three partials (55 pts in 153 games).

maybe i was overly familiar with him because the canucks had played the kings in the playoffs, but i remember him as the third highest regraded rookie in a fantastic class, behind belfour and fedorov but ahead of jagr, sundin, richter, and cujo. the constant larry robinson comparisons felt legit to me. as a guy who iirc came on strong in the second half, it feels very odd to me that deshardins got the nod over blake, who was a year long calder candidate.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i think you two other two dudes are arguing with stuff i didn’t say

but go nuts

 

[Normand Lacombe]

I wonder who the GM is for Montreal at this time.....During the Roy trade I read Scotty Bowman say the GM at that time was Rejean Houle, and he was a newer GM for them, maybe even a rookie GM? I wonder if the Desjardins/LeClair trades fell in Houle's bailiwick too?

Serge Savard was the GM who traded Desjardins and LeClair. Savard was fired in October of 1995 and was replaced by Houle. Houle traded Roy two months later.

 

[Normand Lacombe]

Oh wow....I watched a bunch of highlights from the Tampa Bay/Philly final but cant remember Desjardins presence.....did he get hurt in the previous series vs the Leafs (or get banged up before that). Regardless a BIG loss on the back end for Philly at that stage of the playoffs....can't think of who the heck else would've been on the back end at that point in time....at the risk of sounding stupid *gulp* Dykhuis or Ninimaa still around? Andy Delmore still there at that point?

Niinima, Dykhius and Delmore were long gone by 2004.

Desjardins didn't play any playoff games in 2004. Desjardins was injured in January and only played 3 more games the rest of the year. The defensemen for the Flyers in the playoffs were Joni Pitkanen, Kim Johnsson, Danny Markov, Vladimir Malakhov, Marcus Ragnarsson and Mattias Timander. Dennis Seidenberg also appeared in 3 playoff games. The best defensemen in those playoffs was Markov and Johnsson, but Desjardins presence was sorely missed.

 

[YEM]

Desjardins didn't play any playoff games in 2004. Desjardins was injured in January and only played 3 more games the rest of the year.

he broke his arm, came back for the last 3 games of the regular season, and then reinjured the arm plying catch with his son and missed the playoffs

 

[Eisen]

How do you see him ahead of Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermayer?

At that time he was ahead of Niedermayer. Niedermayer broke out very late.

 

[Jim MacDonald]

he broke his arm, came back for the last 3 games of the regular season, and then reinjured the arm plying catch with his son and missed the playoffs

Wow.....ugh!

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

At that time he was ahead of Niedermayer. Niedermayer broke out very late.

desjardins was four years older too

 

[Crosstraffic]

John LeClair was considered a 2nd/3rd line kind of player at the time of the trade; he didn’t really blossom until he played on a line with Lindros. Desjardins was considered the best player the Flyers received at the time of the trade.

He also was clutch, scored back to back ot goals in games 3 and 4 against the Kings in 93.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

you kind of have to go back and look at the amazing system the habs had in the few years between the last hurrah of the '80s group in the '89 finals run and the 1993 cup team...

desjardins was hands down the best young player. but the blueline also had sylvain lefebvre, mathieu schneider, lyle odelein, with j.j. daigneault as the old man (24 in 1990, 27 when they won the cup).

up front, leclair was the one who turned out to be a star and andrew cassels was a longtime skill guy, but such good role players: mike keane, brent gilchrist, jocelyn lemieux, benoit brunet, and tom chorske. paul dipietro and gilbert dionne had their moments, stephan lebeau looked like more than that at times. craig conroy was a long ways away but he was in the system too.

in the 1990 season, jyrki lumme (23 years old) was still there. in '91, gerald diduck (25). and in '92, petr svoboda (25).

brisebois was drafted in 1989, turner stevenson in 1990. sean hill was in the system and nobody remembers this but he actually dressed for a few games in the '93 cup run.

it was one of the amazing quick rebuilds in history. the 1989 team had svoboda and entering his prime chelios, with desjardins getting his feet wet, but was also old guys: robinson, rick green, ludwig.

up front, there was a young group and a veteran group. of the vet group only carbonneau was retained, and naslund, smith, ryan walter, mike mcphee were all replaced. and the young group was also basically turned completely over, and i think we forget just how young those guys were: in 1991, when desjardins established himself as an everyday roster player, richer and corson were 24, courtnall was 25. claude lemieux, who had been traded the summer before, was also 25. hell, patrick roy was 25.

i remember all this well because in '91, there were a lot of habs pro set rookie cards. keane, lebeau, and schneider in the lower set, and more dramatically jc bergeron, cassels, chorske, odelein, mark pederson, daigneault, desjardins, donald dufresne, todd ewen, gilchrist, and lefebvre in the mid-season set. Pro Set 1990-91 Hockey Card Checklist at hockeydb.com the only guys i knew were desjardins, who by midseason had some juice as an emerging young defenseman, and schneider, who i have this weird foggy memory of getting slashed or hit by the puck in the face that season and going end to end to score a goal with blood dripping down his face. and i thought to myself, this team that recently was in the finals with richer, courtnall, corson, and carbonneau, plus denis savard, now is adding all those young guys? they'll be unstoppable.

and then by 1993, richer, courtnall, and corson were upgraded for muller, bellows, and damphousse, and basically only roy and carbonneau from the '89 team, with new stars and that amazing push from below won the cup.

look at how that team survived disastrously giving away chelios and claude lemieux. and just look at all the young guys they ended up discarding: lefebvre, lumme, diduck, svoboda, chorske, jocelyn lemieux, those guys all eventually were useful contributors to stanley cup finalists in the '90s, and the first three defensemen were much more than that to their teams. what an embarrassment of riches, what a scouting department and developmental system.