Players trying to secure their legacy

[ResilientBeast]

My friend and I were talking about this the other day in the history of the league we struggled to find big name players who used FA to go to a better situation for their legacy (win championships).

In the modern NBA this seems to happen whenever a top 20 player hits FA they go somewhere they can think can win a championship.

The best example we could think of was Selanne and Kariya joining Colorado in 03/04. They even took a discount to try and create a super team.

Hossa in 08, 09 also counts

Are there any more examples through hockey history we didn't think of? I'd prefer to avoid trades because unless the player forced the trade to that team it doesn't quite fulfill my internal criteria.

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[Samkow]

Who can forget Mats Sundin's (incredibly ill advised) half season as a Canuck?

 

[ResilientBeast]

While a good example I'm trying to find players who were closer to their prime

 

[GlitchMarner]

While a good example I'm trying to find players who were closer to their prime

He was coming off a season where he had 78 points in 74 games. That was prime Sundin.

If he hadn't missed half the next season and had prepared in the summer to play and everything, I do think he might have hit 70 points and then could have kept going.

 

[steve141]

Who can forget Mats Sundin's (incredibly ill advised) half season as a Canuck?

His own version is that he was pushed out. He wanted to continue and finish his career in Toronto.

 

[steve141]

Are there any more examples through hockey history we didn't think of? I'd prefer to avoid trades because unless the player forced the trade to that team it doesn't quite fulfill my internal criteria.

Hossa claimed that was the reason he left the Penguins for the Red Wings after the 2008 Stanley Cup final.

 

[ResilientBeast]

Hossa claimed that was the reason he left the Penguins for the Red Wings after the 2008 Stanley Cup final.

Hossa was another example I thought of but forgot to mention

 

[sharkhawk]

Chelios when he was traded from the the hawks to the wings. He wanted out of Chicago cause he saw that they weren’t going to try to win and requested the trade

 

[brachyrynchos]

Robitaille took less money to play for Detroit, also played less minutes than when he was in LA, he wanted a Cup, and he got one.

 

[boyko10]

Hasek?

 

[brachyrynchos]

Hasek?

Absolutely. Signed with Ottawa and Detroit 'cause he saw them as contenders, Hasek really could've cashed in if he wanted to, but played for less and with performance bonuses.

 

[Troubadour]

Daniel Alfredsson.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Who can forget Mats Sundin's (incredibly ill advised) half season as a Canuck?

he was one 16th canucks win in 2011 from being remembered as the wise old vet who took guys under his wing and taught a talented young team how to win but didn’t stay long enough to see the results, like ed westfall on the island, tonelli in calgary, wendel clark in quebec, gary roberts in pittsburgh, marty lapointe in chicago. even today, he is remembered very fondly in vancouver by everyone except the lunatic mike gillis-hating (or maybe jim benning-loving?) fringe.

how is that ill advised? the leafs didn’t want him back and on his watch the sedins turned into mvps and kesler unexpectedly blossomed from a solid two-way 40 point guy to a 70 point selke calibre legit star.

what did you want him to do, just retire? we can’t all be happy golfing and sipping arnold palmers like shane doan.

in the same way, i don’t see alfie as a cup chaser either. they were just guys who needed a new situation because the old one ran out on them, no different than modano or brodeur.

Chelios when he was traded from the the hawks to the wings. He wanted out of Chicago cause he saw that they weren’t going to try to win and requested the trade

chelios has said many times that he wanted to stay but the hawks weren’t going to re-sign him. the hawks gm confirmed it.

ray bourque is probably the king of this thread though.

 

[sr edler]

Who can forget Mats Sundin's (incredibly ill advised) half season as a Canuck?

Kesler–Sundin–Demitra was a nice line while it lasted. It's also a kinda strange line since it's 3 centers.