Question about Bryan Trottier

[ThreeLeftSkates]

I always felt Mike Bossy got slighted on so many different stages. Bossy was overshadowed by Guy Lafleur in the beginning of his career and Wayne Gretzky at the end. In Canada Cup play. Shit even at the All Star Game at the Coliseum Bossy was upstaged.

He was considered a byproduct of Trottier, even after they were split up.

 

[And You Feel Shame]

If you hated Maloney, let me tell you about a guy named Mike Milbury.

Maloney was worse than Milbury - just wasn't around as long.

 

[MJF]

Maloney was worse than Milbury - just wasn't around as long.

Yes, slight nod to Maloney in the who's worse contest. Maloney did a ton of damage to the franchise in a short amount of time. And he did hire Mike Milbury.

 

[hoser14]

Isles fans, maybe you could clear something up for me about Trottier.

I was browsing through hockey-reference.com and decided to look up Trottier's career stats. I noticed that he seemed to just hit a wall offensively after age 31, when his production dropped dramatically from 82 points to 45 points.

What was the cause of this? Wear and tear on his body or did he suffer an injury that kind of hampered him after age 31?

With a decade plus worth of high playoff mileage, the body breakdown after 30. Back in the old 6 team NHL, they only played 70 games and only 2 rounds of playoffs, not 82 games and 4 rounds of playoffs.

Trotts was one of the best 2-way centers in hockey history, and not a no defense cherry-picker.

 

[hoser14]

My memory is somewhat clear on this one. I think the emergence of Brent Sutter as a #1C was part of the reason for Trottier's decline in stats. Brent Sutter was the Center on the line of Team Canada that won the Canada Cup with Tonelli and Bossy on a very good line. With the success of that line in the Canada Cup, I think Sutter really showed he was capable of being a #1C or atleast 1B. I am sure this had an effect on Trottier's stats. I do recall Arbour using a Sutter, Bossy, Tonelli line which would have cut into Trottier's time with Bossy and Tonelli. Here is a very memorable moment of that series. Bossy scored the OT golden goal to win it.

WOW! And that was right after the end of the Islanders' dynastic run and the beginning of the Oilers' run. That was so long ago that I totally forgot about it (maybe because that there wasn't cable/satellite coverage in 1984). It seems so surreal seeing a team full of Islanders and Oilers playing and beating the Commies.

 

[FerrisRox]

Don Maloney should be rat poisoned for what he did to our roster.

There were a handful of good moves in there. Traded up to get Darius Kasparities, swapped a prospect that didn't amount to anything to add Brian Mullen. Mark Fitzpatrick and the pick that became Adam Deadmarsh for Ron Hextall and the pick that became Todd Bertuzzi was a solid move.

Uwe Krupp and a 1st round pick (Wade Belak) for Ron Sutter and the pick that became Lindros might have been a good deal if Lindros didn't go down so early with a career-ending injury.

Hextall for Soderstrom wasn't a good move and the trade with the Canadiens was definitely lopsided as well as giving up Benoit Hogue for Eric Fichaud, but all in all, his work wasn't terrible.

 

[MJF]

There were a handful of good moves in there. Traded up to get Darius Kasparities, swapped a prospect that didn't amount to anything to add Brian Mullen. Mark Fitzpatrick and the pick that became Adam Deadmarsh for Ron Hextall and the pick that became Todd Bertuzzi was a solid move.

Uwe Krupp and a 1st round pick (Wade Belak) for Ron Sutter and the pick that became Lindros might have been a good deal if Lindros didn't go down so early with a career-ending injury.

Hextall for Soderstrom wasn't a good move and the trade with the Canadiens was definitely lopsided as well as giving up Benoit Hogue for Eric Fichaud, but all in all, his work wasn't terrible.

Don Maloney took a team from the 1993 playoffs that needed one more scoring forward and instead questioned the chemistry of the team during the 1994 season. That season was a series of patchwork acquisitions, failing to get an NHL goalie to replace Glen Healy who he lost to expansion, allowing leading scorer Ray Ferraro to walk for nothing. Maloney completely sank the team that season and was correctly fired for it.

He gutted the heart of the team with the idiotic trade of Pierre Turgeon and Vladimir Malakhov for Kirk Muller and Mathieu Schneider (remember..."Craig Darby was the key to the deal"). That trade alone negates anything you see as a positive move from Maloney.

 

[FerrisRox]

Don Maloney took a team from the 1993 playoffs that needed one more scoring forward and instead questioned the chemistry of the team during the 1994 season. That season was a series of patchwork acquisitions, failing to get an NHL goalie to replace Glen Healy who he lost to expansion.

I would take Ron Hextall over Glenn Healy any day.

 

[MJF]

I would take Ron Hextall over Glenn Healy any day.

So would I, but Hextall shit the bed here. I don't think he made one save in the 94 playoffs. He was a f***ing sieve. The following year our hole in net was even bigger (Soderstrom and Salo) when Maloney traded Hextall.

When your GM's moves misfire he doesn't get a pass. When enough of them misfire, even if they're the right moves on paper, he gets fired. He doesn't get to sit there and say "this should have worked".

 

[doublechili]

So would I, but Hextall shit the bed here. I don't think he made one save in the 94 playoffs. He was a f***ing sieve.

Hextall should have had his name engraved on the NYR's Cup that year. He basically turned the 1st round of the playoffs into a bye for them.

 

[MJF]

Hextall should have had his name engraved on the NYR's Cup that year. He basically turned the 1st round of the playoffs into a bye for them.

Yes he did. Hextall was BRUTAL.

 

[FerrisRox]

So would I, but Hextall shit the bed here. I don't think he made one save in the 94 playoffs. He was a f***ing sieve. The following year our hole in net was even bigger (Soderstrom and Salo) when Maloney traded Hextall.

When your GM's moves misfire he doesn't get a pass. When enough of them misfire, even if they're the right moves on paper, he gets fired. He doesn't get to sit there and say "this should have worked".

I was merely disputing the claim that he "failed to get an NHL goalie to replace Healy." He did. He replaced him with a goalie that was better than Healy. It didn't work out, but neither did Healy. I think there are a lot of fair criticisms of Maloney, but saying he didn't replace Healy is just false.

 

[MJF]

Healy worked just fine. Maloney made the mistake of exposing him to expansion and he was claimed. Error-Maloney. Traded for a past his prime Ron Hextall who by 1994 had a name but his game had left him. In no way did Ron Hextall play better for the Islanders than Glen Healy did. If anything their stats were about the same for Helay’s last season here vs Hextall’s.

 

[Ghost of Ethan Hunt]

Billy Smith reflects on the latter days of the Isles cup teams.

 

[Sparksrus3]

Billy Smith reflects on the latter days of the Isles cup teams.

View attachment 378336

Plastic pipes at Barclays making it tough on Smitty

 

[doublechili]

Plastic pipes at Barclays making it tough on Smitty

 

[Tuckisles]

Yes he did. Hextall was BRUTAL.

One of my best friends is a Rags fan and I remember him calling Hextall sir 5 hole during that series.....

 

[ScaredStreit]

Yes, slight nod to Maloney in the who's worse contest. Maloney did a ton of damage to the franchise in a short amount of time. And he did hire Mike Milbury.

They're both so awful...but Milbury was good at drafting. The biggest points against him were his awful trades of great players he drafted. Maloney was definitely worse.

 

[The Real JT]

So I'm watching Jeopardy with the wife last night and they have a 20 year old episode with Ken Jennings, the Jeopardy GOAT, as a contestant.

Whaddya know but they have a hockey category with a couple of video clues with Tie Domi and Alex Trebek on the ice in Leafs' uniforms.

Next to last clue goes something like this. Bryan Trottier lead this team to 4 Stanley Cup wins in the early 80s.

Ken Jennings answers: what is New York?
Alex asks him to clarify and he says of all things: The NY Rangers!

Smh

 

[AZviaNJ]

Trottier was one of the best 10 players I've seen in my 50 years of watching the NHL. He was the best player on the dynasty team and best player in hockey before Gretzky. He did everything, had no flaws, the perfect 1C.

He fell off as others retired and his body wore down. I went to 2 games of the 1988 NJ series, which the Devils won in 6. Trottier was a -9 in that series, I watched him closely and could see he couldn't keep up physically, he was a shell of himself.

Then he went to Pittsburgh and re-established himself as the perfect 3C, playing a checking and defensive role while garnering 2 additional Cups. Very impressive, not many superstars could or would swallow their pride and play a complimentary role after being an elite player. Speaks to his desire to win.

Bryan Trottier was a winner.

 

[CupHolders]

Thanks.

Yeah, for me it was less about him breaking down, but it seemed to just happen overnight. One season he's point per game, the next he's under 50 points.

Hey Sid, sorry to revive this old post. But due to the "Favorite Rangers" thread on this board, I was reminiscing of older Ranger teams in the late 80's.

Anyway, I'm not sure if you were a fan of the Penguins in the mid to late 90's. But a similar thing seemed to happen Tomas Sandstrom as it did with Trottier.

Sandstrom (A consistent 30-40 goal scoring rate per 80 games throughout his career) put up 35 goals and 70 points in 58 game with Pittsburgh then 9 goals in 40 games and is subsequently out of the league after a few more years of third/fourth line level production. Any insight why?

 

[PaulD]

Trottier was a piece if shit that night.
Suckershot , left his feet, blindside, took a twenty foot run at Gainey.
That hit had me cheering for the Oilers in next round.
Ha!

Trottier was one of the best 10 players I've seen in my 50 years of watching the NHL. He was the best player on the dynasty team and best player in hockey before Gretzky. He did everything, had no flaws, the perfect 1C.

He fell off as others retired and his body wore down. I went to 2 games of the 1988 NJ series, which the Devils won in 6. Trottier was a -9 in that series, I watched him closely and could see he couldn't keep up physically, he was a shell of himself.

Then he went to Pittsburgh and re-established himself as the perfect 3C, playing a checking and defensive role while garnering 2 additional Cups. Very impressive, not many superstars could or would swallow their pride and play a complimentary role after being an elite player. Speaks to his desire to win.

Bryan Trottier was a winner.

And a piece of shit cheap shot artist that night on the Canadiens captain.

 

[PK Cronin]

Not sure why we're grave digging threads from 2020.