Boston Bruins Ranking the Best and Worst Trades in Franchise History

[McGarnagle]

Versteeg for Bochenski stands out as a big miss during the Chiarelli run

 

[Wiggleboom]

Rick Middleton for Ken Hodge is one of the best.

 

[Rubber Biscuit]

Raycroft for Rask worked out pretty well

 

[DKH]

Great deals in no order off top of head

Espo Hodge Stanfield

park & Ratelle

Middleton for Hodge

neely trade

Oates for janney & Quintall

Wesley got Samsonov pick +

Rask for Ranford

Kobasaw & Ference for Brad Stuart

seidenberg & Recchi for Karsums & Lashoff

boychuk for Hendricks

Horton & Campbell a 1 & Wideman

WORST

McLeish for Walton

Leach Odliefson Stewart for Vadnais

Thornton for Sturm Stuart the wrong Primeau

Fergus for Derlago

Allison for Stumpel & Murray

Murray & Smolinski for Stevens & McEachern

Jeff Odgers

Secord for OConnell

Ranford & Courtnall for Moog

McCrimmon for Peeters

 

[Tbaybruin]

Gary Galley to Phil for Gord Murphy. Other small parts and picks involved. This one killed me. Sinden didn’t want to pay Galley

 

[member 96824]

Not hearsay or rumors, but it is also true the bruins absolutely got roasted in the trade. Should have gone for a 1-1 or young blue chips and prospects instead of what they got.

And sad Sweeney didn’t trade Eriksson, or soderberg for that matter, sure. But I understand why, they missed the playoffs by a point if I recall correctly? Fan base would have been even more irate had we traded those guys and missed. It would have been looked at as directly Sweeney’s fault by pretty much the entire fan base (and likely some players) instead of being viewed by a handful of knowledgeable niche fans that like to pontificate with the benefit of hindsight





Another bad trade from recent memory was Boychuk. It began the team’s downfall, both on and off the ice, and was a key straw in breaking the camel Chiarelli’s back

If it helps, there was a loud group that were saying it at the time with both Carl and Loui, because whether we got in or not it didn’t really matter..those teams weren’t going anywhere.

 

[Estlin]

Another bad trade from recent memory was Boychuk. It began the team’s downfall, both on and off the ice, and was a key straw in breaking the camel Chiarelli’s back

The timing of it was certainly terrible, but it did net the Bruins Brandon Carlo.

 

[sarge88]

It's nice they won the cup after getting him, and he was a solid contributor, but giving up a #4D in Staurt and a guy with Wheeler's upside is a hefty price.

If the puck bounced the other way in a half dozen instances in the playoffs, especially the game 7s, not a great trade.

Risky for sure.

But it worked out.

 

[Helsinki city boy]

Not the worst but one of the poor deals was Joe Juneau for Al Iafrate. Boston never got real chance to see how would Neely, Oates and Juneau lineup evolve.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

The 70s Bruins were the kings of either winning or losing every trade by a large margin.

Hell, they made the Habs and Flyers champions with trades...

Dryden for scraps
MacLeish for Mike Walton
Parent in the expansion draft '67
Traded Reggie Leach for scraps

Hell, giving away elite young talent is an unfortunate past time for our Bruins

 

[Marcobruin]

Seguin trade the worse. Showed me how dumb Chiarelli and co.could be. Don't care what was going with Hortons wife. (Should have kept her on a leash ) Chiarelli traded away one of the best in the NHL then out of pure luck gets the second overall pick
And it again luckily for him there was a franchise player and what does he do. He didn't trade him away he donated him away.
A gm should get fired for such an historic idiotic move and never gm in the NHL again.He got his break because of his buddy Katz but chia is done as a gm. Harvard idiot

 

[aguineapig]

After the WHA player raids left the cupboard bare, Harry was in search of a goalie after Cheevers left and Jacques Plante experiment did a face plant. Freddy Stanfield was the chip after Gregg Sheppard had come thru the ranks and Andre Savard had been drafted 6th overall prior draft. So Stanfield for Gillie Gilbert. Chris Oddleifson made the club after coming from Seals for Ivan Boldirev and I was sure he was a up and coming star. Had a 4 goal game vs Seals that year and loved how Ted Lindsay the NBC color man at the time called him ODE-LEAF-SUN. But like today, Shep and Chief needed a RW for 2nd line and Oddleifson and Freddy O'Donnell were dealt to Nucks for Bobby Schmautz. Hated the trade at the onset, but over time Schmautzie won me over. After Chief retired, he played on a line with Ratelle and Marcotte that was one of the best two way lines ever. To this day those Lunchpail AC clubs were the best I ever saw to never have won a Cup.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

Kaberle was a difference maker in the cup run. He played every game and was able to get the puck out of the zone consistently. He also led the defense in points.

He didn't have the impact that Chia expected, but he was a contributor. Chia got his white whale, but at a steep price with a 1st and a 2nd (and a Joe Colbourne who seemed to have decent upside at the time). This always kind of felt like a bit of Chia doing Burke some face-saving after the way the Kessel trade up. I have to imagine a 1st and maybe a later round pick would have done it.

I remember being blown away at how invisible Kaberle was. He moved the puck decently on PP’s but that was about it from what I saw.

Do we win the Cup without him? I know he accrued points, but it’s tough for me to really believe he was a totally necessary piece.

 

[BruinDust]

It's nice they won the cup after getting him, and he was a solid contributor, but giving up a #4D in Staurt and a guy with Wheeler's upside is a hefty price.

If the puck bounced the other way in a half dozen instances in the playoffs, especially the game 7s, not a great trade.

Mark Stuart was never a #4 D here. Matter of fact by the time he was dealt he was essentially the #6 guy as he was supplanted by McQuaid and Chia was still planning on bringing in another D-man for a cup run, which he did in Kaberle a week later. Stuart was basically a spare part to that deep Bruins team.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Acquiring Phil Esposito should easily be the best trade in Bruins history. Unless you consider buying Eddie Shore from a folding franchise a trade.

Getting Johnny Bucyk for Terry Sawchuk was a pretty good deal too. Even if Sawchuk still had some good years left in him, he was past his insane peak. Boston was useless anyway throughout the 1960s, so might as well get Bucyk who was still relevant in the 1970s when it mattered.

 

[Mathews28]

Ratelle and Park in
Espo and Vadnais out

Very successful trade for the Bs