The Bure for Jovanovski trade in 1999
- Thread starter Marc the Habs Fan
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Killion
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- Feb 19, 2010
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Well on the ground out here in Vancouver it was kinda strange. You had people that supported Bure, those that didnt. Those that did took it out on the organization, back then the TalkRadio phone lines lit up like the 4th of July, the papers full on angry comments. He'd made it quite clear he was done playing in Vancouver, so from my perspective, fine, and receiving Jovo Cop in return was actually a good deal. He anchored the defence, an excellent player. Was sorrier to see him leave than I was Bure.
David Bruce Banner
Nude Cabdriver Ban
Well, Jovo was no Bure, but Canucks fans were pretty happy to get anything in return for a player who was holding out and would NEVER willingly play another game for the Canucks.
Bure, despite being an elite scorer for the next several seasons was obviously entering a decline.
Hedican, IIRC, also wanted to be traded to an American team (girlfriend/wife thing?)
Ference was supposed to be an up and coming physical defenceman with some offense, but Jovo had that and more, plus we had hopes for Bryan Allen turning into a top 4 player too. Regardless, Ference never filled out or acquired much hockey sense.
3rd round pick? Whatever.
Jovo was a (sometimes frustrating) cornerstone for our franchise for several years
Gagner offered little as a player, but has done a decent job as the Canucks Director of Player Development
Mike Brown... I don't remember Mike Brown
Steve Weekes is buried in Vancouver's goalie graveyard.
Nathan Smith was a bad, bad draft pick (we could have gotten Brad Boyes or Steve Ott who went with the next two picks)
I dunno, the Panthers probably got the best of this trade, but it could have been much worse.
Bure, despite being an elite scorer for the next several seasons was obviously entering a decline.
Hedican, IIRC, also wanted to be traded to an American team (girlfriend/wife thing?)
Ference was supposed to be an up and coming physical defenceman with some offense, but Jovo had that and more, plus we had hopes for Bryan Allen turning into a top 4 player too. Regardless, Ference never filled out or acquired much hockey sense.
3rd round pick? Whatever.
Jovo was a (sometimes frustrating) cornerstone for our franchise for several years
Gagner offered little as a player, but has done a decent job as the Canucks Director of Player Development
Mike Brown... I don't remember Mike Brown
Steve Weekes is buried in Vancouver's goalie graveyard.
Nathan Smith was a bad, bad draft pick (we could have gotten Brad Boyes or Steve Ott who went with the next two picks)
I dunno, the Panthers probably got the best of this trade, but it could have been much worse.
David Bruce Banner
Nude Cabdriver Ban
Actually, found an old HFBoards discussion on the topic.
There were a couple of other interesting deals dangled.
There were a couple of other interesting deals dangled.
Marc the Habs Fan
Moderator
DisgruntledGoat*
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Well, Kevin Weekes was supposed to be their goalie of the future, Jovo was obviously a highly-touted blueliner with great upside, and a first round pick is always nice. At the time, it looked like Vancouver had shored up their goaltending and their defence for a number of years so it seemed like a pretty good return. Also, Jovo was joining a blueline that had Adrian Aucoin in the midst of breakout 23-goal season, Ohlund coming off a Calder runner-up rookie campaign, and had highly-drafted Bryan Allen in the minors. So that looked pretty exciting at the time.
And in the category of weird-things-you-remember-but-no-one-else-does category: I remember Brian Burke, at his press conference, saying that Dave Gagner was close to retirement but that he would be an excellent 'stop-gap' until Josh Holden was ready to step in as second-line centerman. We're still waiting for that to happen.
And in the category of weird-things-you-remember-but-no-one-else-does category: I remember Brian Burke, at his press conference, saying that Dave Gagner was close to retirement but that he would be an excellent 'stop-gap' until Josh Holden was ready to step in as second-line centerman. We're still waiting for that to happen.
MarkusNaslund19
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Not just that. Burke said that "Gagner wasn't a throw-in, he's a big part of this deal"...he wasn't.
I don't remember a lot of happiness.
It was a disappointing deal at the time. Basically Bure for Jovanovski and a first - given that he was the best goalscorer in the NHL and only 27 years old, it wasn't a great return.
Was also disappointing that Hedican had to leave in the deal - he was the team's best defender at the time and in terms of actual ability was a pretty straight-across trade for Jovanovski (obviously Jovanovski had more value and potential) so the deal didn't really improve the team on the ice at all.
Most fans were expecting a kings ransom of 3-4 elite young building blocks ... and not only did that not happen, we had to include another top asset to get what we did.
However, in hindsight, it did work out a ton better than the packages that were proposed from NYR and LA, since Jovo turned out better than any of the guys rumoured in those deals.
Nalyd Psycho
Registered User
Ference had recently taken a run at Ohlund in training camp and was in the teams bad books, that was why he was gone.
My memory was that the consensus was that if we had gotten a real scoring line forward instead of Gagner, it would have been a very fair very good deal. Instead we got Dave Gagner.
And the whole thing was made worse because Smith was arguably the worst pick in Canucks history. He never once showed the skill level to be anything more than a future 4th liner. If a player shows aptitude for nothing beyond checking in the junior level, he shows aptitude for nothing at the NHL level. If they had valued hockey sense, you know, the best skill a player can have, Brad Boyes and Justin Williams were ripe for the picking. Arrggh! Angers me to this day.
My memory was that the consensus was that if we had gotten a real scoring line forward instead of Gagner, it would have been a very fair very good deal. Instead we got Dave Gagner.
And the whole thing was made worse because Smith was arguably the worst pick in Canucks history. He never once showed the skill level to be anything more than a future 4th liner. If a player shows aptitude for nothing beyond checking in the junior level, he shows aptitude for nothing at the NHL level. If they had valued hockey sense, you know, the best skill a player can have, Brad Boyes and Justin Williams were ripe for the picking. Arrggh! Angers me to this day.
DisgruntledGoat*
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Yeah, the Smith pick was weird. He seemed to disappear almost as soon as he walked off the podium.
One potential deal that very few ever talk about is the one that might have taken place between Washington and Vancouver.
To Washington: Pavel Bure
To Vancouver: Sergei Gonchar, Richard Zednik, 1st round pick
Had this happened, Bure would have become a Capital, and it is very unlikely Jaromir Jagr would have been traded there the following year.
Here's an excerpt from an insider update published by Pierre McGuire for Sports Illustrated on January 18, 1999, presumably written before the January 17, 1999 trade between Vancouver and Florida:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1014981/index.htm
It seems there were talks between the two teams, though few know for certain how far those negotiations went. For McGuire to make this assertion, though, means a significant amount of conversation must have occurred between the two organizations. Considering the date of publication is January 18, 1999, a day after the trade happened, one has to think the two teams were negotiating just prior to the actual Bure trade and that it fell through leading up to the trade with Florida. Perhaps Bure for Jovanovski in fact was a backup scenario, as it's quite clear the proposed deal between the Capitals and Canucks better serves the latter team than the pieces they received from Florida.
George McPhee had been the Capitals' general manager for two years by that point, and both he and Burke had previously worked for the Canucks under Pat Quinn, though not at the same time; McPhee replaced Burke as the team's assistant GM in 1992, and served as the team's assistant GM between 1992 and 1997, enough time to evaluate Bure and to know exactly what product he was to receive.
Of course, his relationship with Bure might have been questionable, as he was part of the management team the latter grew to despise. If this deal had taken place, perhaps their relationship would have started anew or Bure would have headed to free agency. He did, after all, sign an extension with the Panthers a month after being traded to Florida. In any event, this exchange was apparently on the table.
It seems Pavel Bure could have been a Washington Capital. The deal appears to have been a possibility leading up to the actual trade between Florida and Vancouver. The eventual trade could very well have been their Plan B rather than their initial preference that day.
To Washington: Pavel Bure
To Vancouver: Sergei Gonchar, Richard Zednik, 1st round pick
Had this happened, Bure would have become a Capital, and it is very unlikely Jaromir Jagr would have been traded there the following year.
Here's an excerpt from an insider update published by Pierre McGuire for Sports Illustrated on January 18, 1999, presumably written before the January 17, 1999 trade between Vancouver and Florida:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1014981/index.htm
It seems there were talks between the two teams, though few know for certain how far those negotiations went. For McGuire to make this assertion, though, means a significant amount of conversation must have occurred between the two organizations. Considering the date of publication is January 18, 1999, a day after the trade happened, one has to think the two teams were negotiating just prior to the actual Bure trade and that it fell through leading up to the trade with Florida. Perhaps Bure for Jovanovski in fact was a backup scenario, as it's quite clear the proposed deal between the Capitals and Canucks better serves the latter team than the pieces they received from Florida.
George McPhee had been the Capitals' general manager for two years by that point, and both he and Burke had previously worked for the Canucks under Pat Quinn, though not at the same time; McPhee replaced Burke as the team's assistant GM in 1992, and served as the team's assistant GM between 1992 and 1997, enough time to evaluate Bure and to know exactly what product he was to receive.
Of course, his relationship with Bure might have been questionable, as he was part of the management team the latter grew to despise. If this deal had taken place, perhaps their relationship would have started anew or Bure would have headed to free agency. He did, after all, sign an extension with the Panthers a month after being traded to Florida. In any event, this exchange was apparently on the table.
It seems Pavel Bure could have been a Washington Capital. The deal appears to have been a possibility leading up to the actual trade between Florida and Vancouver. The eventual trade could very well have been their Plan B rather than their initial preference that day.
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vadim sharifijanov
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at the time, i remember disappointment. at least, i was disappointed. that was the point where we were basically just waiting for messier's contract to run out, so whether or not gagner had anything left (he didn't), he was definitely the wrong kind of player to come over.
basically, i think a lot of us wanted a can't miss impact player coming back. a ziggy palffy, for example. and if not, then good futures.
kevin weekes was just another in a long line of our "goalies of the future." was he better than corey hirsch or garth snow? burke wanted to sell him as the real deal, but we'd heard that story before. canucks fans will remember mike fountain. i think we'd have been happy if it was a guy with a pedigree like giguere or marc denis. kevin weekes was a guy most of us had never heard of, who never played in the WJC, who was putting up great IHL numbers but on a vet-heavy defensive juggernaut (and those numbers weren't as good as andrei trefilov, whom he shared the crease with).
jovo, you have to remember a lot of the shine was off him by that point. seemed like a high reward guy, but also a guy who might be on his way to becoming michel petit. obviously he worked out pretty well. but as the major piece for pavel bure? let's just say we felt like we were getting a selanne deal (tverdovsky and kilger) instead of the recchi deal (desjardins and leclair) that we wanted.
as for smith, a late pick. but the picks immediately after him:
24 Toronto Maple Leafs Brad Boyes
25 Dallas Stars Steve Ott
26 Washington Capitals Brian Sutherby
27 Boston Bruins Martin Samuelsson
28 Philadelphia Flyers Justin Williams
29 Detroit Red Wings Niklas Kronwall
so four guys who are still in the league, and all four are still pretty good players 14 years later. early picks in that year's 2nd round that are still in the league:
33 Minnesota Wild Nick Schultz
38 Detroit Red Wings Tomas Kopecky
40 Calgary Flames Kurtis Foster
44 Anaheim Ducks Ilya Bryzgalov
46 Calgary Flames Jarret Stoll
ugh.
it also made no sense to me that we had to give up a very useful guy in hedican, and a recent first rounder in ference to make this seeming lemon of a deal happen.
but as someone above did mention, once we saw jovo play, i did have really high hopes for our young d-corps. ohlund, aucoin, mccabe, jovo. but then jovo ended up making both aucoin and mccabe expendable, and weekes sucking necessitated yet another crappy goalie of the future (the aucoin for dan cloutier trade).
basically, i think a lot of us wanted a can't miss impact player coming back. a ziggy palffy, for example. and if not, then good futures.
kevin weekes was just another in a long line of our "goalies of the future." was he better than corey hirsch or garth snow? burke wanted to sell him as the real deal, but we'd heard that story before. canucks fans will remember mike fountain. i think we'd have been happy if it was a guy with a pedigree like giguere or marc denis. kevin weekes was a guy most of us had never heard of, who never played in the WJC, who was putting up great IHL numbers but on a vet-heavy defensive juggernaut (and those numbers weren't as good as andrei trefilov, whom he shared the crease with).
jovo, you have to remember a lot of the shine was off him by that point. seemed like a high reward guy, but also a guy who might be on his way to becoming michel petit. obviously he worked out pretty well. but as the major piece for pavel bure? let's just say we felt like we were getting a selanne deal (tverdovsky and kilger) instead of the recchi deal (desjardins and leclair) that we wanted.
as for smith, a late pick. but the picks immediately after him:
24 Toronto Maple Leafs Brad Boyes
25 Dallas Stars Steve Ott
26 Washington Capitals Brian Sutherby
27 Boston Bruins Martin Samuelsson
28 Philadelphia Flyers Justin Williams
29 Detroit Red Wings Niklas Kronwall
so four guys who are still in the league, and all four are still pretty good players 14 years later. early picks in that year's 2nd round that are still in the league:
33 Minnesota Wild Nick Schultz
38 Detroit Red Wings Tomas Kopecky
40 Calgary Flames Kurtis Foster
44 Anaheim Ducks Ilya Bryzgalov
46 Calgary Flames Jarret Stoll
ugh.
it also made no sense to me that we had to give up a very useful guy in hedican, and a recent first rounder in ference to make this seeming lemon of a deal happen.
but as someone above did mention, once we saw jovo play, i did have really high hopes for our young d-corps. ohlund, aucoin, mccabe, jovo. but then jovo ended up making both aucoin and mccabe expendable, and weekes sucking necessitated yet another crappy goalie of the future (the aucoin for dan cloutier trade).
vadim sharifijanov
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i also want to note that dave gagner did come through for us in the end. he's our current director of player development, and from many reports not a very good one. many hold him responsible for alienating cody hodgson. (i, however, think cody is a daddy's boy and that the relationship was doomed from the start.)
however, gagner did one good thing for our team: his son sam played grew up in markham (suburban toronto) and played minor hockey with stamkos, subban, del zotto, hodgson, and others. one of those others was chris tanev, an undrafted overage kid playing amazing hockey at a little college in rochester. gagner, who i think actually coached all those kids at some point, says to mike gillis (and i'm completely making up the dialogue as i go along): "little chris tanev? he grew to be how tall? he was awesome when he was twelve. we have to get him."
here's a real quote:
(from the national post, link no longer active)
also:
stamkos, subban, and tanev
however, gagner did one good thing for our team: his son sam played grew up in markham (suburban toronto) and played minor hockey with stamkos, subban, del zotto, hodgson, and others. one of those others was chris tanev, an undrafted overage kid playing amazing hockey at a little college in rochester. gagner, who i think actually coached all those kids at some point, says to mike gillis (and i'm completely making up the dialogue as i go along): "little chris tanev? he grew to be how tall? he was awesome when he was twelve. we have to get him."
here's a real quote:
(from the national post, link no longer active)
also:
stamkos, subban, and tanev
The thing that still blows my mind about that pick isn't the guys like Boyes/Williams taken ahead of Smith, it's Brian Sutherby.
Sutherby and Smith played in the same WHL division, so would have been scouted by the same scouts. Sutherby was a consensus higher pick than Smith, and for good reason - he was better in pretty much every possible way a hockey player can be better. Bigger, faster, meaner, more skilled, better shot.
If you're going to take a low-risk, low-reward defensive center prospect, at least take the guy who actually fits the bill. The fact that our scouts could somehow have come to the conclusion that Smith was better than Sutherby was inexcusable.
Now, Sutherby didn't exactly have a great career, either, but at least he was a useful depth player for about 500 NHL games and a miles better player than Smith.
Dissonance
Registered User
Am I misremembering or did Brian Burke try to explain at one point that Dave Gagner was the "key to the deal"?
---
In any case, yeah, the trade was a letdown on the merits, but getting Jovanovski (along with Aucoin's breakout season) also made Bryan McCabe expendable which, in turn, netted us the Sedins, so it sorta worked out okay in the end.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the near-deal between Washington and Vancouver; post #11. Based on the date of the article and McGuire's report, it seems the two teams were in talks within twenty-four hours of the eventual deal with Florida.
Here are a few quotes from Brian Burke upon trading Bure to the Panthers:
http://www.purplelion.com/palace/paveltrade1.shtml
And here was Bob McKenzie's assessment of the trade:
http://www.purplelion.com/palace/paveltrade2.shtml
http://www.purplelion.com/palace/paveltrade1.shtml
And here was Bob McKenzie's assessment of the trade:
http://www.purplelion.com/palace/paveltrade2.shtml
Ziggy Stardust
Master Debater
As a Kings fan, I recall the rumors of him possibly ending up in LA (where Bure spent his summers at) as the Kings were looking for a superstar winger at that time, which was right before they moved in to Staples Center.
The rumor was that Vancouver was asking for a package of three players from the following group of five names: Jozef Stumpel, Glen Murray, Olli Jokinen, Aki Berg, Jamie Storr.
You can read more about that and many other Bure rumors here:
http://www.pbfc.org/Oldnews/dec98/dec98.html
In the end it worked out for the Kings as they gave up significantly less to acquire Ziggy Palffy, and they got Smolinski as well in the Palffy trade. It seemed like the concern with Bure, besides his health, was the uncertainty of him being happy or getting along with his new team. The Canucks sure did a great job to tarnish Bure's image.
The rumor was that Vancouver was asking for a package of three players from the following group of five names: Jozef Stumpel, Glen Murray, Olli Jokinen, Aki Berg, Jamie Storr.
You can read more about that and many other Bure rumors here:
http://www.pbfc.org/Oldnews/dec98/dec98.html
In the end it worked out for the Kings as they gave up significantly less to acquire Ziggy Palffy, and they got Smolinski as well in the Palffy trade. It seemed like the concern with Bure, besides his health, was the uncertainty of him being happy or getting along with his new team. The Canucks sure did a great job to tarnish Bure's image.
I thought we got our ases handed to us!!! We had to take back a bum like Dave Gagner back and we knew it was a joke. Jovocop was billed as a future Norris winner, but most people saw through that crap and wanted something else. Two guys I believed the canucks should have pushed for Dvorak and Parish. What I hated was how Burke and co pushed "We have out future number one goalie on Weekes. Losing Hedican pissed me of due to the return. He was playing 20+ minutes and tough ones and I think he could have gotten Weekes and Brown alone. Brown at the time looked to be a good 3rd line guy who would bang and hit and rack up pts. Weekes reported was given a psych exam and that lead to some team raising questions about him(all teams give all players psych exams now, but at the time only 3 or 4 teams did) But it was taking Gagner back that pisses me off
VANCOUVER
Ed Jovanovski 465 GP for Vancouver, 434 GP regular season 31 GP playoffs 57G 177A 234 points regular season 9G 10A 19 points playoffs
Dave Gagner 33 GP for Vancouver 2G 12A 14 points 0 playoffs
Mike Brown 16 GP for Vancouver 0G 0A 0 points 0 playoffs
Kevin Weekes 31 GP for Vancouver 6W 15L 5T 0 playoffs
Nathan Smith 4 GP for Vancouver 0G 0A 0 points 0 playoffs
549 GP 68G 199A 267 points
FLORIDA
Pavel Bure 227 GP for Florida 223 GP regular season 4 GP playoffs 152G 99A 251 points regular season 1G 3A 4 points
Bret Hedican 206 GP for Florida 202 GP regular season 4 GP playoffs 17G 48A 65 points regular season 0G 0A 0 points playoffs
Brad Ference 167 GP for Florida 4G 24A 28 points 0 playoffs
Robert Fried 0 GP for Florida 0G 0A 0 points 0 playoffs
600 GP 174G 174A 348 points
While this trade was not a franchise changer for either team, Florida wins the trade easily getting a elite scorer and future HOFer plus 2 other serviceable pieces for 1 good offensive defense man.
For all the hype about what a great wheeler/dealer Brian Burke is supposed to be this is easily one of his worst trades ever. I hated this trade at the time it happened and felt the Canucks got screwed and to this day I still think this was a bad deal.
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604
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I remember when we traded Bure, I was not happy about the return at all. I was also very unhappy that Bure refused to play for us - this was then turned into I was pissed at Pat Quinn and Canucks management for being such asshats later.
SpecialEd was a great guy to have on the team but everything else was meh. You would think that trading Bure who clearly was one of the best players in the league, who was actually playing very well, you could get a few great pieces, not one great piece and a lot of junk.
I also remember being pissed that we traded Ference after drafting him so high.
Thanks a lot for posting this!
It's funny to note that later Bryan McCabe and the next year's 1st round pick was traded for the 2nd overall pick which allowed the Canucks to nab both Sedin twins.
I guess it really did work out.
SpecialEd was a great guy to have on the team but everything else was meh. You would think that trading Bure who clearly was one of the best players in the league, who was actually playing very well, you could get a few great pieces, not one great piece and a lot of junk.
I also remember being pissed that we traded Ference after drafting him so high.
Thanks a lot for posting this!
It's funny to note that later Bryan McCabe and the next year's 1st round pick was traded for the 2nd overall pick which allowed the Canucks to nab both Sedin twins.
I guess it really did work out.
cujoflutie
Registered User
Was Pat Quinn the catalyst to Bure wanting out? I know the rumour of him threatening to hold out in the finals was reported to be a major factor but was Pat Quinn involved?
Quinn was fired midway through Bure's final season. There were also rumours of him going to Toronto in a deal involving Felix Potvin (Potvin was holding out from the leafs and the canucks badly needed a goaltender) never heard any indications Bure wouldn't report to Toronto with Quinn there.
Jovanovski had his coming out party in the Panthers final run and this was at a time where the entire hockey world wanted the next Eric Lindros and believed bigger and tougher always equaled better.
Weekes was a backup with starter potential; think Jonas Enroth or Anton Khubodin now.
Gagner was likely a veteran influence thats it.
I feel bad for canucks fans who had to go through that, not saying Quinn was a hockey god but their franchise really went downhill after he left; Keenan and Messier coming in, Linden and Bure getting chased out. Within 3-4 years that magical 94 team was completely dismantled and ran into the ground.
Quinn was fired midway through Bure's final season. There were also rumours of him going to Toronto in a deal involving Felix Potvin (Potvin was holding out from the leafs and the canucks badly needed a goaltender) never heard any indications Bure wouldn't report to Toronto with Quinn there.
Jovanovski had his coming out party in the Panthers final run and this was at a time where the entire hockey world wanted the next Eric Lindros and believed bigger and tougher always equaled better.
Weekes was a backup with starter potential; think Jonas Enroth or Anton Khubodin now.
Gagner was likely a veteran influence thats it.
I feel bad for canucks fans who had to go through that, not saying Quinn was a hockey god but their franchise really went downhill after he left; Keenan and Messier coming in, Linden and Bure getting chased out. Within 3-4 years that magical 94 team was completely dismantled and ran into the ground.
sr edler
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The "idea" to pair Bure with Bondra seems a bit strange to me, as the two were too much the same kind of player, only Bure being better of course. It would have been the Bure–Mogilny experiment all over again, except probably worse because unlike Bondra Mogilny actually was a really good passer when he put that side to his game.
I think it would have made more sense, probably for both teams, to deal Bure straight up for Bondra, or Bondra with either a pick or a prospect or a decent complimentary player. Bure with a young Gonchar and an old but still very capable Oates has a lot more yumminess to it than Bure–Bondra.
vadim sharifijanov
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looking back on it now, florida got the 1st, 3rd, and 4th best assets in that deal. ugh.
but then how often do you get anything approximating market value for a true superstar who either publicly wants out or needs to be traded for a well-known reason (usually $$$)? i can think of very few examples-- lindros, lafontaine, shanahan, yashin, bertuzzi, and heatley off the top of my head. but then we have roy, messier, chelios, gilmour, oates (the janney one), macinnis, belfour, jagr, hasek, heatley the second time, pronger all three times... look what mogilny (thinking the morrison one, but arguably peca too because while we liked the kid and thought he was promising none of us expected peca to become peca) and selanne brought back. thornton was mismanagement, but how much better could they realistically have done given what other superstars have gotten? and most recently, nash and gaborik's hauls look promising but still nobody got a true star back.
disappointing, especially since burke threw away hedican and ference (even though ference obviously turned out to suck). but at least he got back jovo. a lot more than selanne, thornton, jagr, hasek, etc. brought back.
but then how often do you get anything approximating market value for a true superstar who either publicly wants out or needs to be traded for a well-known reason (usually $$$)? i can think of very few examples-- lindros, lafontaine, shanahan, yashin, bertuzzi, and heatley off the top of my head. but then we have roy, messier, chelios, gilmour, oates (the janney one), macinnis, belfour, jagr, hasek, heatley the second time, pronger all three times... look what mogilny (thinking the morrison one, but arguably peca too because while we liked the kid and thought he was promising none of us expected peca to become peca) and selanne brought back. thornton was mismanagement, but how much better could they realistically have done given what other superstars have gotten? and most recently, nash and gaborik's hauls look promising but still nobody got a true star back.
disappointing, especially since burke threw away hedican and ference (even though ference obviously turned out to suck). but at least he got back jovo. a lot more than selanne, thornton, jagr, hasek, etc. brought back.
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