And now a look at some trades that almost happened and some that should have never happened. We'll start with a deal that did happen in 1986, but was almost a much bigger deal.
1986: the Flyers swap Rich Sutter for Vancouver's JJ Daigneault
While this trade paid off well for the Flyers as Daigneault would score the biggest goal of his career for Philly in the 87 SCF, it was almost a much bigger deal. Originally the plan was for the Flyers to add Brian Propp to the deal and receive Cam Neely along with Daigneault. Instead Vancouver sent Neely to Boston and the Flyers made the smaller trade. What would have happened had the bigger deal occurred? Well, the Flyers certainly would have been much better prepared to survive the loss of Tim Kerr in the 87 playoffs if they had Neely on the roster. But, OTOH, the loss of Propp would have left them thin on the left side. Also, next to Hextall, Propp was probably the Flyers best player in the 87 playoffs and I don't think Neely would be enough to make up for the loss of both Propp and Kerr.
1987: Clarke trades McCrimmon for picks
Tired of negotiating with McCrimmon's agent for a new deal, Clarke sends him to Calgary for 2 draft picks. It was horrible deal and, in hindsight, Clarke admitted he f***ed up. They were only apart by a 100K or so in the negotiation but Clarke greatly underestimated the Beast's importance to the team both on and off the ice and made the lousy deal. You have to wonder if the 88 playoffs go a lot differently if the Flyer's had McCrimmon. Would they win the Cup? Probably not, Edmonton was a frickin' machine that season, but they likely at least reach the SCF and maybe the final.
1988: Clarke sends Peter Zezel to St. Louis for Mike Bullard
Yeah, Bullard might have been a better point producer, but he was woefully inconsistent and a one trick pony as he brought no other skills to the table. Zezel, while struggling, was a heart and soul player who never lacked for effort and, at that time, was the Flyers best faceoff guy. It was a bad trade all around.
Here's one of the ones that gets talked about a lot: What if the Flyers don't trade for Eric Lindros in 1992. Don't forget, had Peter Forsberg been willing to turn pro in 1992 rather than play another year in Sweden, this deal doesn't get made. So what would have been a possible outcome. Well, the fanbase would have missed out on the big guy, but having Ricci, Duchesne and a healthy Ron Hextall on the roster just might have been enough to squeak the 92-93 back into the playoffs. The Flyers also would have had their first round picks in 93 and 94 and, assuming they just barely made the playoffs each year, they might have drafted a guy like Adam Deadmarsh in 93 and and maybe Dman Mattias Ohlund in 94. In 94-95, the Recchi deal could still have been made and perhaps the Flyers win a couple of rounds. By 95-96, they would have been loaded with a roster featuring Forsberg, Leclair, Renberg, Brind'amour, Ricci, Deadmarsh, Dineen, Fedyk, Otto, Podein and Klatt up front, and Desjardins, Therien, Svoboda, Ohlund, Haller, Samuelsson and Dykhuis on D. Hextall would still be in goal and looking back at his stats, 95-96 was his last good season. Obviously no one can say what might have actually happened, but it certainly would have been interesting.
And here's another Lindros one, according to Jay Greenberg, there was some thought to trading Lindros following the 98 playoffs. Although he had come up small that spring, his value was much higher that it would be 3 years later when he finally was traded. Toronto would have been salivating to get Lindros in 98 and the Flyers might have been able to pry Mats Sundin from the Leafs along with a pick or prospect. It certainly would have made a 99 first round matchup with the Leafs fascinating! More importantly, having a healthy Sundin in the lineup in 2000 instead of Lindros perhaps would have been enough to at least get the Flyers into the final that year, and possibly a Stanley Cup.
Another trade that should not have been made:
The Flyers were a mess in 89-90, crushed by injuries, getting older and with little in the prospect pool, it was time to start tearing down and rebuilding. When Clarke swapped Brian Propp to Boston for a 2nd round pick, I thought that it made sense. But, when he trade Dave Poulin to Boston for an aging, fading Ken Linseman, I was furious. Bad enough that coach Paul Holmgren, for some dipshit reason that only made sense to him and Clarke, had taken the "C" off Poulin and given it to Ron Sutter, but trading him for anything other than picks and/or prospects was just asinine!
In January of 1998 the Flyers sent young forward Vinny Prospal along with Pat "Fat Balloon" Falloon and a 2nd to Ottawa for former 1st overall pick, Alex Daigle. Daigle, who oozed talent, was more concerned with starting a Hollywood career than playing hockey and he shit the bed badly. Daigle had less heart than the Tin Man at the start of The Wizard of Oz while Prospal turned out to be solid NHL forward. I really wish they had never made this deal.
In the year 2000, there was deal that never should have been made and one that I wish had been.
First the bad, Brind'amour for Keith Primeau. Primeau had his ups and downs as a Flyer but he was amazing in the 2004 playoffs. However, all in all, Brind'amour was the better player and he, as much as any player of his era, bled Flyers orange and black. I didn't like the deal when it happened and I hate it even more now. Rod Brind'amour should have finished his career in the orange and black. If he had, perhaps he'd be behind the bench today instead of that idiot Mike Yeo.
And now the guy they came oh so close to getting, but didn't: Dman Ray Bourque. Just imagine having Bourque on that 2000 team. It just might have been enough to bring the Cup back to Philly.
Just before the 2002 trade deadline the Flyers send hard working 4th line center Kent Mandeville to Pittsburgh for winger Billy Tibbetts. Tibbetts had been convicted of raping a 15 year old girl while he was 17 and playing Junior hockey. A complete piece of shit off the ice, Tibbetts was also a complete piece of shit as a player. The fanbase hated this deal from day one and, although a relatively minor move from a hockey sense, it's still one of the shittiest deals that Bob Clarke ever made.
2004: The Flyers trade Justin William to Carolina for Danny Markov. Markov was huge in the 2004 playoffs, playing monster minutes and playing them very well, and that cannot be overlooked. However, when you look at their overall careers, it's not even close. Justin Williams was the better player and a guy who always saved his best for the playoffs. Having 2 stud playoff performers in the lineup like Williams and Danny Briere, just might have been enough to get the Flyers past Chicago in 2010.
In December of 2005, the Flyers sent Patrick Sharp+ to Chicago for Matt Ellison+. I'll just leave it at this: EWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was almost as ugly in 2006 when the Flyers, right before losing Primeau for good due to concussions, send center Michal Handzus to Chicago for the heartless piece of festering garbage that was Kyle Calder. Just f***ing gross!
Another horrible deal went down in 2009 when the Flyers sent Scotty Upshall and a 2nd to Phoenix for Daniel friggin Carcillo. Thanks Homer.
Moving into more recent days, lets head into the previous decade. Pressured by Ed Snider, Holmgren signs free agent Ilya Bryzgalov to be the Flyers new #1 goalie in 2011. A year later, Sergei Bobrovsky threatens to go back to Russia unless traded and the Flyers are forced to move him to Columbus for a 2nd and a 4th. Bryz would go on to flame out horribly in Philly and would be bought out in 2013. Bob would go on to win 2 Vezina trophies and is currently backstopping the 1st place Florida Panthers. Kill me now.
Now let's look at some deals that never should have been made in the mid 2010s. By 2013, the more astute among the fanbase could see that this team needed to rectify it's messy cap situation and start rebuilding, but GM Paul Holmgren instead would move draft picks to acquire such luminaries as Nik Grossmann, Pavel Kubina and a bit later, Andrew "Farmer" McDonald. Add that to the puzzling free agent signing of Vinnie LeCavalier in 2012 and the terrible decision to trade JVR straight up for Luke Schenn that same year and it's no wonder the team hit rock bottom by 2015.
Finally some recent deals, all made by the simpering twat that is Cuck Fletcher, that no GM in his right mind should have ever made:
June 2019: the acquisition and signing of Kevin Hayes, the curse that keeps on giving.
July of 2021: goes from bad to worse as first Cuck gives Arizona 2 draft picks to take Ghost for nothing and then compounds the disaster by sending a 2021 1st (13oa), a 2022 2nd (likely in the 35-38oa range) and Bobby Hogg to Buffalo for the brainless POS that is Rasmus Ristolainen. This would lead to the even worse Fisto contract extension nightmare of 2022.
And that is that gang, I can't take anymore as I'm now thoroughly depressed and miserable!
