What are some of the most bonehead moves made by teams at some point?

[Sadekuuro]

A strange part of that signing was Ron Wilson, who was the Leafs coach at that the time of the signing and had previously coached the Sharks openly lying to the Toronto media in support of the signing.

Wilson praised the signing of Finger and claimed that when he coached the San Jose Sharks (the club he coached before the Maple Leafs) that he saw "a lot" of Finger because the Avalanche would use Finger to "shutdown" Joe Thornton. The problem with this claim was that it was easy to check (and it was quickly refuted by Avalanche reporters that were baffled by the signing.) Turns out that not only was Finger not used to shutdown Thornton (or anyone) and in reality Finger and Thornton were almost never on the ice at the same time (for obvious reasons.)

As the story goes, the player they actually wanted was Kurt Sauer. So apparently they scouted a team in the other conference thoroughly enough to identify an underrated, emerging shutdown defenseman and make a strong offer to poach him... only they didn't bother to get his name.

To top it off, Sauer ended up signing for half of what they gave Finger.

 

[VanIslander]

1997 Vancouver signing Mark Messier to a 3-year deal.

The team did WORSE, GM Pat Quinn lost his job, coach Keenan came in to try and fix the mess, and eventually as part and parcel of this all, Linden was traded away.

 

[Austerlitz]

How am I the first one to mention the 2007 to present day Edmonton Oilers? You could write a book about all the mistakes that dysfunctional, inbred, unaccountable organization has made.

A historic franchise turned into a complete joke by a group of individuals who consider themselves the smartest people in the sport despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

Bobby Clarke giving away Brad McCrimmon to Calgary for a draft pick in 1987. Clarke and McCrimmon were embroiled in bitter contract dispute that was personal to Clarke. Clarke would years later call McCrimmon a "drunk" and a bad presence in the room, an assessment that McCrimmon's teammates disagreed with. This trade was a major reason why the Flyers swiftly fell from Stanley Cup contenders to a non-playoff team.

A little bit off topic, but am I the only one who thinks Clarke doesnt get enough heat for the stupid things he has done since his on-ice career ended? The Neilson firing debacle, Lindros almost literally dying because of Clarkes refusal to listen, really almost everything that happened between Flyers management and Lindros. The trade above (notice how many of these disasters seem to center around Clarke making player-management disputes personal...)

It makes me question the narrative about Clarke supposedly being this all time leadership talent in the 70s Flyers dressing room when you consider the sheer volume of idiotic things he has done in management roles since then.

 

[Speedtrials]

Rangers letting Messier go in 97. Took center depth and their leader away, leaving an older Gretzky as the only legitimate center on the team. Still had decent wingers, with Kovalev, Graves, Sundstrom, Robitalle/Stevens and solid defense and goaltending. They could have had Messier and Gretzky help transition the franchise into their next crop of young players, and stayed competitive. Instead they became an absolute disaster until the lockout came. Then Jagr and Lundqvist were finally able to bring respectability back to the organization. Those years of 97-2004 were horrible to go through as a Ranger fan.

 

[WingsFan95]

It doesn't get mentioned as often as it should, but how about Detroit's (read: Jacques Demers bending Jimmy Devellano's ear) bonehead trade in June, 1989? Do you know the one I'm talking about...?

In 1988-89, the Wings had a moderate setback, sagging to a .500 record, but still finishing 1st in the crappy Norris. Apparently, Demers and Devellano thought they knew what the team needed. So, they send Adam Oates and Paul MacLean to St.Louis. In return, they got veteran Bernie Federko, who was 33 and wanted no part of the Wings.

So, how'd this one shake down?

Federko scored 57 points (-8) and retired. Done.

MacLean immediately had a strong, 36-goal season for St.Louis before retiring prematurely the next year after a rib injury (which, presumably, wouldn't have happened if he'd been in Detroit). Oh, and how about Oates? Oh yeah, he scored another 1221 points, finishing top-10 in scoring seven times and 1st in assists three times. Had a 142-point season for Boston. As late as 2002, he was still scoring at a point-per-game.

I know people can say, "Well, Oates wasn't Oates yet." But actually he was. He'd just scored 78 points in 69 games (90 point pace), with limited PP-time behind 155-point Yzerman.

My big takeway there is we probably don't get Bowman. Not that Demers all of a sudden wins the Cup but it's hard to see us getting Bowman if we don't regress and have those Game 7 losses with Murray.

 

[Neutrinos]

Given the hype around Spezza, I remember being shocked the Islanders parted with the the 2nd overall pick (along with Chara) to land Yashin

Before that, Quebec giving up Sundin for Wendel Clark was equally as shocking

 

[Moose Head]

Habs have been the kings of Boneheaded moves since Pollock chose Irving Grundman instead of Bowman as his successor. A few of the doozies

- not offering enough money to convince Dryden, Bowman and Lemaire to stick around beyond 79
- wickenheiser over Savard
- Langway trade
- Chelios trade
- Leclair and Desjardins for Recchi
- Hiring Houle and Tremblay
- Roy trade
- Turgeon for Corson trade
- dumping damphouse then trading for and extending Linden. Damphouse said he would have taken same deal Linden got
- Ribiero for Ninnimma
- Subban for Weber
- Drouin trade and losing Radulov and Markov and Markovs successor all in a short time

 

[Big Phil]

A little bit off topic, but am I the only one who thinks Clarke doesnt get enough heat for the stupid things he has done since his on-ice career ended? The Neilson firing debacle, Lindros almost literally dying because of Clarkes refusal to listen, really almost everything that happened between Flyers management and Lindros. The trade above (notice how many of these disasters seem to center around Clarke making player-management disputes personal...)

It makes me question the narrative about Clarke supposedly being this all time leadership talent in the 70s Flyers dressing room when you consider the sheer volume of idiotic things he has done in management roles since then.

You aren't the only one, and even at the time Clarke's leadership was questioned. No one can deny what he did on the ice, that is a separate thing from the front office. Being a great player doesn't mean you make a great coach or GM, ask Gretzky.

But as a GM he was bad, I thought. He landed the Leclair deal, but that was only because the team he was dealing with was even more dysfunctional. There was just a lot of decisions he made where it almost seems as if he was doing it based on a grudge. The whole Lindros thing, he just let him sit for a whole year and he was quoted as saying he doesn't care if he has to sit until he is 31 (unrestricted free agency at that time). That was just absurd. Keith Primeau was the Flyers' #1 centre on that team. You aren't winning if that happens.

But maybe if he trades Lindros prior to the 2000-'01 season he gets some more value for him than when he did it in the summer of 2001. He got a horrible return for Lindros. It is true Lindros declined outside of Philly, but no one knew that at the time. He cooked his own goose, and the Flyer's fans for that matter.

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

You aren't the only one, and even at the time Clarke's leadership was questioned. No one can deny what he did on the ice, that is a separate thing from the front office. Being a great player doesn't mean you make a great coach or GM, ask Gretzky.

But as a GM he was bad, I thought. He landed the Leclair deal, but that was only because the team he was dealing with was even more dysfunctional. There was just a lot of decisions he made where it almost seems as if he was doing it based on a grudge. The whole Lindros thing, he just let him sit for a whole year and he was quoted as saying he doesn't care if he has to sit until he is 31 (unrestricted free agency at that time). That was just absurd. Keith Primeau was the Flyers' #1 centre on that team. You aren't winning if that happens.

But maybe if he trades Lindros prior to the 2000-'01 season he gets some more value for him than when he did it in the summer of 2001. He got a horrible return for Lindros. It is true Lindros declined outside of Philly, but no one knew that at the time. He cooked his own goose, and the Flyer's fans for that matter.

He was a bad GM, but what boggles my mind more than anything was that Lindros literally would have died if he hadnt gone against Clarkes orders. Seriously, imagine the fallout for the league and the sport as a whole, having a funeral for the player you marketed as the next face of the sport, when he was only 27.

 

[Mike8]

Bobby Holik signing in 2002 when you consider everything is probably the worst single contract I have ever seen.

The man was a good two-way forward in the Devils system that contributed to Cup runs for sure, but it's not like he was even the 5th most important player on the last title team of 2000.

I don't think this comes close to worst contract, frankly. This was pre-cap (as you acknowledged), so it's really out of scope for worst contract for that reason alone. Further, Holik had scored 60+ points in 3 of the prior 6 seasons, and led the Devils in scoring in 2 of those seasons, and finished 2nd in scoring on the Devils in 2 other seasons. This isn't evidence of Holik being a top offensive player, but more that he wasn't a slouch (which you acknowledged). More importantly, though, is the context of the signing. This was the heart of the dead puck era and Lindros had set the bar for the big bruising centremen in the East (Primeau, Lindros, Yashin, Arnott, Lang, Thornton, Sundin, Bonk, Gratton, Brind'Amour, Lecavalier, Jokinen, Stefan -- obviously few of these players were world-beaters, but they had hype/were their respective team's frontmen). Holik was the 'great equalizer'; mean, shut down his opposition, and contributed solidly offensively, with great Cup pedigree. This is why the Devils and Leafs were bidding for Holik -- and Sather outbid them, but not by much. If three teams are bidding on a player, that's essentially the market rate (no matter how foolish the signing is).

Of course, the introduction of the salary cap exacerbated the problems with the Holik contract.

I'm not arguing that the contract was good, only that there was context and a rationale that makes total sense. And there are plenty of contracts every year for which there is no context or rationale to explain them.

 

[Mike8]

Why didn't Calgary have much offensive talent to surround Iginla in the early 2000's? They lost or traded away 1 1/2 offensive lines in a 2 year span.

Martin St. Louis - July 31, 2000: Signed from Calgary as a free agent by Tampa Bay.
Valeri Bure - June 24, 2001: Traded to Florida by Calgary with Jason Wiemer for Rob Niedermayer
Cory Stillman - March 13, 2001: Traded to St. Louis by Calgary for Craig Conroy
Marc Savard - November 15, 2002: Traded to Atlanta by Calgary for Ruslan Zainullin.

I actually think the Bure and Stillman deals were fine. Conroy was much better for the Flames than Stillman, and he wound up being a quality player.

Bure wasn't a catalyst; he benefited from playing with top players and put up okay numbers. His lack of production in a secondary scoring role in Montreal and in Florida is evidence of this. Niedermayer, on the other hand, was a speed demon who came with great playoff success in Florida's cinderella run and was fundamentally sound. He had played with Brian Skrudland (Flames assistant coach) in Florida, and there was an effort in Calgary (under new GM Craig Button) to bolster Iginla with some strong bluecollar depth. This was similar to the Dallas Stars model, which Button came up under. To that end, out were Bure, Housley, Derek Morris, and in were Conroy, McAmmond (who later was moved for Yelle & Drury), Niedermayer, Bob Boughner.

The Savard deal was a total sideshow. Savard clashed with the Flames head coach and had demanded a trade, if I recall correctly. Finally Savard was discarded for little and the coach was fired weeks later. Total bundling of the situation and, I think, a good reason why Button was let go as GM. Giguere being discarded was equally egregious to the St.Louis/Savard situations (with the Savard one being the worst).

 

[Jim MacDonald]

I kinda hopped to the end here guys without looking, but was Cam Neely/Barry Pederson a one-for-one swap that would fall in the Vancouver "do-over" department? Maybe there was more too it then just these two guys though.....

 

[Normand Lacombe]

I kinda hopped to the end here guys without looking, but was Cam Neely/Barry Pederson a one-for-one swap that would fall in the Vancouver "do-over" department? Maybe there was more too it then just these two guys though.....

Hindsight is always 20/20, but Pederson did score 79 points in 76 games with Boston the year prior. And that was after having the tumor in his shoulder removed during the 1984-85 season. He was only 24 and Pederson was a two time 100 plus point producer in 1982-83 and 1983-84. Vancouver was hoping Pederson would return to his 100 plus point production. Neely never scored more than 39 points in three seasons in Vancouver and maybe Vancouver should have given him more time. I don't think many were thinking Vancouver got the bad end of the deal at the time of the trade. Could be wrong on that.

 

[Jim MacDonald]

And that was after having the tumor in his shoulder removed during the 1984-85 season. He was only 24 and Pederson was a two time 100 plus point producer in 1982-83 and 1983-84. Vancouver was hoping Pederson would return to his 100 plus point production.

Wow....a tumor in his shoulder I didn't know that! Plus I didn't know about Pederson being a 100+ point guy a couple times. Yeah after learning this you can't fault Vancouver for sure.

 

[CharlestownChiefsESC]

Rangers letting Messier go in 97. Took center depth and their leader away, leaving an older Gretzky as the only legitimate center on the team. Still had decent wingers, with Kovalev, Graves, Sundstrom, Robitalle/Stevens and solid defense and goaltending. They could have had Messier and Gretzky help transition the franchise into their next crop of young players, and stayed competitive. Instead they became an absolute disaster until the lockout came. Then Jagr and Lundqvist were finally able to bring respectability back to the organization. Those years of 97-2004 were horrible to go through as a Ranger fan.

Ok see here's where I disagree. Letting him walk was far from a boneheaded move. Up until February of 97 he was scoring goals and still playing like the elite player he always was. However you need to remember he was also 36 years old at the time. I remember in a game vs the Islanders in February 97 he scored a hat trick to give him 32 on the year, but after that he only scored 4 more the rest of the way. In the playoffs he was ok vs Florida, but was a ghost vs the Devils and Philly(sans game 2). Those playoffs were all the writing on the wall Neil Smith needed to see that he wasn't an elite 1st line talent anymore. And the stats show he was right as he never hit 30 goals or 80 points again. In addition to this Neil Smith knew that Joe Sakic and/or Sergei Fedorov would be available and both were still well in their primes while Mess was declining.

Mess was also a royal pain in the ass post 94 off the ice. He pretty much was in Smith's ear about which deals to make, none of which were good. He refused to take a decline in ice time, and pretty much thought that he was above the coaching staff and fo. The RANGERS biggest weakness in the 90s was a lack of a 2nd line center, they tried Kovalev there and it obviously didn't work after 94. So they brought in 2 legit 2nd line centers(Nedved, and Ray Ferraro) both of whom Mess didn't like and ran out of town, until they brought his old Edmonton buddy Gretzky in. Speaking of old Edmonton buddies who can forget the trade in 96 that brought in Jari Kurri and Marty McSorley, granted he got his wish in getting Ferraro out which again left them with no 2nd line center, but it also sent Mattias Norström he other way who would have been a perfect shut down dman to play with Leetch once Beukeboom got too old.

If anything blame Neil Smith for not growing some balls in 1995. In that summer he made the disastrous Nedved,Zubov, for Samuelsson,Robitille trade. In reality they could have had Teemu Selanne for the same package. Also he sat around and waited on a proposed Kovalev,Matteau for Brendan Shanahan trade. If those trades happen and they throw a few more dollars at Sakic, along with the prospect of nabbing Bure in 1999 (if the team was a contender I guarantee he would have come to NY). You're looking at a 2 lines of Graves-Sakic-Shanahan,Selanne-Gretzky Bure. With Mike York and Marc Savard in the system who could have slotted in for Graves and Gretzky once they got too old. IMHO that's at least 1-3 cups in the late 90s early 00s and Messier and 94 become an afterthought. So no I don't blame them for letting Mess go, I blame them for appeasing to his every wish post 94 and not looking to get better in the long run.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Wow....a tumor in his shoulder I didn't know that! Plus I didn't know about Pederson being a 100+ point guy a couple times. Yeah after learning this you can't fault Vancouver for sure.

Canucks adding a 1s, which ended up being the 3rd OA, makes the deal look worse. But a 1st and a top prospect isn’t totally ludicrous for a young, two time, 100 point guy.

Now trading Rick Vaive and Bill Derlago for Tiger Williams and Jerry Butler was a worse deal even without the 20/20 hindsight.

The Canucks would have been far less a laughing stock of a team in the 80’s if they had both Vaive and Neely, though.

 

[frisco]

Penguins:

Markus Naslund for Alex Stojanov.

Jagr for three "prospects" who were worthless. Granted, it was a financially motivated deal but it doesn't mean you don't get anything of value back.

Bringing Eddie Johnston in to coach the team in the mid-90's. One of the worst coaches in history.

My Best-Carey

 

[Big Phil]

I know the Kate Smith thread got locked because people went too far with things and made it political, which is unnecessary. But there is a ton of anger that I haven't seen since Star Wars fans watched "The Last Jedi" from Flyers fans on certain Facebook pages. So I think tearing a part of their history down like it didn't exist is pretty boneheaded to do to your fan base who now are seeing the best part of their franchise's history being re-written. So if we are counting things off the ice this is a recent one.

I can't remember, did anyone say the Gretzky trade yet? If not, I'll throw that in. I am sorry, that was horrible, and still is. I think if I were Glen Sather I'd have slugged Pocklington with every inch of my strength right in the kisser and then given him my resignation papers right then. Sather would be employed by dinner time that very same day from a team that wanted him.

 

[Merya]

1997 Vancouver signing Mark Messier to a 3-year deal.

The team did WORSE, GM Pat Quinn lost his job, coach Keenan came in to try and fix the mess, and eventually as part and parcel of this all, Linden was traded away.

I know that's a Vancouver favorite, but it wasn't that bad when it was done.

My candidate would be the musical chairs done by pretty much the same pool of coaches NHL teams do year after year, apart from some exceptions.

 

[Herby]

Sergei Zubov for Kevin Hatcher.

A guy who ended up borderline HOF defenseman traded for a big, slow, dumb player that didn’t even use his size to be physically imposing.

The rumor behind the trade being that Mario Lemieux didn’t like how Zubov played on the power play. One of the most effective power plays(95-96 Pens) of all time...

The Pens actually have made a couple of terrible “skill for size/toughness/grit” trades in their history.

I was living in Pittsburgh at the time, I was only a kid in middle school but I remember everyone hated Zubov because he wouldn't shoot the puck.

And speaking of Zubov, he is one of those deadpuck guys that would have been considered way better had he been playing today. He didn't fit in with the era he played.

 

[The Panther]

I can't remember, did anyone say the Gretzky trade yet? If not, I'll throw that in. I am sorry, that was horrible, and still is. I think if I were Glen Sather I'd have slugged Pocklington with every inch of my strength right in the kisser and then given him my resignation papers right then.

I believe Sather actually did slug Pocklington when Peter told him. I think they were on a fishing trip or something up in northern Alberta, and Pocklington told Sather then.

The ramifications of the Gretzky trade are still haunting the Edmonton Oilers to this very day.

 

[Big Phil]

I believe Sather actually did slug Pocklington when Peter told him. I think they were on a fishing trip or something up in northern Alberta, and Pocklington told Sather then.

The ramifications of the Gretzky trade are still haunting the Edmonton Oilers to this very day.

It is just if anything a lack of trust. It is like your best friend your whole life having to move away, not because he wanted to, but because his dad got a job 1,000 miles away. Or it was almost like seeing your wife with another man. I know, strange, but I wasn't even an Oilers fan and it just seemed wrong at the time to have him in L.A., at least at first. It all seemed like a bad dream, a nightmare. Fans don't forget this and the most bizarre thing is that he was at the height of his powers and had probably his best playoff performance to date. If McDavid got traded the Oilers fans would be hurt and angry. But he didn't win 4 Cups and re-write the record book either. Just imagine the internet blowing up if this happened today with Gretzky.

 

[Merya]

So, they send Adam Oates and Paul MacLean to St.Louis. In return, they got veteran Bernie Federko, who was 33 and wanted no part of the Wings.

There's a load of butterfly effect, but it's a pretty sexy thought what dynasty they could've been with Oates and Yzerman if they had been more patient. They might've taken those Pingu cups for one. Stevie was pretty super, only eclipsed by hockey gods made flesh and Oates is the second best passer NHL has ever seen. The PP would have been filthy.

 

[dylan pendergast]

Milbury trading JP Dumont to Chicago for Dmitri Nabokov (who?) has to be up with the worst. Nabokov played less than 40 games for the isles, while dumont had an above average career