Why did the Red Wings trade Mike Vernon after the 97 Cup Run?

[Retire91]

As much as I like Vernon I think the conn smythe made him a bit overrated. I think its quite possible Osgood could have won back to back cups because the team really just needed an above average goalie. The team was so incredibly stacked.

I think Holland wanted the younger slightly cheaper Osgood and the chance to trade Vernon when his value is high. The return was pretty good at 2 seconds its just that the wings wiffed on both picks. If memory serves me right most fans including my self didn't even really bat an eye on the trade because the team's strength wasn't goal tending to begin with. So on paper some might be like why would you trade a conn smythe winning goalie, but in reality the wings just needed a warm body in the net.

 

[barbu]

Vernon reminds me of Fleury. He had some great runs but he also shat the bed more often than not and maybe was a major reason for the Calgary Flames early exits from 1990-1995.

 

[ShelbyZ]

As much as I like Vernon I think the conn smythe made him a bit overrated. I think its quite possible Osgood could have won back to back cups because the team really just needed an above average goalie. The team was so incredibly stacked.

IIRC, not only did the Sharks pay a decent price to acquire Vernon, they immediately handed him a 3 year extension that bumped his salary to around $3M a year. Had the Red Wings even considered an extension they likely wouldn't have wanted to get near that kind of money.

I think Holland wanted the younger slightly cheaper Osgood and the chance to trade Vernon when his value is high. The return was pretty good at 2 seconds its just that the wings wiffed on both picks. If memory serves me right most fans including my self didn't even really bat an eye on the trade because the team's strength wasn't goal tending to begin with. So on paper some might be like why would you trade a conn smythe winning goalie, but in reality the wings just needed a warm body in the net.

I think this is pretty spot on. Vernon was only supposed to be a short term experienced guy to platoon with and mentor Osgood until the younger goalie was ready to take over the #1 job.

Looking back at old articles from that summer, Holland/Bowman and co. seemed to insinuate that another year of Osgood and Vernon was completely off the table and they needed to choose between the two. I'm assuming this had to do with money/budget since Osgood had just been extended for multiple seasons and would start getting paid at or close to starter money in 97-98. They also went out and signed Brent Gilchrist to a decent salary and had to give raises to guys like LaPointe, Kozlov, Larionov and especially Fedorov. While advocating for Vernon, Bowman would also point out that the goalie would need a contract extension if he was going to stick around. Going with Osgood's lower and locked in salary allowed the team to keep the band together as much as possible to where goaltending wouldn't become an issue anyway.

I also don't remember too many broken hearts in Detroit after the trade. Though I'm sure some lamented it when Osgood let in some of his notorious soft goals in the 98 playoffs