Hockey Trade Rumors

With another trade deadline come and gone, I think it’s interesting how some NHL general managers are instantly branded as clinically insane or new members of MENSA. It seems that the majority of the armchair GM”s on this website have already passed judgement on the winners and losers of this year’s deal derby. However, looking at a past deadline trade might just put things in perspective for everyone.

Most people know that during his tenure I had always been a staunch supporter of former Philadelphia Flyers GM Bob Clarke. At the 2002 trade deadline, Clarke picked up future Hall of Fame center Adam Oates from the Washington Capitals. At the time, the move was understandable from the Flyers perspective. Their power play had been abysmal for the better part of that season. Their two top centermen, Jeremy Roenick and Keith Primeau, were both injured and would be out for significant amounts of time.

Conversely, there were a great many people on this website and in the media who panned the deal. I clearly recall some HTR members saying:

“McPhee had Clarke on his knees.”

“He just stole those picks.”

“Clarke got ripped off for a 39 year old UFA.”

“I can’t believe they gave up their top goalie prospect.”

All that and more, even the obligitory Clarke-hating insults.

How about we look at that deal now:

To Philadelphia: C Adam Oates

To Washington: G Maxime Ouellet,
1st round pick in 2002 draft,
2nd round pick in 2002 draft, and
3rd round pick in 2002 draft

Adam Oates:

Yes, Oates left the Flyers after the season to sign with Anaheim. He was not offered a contract by Philadelphia. However, during his one year in Anaheim combined with his next (and last in the NHL) in Edmonton, his skills and speed had clearly diminished. Had he re-signed in Philadelphia, Clarke would have still been panned for paying him for two sub-par seasons.

As mentioned before, Roenick and Primeau were out for a while, and the power play was terrible. Oates contributed immediately, and the Flyers went on to win the Atlantic Division. The Flyers were then routed by Ottawa in the first round, scoring only two goals in the process. Oates assisted on both of them.

While he wasn’t re-signed and the team was terrible in the playoffs, the deal was one that Clarke had to make. Had he stand pat, Oates would, in all likelyhood, have been dealt to the Colorado Avalanche. The rumor circulating after the deadline was that McPhee had a bidding war going on between Clarke and Pierre Lacroix. Clarke won. Or lost, according to some people.

Maxime Ouellet:

Considered to be the lynchpin to the deal, Ouellet, a former first-round selection of the Flyers in the 1999 draft, was indeed considered the Flyers’ top goalie prospect and had a bright future as a #1 NHL netminder. Washington was excited to acquire him and viewed him as an eventual successor to Olaf Kolzig. It didn’t happen. He couldn’t even push Kolzig’s backup, Sebastien Charpentier. Ouellet toiled in the AHL for the Caps until midway through the 2005-06 season. He was traded to the Vancouver Canucks for a fifth round selection in the 2006 draft (RW Tomas Zaborsky). Kolzig is still the #1 goaltender in Washington.

Draft picks:

First round selection in 2002 draft (26th overall) – D Martin Vagner. Vagner never signed an entry-level contract and re-entered the draft two years later. He was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the ninth round (268th overall). He has yet to sign an NHL contract or play in the NHL.

(Philadelphia selected D Joni Pitkanen in the first round of the 2002 NHL Draft).

Second round selection in 2002 draft (59th overall) – G Maxime Daigneault. Currently playing for the Caps’ minor league affiliate Hershey (AHL). Still considered a decent prospect, but scouting reports state that he needs to get quicker and tighten his butterfly style.

Third round selection in 2002 draft (92nd overall) – C Derek Krestanovich. Has played for three different ECHL teams. Have not been able to ascertain if his rights still belong to the Caps, but he is not listed on their website or any other prospect website as part of their organization.

(Philadelphia traded its other second- and third-round selections in order to move up to select Pitkanen.)

I agreed with the decision to get Adam Oates in 2002, and I stand by that decision five years later. This trade was an attempt to get the Flyers over the hump. A gutsy decision that no one should have considered “desperate.” It didn’t work out for Philadelphia, but it didn’t exactly work out for Washington either. McPhee was supposed to use these “stolen” building blocks for the betterment of his franchise and only came away with one goaltender who may or may not start a game in the NHL. Looking back on it, hardly a great return for a future HOF’er in Oates.

So think about this when you criticize people like Don Waddell. Waddell deserves credit, the same way Clarke did, for trying to put his team over the hump. Atlanta has a very good chance at not only winning their division, but making a run at the Stanley Cup. You may not like what he gave up in order to get Alexei Zhitnik and Keith Tkachuk, but you have no right to call him on the carpet for doing what is best for his team.

Think about this when you laud Paul Holmgren and Larry Pleau, both of whom have been showered with accolades for accumulating building blocks for the future in the form of prospects and picks. You may love the job they have done now, but you have know idea how they will pan out five years from now.

(For the record, I love what Holmgren has done – for now. But I’m not prescient – I’ll wait and see how things unfold in five years.)

Here endeth the lesson.