Worst (or Best) Trades of all Time

[Drew22]

TO Pittsburgh:

Marian Hossa

Pascal Dupuis

TO Atlanta:

Colby Armstrong

Erik Christensen

Angelo Esposito

I think the Thrashers win this deal. We still have Armstrong and Esposito.

[FiddySicks]

Probably the 2 worst trades in Cardinals history:

Steve Carlton to Philadelphia for Rick Wise.

Dan Haren, Kiko Calero, and Daric Barton to Oakland for Mark Mulder

How? Sure Mulder basically fell apart after landing in St. Louis, but aside from Haren (who's not even on the team anymore) this trade did nothing good for Oakland.

And it's even hard to argue that the prospects Oakland got back from Arizona for Haren made this a fleecing. Gonzalez is gone (part of the Holliday deal along with Houston Street, who has been fantastic for the Rockies, while Holliday has been invisible, uggh), Eveland is struggling to be a poor pitcher, and the rest are hardly worth mentioning. If anything Oakland got fleeced, twice, just by the sheer fact that they themselves turned all of that movement into the complete disaster that is their (lack of a) lineup and rotation... And bullpen for that matter.

[NEW.ERA]

This trade could have been the biggest win win deal in NHL history if it wasn't for the two main players of this trade (Forsberg, Lindros) weren't hampered by injuries throughout there career both could be still playing or both could be capping off a hall of fame careers.

Philadelphia Flyers

Trade: Peter Forsberg, Kerry Huffman, Steve Duchesne, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall, a draft pick they turned into Jocelyn Thibault, Chris Simon and $15 million

to the

Quebec Nordiques

for Eric Lindros

Result: Forsberg going to Colorado was the cherry on top towards two Stanley Cups, Lindros made the Flyers the beast of the east but never quite could get it done in the playoffs only appearing in one Stanley Cup Final in 1997 when they ended up getting dismantled by the Detroit Red Wings. Both won Hart Trophy's and I'm not saying that both are out if the running to get into the Hall of Fame but it shows just what injuries can do to star players.

[Discrim]

The T'wolves sending Kevin Garnett to Boston for a bunch of cast-offs. Minnesota-based teams sure have a knack for winding up on the @$$-end of these lopsided trades...

Gotta disagree on that one Viper....Al Jefferson is a stud.

If anything...the Foye/Roy trade and to a lesser degree the Mayo/Love swap were worse.

We'll see how this Rubio/Flynn thing pans out.

I hear Rob Babcock is the T-Wolves Assistant GM....I'm a Raptors fan...and god he was awful.

you're kidding, right? IMO, history will prove the T-Wolves got the better end of that deal. Guys like OJ Mayo, you can get in any draft....and now that dumbass wants to play the point? I'd be shocked if his coach was dumb enough to actually start him there, and even more shocked if he was any good at it (and no, Mo Williams isn't a good example, just the beneficiary of the perception that scoring a lot of points makes one good at basketball) I wish the Bucks had Love, then the frontline would be set for at least the next 5 years. anyways...

the Kareem trade was already mentioned. the Bucks did get some good years out of most of the guys they got for him, most notably Bridgeman, but still, the Bucks made the mistake of trading a once in a generation center. Those guys are damn near impossible to truly replace, as we've found out. I'm not gonna list the Traylor-Dirk trade, as it was one of those draft day deals (even though it does meet the definition of a fleecing)

trade the Bucks will make at some point in the future that will probably bite them in the ass:

Bucks trade:

PG Ramon Sessions

to (insert team here) for:

(insert player and/or pick here)

There are many other instances where a player is all but actively being driven out by his team. At some point, Skiles will believe Brandon Jennings is ready to handle the point. At that point, the Bucks will either take a page out of Don Nelson's old playbook and use a double PG tandem with Jennings at the 1 and Sessions at the 2, or what I see as more likely, Ramon will be traded to a team that actually wants him to start. This, from my perspective, will be a shame, as IMO, he is the next Jason Kidd. Hell, it's nothing like most "push his ass out" situations where you're trying to get rid of a guy who's passed his prime, this is a still-improving 23 year old!

now, for what many seem to see as fleecings: first last year's Mo-ron trade...

to Cavs:

PG Mo Williams (from MIL)

to Bucks:

PG Luke Ridnour (from OKC)

SF Adrian Griffin (from OKC)

PG Damon Jones (from CLE)

to Thunder

PF Joe Smith (from CLE)

SF Desmond Mason (from MIL)

most believe the Cavs got the best end of the deal. I say Mo found one of the few places in the NBA where his shortcomings as a point guard would be camouflaged (the most wins any Bucks team led by the Mo-ron ever mustered was 30...I must say it again-calling this idiot a top 10 point guard is a joke. a brilliant example of how ballers are mainly judged by their PPG)

and then the more recent so-called fleecing:

to Bucks:

PF Kurt Thomas (from SA)

SF Bruce Bowen (from SA)

F Amir Johnson (from DET)

to Spurs:

SF Richard Jefferson (from MIL)

to Pistons:

C Fabricio Oberto (from SA by way of MIL)

the reality: RJ was a very good player as recently as 3 years ago. Most nights last season, he was merely average. If anybody got fleeced here, it was the Pistons.

[HedleyLamarr]

TO Pittsburgh:

Marian Hossa

Pascal Dupuis

TO Atlanta:

Colby Armstrong

Erik Christensen

Angelo Esposito

How is this considered a fleecing?

Hossa wasn't going to re-sign here, so the Thrashers had to trade him. Hossa played a grand total of four months with the Penguins, and Dupuis was often scratched during the regular season and playoffs this year.

No way Pittsburgh wins this deal overall if Armstrong and Esposito thrive here.

[Stampman]

More for the Flames:

On the bad side-

Doug Risebrough gets fleeced by Cliff Fletcher as he trades Doug Gilmour, Jamie Macoun, Ric Nattress, Kent Manderville, and Rick Wamsley to the Leafs for Gary Leeman, Alexander Godynyuk, Jeff Reese, Michel Petit and Craig Berube. No way to put a positive spin on that for the Flames. Bad, bad trade. WOrst in Flames hostory, and a real bad one in NHL history.

A good one for the Flames was trading Kent Nilsson to the North Stars along with a 1986 3rd Round pick (Brad Turner-who?) for a 1985 2nd Round selection (Joe Nieuwendyk) and 1987 2nd Round selection (Stephane Matteau).

Nieuwy was a big part of their Cup win in 89, and scored a lot more goals than Nilsson did in the rest of his career.

But this trade kept on giving.

Matteau was a decent player, but was later traded to the Blackhawks for Trent Yawney--no big deal, but not a bad one either.

But more importantly Nieuwendyk was traded to the team that gave up a draft pick used for him--the Stars (Now in Dallas), and he was traded for Jarome Iginla and Corey Millen--Iggy of course became the face of the franchise.

Of course trading Don Lever and Bob McMillan to the Colorado Rockies gave the Flames their face in Calgary--Lanny MacDonald--and he was also an important piece in that Cup victory.

Changing teams-another big fleecing was Montreal trading Ernie Hicke and a first round draft choice in 1970 to the Seals for Francois Lacombe and a first round draft choice in 1971. That pick?

Guy Lafleur.

It could also have been Marcel Dionne.

He went second.

Now that's a great start to a draft.

[Wheelhouse]

TO Pittsburgh:

Marian Hossa

Pascal Dupuis

TO Atlanta:

Colby Armstrong

Erik Christensen

Angelo Esposito

How is this considered a fleecing?

Hossa wasn't going to re-sign here, so the Thrashers had to trade him. Hossa played a grand total of four months with the Penguins, and Dupuis was often scratched during the regular season and playoffs this year.

No way Pittsburgh wins this deal overall if Armstrong and Esposito thrive here.

It's nowhere near a "fleecing", but Hossa helped the young Penguins get some experience at the next level. It's possible we still would've made it to the final without him, but nowhere near as easily. Dupuis has been a solid forechecking role-player. This was a good trade for both teams. I believe Atlanta also received a draft pick.

All Penguins fans know the steal that made GM Craig Patrick's career (and helped us win two Stanley Cups):

to Pittsburgh:

Ron Francis

Ulf Samuellson

Grant Jennings

to Hartford:

John Cullen

Jeff Parker

Zarley Zalapski

[Brendan]

The Canuck have made a number of bad trades (Cam Neely trade) but have also have made a couple were the clearly won the deal.

Markus Naslund for Alex Stojanov. Naslund went on the become the highest scoring Canuck of all time while Stojanov only played another 45 games in the NHL.

Trevor Linden for Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe and a pick that became Jarko Ruttu. Bertuzzi was a very good played for the Canucks a few years back while McCabe was used in the trades that landed the Canucks the picks used for the Sedin twins. Linden left the Islander a year later.

Then the Lunogo deal that has already been mentioned.

[RyanB06]

Looking back, the 2003 trade that sent Freddy Sanchez to the Pirates for Brandon Lyon, Jeff Suppan, and Anastacio Martinez looks pretty bad from the Red Sox' point of view. I suppose you could say this is one of few trades where the Pirates haven't been ripped off recently.

Except that Brandon Lyon was flipped that offseason in the Curt Schilling deal, which means this deal was responsible, in part, for the 2004 championship.

Given the choice between Freddy Sanchez and a World Series win in my lifetime, I'll take the latter, thank you very much.

[gojetsgo]

How can this thread even be without:

November 2, 1978 ? Traded by the Indianapolis Racers, along with Eddie Mio and Peter Driscoll, to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for $700,000 and future considerations.

Getting some cash for Gretzky was a good deal for the Racers, since they were going to fold anyway.

Some other bad trades:

Dominik Hasek to Buffalo - Stephane Beauregard and 4th rd pick to Chicago

Teemu Selanne to Anaheim - Chad Kilger and Oleg Tverdovsky to Winnipeg (I'm still pissed at that one)

Kris Draper to Detroit - $1.00 to Winnipeg

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

The Canuck have made a number of bad trades (Cam Neely trade) but have also have made a couple were the clearly won the deal.

Markus Naslund for Alex Stojanov. Naslund went on the become the highest scoring Canuck of all time while Stojanov only played another 45 games in the NHL.

Trevor Linden for Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe and a pick that became Jarko Ruttu. Bertuzzi was a very good played for the Canucks a few years back while McCabe was used in the trades that landed the Canucks the picks used for the Sedin twins. Linden left the Islander a year later.

Then the Lunogo deal that has already been mentioned.

thats another fleecing that i didn't like. I hated giving up Bertuzzi for a player on the downside of his career.

[ninersdd]

Sacramento Kings traded Mike Bibby to the ATL for Tyronne Lue, Lorenzen Wright, Shelden Williams, and Anthony Johnson.

The first two players mentioned never played for the Kings, Williams sucked, and while Johnson was okay for the half year we had him, he left during the summer.

So a year after the trade, the Kings have no one to show for Bibby. It's trades like these as to why the Kings are at the bottom.

[Puck]

This trade could have been the biggest win win deal in NHL history if it wasn't for the two main players of this trade (Forsberg, Lindros) weren't hampered by injuries throughout there career both could be still playing or both could be capping off a hall of fame careers.

Philadelphia Flyers

Trade: Peter Forsberg, Kerry Huffman, Steve Duchesne, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall, a draft pick they turned into Jocelyn Thibault, Chris Simon and $15 million

to the

Quebec Nordiques

for Eric Lindros

Result: Forsberg going to Colorado was the cherry on top towards two Stanley Cups, Lindros made the Flyers the beast of the east but never quite could get it done in the playoffs only appearing in one Stanley Cup Final in 1997 when they ended up getting dismantled by the Detroit Red Wings. Both won Hart Trophy's and I'm not saying that both are out if the running to get into the Hall of Fame but it shows just what injuries can do to star players.

Even a healthy Lindros wouldn't have got Philadelphia a cup.

And is anyone saying Lindros belongs in the Hall of Fame? He was good, but Steve Larmer had better numbers than Lindros and Larmer isn't in the Hall of Fame.

[tp49]

The Canuck have made a number of bad trades (Cam Neely trade) but have also have made a couple were the clearly won the deal.

Markus Naslund for Alex Stojanov. Naslund went on the become the highest scoring Canuck of all time while Stojanov only played another 45 games in the NHL.

Trevor Linden for Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe and a pick that became Jarko Ruttu. Bertuzzi was a very good played for the Canucks a few years back while McCabe was used in the trades that landed the Canucks the picks used for the Sedin twins. Linden left the Islander a year later.

Then the Lunogo deal that has already been mentioned.

thats another fleecing that i didn't like. I hated giving up Bertuzzi for a player on the downside of his career.

I hated that trade too. However, Bertuzzi was never going to succeed on Long Island. Remember the team was having Clark Gillies mentor him to turn Bert into a Gillies clone (same tactic didn't succeed with Isbister either). Bertuzzi showed flashes of potential but he could never do what the organization wanted him to do. Though they gave up way too much for Trevor Linden.

However, I thought the Turgeon for Muller trade was a total fleecing.

[BBTV]

This trade could have been the biggest win win deal in NHL history if it wasn't for the two main players of this trade (Forsberg, Lindros) weren't hampered by injuries throughout there career both could be still playing or both could be capping off a hall of fame careers.

Philadelphia Flyers

Trade: Peter Forsberg, Kerry Huffman, Steve Duchesne, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall, a draft pick they turned into Jocelyn Thibault, Chris Simon and $15 million

to the

Quebec Nordiques

for Eric Lindros

Result: Forsberg going to Colorado was the cherry on top towards two Stanley Cups, Lindros made the Flyers the beast of the east but never quite could get it done in the playoffs only appearing in one Stanley Cup Final in 1997 when they ended up getting dismantled by the Detroit Red Wings. Both won Hart Trophy's and I'm not saying that both are out if the running to get into the Hall of Fame but it shows just what injuries can do to star players.

Even a healthy Lindros wouldn't have got Philadelphia a cup.

And is anyone saying Lindros belongs in the Hall of Fame? He was good, but Steve Larmer had better numbers than Lindros and Larmer isn't in the Hall of Fame.

Lindros was also 100% responsible for John LeClair's 50-goal seasons. LeClair is / was nothing without Lindros. Not saying he was a HOFer, but he really had a much bigger impact than even most Flyer fans give him credit for.

[tBBP]

Let's see...we're almost to the end of page 4 of this thread. Is this about the point where people will just start posting any trade involving a "star" player they can think of? Or has that point already passed?

(Most other threads of this nature usually degenerate somwehere around this point...)

[TFoA]

I'm pretty sure that if the Cavs win the 09-10 championship, the Shaq trade will be mentioned.

[-(dp)-]

and then the more recent so-called fleecing:

to Bucks:

PF Kurt Thomas (from SA)

SF Bruce Bowen (from SA)

F Amir Johnson (from DET)

to Spurs:

SF Richard Jefferson (from MIL)

to Pistons:

C Fabricio Oberto (from SA by way of MIL)

the reality: RJ was a very good player as recently as 3 years ago. Most nights last season, he was merely average. If anybody got fleeced here, it was the Pistons.

How did the Pistons get fleeced there? They were basically just getting rid of Amir for cap space. They bought out oberto. And have you seen Amir play? He can never make an impact on a game because he is constantly in foul trouble.

[DarkJourney]

Anything the Golden State Warriors have ever done

[LEWJ]

This may have been mentioned; but how about this trade between the Expos and Indians.

Cleveland Gets

Grady Sizemore

Brandon Phillips

Lee Stevens

Cliff Lee

Montreal Gets

Bartolo Colon

Tim Drew

I think that's it.