Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Random question: Why did the Flames trade Reichel in 1997?

timun · 12-07-2020, 10:13 PM

Aloof player who wasn't worth the money anymore.

Prior to his holdout year he was making about $700,000/yr (Canadian; this was back in the day when Canadian teams could sign players to contracts in Canadian dollars), and he refused to come back until he was paid in American dollars and got a substantial raise. Ended up being paid about $2M that '96-'97 season, and frankly wasn't worth it (only Flames player who made more was Fleury, ~$2.4M). Marty McInnis, whom they traded him for, scored about as well as Reichel did at that point and was better at the other end of the ice, and importantly for the Flames only made about $500,000 or thereabouts.

Two years later (contract year) the Islanders traded him at the deadline to the Coyotes, who balked at his demand for a $3M/yr contract. They let him hold out back in the Czech Republic for a couple years before trading his rights to the Maple Leafs (who gave him his stupid $3M+/yr contract and regretted it not long thereafter).

12-07-2020, 10:13 PM	#17
timun First Line Centre Join Date: May 2012 Exp:	Aloof player who wasn't worth the money anymore. Prior to his holdout year he was making about $700,000/yr (Canadian; this was back in the day when Canadian teams could sign players to contracts in Canadian dollars), and he refused to come back until he was paid in American dollars and got a substantial raise. Ended up being paid about $2M that '96-'97 season, and frankly wasn't worth it (only Flames player who made more was Fleury, ~$2.4M). Marty McInnis, whom they traded him for, scored about as well as Reichel did at that point and was better at the other end of the ice, and importantly for the Flames only made about $500,000 or thereabouts. Two years later (contract year) the Islanders traded him at the deadline to the Coyotes, who balked at his demand for a $3M/yr contract. They let him hold out back in the Czech Republic for a couple years before trading his rights to the Maple Leafs (who gave him his stupid $3M+/yr contract and regretted it not long thereafter). Last edited by timun; 12-07-2020 at 10:17 PM.