Outside of Gilmour for Leeman, the most disappointing trade in Flames history

[Nage Waza]

Originally Posted by Matty81

letting Joel Otto walk for nothing when he wanted to stay

My all time favourite.

[JBR]

Iginla. The trade was well overdue, and the return very underwhelming.

[hockey.modern]

Personally at first the phaneuf trade was terrible but if I look at it now, I Would much rather have Stajan > Phaneuf

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Now it looks like the Phaneuf trade was a wash because we got a good utility player who is also a fan favorite and we subtracted one of the most maligned overpaid underachievers in recent history.

However the sad fact is Sutter should have gotten so much more. At the time, Phaneuf was coming off a Norris trophy nomination and was regarded as one of the best dmen in the game. His trade value was squandered because Sutter was trying to save the season with desperate half measures instead of shopping assets to the highest bidder for picks/prospects. Heck, he could've probably got a good young forward in return but instead settled on a quality for quantity trade. It was Gilmour for Leeman all over again, it doesn't matter that Phaneuf regressed in the years that followed. Even if he retired from hockey the next day, it was still a wasted opportunity.

[nik-]

The Phaneuf trade was our Hamilton trade, just not as bad because Phaneuf was already making money.

[Dajazz]

The Phaneuf trade at the time was horrible, a young, Norris candidate, physical defender. 1st, A prospect ++++ is MINIMUM at the time. Jamal Mayers... Niklas Hagman... Uhm what...? Where's Ian White these days. Out of ALL the players we got, how many are in the league today? I can think of Stajan.

The second which comes to mind is Jokinen Prust for Higgins/Kotalik. I mean what in gods name was he thinking?

Actually, the Jokinen trade was sort of a snowball.... or was it Bouwmeester?

[frodo_t_baggins]

Although a minor trade, personally it was the staios trade. Even after the phaneuf and jokinen deals, I still had faith that Darryl had some sort of a plan. It wasn't until we dealt for that grizzled old oiler that it hit me that things were not going to get better.

[JoelOtto29]

how about this series of trades

July 27, 2009
Toronto Maple Leafs acquire
Wayne Primeau
2011 2nd round pick (#43-Brandon Saad)

Calgary Flames acquire
Anton Stralman
Colin Stuart
2012 7th round pick

then...

September 28, 2009
Columbus Blue Jackets acquire
Anton Stralman

Calgary Flames acquire
2010 3rd round pick (#64-Max Reinhart)

[FlameZilla]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

The 48hrs of madness in 2010. Phaneuf, Jokinen, Prust, Sjostrom, Auile for Stajan, Hagman, White, Mayers, Higgins, Kotalik

These two trades set the franchise back. Sutter blew it up without realising he blew it up. He traded one of the most hyped-up players in the league at the time, but didn't get a single prospect or draft pick back. Shameful.

Reading all this pain and suffering has made me excited about the direction the team is heading. The Dougie Hamilton trade makes up for years of suffering. Great drafting in recent years also has the team more talented and deeper than it's been in a couple of decades.

[FireGilbert]

After seeing the Bruins moves at the draft I got thinking about about the biggest blunders in Flames history. 1st place is the obvious one in the thread title but my others are as follows:

2. Trevor Kidd. Both the draft pick and the Vernon trade making him #1.
3. Phanuef and Jokinen desperation deals.
4. Savard trade.
5. Iginla trade return.
6. Mullen trade.
7. MacInnis contract cheapness and trade.
8. The years of horrible goalie acquisitions after Kidd was finally shown the door. Wregget, Fuhr, Vernon part 2, etc..
9. Regher to Buffalo trade.
10. Brett Hull trade. Cup win prevents this from being higher.

[JD]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

2. Trevor Kidd. Both the draft pick and the Vernon trade making him #1.

We've seen this one in the thread a few times. In retrospect, sure, it's a blunder, heck, maybe even a series of blunders.

But the decision to move up and draft Kidd couldn't be faulted at that time. Trevor Kidd was in the midst of one of the best junior careers anyone had in history. World Juniors, Memorial Cup, he did it all. He was as can't-miss as you can get with goalie prospects. I remember being pretty excited about the move.

If anything, the real blunder could have been that the Flames rushed him, as you suggest, making that Vernon trade to clear the spot for him. The total opposite of "Always earned, never given". Mind you, Vernon was in the middle of being run out of town by the fans too.

[Party Elephant]

Originally Posted by JD

We've seen this one in the thread a few times. In retrospect, sure, it's a blunder, heck, maybe even a series of blunders.

But the decision to move up and draft Kidd couldn't be faulted at that time. Trevor Kidd was in the midst of one of the best junior careers anyone had in history. World Juniors, Memorial Cup, he did it all. He was as can't-miss as you can get with goalie prospects. I remember being pretty excited about the move.

If anything, the real blunder could have been that the Flames rushed him, as you suggest, making that Vernon trade to clear the spot for him. The total opposite of "Always earned, never given". Mind you, Vernon was in the middle of being run out of town by the fans too.

It's been mentioned on cp before that perhaps if the Devils had drafted kidd and he ended up playing behind Niedermayer and Stevens, then he might have had a much better career.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by hockey.modern

Personally at first the phaneuf trade was terrible but if I look at it now, I Would much rather have Stajan > Phaneuf

I loved the Phaneuf trade. I hated that guy, he was massively over rated even then, a giant d-bag, and had the personality of a Potato. Once he no longer had protected minutes, he was exposed faster than hobo in a trench coat. In hindsight it was the best addition by subtraction move the team ever made. Regardless of who we got for him, it wouldn't have made a huge difference, that core was already rotten, and he was just a grub digging into the apple.

I used to love the CP defence "But...but... defensemen don't mature until their 46 years old. Phanuef will will three billionty Norris's" BS, you can't fix stupidity, and a ton of d-men have hit elite status in their early 20's. The only reason so many people think we got robbed in that trade was because they were still thinking he was the same player 2 years prior. The guy still can't turn left... or is it right... skating backwards.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Dion

Trading Brett Hull to the Blues for d man Rob Ramage and goaltender Rick Walmsley. I thought we were giving away a player who would score a lot of goals in the league. Even the GM at the time Cliff Fletcher expected that Hull would be scoring 50+ goals a season and said as much during the trade press conference. Turns out we were both right.

The explanation at the time was the players we traded for would boster our chances of winning the Cup. It did work in our favour but I have wondered how that trade would been looked upon had we not won the Cup in 89.

People undervalue Ramage. The guy was a former 1st overall pick, and the season before the trade set a Blue franchise record for scoring by a defenceman. He was big, he could play both sides of the puck, and he was a leader. When the Flames dealt him to the Leafs, he was immediately made captain. He got buried on the Flames d-corps because it was already absolutely killer.

And Wamsley was a 1B goalie who had recently backstopped the Blues to the conference finals. He was insurance in case Vernon went down - you don't want to flush a 105 pt, President's Trophy winning season down the toilet because of an injury to a goalie.

And even if the Flames hadn't moved Hull in that deal, there's no way they would have been able to keep a star of his calibre in Calgary when the tear-down happened.

[Red Menace]

Originally Posted by Bourque's Twin

Ference and Kobasew for Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau.
This was a dagger to that 2004 team chemistry.

While I agree this trade was terrible for that season, the Bruins also threw in a 4th rd pick, which we used to select one TJ Brodie.....so it kinda worked out for us.

[Red Menace]

Lots of bad trades I can recall

by GM:
Fletcher:
Hull trade is bad in hindsight, helped us win Cup
trading both Mullen and mcCrimmon for 2nd rounders
Risebrough:
Gilmour/Leeman, Suter/Nylander, Macinnis/Housley, Chiasson/Vernon
Coates:
Roberts-Kidd / Cassels-Giguere, Nylander/Nazarov, Housley/Albelin, Reicehl/McInnis
Button:
Savard/Zanulllian, Bure/Neidermayer,
Sutter:
Phaneuf/Stajan, Jokinen-Prust / Kotalik, Reinprechet/Leclerc,
Feaster:
Regher/Butler,

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by hockey.modern

Personally at first the phaneuf trade was terrible but if I look at it now, I Would much rather have Stajan > Phaneuf

What I hated about that trade the most was it started the whole "Flames are the laughing stock of the league" that basically lasted up until Burke fired Feaster. Darryl made those 2 horrible trades then he brings Jokinen back the same summer. Feaster opened his mouth too much. I thought his trades of Regehr, Iginla, Bouwmeester were all terrible. Also the RoR offer sheet fiasco which had the rest of the hockey fans and media question what was going on here.

Now we appear to be a team rapidly on the rise and the league wide perception has done a complete 180 and we are once again a place players want to be

[Erick Estrada]

I find it hard to overly criticize most of the 90's trades after Risebrough as most of them were deals where the Flames couldn't afford to retain their players and were trying to get less expensive players in return that could still contribute. For example I don't know how anyone could be overly upset about the return for Roberts and Kidd seeing Giguere went on to be for a time one of the best goaltenders in the league and Cassels was at least a capable center for a team that needed one bad.

[Makarov]

So many painful trades to choose from. The Savard trade is particularly painful for me. He was one of my favourite players, seemed to love the team, had great chemistry with Iginla (who was just emerging as an impact player) and I absolutely despised Greg Gilbert. I just knew that we would regret that trade the moment I heard it announced. And that was without the benefit of the hindsight that Iginla would play the next decade in Calgary without ever having a first line playmaking centre.

Anyway, another one to add to the list: J-S Giguere to the Ducks for 2nd round pick (#43 Matt Pettinger). Three years later he single-handedly took the Ducks to the Stanley Cup finals. In 2007, he won the Cup with the Ducks.

[Poe969]

Trading up to pick Kidd and passing on Brodeur