This feature story from THN's Archive broke down deals from different years, including blockbusters involving Raymond Bourque, Pierre Turgeon and Kirk Muller.

As the NHL’s March 8 trade deadline draws closer, it’s a good time to look back at some of the deals that were made in previous seasons. 

In this feature story from The Hockey News’ March 9, 2015 edition – Vol. 68, Issue 17-18 – this writer recapped some of the moves that took place in the months before the deadline of previous years.

(And this is another friendly reminder – for complete access to The Hockey News Archive, subscribe to the magazine at THN.com/Free).

The biggest blockbuster deal featured in the story was the trade that sent Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman Raymond Bourque and winger Dave Andreychuk to Boston in exchange for forwards Brian Rolston, Samuel Pahlsson, Martin Grenier and a first-round draft pick in 2000. The trade – which took place in the 1999-2000 season – clearly paid off for the Avs. However, their success with the deal didn’t really materialize until the following season, when Bourque was part of Colorado’s second Stanley Cup-winning team. That made the Avs the clear winner, especially considering how little the players Boston acquired contributed to the Bruins in the long term.

Another move we analyzed was the 1995 blockbuster move that sent forwards Vladimir Malakhov and Pierre Turgeon to the Montreal Canadiens in return for forwards Kirk Muller and Craig Darby, and defenseman Mathieu Schneider.

Malakhov was the only player in the deal who played long-term for the team that acquired him, but Turgeon was dealt to St. Louis one year later in a move that brought back star forward Shayne Corson to the Habs. Malakhov was dealt to New Jersey for Sheldon Souray, and Muller and Schneider both were shipped out by the end of 1995-96, making this trade a deal that you had to examine over the long term. From that respect, we feel comfortable still making the Canadiens the winner in this move.

TRADE DEADLINE REWIND

Vol. 68 No. 17-18, March 9, 2015

By Adam Proteau

If hindsight is 20/20, then some teams must have made these deals in the dark, given how badly they turned out.

AVALANCHE ACQUIRE

Ray Bourque

Dave Andreychuk

BRUINS ACQUIRE

Brian Rolston 

Sammy Pahlsson 

Martin Grenier 

2000 1st-rounder (Martin Samuelsson)

THE BREAKDOWN: Given the dedication to the franchise Bourque showed in his service to the Bruins over 21 seasons, the magnitude of the star blueliner and longest-serving captain in team history being dealt to Colorado in 2000 can’t be overstated even now. Neither can the fact the Bruins lost out on this trade about as badly as a team can when trading an icon.

The Avalanche weren’t Bourque’s first choice. After Boston sunk to the bottom of the Northeast Division, he requested a trade, preferably to an East Coast team. But 10 days before the March 16 trade deadline, Bruins GM Harry Sinden went with what he thought was the best return for Bourque and veteran winger Dave Andreychuk, and it came from Colorado: forward Brian Rolston (who’d already been traded from New Jersey to the Avs earlier that season); then-23-year-old center Samuel Pahlsson (finishing up his final year in his native Sweden); defensive prospect Martin Grenier; and a first-round pick in 2000 or 2001, (the choice Boston’s, and the Bruins took Swedish winger Martin Samuelsson 27th overall in 2000 with it).

The deal didn’t immediately pay championship dividends for Bourque and the Avalanche, though they did make it to Game 7 of the Western Conference final in 2000 before losing to the eventual-champion Dallas Stars. Bourque had eight assists and nine points in 13 post-season games that year, but at 39 he could’ve retired or signed with a different team as an unrestricted free agent. However, he re-signed for one final season, and after posting his best regular season numbers in five years, Bourque was instrumental in Colorado’s second Cup win.

Andreychuk wasn’t part of that Cup-winning squad, having moved on at the end of 1999-00. But even if you only count Bourque’s 94 regular season games and 34 playoff games as Colorado’s bounty in the trade, it beats what Boston got: Rolston played four strong years for the Bruins but left for nothing in 2004 as a UFA; Pahlsson played only 17 games for Boston before being shipped to Anaheim for Andrei Nazarov and Patrick Traverse; Grenier never played for the Bruins; and Samuelsson appeared in just 14 games with the team.

LONG-TERM WINNER: COLORADO

RANGERS ACQUIRE

Mike Gartner

NORTH STARS ACQUIRE

Ulf Dahlen 1990 4th-rounder (Cal McCowan) 1991 4th-rounder (Alexei Zhitnik)

THE BREAKDOWN: After a decade in Washington, Gartner hadn’t played a full season with the North Stars before being traded on deadline day 1990 for a package that included then-23-year-old Dahlen and two draft picks-the better of which (Zhitnik) was flipped to L.A. for two years of Todd Elik. Dahlen blossomed, scoring 92 goals in three seasons. But Gartner peeled off three straight seasons of at least 40 goals, playing a big role in two playoff runs before he was dealt to Toronto for Glenn Anderson a few months before the Blueshirts’ 1994 Cup win.

LONG-TERM WINNER: RANGERS

CANADIENS ACQUIRE

Vladimir Malakhov 

Pierre Turgeon

ISLANDERS ACQUIRE

Kirk Muller 

Mathieu Schneider 

Craig Darby

THE BREAKDOWN: Montreal was only two years removed from a Stanley Cup but well out of the playoffs when GM Serge Savard pulled the trigger on a blockbuster in 1995: he moved Muller and Schneider to Long Island for Malakhov and Turgeon, who was then dealt to St. Louis in 1996 in a multi-player deal to bring Shayne Corson back for a second stint with the Habs. Savard was fired early in 1995-96, but considering Muller and Schneider were dealt by the Isles before the end of that campaign, this trade was a win for the Canadiens.

LONG-TERM WINNER: MONTREAL

AVALANCHE ACQUIRE

Chris Gratton 

Ossi Vaananen 

2005 2nd-rounder (Paul Stastny)

COYOTES ACQUIRE

Keith Ballard 

Derek Morris

THE BREAKDOWN: Arizona made this deal the day before the 2004 trade deadline. In hindsight, GM Mike Barnett should’ve waited the extra day and reconsidered. Ballard and Morris were staples on ’D,’ but neither was around when the Coyotes made the playoffs in 2010 for the first time since 2002. On the other hand, despite forward Gratton leaving Colorado at season’s end and Vaananen giving them solid work on the blueline, the decisive point is the second-rounder that became Stastny. He’s an ex-Av now, but he was the best player in this swap.

LONG-TERM WINNER: COLORADO

BRUINS ACQUIRE

Dennis Seidenberg 

Matt Bartkowski

PANTHERS ACQUIRE

Byron Bitz 

Craig Weller 

2010 2nd-rounder (Alex Petrovic)

THE BREAKDOWN: This looks to have been a badly bungled deal by Panthers management. Seidenberg spent less than a full season in Florida before GM Randy Sexton shipped him and Bartkowski to Boston where Seidenberg was a key component in the Bruins’ 2010-11 championship run. Bitz skated in seven games for Florida and only played another 10 NHL games after that, while Weller never played any. Petrovic projects to be an NHLer, but he’ll have to be exceptionally good to make this 2010 deal even close to a wash.

LONG-TERM WINNER: BOSTON

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