Remember the trade that sent Filip Forsberg to Nashville? What about Pascal Dupuis and Marian Hossa to Pittsburgh? This article from THN's Archive revisits those deals and more.

The NHL’s trade deadline is now six days away, and we’re still continuing our examinations of some of the notable deals made in previous seasons. 

In this story from The Hockey News’ March 5, 2018 edition (Vol. 71, Issue 12) writer Jared Clinton analyzed a number of big deals in recent history.

(And here’s your daily heads-up: for access to The Hockey News’ exclusive Archive, you can subscribe to the magazine by visiting THN.com/Free) and signing up.

The first big deal Clinton analyzed was the 2014 trade that sent star forward Filip Forsberg to the Nashville Predators in return for veteran forward Martin Erat and young prospect forward Michael Latta. 

Forsberg went on to be Nashville’s best player to this day. Latta would play just 132 games for Washington, producing only four goals and 17 points at the NHL level, and Erat was a disaster, recording only two goals and 27 points in 62 games as a Capital.

Clearly, this deal was a massive fleecing of Washington. In exchange for a player whose career fell off a cliff in terms of production on offense, the Predators got a prospect who became the cornerstone of Nashville’s franchise. Highway robbery doesn’t get more highway robbery than this swap.

Another steal-of-a-deal Clinton looked at was the 2008 trade of Atlanta Thrashers forwards Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis to Pittsburgh in exchange for Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Angelo Esposito, and a 2008 first-round draft pick that became non-NHLer Daultan Leveille. Needless to say, Pittsburgh committed a flat-out theft in this transaction. Hossa and Dupuis made major contributions to the Penguins, including helping them win two Stanley Cups, and in his Hockey Hall of Fame career, Hossa helped lead the Pens to a Cup Final appearance.

At the other end of the deal, Atlanta got one blue-collar piece in Colby Armstrong, and a bunch of players who didn’t make the NHL in their careers. There’s no justifying this trade for the Thrashers, and this is one of many reasons why Atlanta couldn’t produce elite teams on a regular basis.

TRADE DEADLINE REWIND

By Jared Clinton

March 5, 2018

5 YEARS AGO

NASHVILLE PREDATORS ACQUIRE: Filip Forsberg

WASHINGTON CAPITALS ACQUIRE: Martin Erat, Michael Latta

WINNER: Nashville

Of all the cautionary tales about mortgaging the future in service of striking while the iron’s hot, few demonstrate the potential pitfalls more than the Forsberg-Erat swap.

Come the trade deadline of the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, the Capitals sat atop their division with a wide-open championship window. So, Washington GM George McPhee, looking to bring in a quality depth winger to supplement Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, swung a deal that lives in infamy.

Erat, for all his usefulness in Nashville, was a bust as a Capital. He managed a goal and three points in nine games in the regular season but was relegated to fourth-line duty, and then-coach Adam Oates soured on him in the playoffs. The winger was scratched for the final three games of Washington’s first-round defeat, and the following season Erat was shipped to the Arizona Coyotes after 53 games. As for Latta, he bounced around the organization but left for greener pastures by 2016-17.

Making matters worse for the Capitals, Forsberg has developed into one of the NHL’s most lethal snipers. Twice a 30-goal scorer, he ranks among the league’s top 15 in goals over the past three seasons and was a linchpin on a Predators team that accomplished what no Capitals team in the Ovechkin era has done: win a conference title and compete for the Stanley Cup. And that is the cherry on top of what is simultaneously Washington’s worst and Nashville’s best trade of the post-lockout era.

10 YEARS AGO

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS ACQUIRE: Marian Hossa, Pascal Dupuis

ATLANTA THRASHERS ACQUIRE: Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Angelo Esposito, 2008 first-round pick (Daultan Leveille)

WINNER: Pittsburgh

Landing a legitimate difference-maker at the deadline is rare, but Hossa, fresh off a 100-point season, fit the bill, and the rich got richer when Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin’s Penguins brought the winger aboard. Hossa was excellent in the 2008 playoffs for Pittsburgh, finishing with 12 goals and 26 points as the Pens came within two wins of the Stanley Cup. But Dupuis, somewhat of an afterthought at the time of the trade, was found money. He became a top-six forward in short order, finishing his career with 109 goals, 247 points and one championship in Pittsburgh.

True to form for the Thrashers, the trade was a flop. Only Armstrong and Christensen suited up for the team, combining for 48 goals and 103 points in 236 games, while neither Esposito nor Leveille managed a single NHL appearance.

15 YEARS AGO

BUFFALO SABRES ACQUIRE: Daniel Briere, 2004 third-round pick (Andrej Sekera)

PHOENIX COYOTES ACQUIRE: Chris Gratton, 2004 fourth-round pick (Liam Reddox)

WINNER: Buffalo

Briere’s development following his 24th overall selection in the 1996 draft was a concern for Coyotes management. It had been five seasons since he’d been drafted, and he had only managed to crack the lineup for 112 games, albeit scoring 21 goals and 40 points. And even when his 32-goal, 60-point breakout season came in 2001-02, it seemed Phoenix had soured on the idea of Briere as a core player. Thus, the decision was made to ship the diminutive winger to the Sabres in a deal that blew up in a spectacular way.

Over the next three-plus seasons, Briere became a star – he amassed 92 goals and 230 points in 225 games – and a Hart Trophy contender. Sekera turned into a useful top-four blueliner who skated in 339 games for the Sabres. Gratton, meanwhile, played all of 82 games in Arizona. Reddox never donned a Coyotes uniform.

20 YEARS AGO

VANCOUVER CANUCKS ACQUIRE: Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe, 1998 third-round pick (Jarkko Ruutu)

NEW YORK ISLANDERS ACQUIRE: Trevor Linden

WINNER: Vancouver

Seldom do organizations come out on the winning side of a trade after sending their heart-and-soul on-ice leader packing, particularly when said player has produced as Linden had in Vancouver, registering 569 points in 702 games. The Canucks, however, somehow managed to pull it off. Matter of fact, even as a 1-for-1 proposition, Bertuzzi for Linden, this would’ve been a big win for Vancouver.

Linden played only 107 games in New York, scoring 28 goals and 64 points before a subsequent deal sent him to Montreal. Bertuzzi developed into a genuine star. In his second full season with Canucks, he was a 25-goal scorer, and by 2002-03, he was an NHL first-team all-star and finished fifth in Hart Trophy voting thanks to a 46-goal, 97-point performance. He ranks as the ninth-highest scorer in franchise history.

25 YEARS AGO

EDMONTON OILERS ACQUIRE: Doug Weight

NEW YORK RANGERS ACQUIRE: Esa Tikkanen

WINNER: Vancouver 

The Rangers’ hopes were bleak in 1992-93, but GM Neil Smith saw a roster that included Mark Messier, Mike Gartner, Brian Leetch and Mike Richter and believed his team wasn’t far off. He mortgaged a piece of the future in the form of young standout Weight to land Tikkanen, a two-way winger who had four Stanley Cups on his resume. Sure enough, the gamble paid off. Tikkanen was excellent for the Rangers in the 1994 playoffs, scoring four goals and eight points as New York snapped a 54-year championship drought.

But Weight became an Oilers great, no small feat given the organization’s rich history. He had six 70-plus point seasons, finished sixth in Hart voting in 2000-01, captained Edmonton for three seasons, led the Oilers to five playoff appearances and sits seventh in franchise scoring with 577 points.

The Hockey News Archive is an exclusive collection of more than 2,640 issues and more than 156,000 articles exclusively produced for subscribers, chronicling the complete history of The Hockey News from 1947 until this day. Visit the archives at THN.com/archive and subscribe today at subscribe.thehockeynews.com