From The Archives: Big Deal With Detroit Brings Foligno And McCourt To Buffalo

The jangling ring of the telephone interrupted the peace of the early evening in the home of Mike Foligno along Lake Michigan’s shores.

The voice said: “Mike, you, Dale McCourt and Brent Peterson have been traded to Buffalo.”

“You’re kidding,” were the first words that Foligno could manage, a phrase he was to repeat often during the brief conversation.

“I couldn’t believe it” Foligno recalled to an interviewer following a game-day skate as a member of the Buffalo Sabres. “I thought someone was kidding around, but then I knew it was [Detroit director of hockey operations) Jimmy Skinner, I was talking to. I must have said ‘You’re kidding’ about 10 times. But when he gave me [Buffalo general manager] Scotty Bowman’s number and told me to call him that night, I knew he wasn’t kidding.

“I was very shocked although I knew the Red Wings were going to do something,” Foligno said. “I was also very disappointed. I had always thought that you were supposed to play your way off a team. I had just brought my mother and fiancee to Detroit and at first, I didn’t know what to do. My mother started to cry. I looked at my fiancee and she was looking at me to see how I’d react. But I didn’t know how I was supposed to react. I’d never been traded before.

“Then my sister called and she was all excited and said, “It’s great that you’ve been traded to a good team like Buffalo. That’s great news.”

“My sister seemed so enthusiastic about the trade so I added up the pros and cons and I couldn’t think of anything negative about going to Buffalo. So right then I started feeling good about coming to Buffalo and now that I’m here, I’m really glad that I am.”

December 2nd’s trade of seven players, each of whom had never been traded before, was a swap of major proportions, outstripping even the 1975 Boston-New York Rangers exchange which saw Brad Park, Jean Ratelle and Joe Zanussi become Bruins, while Phil Esposito and Carol Vadrais joined the Rangers. For one team to send four of its starters to another for their top two-point getters, a former first-round draft choice and possibly another first-round draft choice, was certainly one of the most shocking deals in NHL annals.

Jim Schoenfeld, 10 years with the Sabres; Danny Gare, Buffalo’s captain, with eight years of service and Derek Smith, in his fifth full season with the club, were dealt to Detroit in exchange for Dale McCourt, a fifth-year Red Wing and the first overall pick of the 1977 draft; Foligno, in his third year with Detroit after being selected third overall in the 1979 Entry Draft; and Brent Peterson, Detroit’s second pick (12th overall) of the 1978 draft.

In a separate, but connected trade (Detroit wouldn’t have made the first one without receiving a goalie in the second), the Red Wings received Bob Sauve, who is playing out his option and will be free to sign with any team willing to risk compensation, payment going to Buffalo. If the Red Wings sign Sauve, they’ll give the Sabres a future draft choice (first round 1983 or ’84).

Reaction to The Trade was varied. Some suggested, that it would help both beams, possibly preventing the Red Wings from slipping out of the Norris Division playoff race and aiding the Sabres in taking the final few steps into the select circle of the very top NHL teams.

Vancouver Canucks’ coach Harry Neale found The Trade to be a particularly bold move. “That’s the kind of a trade that, first of all, took a lot of nerve to make on behalf of the Sabres and Detroit because they gave up people who have done a good job for both of those teams. They weren’t trading troublemakers or problem children or guys who didn’t help the organization.”

Neale’s appraisal of The Trade is one which a number of hockey people shared in their initial analysis: The Red Wings would most likely feel the benefits of the trade immediately and Buffalo would benefit in the long run.

“Detroit might benefit first, but not for as long as Buffalo,” Neale said, “but the real kicker is the guy that they’re [Detroit] giving up for Sauve, you don’t know who he is. If Detroit was to finish last, their draft pick might be the best player to come along in 20 years. We don’t know…”

Future considerations notwithstanding, the key to The Trade, certainly from a Buffalo standpoint, was the advantage in youth coming to the Sabres. For the 29-year-old Schoenfeld, Gare and Smith, both 27, and Sauve, 26, the Sabres were picking up McCourt, whom Neale tabbed “a good, old, young player” because of his five years of NHL experience at the age of 24, Peterson, 23, and Foligno, the gem of the deal and one of the league’s most sought after players, a mere 22.

In the matter of health, Buffalo also came out a winner — ‘Knock on wood’ says Foligno. Schoenfeld’s medical record is voluminous; Gare has had back problems although he denies they have affected him in the past few years; Derek Smith has been plagued by assorted hurts.

Meanwhile, McCourt was approaching 300 consecutive games and has missed only five matches in five years; Foligno has never missed a start in two and a half seasons. Only Peterson, who Scotty Bowman describes as “a Doug Jarvis-type player,” has been troubled by injuries, suffering a broken leg, cheekbone and ankle in three pro seasons.

McCourt and Foligno, on the other hand, qualify as blue-chip investments. McCourt, 5-10, 180 pounds, is a slick centerman. Not blessed with exceptional breakaway speed, he tries to remain constantly in motion, is opportunistic, a clever stick handler with a great touch around the net. In his first four years in the league, McCourt had seven hat tricks and scoring totals along the lines of a player like Minnesota’s Bobby Smith, averaging 30 goals a season and just fractions under a point a game.

“McCourt is a talented player,” says Bowman, “and he’s fully dimensional. He can take faceoffs,’play on the power play, kill penalties and he’s a righthanded centerman. We didn’t have any before [Peterson, too, is a righthanded pivot) and there’s something extra about having a righthanded guy taking draws… the positioning or something.”

Following a solid rookie year when he scored 33 goals and totalled 72 points, McCourt, who hails from Falconbridge, just north of Sudbury, Ont., was awarded to the Los Angeles Kings as compensation for the Red Wings’ signing of Rogie Vachon, then ranked one of the best three goalies in hockey. But McCourt refused to go, took the matter to court and played for the Red Wings as the litigation dragged on. More than a year after the first compensation had been decided, a new ruling allowed the Red Wings to send Andre St. Laurent and two draft choices to the Kings instead of McCourt.

Even though he led the Red Wings in scoring last year with 86 points, the third time he was the team leader in four seasons, Detroit shopped his name around during the summer after missing the playoffs for the 10th time in the past 11 years. McCourt says he didn’t hear the rumblings.

“I never heard any rumors over the summer. I don’t think you can let rumors bother you. When we were going bad in Detroit I figured that one guy was going to go, but not both Mike and I.”

The Red Wings began this season with their best start in a decade, running up among the Norris Division leaders after finishing 19th overall the year before.

“We’d made some acquisitions over the summer,” McCourt pointed out. “Greg Smith is a solid defenseman and they were very high on the goalie Corrado Micalef.

“When we started the season, everybody was producing. We were getting goals out of our checking line. We were strong when everybody was playing their own game. But then we ran into trouble and we didn’t have the depth.”

“Things started to go back to the old format,” Foligno added. “It’s too bad, but there was kind of a negative attitude there. Like we’d be winning a game and we’d start to think that we shouldn’t be ahead.”

Then came The Trade.

“We had a meeting on the ice at morning practice,” McCourt explained. “Wayne Maxner chewed us out pretty good and said there was going to be some changes and that some guys would be pretty surprised.

“Then he sent us twice around the ice and off. I thought he’d really work us hard after a lousy game [Detroit lost to St. Louis, 7-5], so right there I figured a big move was about to take place.

“I wasn’t surprised or shocked. I knew it could have been me, Foligno, [John] Ogrodnick, [Willie] Huber — the guys who were playing well. You’ve got to give up something to get something.”

The consensus of The Trade is that the biggest “something” of the exchange is 22-year-old Mike Foligno. “Foligno’s a bright, young prospect,” said Harry Neale. “He didn’t have as good a year last year, but he was great the first year. We’d certainly like to have him.”

And so, too, would numerous other clubs around the league — Montreal, Minnesota and Philadelphia were said to be especially high on the 6-2, 195-pound Sudbury native who finished as the runner-up to Ray Bourque in the Calder Trophy voting two years ago after a 36-goal, 35-assist rookie campaign.

“Foligno was the key player [in the trade], no doubt,” adds Bowman. “With him, we picked up some size which we need in our small building.”

Rugged, determined, durable, a great shot — these are terms which are frequently employed to describe Foligno, but as he, McCourt and Peterson found out, the transition to a new learn can still be difficult.

The morning following their notification of The Trade, McCourt and Foligno were on a plane bound for Boston to join their new team. After a frustrating day of travel, they arrived at 5:30 p.m.

“When we got into Boston for that first game,” Foligno said, “it was like I had been fighting a war for three years for the wrong side. We arrived only two hours before game time, had to squeeze in a meal and on the ice, everything just seemed backwards.

“But I decided I just had to reload and shoot again.”

Teamed with Gil Perreault, who moved over to left wing, McCourt and Foligno each drew assists on a Perreault goal and McCourt later scored his 14th goal of the year (they each had 13 in Detroit) but the Sabres were dull and disorganized and fell 6-3 to the Bruins.

The next night in Hartford, things were better as Foligno scored his first goal as a Sabre, the game-winner in a 4-2 decision over the Whalers. It also marked the beginning of a four-game goal-scoring streak for the big right-winger. McCourt added an assist.

The fourth game of the streak turned out to be in Detroit where the pair drew an appreciative reception from the Joe Louis Arena crowd. The Red Wings opened an early 2-0 lead, but the Sabres roared back to tie on a pair of goals set up by Foligno. Then he notched another game-winner for the Sabres and Buffalo went on to a 4-2 win.

“I was just thrilled to come back to Detroit and the fans were great, asking for autographs,” Foligno said. “I couldn’t sleep the night before. And then when our line had a big night, I almost felt sorry for the Red Wings players. What a feeling of accomplishment you have playing with a great club like Buffalo. Every player should be able to just spend a day playing on a contender. It would have an enormous effect on the young players and let them know what can happen.”

After that, the Sabres and their newcomers cooled off.

On the day of his fourth game in Buffalo as a Sabre, McCourt checked out of the hotel to move some of his gear to the home he was taking over from Bob Sauve, who was in the process of doing the same in Detroit with McCourt’s home. “Just pack up your clothes and family and move in,” McCourt said. “We’re leaving’ the furniture in both places until the end of the year. They even left us their playpen because the kids are about the same age.”

That night, McCourt scored his first goal in Memorial Auditorium, a backhander after a pass-out from behind the net by Yvon Lambert. It tied the game at 2-2, but the Sabres wound up losing 4-3 to Los Angeles.

For the next four games, three of them losses, McCourt and Foligno only managed one assist between them. Then McCourt scored his 16th and had an assist in a 7-5 win over Pittsburgh and they each tallied a goal in a 3-2 triumph against Washington. They, and the Sabres, were back on the track.

Scotty Bowman sat back in the chair behind the large desk in his office at Memorial Auditorium. Framed photographs adorned the walls, many of them depicting Bowman celebrating various victories with the Montreal Canadiens, whom he led to five Stanley Cups in eight years. Bowman, of course, would love to place several more mementoes on his walls, with Buffalo Sabre players enjoying the fruits of victory.

When Bowman came to Buffalo for the start of the 1979-80 season, he inherited a seventh-place (overall) club. But more importantly, he left Montreal with a firm understanding, thanks to Sam Pollock among others, of what managing a hockey club is all about.

“We’re trying to restructure our club,” Bowman said. “When I came to Buffalo, the consensus was clear: The team was stable for the present, but after that, not that great. We had a decent team, but we had some players approaching 30 and we knew that they weren’t going to get better.

“The early Sabres were built on excellent drafts. Gil Perreault in 1970, first pick. Rick Martin in ’71, first round. Craig Ramsay, second round 1971. Schoenfeld, fifth overall in 1972. But how are you going to move along in the standings? We were second overall my first year, then fifth last year. That meant we were picking 20th in the draft and then 17th for our replacements.

“So we traded Rene Robert for John Van Boxmeer, a younger player, who’s also versatile, who can play up or back. Then we sent Jerry Korab to LA for their first pick in 1982. Next, we traded Martin and Don Luce to them for their third pick in ’81, Colin Chisholm, whom we feel has a shot at making it, their first pick in ’83 and their sixth pick in ’82. That gave us some extra draft picks.”

On a late November trip to Detroit, Bowman dropped a hint to Jimmy Skinner that the Sabres might be interested in a big trade. Less than a week later Bowman received a phone call from Skinner and The Trade was constructed.

“When I make a trade, I don’t look at what the players [we give up] are going to do with the other team,” said Bowman. “We’re just interested in what we’re getting back.

“The development of J.F. Sauve, plus Randy Cunneyworth coming along gave us a surplus of centers so we were willing to give up Derek Smith. We had played quite a bit without Jim Schoenfeld in the past and done quite well. We have Richie Dunn, Mike Ramsey and Larry Playfair who we feel are a strong part of our club. There’s also Lindy Ruff, but the problem is that he’s such a good forward. He really hasn’t played that much defense for us, but he’ll play anywhere.

“We also had a goaltender who was unhappy and we knew we were going to lose him at the end of the year. You have to sacrifice quality for quality and to be competitive with a team, you have to have the draft picks. The players we traded, we didn’t think would get any better with us — maybe with Detroit they will — but we knew what they could do for us.”

The Buffalo Sabres and their adversaries in the upper third of the NHL are watching with interest to see how much McCourt and Foligno can do for the Sabres; to see if they can be a major part of the club’s overhaul aimed towards annexing a Stanley Cup or two. Right now the Sabres have an admirable blend of experience, youth and talent, a combination exemplified by McCourt and Foligno.

As this issue went to press, they had played 16 games with the Sabres; Foligno had produced six goals and nine assists; McCourt, six and five. The Sabres’ record was 8-7-1.

“It will be interesting to see McCourt play for Buffalo,” said Neale, “on a team that’s a contender, that has a chance of winning the Stanley Cup. More is going to be demanded of him because every game is going to be a game they have to win to be successful.

“McCourt will find out in Buffalo that the team comes first and Dale comes second, but there’s no reason why the individual can’t have a good year along with the team. He now has the responsibility to his veteran teammates to do a job in order to get what everybody wants to get done.”

Pressure in Buffalo?

“Actually, there is no pressure playing in Buffalo,” McCourt reported. “If you play well, you’re going to play more often. If you don’t, you’re going to sit. I think that helps to get more out of everybody.

“Coming to a new team does make a difference. You’re trying to adapt to where everybody is on the ice. That’s something that will just take time.

“They said to me ‘You can be a big player for this team.’ They’re using me on the point on the power play and with Ric Seiling as one of the two penalty-killing pairs. I never set goals for myself. Just try and do the best you can.”

“In Buffalo, you’ve got a winning feeling,” Foligno pointed out, “no one’s a loser. I feel that the way you think is the way you’re going to play. Here it’s always positive — everybody comes together and pats you on the back when you need it.

“The greatest feeling I have in Buffalo is that I’m with a team that is not only a playoff contender but also a strong contender for the Stanley Cup. It would have taken me five years to get to the same point in Detroit, but we’re right there now and that’s got to be a big motivation factor.

“People are striving to achieve the best they possibly can. The whole team including the management, the fans, the coach, the assistant coaches, have a great attitude. They really help to correct mistakes; make a player feel good even though they’re giving him s—t.

Foligno views the pressure in a different perspective than McCourt. “The pressure is always going to be there,” he says, “but it’s pressure you put on yourself. Each shift I try to make something happen; do something to let everyone know I’m on the ice. It might be a goal, a hit, backchecking, something to make people realize I was there.

“I think I can adapt to whatever kind of game is necessary,” said Foligno, expressing a sentiment shared by plenty of observers around the league. “If we play a physical team, then I’m going to play a more physical game. Each team is different. Some are physical in their own end, others along the boards, some are very aggressive forechecking. With Buffalo, our system changes every game. Every shift.

“I got a call from Scotty before I joined the team which made me welcome,” Foligno said. “Scotty said, ‘Don’t change your style. Just keep on playing like you were.’”

If such is the case for McCourt and Foligno, Scotty could be hanging some more pictures in his office very soon.