In 1992, the Los Angeles Kings made a big splash, trading for future Hall-of-Fame defenseman Paul Coffey as they went all-in for their first Cup.
Here's a retrospective of the trade from the THN Archive:
KINGS GO FOR CUP WITH COFFEY:
THE DEALS: The Pittsburgh Penguins send defenseman Paul Coffey, 30, to the Los Angeles Kings for defenseman Brian Benning. 25, and a first-round pick in the 1992 draft.
The Penguins then send Benning, right winger Mark Recchi, 24, and the first-round pick acquired from Los Angeles to the Philadelphia Flyers for right winger Rick Tocchet, 27, defenseman Kjell Samuelsson, 33, goalie Ken Wregget. 27, and a conditional draft pick which must be within the top 60 of the 1992 entry draft.
THE VERDICT: The Flyers got younger and more skilled; the Penguins got tougher; and the Kings got older.
This is a classic case of teams filling different needs: the Flyers know they have no shot at any playoff success this season and made their future brighter with Recchi and the draft pick. All the while, they maintained their good position in the Eric Lindros derby.
The Penguins have enough talent—especially at right wing-that they could afford to part with Recchi and address other areas-defense and toughness. Tocchet will give the Pens some punch, and if he’s not expected to be the go—to guy, he could pitch in 35 or 40 goals. The Penguins also strengthened their weakest area as another big Samuelsson will solidify their defense. Time will tell, however, whether this trade works out as well as the one made with Hartford last year that brought a Stanley Cup.
As for the Kings, if it wasn’t obvious earlier, it’s now very clear owner Bruce McNall wants to mint Stanley Cup coins this spring. Another first-round pick is gone—they don’t have one now until 1994—and they are going to look awfully silly if the doesn’t work out.
THN Archive is an exclusive vault of 2,640 issues and more than 156,000 for subscribers, chronicling the complete history of The Hockey News from 1947 until today. Visit THN.com/archive and subscribe today at subscribe.thehockeynews.com