Canadiens: Trade Him He Has a Bad Knee

Which Canadiens' defenseman was traded because of the state of his knee and ended up playing 26 seasons in the NHL?

A general manager's job is never easy but it is even less so when you hold that very important role for the Montreal Canadiens. Much like in every Canadian market, the fans, media and players are watching your every move. Oftentimes, you're only as good as your latest move. Serge Savard held the position for 12 years, leading the Habs to two Stanley Cups, but he wasn't without reproach.

Chris Chelios was the Canadiens' second-round pick at the 1981 Draft and he became everything Montreal had hoped he would. After playing only 12 games in the NHL in 1983-1984, the blueliner played a nearly complete season in 1984-1985. That year, he featured in 74 games and scored 64 points whilst racking up 87 penalty minutes. Wondering why he didn't win the Calder Trophy? Two words: Mario Lemieux. 

It became clear quite early on that Chelios was the kind of defenseman who could be a difference maker. He was very mobile, had a nose for the attack, wasn't a liability in his own zone and had a mean streak to him. The defender soon became an integral part of Montreal's blue line and was promised a great future. 

The future came at full speed for Chelios, he won the Stanley Cup in 1986 and the James Norris Trophy in 1988-1989. He was also quite a leader and in September 1989, after three rounds of player voting, he was elected co-captain of the team with Guy Carbonneau. Unfortunately, the defenseman would go on to miss 27 games in the season because of a knee injury as Savard reports in his book Serge Savard: Canadien jusqu'au bout.

During the off-season, Savard rocks Montreal with a big trade. He sends co-captain Chelios to the Chicago Blackhawks for Denis Savard. After six full seasons with the Habs and at 28 years old, the defenseman who is just entering his prime is sent packing. 

In D. Savard, the GM gets a player the organization passed on at the 1980 Draft, picking Doug Wickenheiser with the first-overall pick, in Montreal of all places. By that time, the diminutive centre and "Savard spin-o-rama" adept-which was named after the GM who had acquired him- has already started declining but is still a very good player in the league, gathering 80 points in the season before the trade.

The centre would only end up playing for the Canadiens for three years and was part of the Stanley Cup winning team in 1993. However, an ankle injury made him miss most of the Final and when the Canadiens hoisted the Cup, Savard was wearing a suit and not his uniform. In 14 games during the playoffs, he had put up only five points. 

With his contract over, Savard was allowed to walk away as a free agent, signing with the Tampa Bay Lightning. After a year and a half, he was traded back to Chicago, ending his career where it had started.

Meanwhile, Chelios remained in Chicago for nine season which were probably the best of his career. He won two more Norris Trophies in 1992-1993 and 1995-1996. However, Lord Stanley's mug would evade him and the Hawks and he wouldn't win another one before 2001-2002 with the Detroit Red Wings.

He was shipped out to Detroit at the trade deadline in 1999 for Anders Eriksson and two first-round picks. He asked for a trade after it was made clear to him that he wouldn't be signed to an extension by Chicago. Chelios spent 10 years in Detroit adding two Cups to his resumé. 

He would finish his career playing for the Grand Rapids Griffins and the Chicago Wolves in the AHL before partaking his final seven games in the NHL with the Atlanta Trashers. In the end, the defensemen played until he was 48 years old, second only to Gordie Howe who hanged up his skates for good at 52. 

Chelios played 26 seasons in the NHL skating in 1651 games, scoring 185 goals, notching 763 assists for a total of 948 points. He spent 2891 minutes in the sin bin, the 12th highest total in league history and finished his career with a plus-351 rating. 

This is one trade the Canadiens lost and it's not even close. What could have possibly prompted Savard to trade the rugged blueliner away? For years, gossip news outlets wrote all kind of reasons but never came anywhere close to the real one.

As I've mentioned earlier, Chelios missed 27 games in his last season in Montreal and the GM decided to get a medical opinion on his knee. The "expertise" revealed his knee was in poor shape and estimated that his NHL career would only last a year or two more. This is how Savard explains the deal in his book, fully aware that it was the worst trade he had ever made. 

In the months following the trade, former teammate Craig Ludwig was quoted as saying:

It's hard to imagine what would have happened to the Canadiens if Chelios had never been traded. Would they still have won the 1993 Cup? Would Roy have been humiliated by the Red Wings in December 1995? We'll never know, but what we do know however is his knee was just fine and he was one of the best defenseman to wear the "Sainte-Flanelle".

*Original article corrected to fix inaccuracy