The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly – A History Of Ottawa Senators Trades
Mar 2, 2014; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Ottawa Senators goalie
Craig Anderson(41) covers the puck against the Vancouver Canucks during the second period in the Heritage Classic hockey game at BC Place. Mandatory Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports
Well folks, it’s finally here: the NHL Trade Deadline. It’s just like Christmas for every blogger, analyst, and depending on the moves your team makes, maybe for you too. Sens fans know that Bryan Murray likes making a move around the trade deadline, however underwhelming it may be. While Murray isn’t one for blockbuster deals – or really anything that could be considered big – he’s been talking to his nephew, Tim, over in Buffalo about a possible deal. The two names that keep popping up are Chris Stewart and Matt Moulson. Although Sportsnet’s Doug MacLean said that the Senators are out of the Moulson sweepstakes, he probably just wants to make some room to link Moulson to the Leafs. If it wasn’t him, we all know TSN’s Darren Dreger would have done it.
But we’re not here to talk about how the Leafs will pursue Steven Stamkos (that’s not still a thing, is it?). We’re here for a trip down memory lane, a quick look back at some of our favourite trades, and some we would like to forget.
What better way to start than by looking back at a few trades made around the deadline. I only chose a few because these really are the only moves that affect the current team. We all know acquiring Mike Comrie back in 2007 was a great move, as was getting Matt Cullen in 2010, but where are they now? Cullen is still old and playing for the Nashville Predators, and Comrie isn’t married to Hilary Duff anymore. We’re doing alright.
DEADLINE DEALS
(March 4 2009)
Blue Jackets acquire: Antoine Vermette
Senators acquire: Pascal Leclaire, 2009 2nd round pick (Robin Lehner)
If it weren’t for that draft pick, it’s safe to say this deal could have been disastrous for the Sens. After the trade, Vermette found success in Columbus, including a 27 goal, 65 point season. Meanwhile, Pascal Leclaire was injured for the most part. Both from playing and getting hit in the face with the puck while sitting on the bench. This deal can’t be put into a “good” or “bad” category just yet as we haven’t quite seen enough of Lehner. But from what he’s shown, it looks like the Sens got their solid goalie in that trade, though it wasn’t who they expected it to be.
(Feb 18 2011)
Avalanche acquire: Brian Elliott
Senators acquire: Craig Anderson
A good old fashioned player swap. Both of these goaltenders were struggling, and I guess management on both sides thought that a change of scenery would help them out. And it did. Brian Elliott would go on to set the record for save percentage and goals against average in 2011-12, as well as appearing in his first all-star game. Craig Anderson would set the record for save percentage the following year, beating Elliott’s percentage by 0.1%.
(Feb 26 2012)
Blues acquire: 2013 2nd round pick (Thomas Vannelli)
Senators acquire: Ben Bishop
Wow. In all three deadline trades I chose, a goalie has come to Ottawa. I don’t think we’ll see any goalies coming to town this year though. Why is this one on the list? Just because of how great Bishop was in his single season with the Sens, and because it only took a second round pick to get him. The only problem the Sens had with him was the issue of having too many good goalies.
Before we look back on some trades that made us happy, lets relive a few tough ones. Luckily, there haven’t been a whole lot of bad trades by the Senators. You’ll hear about bad trading in the 90’s, but it was really just a bunch of underwhelming deals. Nothing that really made either team involved that much better. Add that to some mediocre drafting, and it’s no wonder it took the Sens a few years to make the playoffs.
Here are a few trades that didn’t go so well:
THE BAD
(November 27 1996)
Blues acquire: Pavol Demitra
Senators acquire: Christer Olsson
At the time, it seemed like an alright trade for the Sens. Now, you have to wonder what they were thinking. Christer Olsson played a total of 25 games for the Senators, racking up a total of 5 points. He then went to Sweden, never returning to the NHL. Pavol Demitra, however, turned into a scoring machine. He played 7 full seasons in St. Louis, scoring 493 points in 494 games. After his time in St. Louis, he played for the Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, and Vancouver Canucks, scoring 249 points in 294 games while with those teams.
(Jul 9 2006)
Blackhawks acquire: Martin Havlat, Bryan Smolinski
Nov 23, 2013; San Jose, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks right wing Martin Havlat (9) takes a shot on goal during the second period of the game against the New Jersey Devils at SAP Center at San Jose. The San Jose Sharks defeated the New Jersey Devils 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
Senators acquire: Michal Barinka, Josh Hennessy, Tom Preissing, 2008 2nd round pick (Patrick Wiercioch)
No matter how good Wiercioch turns out, it’s pretty much impossible to consider this trade a success. Back then, Havlat was only 25, and had been scoring at an elite level. Smolinski was coming off two strong seasons with the Senators, scoring 46 and 48 points. Those are strong players that they’re moving. Now, lets talk about what the Sens got back. Michal Barinka was a prospect, who never played a game for Ottawa. Josh Hennessy played a total of 20 games for the Senators over the course of 4 seasons, and only managed 1 assist in that time. Tom Preissing played 80 games in a Sens uniform, scoring 38 points and helping the team to the Stanley Cup final. Not bad, though only 80 games isn’t worth one of the best young scorers in the league, plus a very capable veteran. Lets hope Wiercioch can develop the way he’s supposed to and make this trade seem a little less one-sided.
(Sep 12 2009)
Sharks acquire: Dany Heatley, 2010 5th round pick (Issac Macleod)
Senators acquire: Jonathan Cheechoo, Milan Michalek, 2010 2nd round pick (Kent Simpson)
Please continue reading. I know this one will be tough, but please don’t leave. It’s the last one before we get to the good stuff. If you had asked me before the season started, I would have said this was in the bad section because of the whole situation between Heatley and the team. But now I’d consider including it in the bad section for the return as well. They traded the draft pick they received to the Islanders for Andy Sutton, who played one season with the Senators. Cheechoo, just three years removed from winning the Rocket Richard trophy scored just 14 points in 61 games, and was sent down to the AHL. He has yet to play another NHL game. And really, Michalek hasn’t done all that much as a Senator. He had a very good 2011-12 season, scoring 35 goals and 60 points, but other than that he’s really been an average player, with 131 points, in 237 games. Since the trade, Michalek has 191 points in 314 games compared to Heatley’s 245 points in 343 games.
I’m glad we got through those last few trades, because now we get to be reminded of some successful deals. You’ll notice that nearly half of these moves were made with Bryan Murray as General Manager. The guy knows his hockey.
THE GOOD
(January 23 1996)
Islanders acquire: Don Beaupre, Bryan Berard, Martin Straka
Senators acquire: Wade Redden, Damian Rhodes
None of these guys are relevant any more, but come on, this could be considered a good trade even if Rhodes wasn’t involved. Beaupre struggled in his 2 seasons with the Senators, only getting 14 wins in 71 games. Bryan Berard was an issue right after the Sens drafted him first overall in 1995. He refused to report to the team, forcing them to trade him. Martin Straka had 27 points in 49 games with Ottawa. Straka found offensive success when he returned to the Penguins during the 1997-98 season, scoring 346 points in 403 games. He also scored 96 points in 157 games during his first three years as a Penguin from 1992-95, before being traded. Rhodes wasn’t much of an improvement over Beaupre, but served as the team’s starter for 3 seasons. The real prize in this deal was Redden. Over the course of his time as a Senator, he played 838 games, and racked up 410 points, including 4 seasons with at least 43 points. Redden is also ranked fourth in all time points for the Senators, as well as number 1 for defensemen.
(September 24 1997)
Blackhawks acquire: Kirk Daubenspeck
Senators acquire: 1998 6th round pick (Chris Neil)
You can’t look at this trade and not think the Sens got lucky. Daubenspeck never played a game in the NHL, and Chris Neil currently has 834, as well as 2137 penalty minutes. Obviously teams have no idea what they’re giving away when it’s a draft pick, and chances are that Chicago wouldn’t have even taken Neil if they had kept their pick, but this move was too good to leave out.
(June 18 1999)
Ducks acquire: Ted Donato, rights to Antti-Jussi Niemi
Senators acquire: Patrick Lalime
No one can say that Patrick Lalime wasn’t a good goalie, for a few years at least. Plus he had one of my favourite masks of all time. He played five seasons in Ottawa, and had a winning record every year, including 39 wins in 2002-03, helping the Senators to their only President’s trophy. Ted Donato had a good season with the Ducks after being traded, scoring 30 points in 1999-00. He scored 25 in 65 while playing for the Stars the following year. He played a total of 5 games during the 2001-02 season, for 3 different teams. His career ended after scoring only 14 points in his last 112 games. Niemi played 29 games for the Ducks, scoring 2 points.
(June 23 2001)
Islanders acquire: Alexei Yashin
Senators acquire: Zdeno Chara, 2001 1st round pick (Jason Spezza), Bill Muckalt
Feb 8, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Ottawa Senators center Jason Spezza (19) tries to gain control of the puck during the second period against the Boston Bruins at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
This is the big one. This is widely considered the best trade in Senators history, and for good reason. After refusing to play for a year, Yashin put up 88 points in 82 games during the 2000-01 season. Funny how 88 points will make a team forget how much of a jerk someone is. Anyway, the Islanders got stuck with Yashin while the Senators brought in a lot. I say stuck because they bought out his ridiculous contract in 2007, and had to pay him over $2 million per year for eight years. Spezza has 667 points in 667 games, all with the Senators. Chara played four seasons with the Senators before signing with the Bruins, but in his time with the Senators, he played some very good hockey. He scored between 9 and 16 goals each year, and had a +/- of 29 or higher for three of the four years. Oh yeah, and Bill Muckalt was just sort of around for 70 games.
(August 23 2005)
Thrashers acquire: Marian Hossa, Greg De Vries
Senators acquire: Dany Heatley
Come on, admit it. This was a good trade, and you know it. The way Heatley ended his time in Ottawa wasn’t so great, but he did have two 50 goal/100 point seasons ( he’s an all-star, right?). De Vries played 2 seasons in Atlanta, and finished his career with 2 seasons in Nashville, never putting up a whole lot of points. Most people know about Hossa’s success since the trade, scoring 595 points in 608 games, with four different teams.
(June 20 2008)
Predators acquire: 2008 1st round pick (Chet Pickard), 2009 3rd round pick (Taylor Beck)
Senators acquire: 2008 1st round pick (Erik Karlsson)
There isn’t a whole lot to say about this other than the fact that Karlsson is a lot better than Pickard or Beck. By a lot. Pickard has yet to play in the NHL, Beck has played 23 games with 7 points. Compared to Norris Trophy-winning, Olympic silver medalist, Erik Karlsson, Nashville got the short end of the stick on that one.
(December 17 2011)
Coyotes acquire: David Rundblad and a 2012 2nd round pick (Anthony Stolarz)
Senators acquire: Kyle Turris
I must admit, I was disappointed in the trade when I first heard of it. Rundblad had just won the defenseman of the year award in the Swedish league, beating Adam Larsson, and I was pumped to have another Swedish player on the team. But I must admit, this trade definitely makes Bryan Murray look like a genius. Since the trade, Turris has 102 points in 158 games, and is a +36. Rundblad has played 26 games, scoring 5 points, and is a -9.
(July 1 2012)
Blue Jackets acquire: Nick Foligno
Senators acquire: Marc Methot
Foligno was my favourite Ottawa Senator, and even I can’t argue that this trade wasn’t fantastic. Methot is easily the Sens’ best defensive d-man, and the team has taken considerably less goaltender interference penalties since the trade. In 100 games with the Blue Jakets, Foligno has 53 points.
And of course, there are a few trades that still need some time before we can organize them into the “good” or “bad” category. We’ll see how trading Chris Kelly for a second round pick (Shane Prince) will turn out. Prince has shown a lot of promise, but is rumoured to have asked for a trade, and is probably involved in a possible deal with the Sabres as we speak. Then there’s the whole Alex Auld for a sixth round pick (Mark Stone). Stone has taken a little longer to develop than the Sens’ management was hoping, but he could still turn out to be a very solid player.
And then there’s the most recent trade: Jakob Silfverberg, Stefan Noesen, and a first round pick for Bobby Ryan. We all know that Ryan is a very good player. We just need to see how good Silfverberg, Noesen and that pick will end up being. If the Ducks end up with two top 6 forwards plus whatever that first rounder turns into, it’ll be hard to say that the Sens are the obvious winners.
And last but not least, one that should probably be put into the “bad” section: Ben Bishop for Cory Conacher, and a fourth round pick. This season, Bishop has been putting up Vezina-worthy numbers. Conacher was just put on waivers this afternoon. This has the potential to be one of the worst deals for the Sens, but I won’t put it in that category just yet, mostly because it’ll hurt too much. I’d rather wait and see what happens with both players. I seriously doubt that Conacher will clear the waivers, so it looks like the Sens will just keep that fourth round pick from that deal.
Thanks for reading. Hopefully this gave you something to read while you were waiting for TSN to finally announce something on the deadline. But lets be honest, nothing big is going to happen, right?
Right.