Burke's gaff

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The other great thing about the Shanahan trade was getting rid of Coffey, a player clearly on the decline but still considered somewhat valuable, and getting something for him. Holland's approach to similar players is to let their contracts run out, whether it be Lang, Hull etc. Again, unwilling or unable to make a move that requires some skill and not just giving picks or throwing money. Then there are the really good GM's like Lamoriello, sees Arnott going down, trades him for Langenbrunner and Nieuwendyk. Burke sees Federov is declining, he's gone.

Nobody Holland has let 'run out' has had NEAR the trade value Coffey did as a recent Norris winner. Lang? Hull? Robitaille? All coming off unusually bad years, and only Lang was within five years of being a top player. Arnott has been better in the last three seasons than he ever was in New Jersey. Burke didn't trade Fedorov because he was declining. He traded him because he doesn't like European players. Fedorov's 65 point season in Anaheim was not abnormal production for him to that point--he had been in the 60s five of the prior seven seasons, and scoring at that pace in the 97-98 season as well. He was only just shy of that pace the year he was traded, and maintained that same pace during his 60 games at forward this year. Fedorov has declined slightly, mostly as a result of losing a step in his stride as he gets older. That's different from Coffey, who, when Bowman traded him, was basically done--he won the 95 Norris, was sixt h in voting for the 96 Norris, was traded to Hartford in the beginning of the 96-97 season and he was the number four defenseman in Philly by the end of the year.[/font]

Bold moves turned the Wings around in the 90's. Bowman sees a need for a goalie, so he goes out and trades Chiasson (even though the D was pretty depleted) and gets Vernon.

Bowman recognized he had an aging vet in Chiasson, and two up and coming stars in Lidstrom and Konstantinov. He also recognized that his goaltending options were Osgood, who had just come off his rookie year, Essensa, a veteran who was outperformed by Ozzie, and a host of secondary options. Or he could trade Chiasson, a guy on the way down in a defense filled with promising youth, for a goalie who has played in six of the previous eight All-Star games.

Bryan Murray was unwilling to make that trade and got Essesna instead. That's what seperates the average GM's from the great ones.

Bryan Murray likely didn't have that trade option. Calgary needed Vernon for the playoffs that year. In the summer, they decided to deal Vernon, and go with Kidd for the 94-95. Vernon would finish 4th in Vezina voting that season, and Kidd would finish 6th and lead the league in starts. Essensa was just a couple years removed from a Vezina nomination, and could be had along with 'promising young defenseman' Sergei Bautin for 'only' Tim Cheveldae and Dallas Drake. The fact that the Wings gave up the two best players in the deal escaped Murray, and he was fired for it.

Holland may not make bold strokes...but he also does not make many mistakes, and he only makes minor ones--trading Rivers in preparation for a Witt deal, then having to turn aroudn and add Cory Cross at a high price is a better mistake to make than overpaying an ineffective former star power forward and losing a potential star PF who is better right now for the same price.