Best & Worst Trade Deadline Deals in Wings History

[Wings_Fan_in_L.A 1]

The Worst one what I think is Mar 09, 2006 Pittsburgh Penguins traded Cory Cross to the Detroit Red Wings for a 4th round selection in 2007.

How about you guys? What do you think the best or worst trade deadline deals in Wings history?

[Doggy 130]

Well all these judgments are made in hindsight and this one certainly could've been a good one but the result is all that matters and because of that, the Bertuzzi trade has to be up there.

Also the Federko/Oates trade was a shocker. There were a few other players in it too, but yeah terrible trade. Ages ago though, so I don't remember the details. May not have been at the deadline either.

[Jedi 1,865]

As Doggy said, though it was an offseason trade and not a trade-deadline deal, easily one of the worst moves Detroit ever made was sending Oates & MacLean (Yes, the same Paul MacLean who is now our assistant coach) to the Blues for Federko and McKegney. Federko retired at the end of that year, and McKegney was dealt after playing only 14 games to Quebec... Not exactly a resounding success...

And the Cory Cross trade... That's a bit of a stretch to say it's the worst trade, IMO. Cross was brought in to be a depth defenseman at best. The Wings had a fully healthy blueline, with Lidstrom, Schneider, Cheli, Kronner, Lilja, and Lebda playing in all 6 games of the playoffs. We even had Woolley as the 7th defenseman, so 2 of the Wings blueliners would have had to go down before Cross would have seen any action.

Pittsburgh used that 4th round pick to select Alex Grant, a 6'2", 189lb defenseman who was 18 at the time of the draft and is still playing for the QMJHL. If Grant breaks through in the league and wins a Norris trophy, then yeah, the Cross trade was a bust. That's of course assuming that Detroit would have selected Grant in the first place...

As far as the best trade, getting Cheli in '99 wasn't bad. The best value for a trade hands down has to be Kris Draper. After all, we got him for ONE DOLLAR from Winnipeg.

[Grim 5]

November 2, 1989: Adam Graves traded by the Detroit Red Wings, along with Petr Klima, Joe Murphy and Jeff Sharples to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Jimmy Carson, Kevin McClelland and Edmonton's 1991 5th round draft choice.

[shoe 165]

November 2, 1989

WOW they really moved the trade DEADLINE up that year.

[SFwingsfan 23]

My dad always used to talk about the 1975 trade involving Marcel Dionne. We traded him after he had his break out season (47g, 74a, 121pts) and of course he went on to become one of the all time greats. Does anyone know the details behind his trade? Whoops didn't notice the "trade deadline" aspect of the thread, thought it was just worst trade....

Edited July 27, 2008 by SFwingsfan

[Jedi 1,865]

My dad always used to talk about the 1975 trade involving Marcel Dionne. We traded him after he had his break out season (47g, 74a, 121pts) and of course he went on to become one of the all time greats. Does anyone know the details behind his trade? Whoops didn't notice the "trade deadline" aspect of the thread, thought it was just worst trade....

Hehe... None of us seem to be able to stay on topic in that regard... (Present company included!)

Dionne kinda forced Detroit's hand in that matter. Long story short, Dionne refused to sign with Detroit at the end of his contract (and in fact signed with Los Angeles as a Free Agent). But the NHL allowed Detroit to trade Dionne's rights away along with Bart Crashley to Los Angeles for Terry Harper, Dan Maloney and a 2nd rounder in '76.

From LegendsOfHockey.net...

Dionne wasn't happy with the Detroit Red Wings, and in June 1975, was signed as a free agent by the Los Angeles Kings. In doing so, Marcel became the first NHL player to leave his team in such a way. But the NHL insisted that an equitable trade take place, so the Kings sent Terry Harper, Dan Maloney and a second round draft choice to Detroit for Dionne and Bart Crashley.

[StevieY9802 6]

The Worst one what I think is Mar 09, 2006 Pittsburgh Penguins traded Cory Cross to the Detroit Red Wings for a 4th round selection in 2007.

How about you guys? What do you think the best or worst trade deadline deals in Wings history?

You really think this is the worst? I'll say it wasn't good but not the worst. They gave up no one off their roster for a big stay at home defenseman. They were hoping he would be a Jamie Macoun kinda pick-up. With being so close the cap and after trading away so much from 98-04 the Wings couldn't grab a bigger name player. And do you even know who that pick was? I had to look it up. I could agrue the Bertuzzi deal was worse because you gave up Mathias plus picks for him and then Bert left plus you didn't win the Cup. But at the time everyone thought Mathias was a mid-level prospect. 98 Wings gave up Jamie Pushor and a pick for Mironov who after game round 2 never played for the Wings again, Pushor could have done that. He probably would have made a better pass than Mironov did in game 2 against the Coyotes that gave JR that SH breakaway goal. It's hard to judge worst. Because right now Mathias will be better in Fla than Alex Grant will in Pitt.

But worst trade ever? Adam Oates to St. Louis. Now who knows if the Wings ever win the Cup with Oates or what happens so I wouldn't change anything because it all worked out but they gave him up for.... nothing. Dionne was bad too but he didn't even want to be here.

[dteowner 20]

Don't think it was a deadline deal, but getting Uwe Krupp from the Crapalanche has to be mentioned as a classic bungle.

[Jedi 1,865]

Don't think it was a deadline deal, but getting Uwe Krupp from the Crapalanche has to be mentioned as a classic bungle.

That was a free agent signing (recently ranked as the worst Detroit Free Agent signing ever), but I agree.

[Kira 451]

I do believe one of the all time stinkers has to be the Cory Cross trade. Hell, you could have traded a bag of used pucks and done better. He was about as useful as a screen door in a submarine.

Best, hands down, Chelios and Draper's trades. Cheap at twice the price.

Edited July 27, 2008 by Kira

[BeeRYCE 2]

Why not Brad Stuart as one of the best? Him for two insignificant picks... Not bad at all.

Edited July 27, 2008 by BeeRYCE

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

It's too bad that Yzerman for Yashin trade never happened.

That would have made this topic much easier to answer.

[metalwinger_13 0]

i dont think that cory cross deal was all that bad.. i actually thought he played well with us the few games he did. and it was for a friggin draft pick so whats the big deal. The bertuzzi deal was way worse then this.. or what about the jiri slegr deal.. oh and no one talks about trading for an already injured ulf samuellson who i dont even think played for us that year. thats all i can think off of the top of my head. but funny how cross is hated on here and did nothing to even gain it besides obviouslly being traded here for beans basically. oh well...

[auxlepli 17]

Avery to the Kings.

[Kira 451]

Why not Brad Stuart as one of the best? Him for two insignificant picks... Not bad at all.

Good point. I still like the Chelios deal though.

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

Cross handed out the greatest beating in recent Wings history (aside from Lilja's fights), so just for that I'll give him some props during his stay here.

[Donaldjr2448 43]

The only bad trade that I remember is when we picked up Bill Ranford in 1999. I know that we picked up Cheli in that deal, but Ranford was HORRIBLE in the playoffs!!

As for the best deal, it wasn't at the deadline, but Shannahan for Keith Primeau in 1997. I thought that trade put us over the top that year, and got us some much needed offense on the power play! The Kris Draper deal is probably the best deal in professional sports! Brad Stuart Deal is up there too.

I think the best deal the Wings ever did was making Ken Holland our GM!!! Without him we never win these last 4 cups!!

[Guest Dump-N-Thump]

Best Trade?

Calder 4 Williams.

[chrisdetroit 189]

The Worst one what I think is Mar 09, 2006 Pittsburgh Penguins traded Cory Cross to the Detroit Red Wings for a 4th round selection in 2007.

How about you guys? What do you think the best or worst trade deadline deals in Wings history?

Larry Murphy for future considerations.

[Wings_Dynasty 267]

Not at the deadline, but the best has to be Keith Primeau and Paul Coffey to Hartford for Brendan Shanahan.

[imisssergei 0]

Avery to the Kings.

Matty came over in that deal. Avery wouldn't have stuck with the Wings anyhow, while Matty gave the Wings some much need puck moving help on the blueline. Good deal IMHO.

Los Angeles Kings traded Mathieu Schneider to the Detroit Red Wings for Sean Avery, Maxim Kuznetsov, a 1st round selection (Jeff Tambellini) in 2003 and a 2nd round selection in 2004. (per tsn)

The only bad trade that I remember is when we picked up Bill Ranford in 1999. I know that we picked up Cheli in that deal, but Ranford was HORRIBLE in the playoffs!!

As for the best deal, it wasn't at the deadline, but Shannahan for Keith Primeau in 1997. I thought that trade put us over the top that year, and got us some much needed offense on the power play! The Kris Draper deal is probably the best deal in professional sports! Brad Stuart Deal is up there too.

I think the best deal the Wings ever did was making Ken Holland our GM!!! Without him we never win these last 4 cups!!

Two separate deals there.

Cheli-

Chicago Blackhawks traded Chris Chelios to the Detroit Red Wings for Anders Eriksson and 1st round selection (Steve McCarthy) in 1999 and 1st round selection (Adam Munro) in 2001. (per tsn)

Ranford-

Tampa Bay Lightning traded Wendel Clark and 6th round selection (previously acquired from the Detroit Red Wings - Kent McDonnell) in 1999 to the Detroit Red Wings for Kevin Hodson and 2nd round selection (previously acquired from the San Jose Sharks - Sheldon Keefe) in 1999. (per tsn)

I'm not sure why tsn doesn't have Ranford listed in this deal, but this is the deal that he come over in.

I can't really think of any really bad trades that Detroit has made. The simple fact that you can argue with most of the 'bad deals' just goes to show how much thought the front office puts into trades.

EDIT: I hate it when people say that without Holland the Wings wouldn't have won the last few Cups. Bulls***. He inherited the 97' Cup team. In 98' the Wings were uber motivated. Was Holland a big part of the staff that built the teams that won? Yes, but with or without Holland, the Wings win both those Cups. You could probably throw '02 in there as well. The '08 Cup is one that you have to give Kenny a lot of credit for.

Edited July 27, 2008 by imisssergei

[soultrain 43]

Hehe... None of us seem to be able to stay on topic in that regard... (Present company included!)

Dionne kinda forced Detroit's hand in that matter. Long story short, Dionne refused to sign with Detroit at the end of his contract (and in fact signed with Los Angeles as a Free Agent). But the NHL allowed Detroit to trade Dionne's rights away along with Bart Crashley to Los Angeles for Terry Harper, Dan Maloney and a 2nd rounder in '76.

From LegendsOfHockey.net...

my father always said that dionne would have been better than wayne if he wouldn't have been on such stinks***ass teams.

[RedWingAbner 13]

Ranford wasn't acquired in the Clark deal. It was a separate transaction with Tampa for futures; Holland made four separate trades that day.

[Donaldjr2448 43]

Matty came over in that deal. Avery wouldn't have stuck with the Wings anyhow, while Matty gave the Wings some much need puck moving help on the blueline. Good deal IMHO.

Los Angeles Kings traded Mathieu Schneider to the Detroit Red Wings for Sean Avery, Maxim Kuznetsov, a 1st round selection (Jeff Tambellini) in 2003 and a 2nd round selection in 2004. (per tsn)

Two separate deals there.

Cheli-

Chicago Blackhawks traded Chris Chelios to the Detroit Red Wings for Anders Eriksson and 1st round selection (Steve McCarthy) in 1999 and 1st round selection (Adam Munro) in 2001. (per tsn)

Ranford-

Tampa Bay Lightning traded Wendel Clark and 6th round selection (previously acquired from the Detroit Red Wings - Kent McDonnell) in 1999 to the Detroit Red Wings for Kevin Hodson and 2nd round selection (previously acquired from the San Jose Sharks - Sheldon Keefe) in 1999. (per tsn)

I'm not sure why tsn doesn't have Ranford listed in this deal, but this is the deal that he come over in.

I can't really think of any really bad trades that Detroit has made. The simple fact that you can argue with most of the 'bad deals' just goes to show how much thought the front office puts into trades.

EDIT: I hate it when people say that without Holland the Wings wouldn't have won the last few Cups. Bulls***. He inherited the 97' Cup team. In 98' the Wings were uber motivated. Was Holland a big part of the staff that built the teams that won? Yes, but with or without Holland, the Wings win both those Cups. You could probably throw '02 in there as well. The '08 Cup is one that you have to give Kenny a lot of credit for.

I understand that Holland inherited the 97 team, but didn't he pull the trigger on the Shanny trade?? I am almost certain that he did. I still think that if he doesn't make that deal we never win in 97! Shanny was huge in the playoffs and i think that is what we were missing in the previous years! If thw Wigs wouldn't have won the Cup in 97, they would have desolved the team and that is why I say without Ken Holland we never would have won the last four cups, but that is just my thoughts. Thanks for clearing up the trades from 1999. I remember that crazy day!! I just couldn't remember how it all went down!!