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Most Deadline Deals Are Failures |
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Well, the Olympic break is over. Now it is time get down to some good old NHL hockey. The condensed schedule over the next six weeks because of the Olympic break means the remaining games should be very exciting.
With 25 of the 30 NHL teams still vying for position and potential playoff spots, every game will have some meaning to it. Word to the wise: Beware of those "trap" games against teams out of the race! The standings points lost to overlooking those games comes back to bite clubs every single year.
The NHL trade deadline is one week away, so it is going to be interesting to see what teams are buyers and what teams are sellers. I don’t follow the teams closely enough anymore to know what each team’s needs are, or what specific player would be the missing piece to a team’s successful playoff run, but it looks right now like there will be more buyers than sellers.
Something else I know: Most deadline deals do not work.
Ever since the New York Islanders traded Billy Harris and Dave Lewis to the Los Angles Kings for Butch Goring in 1980, every GM of every team tries to duplicate that magic when the trade deadline comes around each year. In case you forgot, the Islanders immediately went on to win four consecutive Stanley Cups.
Even though the Islanders had the likes of Brian Trottier, Mike Bossy, Clark Gillies, Billy Smith and top defensemen Denis Potvin in the lineup, it was the addition of Goring that is largely credited with helping the Islanders win the Stanley Cup. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of another trade that comes even close in taking a team to the Promised Land that same year and for years to come.
During my career, I was never part of a deadline deal, but I did experience some that never lived up to what it was meant to do for the teams for which I played.
The biggest example was my first year in the NHL. I was playing in Atlanta for the Flames. At the time, we had a very competitive team but we never had any playoff success. The management team led by Cliff Fletcher was anxious to change it
Trades were different back then. There was no ESPN, no TSN, no cell phones, no computers, no Facebook, no Twitter, no 24-hour sports talk, basically there was no platform for the infamous "insider rumour mill" as we know it today to start.
Trades were secretive and quite often the players involved were shocked and surprised when told they were traded. Virtually every player was available for the right price. There were no trade clauses in any of the contracts, and everybody pretty much made within the same salary range, so contracts were not as big of an issue as they are today.
The trade deadline that year was noon, March 13, 1979. We had practice much like every other day. I was a rookie and I guess I really didn’t have anything to worry about, so I just took it all in. The mood in the room was different. It was quiet, with many of the veterans not knowing what the next few hours may bring. A number of the veterans joked and teased about it, but as I said, the room was quiet, which was very odd for our team.
We all got dressed and practice started without anyone being traded, so with the practice underway everyone thought they were safe – then the mood on the ice changed immediately.
At 11:45 with practice almost over, captain Tom Lysiak was called off the ice. We all thought that there was no way they were going to trade our captain and the face of the franchise. The general feeling was that nothing had happened and they called Tom off the ice to tell him this. Tom did not come back to practice, in fact, four other players were asked to go into the dressing room, the coach Fred Creighton blew the whistle and informed us of the following trade:
To the Chicago Blackhawks: Tom Lysiak, Greg Fox, Pat Ribble, Harold Phillipoff, Myles Zaharko.
To the Atlanta Flames: Phil Russell, Ivan Boldirev, Darcy Rota.
Eight players in one trade. Talk about a blockbuster! But the big thing was that there were five guys, five teammates, five friends leaving our dressing room.
What happened? The trade had the opposite of the intended effect. Our team was shaken and never recovered. We lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
So often in discussing what a team needs or if a certain player would help or when a GM makes a trade, what is often forgotten is personality and the character of the people involved. With all due respect to the "stats geeks" of today who believe that intangible things like grit and locker room presence are overrated factor, I can tell you from firsthand experience that these things matter greatly to a team.
A new player doesn't just have to be a good hockey player. He has to fit in with the club. He has to be accepted by his new teammates and this quite often is easier said then done. That's especially true when a much-respected teammate has been removed from the mix and the new guy comes into the established group.
As I stated earlier, the blockbuster did not have the desired effect on our team that it was meant to have. Phil Russell was awesome, a great guy and a great mentor for me and went on to play many big games for the Flames. However, Ivan Boldirev and Darcy Rota never really fit in with our club, despite having good intentions. Both were traded to Vancouver the following year, where they went on to contribute for a number of seasons.
I will be watching the next week with great interest to see what trades are made. But I will not be looking so much at the stats of the players but I will be interested in hearing about the make-up of the guys traded.
Personally, I think it would be a huge mistake if Ryan Callahan -- one of the most respected leaders in the game today -- gets traded by the New York Rangers for contract reasons. It would cut the heart out of that team, and it could take a long time to recover.
Again, I have some personal experience here. Part of the magic of our Flyers teams of the mid-1980s was how tightly knit we were as a team, with a strong leadership group led by captain Dave Poulin. When team leaders including Dave, Brad McCrimmon, myself (not to sound immodest about it) and, later, Ron Sutter left the team, the Flyers missed the playoffs for five straight years. A big part of the reason was that the character of the room changed.
Watching Callahan play and lead reminds me a lot of Dave Poulin. I don't think the Rangers can sacrifice that and land on their feet, even if they (undoubtedly) would bring some good assets back in return.
Last word on the Olympics
What an absolutely incredible sporting event! I loved watching every minute of every sport. The world needs role models and I could not think of any better role model than most of the Olympic athletes for today’s kids to look up to.
The big question in the hockey world after Canada won gold Sunday morning is whether or not the NHL should participate in the next Olympics. My answer is both simple and straightforward: YES!!!!
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