Say It Ain't So

[smon]

Sports Illustrated did a series a while back on the five worst moves by each team in the big professional sports leagues. I ran across the site a couple of days ago..

Sports Illustrated's Michael Farber , who lives in Montreal, named the five darkest days in the long, storied history of Les Habitants. His suggestions: the hiring of GM Rejean Houle, who set the franchise back decades; the trade of Patrick Roy; the trade of Teeder Kennedy; the trade of John LeClair; and the "too-late" acquisition of Denis Savard.

-October 12, 1995 Montreal names Rejean Houle as Vice-President

of Hockey and General Manager

SI's Farber: "Reggie is the nicest man in the world and he can do many things, one of which isn't running the most storied franchise in history. The remnants of the dynasty broke up on his watch. Not only were many of the trades bad, but the scouting and drafting were brutal, too."

-December 6, 1995 The Roy Trade

"See Houle, Reggie. An experienced GM would have calmed the waters, the way Bob Gainey did in Dallas with Ed Belfour. But four days after Roy's blowup with coach Mario Tremblay, Roy was shipped to Colorado along with captain and character-player extrodinaire Mike Keane. The Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in large part due to Roy's solid play, and the Canadiens, even though they had a 90-point season that year, started their rapid decline."

-September 10, 1943 Montreal trades the rights to C Ted Kennedy to Toronto for Frank Eddolls

: "Teeder Kennedy went on just to win five Stanley Cups and a Hart Trophy for the hated Maple Leafs. Kennedy also became the greatest faceoff man in the history of the NHL. Eddolls played 57 games over parts of three seasons for Montreal, scoring five goals and 14 points."

-February 9, 1995 Montreal trades LW John LeClair, D Eric Desjardins and LW Gilbert Dionne to Philadelphia for RW Mark Recchi and a 3rd-round pick (Martin Hohnberger)

"Recchi proved to be a fine player in Montreal, at least until he wanted out and the Canadiens moved him back to Philadelphia.

"But the Canadiens short-sheeted themselves by trading the two commodities every team wants: the scoring winger and the No. 1 defenseman.

"LeClair proved a perfect complement to Eric Lindros, and the Flyers were in the Cup finals two years later. A Serge Savard trade, proving Savard could rebuild a franchise. Just not Montreal's."

June 29, 1990 Montreal trades D Chris Chelios and a 2nd-round pick (Michael Pomichter) to Chicago

for C Denis Savard

"President Ronald Corey made this trade because Chelios was just too edgy a character for a buttoned-down organization to handle. Not only did Montreal give up the better and more valuable player, it threw in a draft pick. Denis Savard was near the end of a Hall of Fame career, but contributed little to the Stanley Cup in 1993, while Chelios went on to win two more Norris Trophies with Chicago and was runner-up in '95. And he's still playing."

I thought this was great analysis by Farber, and I love how he mentions how well our current GM Bob Gainey handled Belfour as a role model for Houle.

Personally, I'd agree with these, but would add the hiring of Mario Tremblay to the list. Of course it could be traced back to Houle though..The second Recchi trade was bad, too. The trade of Guy Carbonneau.

Anyways, feel free to share your thoughts. Doesn't hurt to look back, as the franchise is in capable hands now in Gainey. :hlogo:

[Peter Puck]

Sports Illustrated did a series a while back on the five worst moves by each team in the big professional sports leagues. I ran across the site a couple of days ago..

Sports Illustrated's Michael Farber , who lives in Montreal, named the five darkest days in the long, storied history of Les Habitants. His suggestions: the hiring of GM Rejean Houle, who set the franchise back decades; the trade of Patrick Roy; the trade of Teeder Kennedy; the trade of John LeClair; and the "too-late" acquisition of Denis Savard.

cmon smon

You need to post the link to the SI site. After reliving 4 of the worst habs moments I want to read about the leafs and bruins,

[smon]

It's a great site i think, actually goes through a heck of a lot of teams...I believe the worst Leafs moment is trading Darryl Sittler..

The Nucks had a terrible one when Harry Neale, the old grump on HNIC traded Cam Neely and a 1st rounder to Boston for a guy called Barry Pederson.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/your_turn...aintso_archive/

[jetsniper]

w00t, I could care less about the Avalanche moments. I was never a Nords fan anyway. Although I can think of a few moments since 2001 that could replace what they have.

[kaos]

Yeah I wish Teeder Kennedy had remained with the Habs. He lives a few blocks over from me here in Port Colborne and is the nicest guy. By stepfather used to work on his families farm back in the day.

I took my nephew over to his house, much like my stepfather took me, to meet him and get his autograph( as well as pucks, pennants and free hockey hall of fame passes) and he seems to have all the time in the world for hockey fans. Such a class act. T hey just don't make athletes like they used to.

The only knock on him is that I have to listen to Toronto Maple Leaf Stanley Cup stories instead of Montreal Canadien ones.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

The Roy trade may be the worst trade in history.

[lazy26]

The Roy trade may be the worst trade in history.

I definitely agree that it's the worst one in Habs history... However, I think the Joe Thorton trade gives it a run for its money...

[smon]

Well, no...because Marco Sturm and Brad Stuart are actually surprisingly useful.