Offseason moves...

[JohnnyMapleLeaf]

I think we can all agree on one thing.... Owen Nolan was an awesome first pick LOL! :nuts:

I guess you were being sarcastic, but I don't think he was a horrible first pick in that fairly weak draft. You would have rather had Nedved/Primeau/Ricci? Nolan was a 6 time 30 goal scorer, a great bodychecking power forward that teams need, a 5 time allstar, Canadian Olympian Goal Medalist. Not too shabby. Unfortunately, injuries have slowed him the past 4 years or so, but when healthy he was a force any team would have loved. I remember that draft year it was a toss up for #1 between him and Nedved...and I would rather have a Cam Neely type like Nolan than that floater Nedved.

Hopefully he stays healthy for the Flames this year, and produces like he should. Him and Iggy on a line would be tough to play against.

[chickameng33]

JML .... yeah I do love the sacrasim.... take nothing away from the others but as in any draft no one can predict what the players are going to do i.e. Jagr at 5 and or Sydor or Hatcher. It would have been nice to see him stay healthy sort of like Lindros's concussion realated career. Trust me never am hating .... maybe mocking .... never hating!

I did like nedved at one point as well but he never put the skills on the ice full time IMO and is/was always to busy crying about contract issue. point well taken flm!

[FlyersFan]

Good Riddence to Yashin. He signed with a Russian team since nobody in the NHL was dumb enough to pay him anything. He still made out like a bandit. He gets like 16M of his remaining deal with the NYI paid to him. I would put him up there with one of the collosal busts of all time when you figure in the talent the guy had. Unfortunately he had no work ethic and didn't like to get dirty and was about as soft as they come.


Pitkanen signs a 1 year deal with EDM for 2.4M. They have to hope if he plays well this year that he resigns up there to a multi year deal after this.

[JohnnyMapleLeaf]

Good Riddence to Yashin. He signed with a Russian team since nobody in the NHL was dumb enough to pay him anything. He still made out like a bandit. He gets like 16M of his remaining deal with the NYI paid to him. I would put him up there with one of the collosal busts of all time when you figure in the talent the guy had. Unfortunately he had no work ethic and didn't like to get dirty and was about as soft as they come.


Pitkanen signs a 1 year deal with EDM for 2.4M. They have to hope if he plays well this year that he resigns up there to a multi year deal after this.

First Milbury trades a young defenceman named Zdeno Chara, a second overall draft pick (turns out to be Jason Spezza) and plugger Bill Muckalt for Yashin. The he signs him to a billion dollars. What a joke.

I agree...good riddence...what a tool, I hear the Wings were offering him 2 years @ 2 million per year....with that buyout he already has in his hip pocket, why wouldn't he go to that good young team....put up some decent numbers as a second liner, and get some people talking about him again? Boggles the mind.

[FlyersFan]

First Milbury trades a young defenceman named Zdeno Chara, a second overall draft pick (turns out to be Jason Spezza) and plugger Bill Muckalt for Yashin. The he signs him to a billion dollars. What a joke.

that is kind of the funny thing. everyone always remembers what a bust a guy was, but you sometimes forget what went into getting him. the thing that makes that deal you mentioned even grosser is that Yashin had the reputation for being soft, not working hard, and not living up to his talent while in OTT and NYI went out and gave up the farm and zillions to acquire him anyway. i can't believe what a piece of **** that guy is, in thinking somebody was going to give him a long term big money deal with his reputation. definitely one of the worst trades of all time. Not that trading 400 draft picks and Forsberg for Lindros was a whole lot better.....:bang:

[JohnnyMapleLeaf]

that is kind of the funny thing. everyone always remembers what a bust a guy was, but you sometimes forget what went into getting him. the thing that makes that deal you mentioned even grosser is that Yashin had the reputation for being soft, not working hard, and not living up to his talent while in OTT and NYI went out and gave up the farm and zillions to acquire him anyway. i can't believe what a piece of **** that guy is, in thinking somebody was going to give him a long term big money deal with his reputation. definitely one of the worst trades of all time. Not that trading 400 draft picks and Forsberg for Lindros was a whole lot better.....:bang:

But at least Lindros won a Hart trophy, got the Flyers to the finals, and created alot of excitement with his style of play. He was very popular in that city before things went downhill with the concussions...

[Benrik]

Pitkanen signs a 1 year deal with EDM for 2.4M. They have to hope if he plays well this year that he resigns up there to a multi year deal after this.

Exactly. I have to think that Lowe wanted to lock this guy up for more than just one year but Pitkanen would probably have none of it.

I almost feel sorry for Edmonton fans -- Pronger really ****ed that organization when he left.

[Larry]

I'd say the Wings did pretty well that draft with Keith....obviously Jagr was the steal...but Primeau would probably be the 3rd best player to come out of the top 15 that year behind JJ and Nolan. Waste of a pick? Check out the Leafs gem at 10! Or the Islanders at 6!

Primeau also landed the Wings Shanahan in a trade in 1997...and that turned out pretty well....Shanny was Stevie Y's right hand man helping the Wings win 3 cups over 10 years! I'd be praising the Primeau legacy if I was Larry.


1 Quebec - Owen Nolan
2 Vancouver - Petr Nedved
3 Detroit - Keith Primeau
4 Philadelphia - Mike Ricci
5 Pittsburgh - Jaromir Jagr
6 NY Islanders - Scott Scissons
7 Los Angeles - Darryl Sydor
8 Minnesota - Derian Hatcher
9 Washington - John Slaney
10 Toronto - Drake Berehowsky
11 Calgary - Trevor Kidd
12 Mtl. Canadiens - Turner Stevenson
13 NY Rangers - Michael Stewart
14 Buffalo - Brad May
15 Hartford - Mark Greig

Base on his play with the Wings he is no better than 8th on this list. What he did after playing for Detroit is foreign to me.

[JohnnyMapleLeaf]

Base on his play with the Wings he is no better than 8th on this list. What he did after playing for Detroit is foreign to me.

lol...what a rediculous arguement...and I think FF and any other hockey fan would agree.
Man...Stick to football, Larry. lol.

And he wasn't even bad with the Wings!?! Made the team as an 18 year old (unheard for players not named Wayne, Bobby or Sidney). Scored 31 goals as a 21 year old with a hard-nosed 173 PIMs (again, very rare). Then, he scored 27 goals (168 PIMs) as a 23 year old, before he was traded, in a great trade for Detroit, that brought Shanahan, a cornerstone of future cups. I'd be thanking my lucky ******* stars that my team drafted him, after it was all said and done. You are making no sense to me. Oh well.

Primeau then went on to a great career elsewhere (not his fault the Wings traded to him), and sorry...that point does apply to any Primeau arguement regarding draft order rationalization.

[FlyersFan]

Man...Stick to football, Larry. lol.

:beerbang:

[Larry]

The dude had a habit of giving the puck away, liked to trip over the blue line and red lines. And most of his penalty minutes were from fights where he was either knocked down by the first punch or he swung and missed and laned on his ass. Maybe he was just to big to fast and had to grow into his body. Believe me i'm not mad that they drafted him, you're right he brought in one of the cornerstones to the team that won 3 cups. Not to mention they were able to package a past his prime Paul Coffey with him. Worked out alright for the Wings.

And for his stats he scored a whopping 6 goals in 64 career playoffs games with the Wings.