Best Draft/Trade picks...Worst Draft/Trades Picks

[jets4ever]

IceColdIan said:

I saw the topic of this post and remembered the Kris Draper for a dollar trade to the Redwings... I notice a couple of guys have mentioned it, and i am going to have to say we have made many bad ones, but that takes the cake, regardless of how we got in return for any of our guys, that MUST be the worst.

For a dollar... $1.00 Was it USD atleast???

I mean, honestley... that literally only pays 1/1000000 of some players salaries. Brutal...

They could have atleast got future considerations, or somthing... Not to mention Draper wasn't the worst of all players...

Look at it this way.

At least Phoenix didn't get anything out of that deal.

That dollar was long gone by the time the team landed there.

[samson]

Best trade was back on July 3rd, 1981. Scott Campbell & John Markell for Bryan Maxwell, Ed Staniowski, & Paul MacLean.

What seemed liked a good trade at the time award: Montreal trading Robert Picard to the Jets for a 3rd round draft choice. We actually got a live body for a draft pick. ;D Looking back at it now, I wish we had kept that draft pick. Montreal used that pick to draft future Hall of Famer Patrick Roy.

Worst trade: Any trade that involved the Jets trading an actual player for "Future Considerations".

Best draft picks: Hawerchuk, Thomas Steen, Babych, Selanne, Khabibulin.

Worst draft picks: Any of Mike Smith's "European" picks.

[jets4life]

yar said:

we traded eddie o to the rangers along with a draft pick for king and domi. it sucked getting rid of eddie but we needed toughness and we definitly got it with those 2.

That was the BEST trade ever for the Jets

*Oh, I almost forgot the Randy Carlyle trade. I remember going to the first Jets game he played against the Rangers in March 84' when I was only 8 yrs old. He became a solid defenseman for us, and a team leader.

One has to wonder if the Penguins did that deliberately to finish dead last to get the rights to draft Mario Lemieux, so it actually worked out for both teams. The Devils made accusations that the Pens deliberately lost their last few games, since both teams wanted Mario badly.


The worst was the 1985-86 Dave Babych trade for Ray neufeld. Hartford really burned us on that one, and we went on to a 26-47-7 season after our best NHL year in 84-85.

[jamiebez]

Worst trade:
Kilger and Tverdovsky for Selanne
Penney for Hayward.
Both times they traded my favorite player!

Best trade:
Stephane Beauregard and a 4th round pick to Buffalo for Dominik Hasek in 1993.
Wait, my mistake that was Chicago

[Big Chris in Japan]

In defense of Chicago, Eddie the Eagle had already emerged as a star goaltender and the fans loved him in Chicago so that wasn`t so horrible at the time. Montreal traded Tony Esposito once upon a time, then Ken Dryden showed up to came the next year. Great goaltenders in both cases but there can be only one number one on a team.

As for the Essensa trade, it was desperately needed, here`s why:

1) Mike Smith had destroyed the man during his arbitration hearings when all the guy wanted was a 25% raise. (Bobby was a Vesina Trophy candidate that year and a true pillar of the Winnipeg community so Smith had no right to cross the line as many times as he did during that hearing.)

2) After his strives to be in the good graces of the NHLPA, Bob lost his touch and his confidence when the union wouldn`t back him up during his arbitration mess the year before. When this happened, he became useless here.

3) By then, Essensa`s stock had dropped quickly and Detroit was desperate for anyone after the fans had tried to burn Cheveldae`s house down, (among other things,) that year.

What did we get out of the deal?

A goaltender who had a genuine to play here and gave us far better stats in the nets than he had any right to have. Better yet, he opened up the door for Khabibulin to emerge as the heir apperant in goal here.

We also got rock solid Dallas Drake who went on to be a solid performer here for the rest of the Jets` stay in Winnipeg and the first few Phoenix years. He was a good guy and a d@mn hard worker, something we lacked at that point.

What did Detroit get out of the deal?

The Wings got a completely shot Essensa who fared no better than Cheveldae did there and was run out of town the exact same way by the spring.

Oh and did I mention that they took Sergei Bautin off of our hands?? Oh wait, that is something WE got out of that deal. For that reason alone this deal was a winner on our part.

The down side was that Bob Essensa was the last Jet to truely work hard with the community. His wife Janine founded the Jets Wives Carnival for the Christmas Cheer Board and the Jets Goals For Kids Foundation which raised more money for both charities than anything the Jets ever did before or the moose have done since. Losing Essensa gave guys like Tkachuk and Domi a licence to treat the community like crap and this, coupled with the team going through the motions during much of the `Season to Remember` resulted in horrible attendance and a genuine distaste for the jets on the part of the community.

From a hockey perspective this was a great trade in every possible way. From a human perspective, it was the symbolic death of the Winnipeg Jets.

[FrontierSaga]

The Housley Trade was horrible and bad in many ways and heres why:

1. No longer did the Jets have a power defensemen who can set up plays and pass it to whoever they wanted to

2. HOUSLEY MADE TEEMU A STAR! THERES A REASON WHY HOUSLEY HAD 97 POINTS THAT YEAR! his passes were to selanne...thats his highest point total of his career

3. We had to handle Quintel, Ulanov, Bautin for the rest of the year and groan...

4. Housley, Carlyle, Ellet, Fredrick and Teepo were the defensemen of the Jets PERIOD!

[Big Chris in Japan]

More genius on the part of Mike Smith:

All of those defencemen were Jets AT THE SAME TIME! That is until Smith systematically ran them out of town one by one:

1) Davey Ellett was the first to go. He was an instant hero for 4 of that classic playoff series against the Oilers and was considered one of the most unde defencemen in the NHL at that time. Smith started a whispering campaign, (hinting that Ellett was gay according to some guys I worked with at the Arena at the time,) to get rid of him and of course, we got little for him. (Eddie was part of the deal but we could have gotten Eddie anytime we wanted for far less.)

2) Phil Housley was always a good time charlie who liked a good beer as much as he liked scoring a goal. No matter, come time he always delivered. Unfortunately Smith had a serious problem with him and the main reason why Phil wanted out was because Shankerow wouldn`t fire Smith. Exit Housley.

3) Nobody knows why Olausson was traded and we didn`t exactly get equal value for him either.

4) Smith had Carlyle benched from early February on and exiled him to the broadcast booth upon his retirement in 1993. It wasn`t until Smith was finally fired that Randy returned to the Jets organization.

If the tandem of Teppo, Ellett, Olausson, Housley and one more year with Carlyle stays together the Jets continue their upward climb that they enjoyed in 1991-92 and 1992-93. Then going out and getting a Dallas Drake and/or Dave Manson makes the Jets that much more dangerous and maybe even a division contender.

[samson]

Mike Smith did destroy a good team by drafting all these European players. Some became NHL stars but for the most part, the rest of them should have been playing in the ECHL at best (and that's an insult to the ECHL)

[FrontierSaga]

Mike Smith IS THE WORST JET OF ALL TIME..he systematically destroyed the 1992-1993 team that was gaining respect in the league and turned them to utter crap in 1993-1994 where they lost 50 games

Seems like Chicago didnt fair well with Smith as well...one playoff appearance in the last 8 years??? brutal

[Ducky]

I gotta totally agree with you guys Mike Smith was the worst gm we had. Didn't this guy have a PHD, I think it in russian studies or something like that. I must say this guy was pretty dumb for a guy with a PHD. He even dressed and (never) combed his hair a Go Jets Go.

When Mikael Smith was going draft crazy in signing these russians he was right back in those days there was tremendous untaped skill and potential but as a dumb Go Jets Go as he was he didn't realize the NHL isn't european hockey. All in all we didn't fair well in the russian market as expected but Zhamnov, Khaby and Sergei Kharin did equate to something.

[Big Chris in Japan]

Mike Smith was the polar opposite of John Ferguson in every way, shape and form.

The Ferguson Jets had heart, energy and pride. Big John came from Montreal`s system and won 5 Stanley Cups as a Hab and believed in everything the Canadiens organization stood for. The team and it`s players represented more than just being a hockey team, they represented the city and community. In order to play for or work for Fergie, you had to carry yourself accordingly on and off the ice. Leave it all on the ice when you played and represent and be good to the community off of the ice. Be good to the organization and the organization would be good to you. (Seldom did a Jet have money disputes with Ferguson during his 11 years with the Jets.) This resulted in various players being shipped out for their off ice behavior, (see the Berthume incident for a reference,) but there was a sense that Ferguson wore his heart on his sleeve here and the kinds of players he brought here had that same sense of pride and work ethic.

Under Mike Smith, all of this went out the window. He saw himself as the ultimate authority on hockey and if you didn`t believe it, all you had to do was ask him. While Ferguson had an office built for himself in the Winnipeg Arena and was always around and allowed himself to be held accountable at all times, Smith had his offices really close to the arena, IN GRAND FORKS! Smith was almost never available for interviews and would flat out insult everyone around him when he was held accountable for the team`s lousy performance.

Furthermore, Smith was very good in terms of being a politician in terms of how he got along with Shankerow, whom he whispered to about canning Fergie for years to get himself Big John`s job. At the same time, Smith surounded himself with people who were thinkers and were excellent when it came to theory but had no clue how to deal with the heat of battle behind the bench or on the ice. (Bob Murdoch and John Paddock anyone?) This was when he threw all of the heart and soul Jets out and replaced them with gutless Russians who were 4th liners in Russia, usually for millions of dollars that the Jets couldn`t afford to spend at that point. It is no coincidence that the Jets blew 2, 3-1 series leads under Smith and won 2 series`s under Ferguson.

While Ferguson would go into fits of rage when the Jets even lost an exhibition , (which is why he had to have one-way glass installed in his private suite in the press box,) Smith couldn`t care less. This kind of attitude spilled onto the ice with the Jets and the lack of pride in the organization and contempt for the community that Smith displayed also replaced the pride and hard work that Ferguson instilled in the club.

The concept of `be good to the organization and the organization will take care of you` also went out the window under Smith. This was when the Keith Tkachuk`s and Tie Domi`s of the world started spitting on the city all the time and were rewarded for it, not shipped out like they should have been. Wearing the Jets uniform became something to be ashamed of, not a symbol of pride.

While Ferguson never won us a Stanley Cup, I would take his fire over Smith`s arrogance any day of the week.

[samson]

I totally agree. Ferguson drafted wisely (except Jimmy Mann). Ferguson played hockey, lived hockey, breathed hockey. Did Mike Smith ever lace up his own skates? You're right, Smith is a politician. Ferguson is a hockey person. Total opposites. I'll take Ferguson any day of the week and month over Smith. Ferguson as GM and Carlyle as head coach. What a combo that would be.

[jets4life]

I think Mike Smith drafted wisely too. Keith Tkachuk, Kris Draper, Stu Barnes, Alexei Zhamnov, Nicholai Khabiboulin, etc. the problem with Smith is he made terrible decisions, in terms of trades,etc. If Fergie had the talent that Smith drafted, the Jets would have been one of the leading contenders in their latter years.

[Big Chris in Japan]

Actually I don`t have a problem with the Jimmy Mann draft for the following reasons:

1) Jimmy Mann was a 40-50 goal a year man throughout his junior career and the heavyweight champion of the CHL. This is the combination that Mark Messier had.

2) All of the experts including Red Fisher and the gang at The Hockey News rated Mann a Top 20 guy and picked him to go in the mid to late first round at best and the first guy picked in the second round at worst. Fergie`s pick of Mann wasn`t a shock to anyone around the league and most agreed that Jimmy was a good prospect with lots of upside.

3) Nobody of note was passed over in favor of Mann. The Jets were treated like the defending champions that they were and in turn had to pick right ahead of the Islanders at 19th in the drafting order. Everyone worthy of mention outside of Mann was already gone by that point and Fergie was thinking of the 1980 draft. (A very good draft for the Jets btw.)

4) Jimmy was downright SCARY. We lost Kim Clackson and Terry Ruskowski to the reclamation draft and we needed some serious toughness and Mann delivered.

The problem with Jimmy was twofold. For one, he had horrible coaching with Tom McVie and later Mike Smith. Another was that Fergie loved the guy and the feeling was mutual and Jimmy would go out and kick some @ss just to impress Big John. With the right coaching, Mann could have been another Bob Probert; a 30 goal a year man who was also the Semenko that Hawerchuck and Lukowich desperately needed.

[CravenMoorhead]

BUMP!

Wow. I really love some of the insight many of the original members gave us. Aside from the poor grammar, the old posts are really interesting to read. I never know Mike Smith was such a prick.

[Bob E]

Ryan Stewart and his 3 career games has to be the worst 1st rd pick - though Bautin is a very close 2nd. Gotta love when draft analysts are scrambling to find out anything about the 20 something dman from russia that nobody has heard about. And we now know why nobody knew who he was.

Worst trade has to be the Selanne trade. A future Hall of Famer for 2 young kids who never really panned out for anyone in the league. How about John Paddock saying it was a 'good hockey' deal and Terry Simpson basically saying, no - we're not a better team now. Classic.

[whenshesgone]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but at the merger the Oilers management gave up draft picks to keep their core players (not just the two they were 'allowed'). I sometimes wonder how the Jets would have fared if they'd kept more than just Lukowich and Campbell. The Luke/Ruskowski/Preston line was seriously good, and for all of Kent Nilsson's faults, the man had talent.

That said, a solid team then would have meant draft picks lower down, which would have kept the team from the likes of Hawerchuk, etc.

[JETStender]

Dec 2, 2004 7:14:30 GMT -5 @Teemu Fan said:

Worst trades:

1. Phil Housley to St.Louis for Nelson Emerson and Stephan Quintel

Not really, we were going to lose Housley to free agency.