As the 2012 NHL Trade Deadline fast approaches, we take a look back at some of the best down-to-the-wire deals in the history of the league -- trades that often resulted in a Stanley Cup championship.
10. Kings trade Stuart to the Wings for Richardson
At the 2008 trading deadline, the Detroit Red Wings were looking to bolster their roster for a Stanley Cup playoff run, and as per usual, general manager Ken Holland was successful.
The Red Wings sent their second- and fourth-round picks to the Los Angeles Kings for defenceman Brad Stuart. Stuart would help stabilize the Wings’ blue line and be a solid performer in the playoffs, helping lead the Red Wings to their first Stanley Cup since 2002.
The fourth-round pick the Kings received turned out to be Brad Richardson. Richardson has turned out to be a solid contributor to the Kings and will only be 27 years old come February.
9. Ducks upgrade their offensive defenceman
At the trading deadline in March of 2010, the Anaheim Ducks sent young offensive defenseman Ryan Whitney to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for another offensive defenceman, Lubomir Visnovsky.
While Visnovsky was unable to get the Ducks into the playoffs in 2010, he showed up in a big way for the Ducks in 2011, putting up 68 points (18 goals, 50 assists) and helping the team get into the postseason.
At the other end, Whitney has enjoyed success in Edmonton with the Oilers, though it has come in spurts due to injury problems. Whitney had 27 points (three goals, 24 assists) in 35 games last season and had three assists in 17 games this season before going down with an injury.
8. Janney requests trade to Blues; Brown comes back
The Vancouver Canucks found out during the 1993-94 season that they made a mistake in acquiring Craig Janney, which is why Janney requested a trade out of Vancouver and wanted to go back to where he came from.
To make that happen, the Canucks traded Janney to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for defenceman Jeff Brown. That season, Janney had 84 (16 goals, 68 assists) points in playing with sniper Brendan Shanahan.
Meanwhile, Brown went to Vancouver and helped get the team to within one game of winning a Stanley Cup.
7. Washington and Minnesota swap scoring machines
It is always great when one team gives up a sniper and gets another in return.
This is what happened in at the 1989 trading deadline when the Minnesota North Stars traded Dino Ciccarelli and defenceman Bob Rouse in exchange for Mike Gartner and defenceman Larry Murphy.
The deal ended up working out for both sides. Ciccarelli ended up scoring a bunch of goals for the Capitals, and Murphy had 68 points in the 1989-90 season. Gartner had 84 points in 80 games before being traded to the New York Rangers midway through the 1989-90 season.
6. Penguins acquire Hossa
Not only did the Pittsburgh Penguins dress both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in the 2007-08 season, but they did one better when acquiring another offensive superstar at the season’s trade deadline.
The Penguins sent Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, and prospect Angelo Esposito to the Atlanta Thrashers for Marian Hossa and grinder Pascal Dupuis.
Hossa would be the perfect rental player for the Penguins. Hossa shined in helping the Penguins get to the Stanley Cup Finals against the Detroit Red Wings, a series in which they lost in six games. Dupuis is still with the Penguins and has been a great second- and third-liner for the team.
On the other side, Armstrong spent two seasons in Atlanta and scored 22 goals and 40 points in his best season as a Thrasher in 2008-09.
5. Oilers ship off Moog to Boston
It’s always a luxury to have two quality NHL goaltenders, but for the Edmonton Oilers, it was a way to figure out who could lead the team back to the Promised Land back in the 1989-90 season.
The Oilers thought that man was Grant Fuhr, so the team traded Andy Moog to the Boston Bruins for goaltender Bill Ranford, a second-round pick in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft and forward Geoff Courtnall.
In the 1989-90 season, it would be Ranford that would lead the Oilers to a Stanley Cup by beating Moog and the Boston Bruins in five games.
4. Avalanche borrow Bourque
At the 2000 NHL Trade Deadline, the Boston Bruins traded their best defenceman -- and one of their best players in franchise history -- Raymond Bourque and Dave Andreychuk to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Brian Rolston, Samuel Pahlsson, Martin Grenier and a 2000 first-round draft pick.
For Bourque, this trade was everything for him. At the end of the 2000-01 season he got to retire with a Stanley Cup ring. That season, Bourque had 59 points (seven goals, 52 assists) in the regular season and added 10 more in the postseason in winning his first and only Cup over his 22-year career.
The trade would also end up working out for the Bruins, as Rolston would go on to have four productive seasons in Beantown.
3. Blackhawks acquire Amonte
At the 1994 trade deadline, the New York Rangers were looking to acquire a few missing pieces to the puzzle that would ultimately be complete when the team won the Stanley Cup later that spring.
For the Rangers, those pieces would be Brian Noonan and Stephane Matteau, as both would go on to help the Blueshirts win their first Cup in 54 years. Both would be solid performers for the Blueshirts, especially Matteau:
Amonte would go on to be a big-time player for the Blackhawks. He scored 267 goals in a span of eight seasons and added 13 playoff goals in four postseason appearances.
2. Who knew who these picks would turn out to be?
In March of 1998, the Tampa Bay Lightning acquired first- and third-round draft picks in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft from the San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames, respectively.
No one knew that the draft picks would turn out to be Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards. These two highly skilled forwards would help lead the Lightning to the Stanley Cup in 2004.
1. From one of the worst to one of the best
It’s not too often that one trade can go down as both terrible and fantastic.
This happened to be the case at the 1991 trade deadline when the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Ulf Samuelsson and Ron Francis from the Hartford Whalers for John Cullen, Jeff Parker and Zarley Zalapski.
For the Penguins, this trade would culminate with a Stanley Cup victory over the Minnesota North Stars in June, while Cullen and Zalapski would go on to have successful and productive seasons in Hartford.