NHL Trade Deadline: Ranking every team’s worst ever trade
By David Rouben
13: New Jersey Devils
As the Atlanta Thrashers were about to fold and relocate to Winnipeg, they decided to go out in a blaze of glory when they dealt Ilya Kovalchuk in a bigger blockbuster than Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
It’s not so much Kovalchuk that makes this a bad trade for the Devils – offensively, he lived up to his potential putting up some great numbers and a Cup run for them – but financially, they have never recovered from this trade. And just look at what they gave up; you could practically build a new franchise with it … wait.
Kovalchuk was a Rocket Richard winner and hit the 300 goal plateau in Atlanta. He was one of the most solid foundations of the Thrashers and perhaps the only selling point for tickets. So it was only appropriate that they traded him away before they packed their bags and left. The Thrashers did well in getting some solid prospects in return in Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier, and Johnny Oduya – the latter of whom has developed into a high-end defenseman.
They also received two draft picks which they both shipped to Chicago for a monster package. In exchange for the picks, they acquired Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager, Brent Sopel, and Akim Aliu – though the first name is the only one worth remembering – while giving up Marty Reasoner, Joey Crabb, and Jeremy Morin. In all, the Thrashers received three good prospects and a franchise defenseman for Ilya Kovalchuk. Not bad.
The fact that the Devils gave up that much for Kovalchuk shows how inflated his value was at the time, and hinted at how much cap space they wanted to clear in order to sign him to a large deal. And it was very large, 15 years and $100 million to be exact. He retired from the NHL three years into the deal, leaving 12 years and $77 million on the table which has severely handicapped the Devils from a cap perspective. According to their General Fanager page, they have to set aside $250,000 in cap space every year for Kovalchuk. And when you get paid that much to do nothing, that’s when you’re living the dream.
This deal, and the financial setback that came with it, is why the Devils are in a rebuilding phase and went from Stanley Cup finalist to bottom-feeding team in an instant.
Next: 12: New York Islanders