NHL Trade Deadline: Ranking every team’s worst ever trade

3: Vancouver Canucks

Boy, the Bruins sure are on the right end of a lot of these bad trades. As we’ve seen with Middleton and Esposito, and now Cam Neely, they have a knack for recognizing good, young talent. And whenever the team that drafted them is unsure of their abilities, the Bruins are able to take them off of their hands leaving them none the wiser.

That was the case with the Canucks and Cam Neely. Tom Watt, the coach at the time, wasn’t impressed with his defensive ability plus he had never cracked 40 points in his first three seasons. Barry Pederson was a good player for the Bruins, but his best years were past him. And as the Rangers learned in the Hodge for Middleton deal, you never trade a young player for an aging one. Pederson had two 70-point seasons with the Canucks before his production declined rapidly, causing them to ship him to Pittsburgh.

As soon as Neely arrived in Boston, he exploded for 72 points and kept on that trajectory for most of his time with the Yellow and Gold. Even in seasons where he missed a lot of time due to injury, he still scored at over a point per game. He is also one of five players to ever score 50 goals in 50 games or less when he did it in 44 games in 1993-94 – only Gretzky, Mogilny, Jari Kurri, and Bobby Hull have done the same.

Glen Wesley, the first-round pick they received, also turned out to be pretty good. He helped the Bruins to two Cup Final appearances although they lost to the Oilers while they were nearing the end of their dynasty. They were able to draft him since the Canucks ended up being so bad that the pick fell to third overall, another reason not to trade future draft picks without knowing where they will end up.

The Canucks whiffed big on this one, and it’s the reason why they still don’t have a Cup. Had they kept Cam Neely and their first overall pick, they could’ve won a Cup and saved multiple riots and a lot of lives.

Next: 2: Edmonton Oilers