Trade Tree: Not Mike Craig

[30ranfordfan]

Anytime a trade tree comes up in conversation, there is one in particular that always comes to the top of my mind. I remember reading about this years ago, and it's just amazing. A "trade tree", if you're not familiar with the term, is not just the assets that a team got in trade, but the entire lineage of what those assets turned into. If Player X was traded for Player Y, but then player Y was traded for a couple of draft picks... those picks were used on players A & B, and they were traded for more players.... all of that is included. Often, the "tree" dies off quickly, but sometimes new branches keep show up, and teams still have assets decades later, that can be linked back to an earlier deal.

Anyway, maybe you read another thread I posted early, talking about the 1991 Dispersal & Expansion drafts. I just want to mention it first, to provide some context. San Jose was allowed to take 24 players from the North Stars organization, before both teams participated in the 1991 expansion draft. The North Stars could protect most of their roster, and their most recent draft picks were exempt - but they still had one guy they did not want to lose, but didn't have room to protect: Mike Craig.

As to why Minnesota couldn't have simply protected him, and exposed someone else, I'm not sure. All I know is that they didn't, and swung a deal with the Sharks to ensure they would not take Craig. He was a 1989 2nd round pick, a scoring star with the Oshawa Generals, a Team Canada Gold medalist at the WJC, and he'd already played 39 games with Minny, scoring 8 times. He was the kind of young players teams are loath to give up on, so they made a deal very similar to some of the stuff we saw Vegas do recently, and they sent San Jose their 2nd round pick in 1991, and 1st round pick in 1992. San Jose agreed to not select Mike Craig.

The results?

Mike Craig would spend three more seasons with the Minnesota / Dallas franchise. He would play 209 more games for them, and hit double digit goals each season (15, 15, 13). His 38 points in 92-93 would be the high mark for his time with the Stars.

He became a free agent, and signed an offer sheet with the Toronto Maple Leafs. This was back in the days when an arbitrator would rule on player compensation (rather than a sent number of draft picks). I don't recall exactly how this all worked, but that's what happened. The Maple Leafs ended up having to give Peter Zezel & Grant Marshall to the Stars for Craig.

Zezel was a fan favorite in Toronto, so his inclusion was likely part of the reason Craig was hated in Toronto so much. He only played the 94-95 season with Dallas (30 games) before leaving as a free agent. Marshall was a former 1st round pick who had yet to play for the Maple Leafs. He actually went on to have a pretty nice run with Dallas: He logged over 400 games with the Stars during the next seven seasons. He was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2001, for a 2003 2nd round pick.

Dallas would use that 2nd round pick on Loui Eriksson. He played 7 excellent seasons in Dallas, before he was packaged up with Reilly Smith, Joe Morrow and Matt Fraser and traded to Boston, for Tyler Seguin, Ryan Button and Rich Peverley.

That Mike Craig eventually turned into one of the main assets used to to acquire Tyler Sequin is important to point out, because it shows that Dallas is still benefiting from that deal today - and they don't look completely foolish when you consider all that I'm about to write next!


San Jose received those two draft picks. In 1991 they would use the 2nd round pick on Sandis Ozlinch, and in 1992 they'd use the 1st round pick on Andrei Nazarov. Those two players were both very good for the Sharks, but the tree gets even better....

The Sharks would eventually trade Ozlinch for Owen Nolan. He spent the better part of eight in San Jose, and was one of their best players. He had 6 seasons of 20+ goals (including 29 after they traded for him in 95-96, and 22 before they traded him in 02-03). He broke the 30 goal mark twice, and set a career high with 44 in 99-00. Nolan would eventually be traded at the 2003 deadline to the Toronto Maple Leafs, for Alyn McCauley, Brad Boyes and round 1 pick in the 2003.

McCauley spent the rest of the season in San Jose, played in all 82 games the following year (scoring 20 goals), and popped 12 in 76 games in 05-06. He left as a free agent after that, signing with the LA Kings. I'm reasonably certain an injury limited him to 10 games that year, and then he was out of hockey.

Boyes only played a single game for the Sharks, before he was traded to Boston for Jeff Jillson. Jillson would split the next two seasons between San Jose & the AHL, and was used as a deadline trade chip in 2004. He was sent to Buffalo for Andy Delmore, and Curtis Brown. Delmore was flipped to Boston that same day (for future considerations. I don't know what that turned into). Brown played out the season of the season with San Jose, but joined the Blackhawks as a free agent after that. Interestingly enough, he left Chicago after one season and rejoined the Sharks.

That pick was never used by San Jose, instead they flipped it to Boston. They wanted to move up in the draft, so dealt that 21st overall pick (along with a 2nd rounder) to the Bruins for the 16th overall pick, which they used to select Steve Bernier.

Bernier played a few good seasons with the Sharks, before he was traded for Brian Campbell (draft picks involved both ways too). Campebell would leave as a free agent after the season, and the late pick they got never translated into anything.

That's where the 2nd round pick / Sandis Ozlinch side of the deal ends for the Sharks. Of course they were able to translate that 1st round pick into more......

As I mentioned earlier, the 1st rounder was used on Andrei Nazarov. If you don't remember Nazarov, he was mostly an enforcer (one of the few times you'll see a Russian enforcer in the NHL). The 1996-97 season was his best: He scored 12 goals for the sharks, and racked up 222 PIMs.

Nazarov ended up being dealt to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a fairly complicated deal. First, the Sharks had traded Viktor Kozlov to the Florida Panthers for Dave Lowery & a 1st round pick. The Panthers ended up being terrible that season, had the 2nd worst record in the league, and won the lotterly. That pick was now 1st overall.

What does that have to do with the Nazarov & the Lightning? Well, San Jose made a deal with Tampa Bay in 1998. The Lightning got Nazarov & the Sharks got Brian Marchment & David Shaw. The Lightning also got a conditional swap of 1st round picks: They could have the higher pick, of either their own or Florida's.

With Florida winning the lottery, their pick with to Tampa Bay - who selected Vinny Lecavalier - and San Jose got #2. The Sharks didn't use that #2 pick either. They traded the #2 pick plus a 3rd rounder, for the #3 pick and a 2nd rounder. The Predators selected David Legwand & Geoff Koch, while the Sharks selected Brad Stuart & Jonathan Cheechoo.

Cheechoo would go on to be a dominant scoring star for San Jose (briefly), winning the Rocket Richard trophy in 2005-06, when he lead the NHL with 56 goals. He would eventually be traded to Ottawa in exchange for Dany Heatley. Heatley put up 39 & 26 goals in his two seasons with the Sharks, and was then traded for Martin Havlat. He spent three seasons in San Jose before leaving as a free agent.

Brad Stuart, the 1998 3rd overall pick, played 6 seasons with the Sharks. He was a really good defender, though probably not one ever considered spectacular. Part way through the 2005-06 season, he was packaged up with Marco Sturm & Wayne Primeau and sent to the Boston Bruins - for Joe Thornton. I don't think I need to go into the specifics of Thornton's career - but the 2019-20 season marked his 15th with the Sharks, he may not be done yet.... and we all know he's headed to the HOF when he does retire.


So there you have it: In agreeing to not select Mike Craig from the Minnesota North Stars back in 1991 - The Sharks received quality seasons from the likes of Ozlinch, Heatley, Nazarov, and Marchment. They got over 200 goals from Owen Nolan, and a Rockey Richard trophy from Jonathan Cheechoo. They also got 15 years (and counting?) from likely the most important San Jose Shark in history: Joe Thornton.

[sparty07]

Crazy story and a great read.

[icefields]

i really enjoyed that
and the way you put it together

thank you for all the effort

[BLStryker]

I didn't realize when we lost Zezel that Mike Craig would go on to be so influential over the next 2 1/2 decades. Excellent look back & reminder that breaking up the BOZ line ultimately doomed a handful of franchises.

[camsue]

Very nice read

[doniceage]

Always like to read your long thought on story. Thanks for the Trade Tree.

DON

[RGM81]

That worked out really well for the Sharks eh? Wow.

[30ranfordfan]

Glad people liked this.... there were enough views and comments that I might try making this a semi-regular thing.