The Patrick Roy Trade Tree

[RGM81]

December 6, 1995. It is a day of infamy for the Montreal Canadiens, arguably one of the darkest in the franchise's history. Four days after being left in net for 9 goals against the Detroit Red Wings, Patrick Roy was traded to the Colorado Avalanche--a move that would have been unthinkable even a year before, when the Avs were still the hated Quebec Nordiques. Roy was arguably the greatest goalie in the Habs' storied history, a legacy that includes the likes of Plante, Dryden, Hainsworth, and Steve Penney. He had carried the Canadiens to two Stanley Cups, first as a rookie in 1986 and then a miracle run in 1993 that saw the team claims its 24th and still most recent championship. He was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in both years. He had won three Vezina Trophies and four William M. Jennings Trophies.

But there had already been talk that the shine was coming off Roy, and his time in Montreal was already limited. Regardless of whether there were any legitimate trade opportunities prior to the 1995-96 season, things were accelerated by the hiring of the temperamental and inexperienced Mario Tremblay as head coach to replace Jacques Demers, who was fired after the Habs stumbled out of the blocks to an 0-5 start. Roy and Demers were close, perhaps too close, as the coach afforded the superstar goalie all the latitude he wished, and Tremblay, who had never coached at any professional level, wanted to assert his authority over the veteran goalie.

I won't go into the details of the game itself. Too painful. I remember watching it. I remember Roy walking over to Habs president Ronald Corey. I remember the image of him seething at the end of the bench. Something terrible had just happened, we all knew it. We just didn't know what...yet.

Four days later, the trade. It rocked the hockey world. Much like the Gretzky trade a few summers prior, there was no way that the Canadiens were going to come out ahead or equal in the deal. Whoever gets the best player wins the trade. It's an old maxim, but it holds true. Even if there was a legitimate opportunity to work things out and take time for a trade, it only lessens the damage. The Canadiens were in a bind--Roy had demanded to be dealt, he'd told Corey he'd played his last game in Montreal--so they had to do it quickly or things could continue to escalate and the heat against the organization would only have increased. Roy was beloved; the last link to the Canadiens' greatness. Tremblay and the equally inexperienced GM Rejean Houle were out of their depth and the fanbase was incensed.

The trade began a long downward spiral for the Canadiens. Talk of the "Curse of St. Patrick" rings strongly, 25 years later. The Canadiens have yet to win another Stanley Cup, or even compete for it in the Finals. The bleakness of the team's fortunes for a decade was a tale of mediocrity--they never finished higher than 4th in their division, missed the playoffs 4 times, and won only two playoffs series. Meanwhile, in Colorado, Roy flourished, winning two more Stanley Cups and cementing his legacy on a perennial powerhouse Avalanche team that also featured the likes of Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Adam Foote, and more.

The deal was as follows:
To Colorado: Patrick Roy and Mike Keane
To Montreal: Jocelyn Thibualt, Martin Rucinsky, and Andrei Kovalenko

The key in all of it was Thibault. He was young, two-plus seasons in a backup role of NHL experience under his belt, and now he was put into the spotlight of having to take over the role last held by Patrick Roy. No pressure, kid. He would never be Roy, but if he could grow to his full potential there was reason for optimism.
Also traded by the Habs was captain Mike Keane. He'd made the mistake of saying the wrong thing to the media, that because the locker room predominantly spoke English, it wasn't necessary for a Canadiens captain to speak French. Whoops.
Coming back along with Thibault were Martin Rucinsky, a capable second-line player, and Andrei Kovalenko, a flashy and skilled forward who had scored 27 goals in his rookie season of 1992-93.

So what happened next?

Roy, we've covered, and we all know.

Kovalenko was in Montreal for the remainder of the 95-96 season, before being traded to Edmonton in training camp for Scott Thornton.

Thornton would play over 200 games in Montreal, putting up over 400 PIM and adding a few goals here and there. He was traded to Dallas halfway through the 1999-2000 season for Juha Lind. Lind played 60 games in Montreal, his last NHL home, before bouncing around in Europe for another 10 years of his career.
So that branch looks like...

Andrei Kovalenko	September 1996 - traded to Edmonton
	Scott Thornton	February 2000 - traded to Dallas
		Juha Lind	UFA 2000

Martin Rucinsky more than replaced Keane offensively for the Canadiens. In almost six full seasons, he scored 20+ goals 4 times. He was a decent player, but never anything memorable. He would be traded, along with Benoit Brunet, to Dallas in November 2001 for Shaun Van Allen and Donald Audette. Van Allen played the rest of the season in Montreal, scoring 6 goals in 54 games before signing as a UFA in Ottawa that summer.

Audette was a journeyman who had already been with four teams (two tours in Buffalo), once scoring 32 goals with the Thrashers. He suffered a horrific injury shortly after arriving in Montreal when a player skated over his wrist, severing his tendons, but managed to return to help the Habs in the 2002 playoffs, where they upset the heavily-favoured Bruins in the first round. Audette put up some big numbers with six goals in 12 GP that spring. He played one more season in Montreal, before being released haflway through the 2003-04 season, whereupon he signed with Florida.

Martin Rucinsky	November 2001 - traded to Dallas
	Shaun Van Allen	UFA 2001
	Donald Audette	UFA 2004

Thibault actually had a very good first season in Montreal, putting up a 23-13-3 record in 40 games after the trade. He helped the team into the playoffs, where they lost to the Rangers in six games in the first round. After that, however, Thibault struggled as the Canadiens continued to worsen. That half-season was his best, statistically, in Montreal. The team brought in Andy Moog to share duties with Thibault, who largely watched from the bench as Moog was in goal when the Canadiens won their first playoffs series since the Roy trade, ousting Pittsburgh in the 1997-98 first round. The writing was on the wall, especially as young Jose Theodore was beginning to establish himself, and Thibault was traded to Chicago after 10 games of the 1998-99 season.

That deal:
To Chicago: Thibault, Dave Manson, Brad Brown
To Montreal: Jeff Hackett, Eric Weinrich, Alain Nasreddine, conditional draft pick (ended up being 1999 4th round pick)

Hackett was a pretty popular goalie in Montreal, who helped mentor up-and-coming Jose Theodore. He was never particularly flashy, but won 24 and 23 games, respectively, in his first two seasons before turning over the starter's reins to Theodore. A solid hand at a time when the Habs were floundering, missing the playoffs for three consecutive years. Ultimately, he was traded twice on the same day, from Montreal to San Jose, who then flipped him to Boston, in January 2003. Montreal received Niklas Sundstrom and a 2004 3rd round pick in that deal.

Sundstrom played two and a half unremarkable seasons in Montreal before going to the Swedish Elite League.

The draft choice actually made me do a little more digging than originally anticipated. I thought initially it was used to select Alexei Emelin, since he was the team's 2004 3rd. HOWEVER, no, we had some fun along the way. The Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, and LA Kings made a three-team swap: the Habs sent the San Jose pick along with Mathieu Garon (another promising young goalie...notice a trend?) and received in return Radek Bonk and Cristobal Huet.

Bonk, besides the fun name, played two years in Montreal before signing as a UFA in Ottawa.

Huet is the bridge goalie that helped usher in Carey Price. When Bob Gainey deemed Price ready to take off the training wheels, Huet was dealt to the Washington Capitals at the 2008 trade deadline in exchange for a 2nd round draft pick. That pick got flipped to Atlanta in exchange for Mathieu Schneider and a 2009 3rd round pick. Schneider was there for the rest of the season and then signed in Vancouver as a UFA. The pick became Joonas Nattinen who played one game with the Habs in the 2013-14 season.

Weinrich was a steady veteran presence on the Habs blueline for a couple seasons before being dealt to the Bruins in the spring of 2001 for Patrick Traverse.

Traverse played a couple unremarkable seasons before being dealt for Mathieu Biron, who never played a game with the Habs.

Nasreddine was largely a career AHL'er, he played 8 games with the Habs and spent a few years in the minors. He was traded, along with Igor Ulanov, to the Oilers for Mathieu Descoteaux (a former 1st round pick) and Christian Laflamme (a former 2nd round pick). Combined they played about 60 games for the Habs, both ultimately being let go.

In summary:

Jocelyn Thibault	November 1998 - traded to Chicago
	Jeff Hackett	January 2003- traded to Chicago
		Niklas Sundstrom	UFA 2005
		2004 3rd Round Pick	Traded to Los Angeles
			Radek Bonk	UFA 2007
			Cristobal Huet	February 2008 - traded to Washington
				2009 2nd round pick (traded to Atlanta)	Mathieu Schneider (UFA 2009)
	Eric Weinrich	February 2001 - traded to Boston			2009 3rd (Joonas Nattinen)
		Patrick Traverse	December 2006 - traded to San Jose
			Mathieu Biron	UFA 2006
	Alain Nasreddine	March 2000 - traded to Edmonton
		Mathieu Descoteaux	UFA 2000
		Christian Laflamme	UFA 2001

So that's the summary for the Canadiens - an ever-decreasing quality of goalies, fringe players, and unremarkable short-term stints. I almost thought for a moment with the Emelin thing there might be active players still around as a result of all this. Alas...

Oh, Mike Keane. He spent one more season in Colorado before signing with the New York Rangers as a UFA. He bounced around a fair bit, ending up back in Colorado in 01-02 and finishing his NHL playing days with the Canucks and their organization.

This was pretty wild. You can see how one player and one bad trade can set in motion a decade of decline. Poor Jocelyn Thibault never really stood a chance, and it wasn't until the lottery balls fell in the Habs favour in 2005 that they finally landed a goalie for the long-term (and even that was dicey after the 2009-10 season) in Carey Price.

[30ranfordfan]

This was pretty wild. You can see how one player and one bad trade can set in motion a decade of decline. Poor Jocelyn Thibault never really stood a chance, and it wasn't until the lottery balls fell in the Habs favour in 2005 that they finally landed a goalie for the long-term (and even that was dicey after the 2009-10 season) in Carey Price.

That bolded part is so key here. Habs had a good team in those days. Some would suggest that they overachieved in 1993 - having the best goalie on the planet made up for other shortcomings with the team - but regardless, they had an incredibly talented goalie, and a good group around him.

Roy was that team.... and much like some of the recent incarnations of the Habs with Carey Price: Their chances of winning and losing often went hand & hand with how he was playing. If Roy was having an 'A' game, you couldn't beat Montreal in those days.

Then that trade.... and the impression I've always been under was it was really a poor handling of personalities. The prior coach (Demers) knew what he had in Roy, and treated Roy accordingly. "We only have one Superstar, and his name is Patrick Roy" (or something like that) he was once quoted saying. Roy was an amazing talent, but I get the sense he liked having someone tell him how good he is.

The Trembly comes along, and acts as though the 4th line wingers, and the all-world goalie, are equal parts of the team. While that sounds good in theory... it's nonsense. Roy, of course, was the most important part of that team... and it wasn't even close. Honestly, if there was a situation where a player felt that it wasn't fair that Roy was getting special treatment: The easy thing to do would be to have traded that player (or bury him in the minors).

So yeah, that trade. There is no way to win it...... there is no way in the world they're going to get a player back who ever becomes as good as Roy was. This is what happens when superstars are traded. Getting a nice collection of assets you can build around is the best you can do - and it's sad seeing how rarely that actually happens. (How often do 3+ for 1 trades result in the team moving the superstar getting something "really good", even if it's not AS good?).

Thibualt was never going to succeed in Montreal. He was set up to fail from day one. How anyone could expect a French-Canadian goalie to be traded for Patrick Roy, and then perform well, is beyond me. The pressure of playing in Montreal is big for anyone. More so for French-Canadians. You were traded for a living legend? No pressure :)

They still had something tangible in the organization for 15 years, so I guess that's not a terrible thing - but there isn't a name mentioned anywhere on this list that makes me think "wow".

They moved the most important asset that the club had, and get nothing of substance in return. Good way to make sure you'll be bad for a while.

I'll finish off my reply by mentioning that I did like to see mention of one of Edmonton's many 1st round draft busts: Mathieu Descoteaux. He's one of 7 Oilers 1st round picks to have never played for the Oilers... but his 5 games with Habs make him the 2nd most successful of that group (he was bested by Riley Nash)

[mq13]

Great info from both post. I think another trade Montreal made was dealing Desjardins, LeClair and Gilbert Dionne for Mark Recchi. And the kicker was Dionne was supposedly the best part of the trade for the Flyers.

[RGM81]

Great info from both post. I think another trade Montreal made was dealing Desjardins, LeClair and Gilbert Dionne for Mark Recchi. And the kicker was Dionne was supposedly the best part of the trade for the Flyers.

That could be the subject of its own post too.

[subban7677]

Steve Penney :)

[RGM81]

Steve Penney :)

Finally someone pointed that out! haha