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  1. #1
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    Montreal's Best Trade Tree Ever - The Craig Rivet Trade

    I've alluded to this one before in one of Sean's epic threads, but let's get to this.

    In the 2006-07 season, the Canadiens were a bubble team (tell me where I've seen that statement before LOL) and looking to transition towards a younger group. One player who was deemed expendable at the deadline that year was Craig Rivet, a dependable d-man who had been with the Habs since the 1994-95 season. He was a good veteran presence and a steady defensive defenceman. Never put up more than 8 goals in a season, but could lay the body on guys, make things difficult for forwards, etc. The 32-year old blueliner was a good fit for a San Jose Sharks team that was a perennial contender in those days, and they wanted him badly enough that they send a 1st round pick and young undrafted defenceman Josh Gorges. Along with Rivet, the Habs also sent a 2008 5th to the Sharks.

    Rivet played the rest of that season and most of 07-08 in San Jose before being dealt at the deadline to the Buffalo Sabres. In return the Sharks got two draft choices, which became William Wrenn, who never played an NHL game, and the 2010 2nd was traded to Carolina in exchange for Nic Wallin and a 5th round pick (Cody Ferreiro) that never played an NHL game either. Wallin played one more year in the NHL before retiring.

    So the Sharks basically got a season-plus of Rivet and a season-plus out of Wallin. Not a ton, to be sure. On a total tangent, the 2010 2nd they traded to Carolina became Mark Alt, who was subsequently traded to Philadelphia along with Brian Boucher for Luke Pither, who is playing in Germany currently.

    But ohhhh the Montreal side of this deal!

    The Habs received San Jose's 2007 1st round pick and Josh Gorges. Gorges was an undersized, undrafted player who, like Rivet, was a defensive defenceman. He was a fixture on the Canadiens blue line for seven seasons, earning a A on his sweater and was talked about being a potential captain. I have a small collection of this player's cards. LOL

    Gorges would be traded to Buffalo after the 13-14 season, but not after a little drama. He had a limited NTC in his contract, and wouldn't waive it to go to Toronto. Good on him! The deal to Buffalo sent back a 2016 2nd round draft choice. Gorges finished up his career with the Sabres, playing 4 years there as part of a rebuilding process where he and fellow Canadiens ex-pat Brian Gionta formed the leadership group. Gorges currently lives in Kelowna, BC, and hosts an annual charity softball tournament.

    The 2nd round pick was dealt from Montreal to Chicago at the 2016 draft along with another 2nd rounder in exchange for Andrew Shaw. The pick that was originally Buffalo's became Chad Krys, who is still in the Blackhawks system; Montreal's pick became Alex DeBrincat. Shaw, a former 5th round pick, was a popular player in Montreal for his three seasons there. The Habs ultimately dealt him (plus a 2020 7th) back to Chicago at the 2019 draft for a 2020 2nd and 7th round picks, and a 2021 3rd. We will see how those picks pan out.

    As delightful as that branch of the tree was, the other one is even better still!

    The 2007 1st round pick ended up being #22 overall (San Jose was always good in those days, and late round picks are usually 50-50 as to whether they make it) - this was Montreal's second choice in the 1st round. They took, with their own #12 selection, Ryan McDonagh, whom I'm discussed in the Gomez Trade Tree thread. With the San Jose spot, they selected Max Pacioretty.

    Pacioretty has had a very nice career. He spent ten years in Montreal, scoring 30+ 5 times. He rose to the rank of captain of the Canadiens. Early in his career he overcame a debilitating injury when Zdeno Chara tried to maim him. He was a popular player for a long time. He actually owns a Canadiens record for Most Overtime Goals with ten. Eventually the lustre wore off, though, and the relationship between player and organization soured. GM Marc Bergevin and Pacioretty had a very awkward photo taken together at the Habs' annual golf tournament just before training camp started--Pacioretty was traded days later to Las Vegas.

    In exchange for Pacioretty, the Canadiens received Tomas Tatar, Nick Suzuki, and a 2019 2nd round pick.

    Suzuki has just enjoyed his rookie season in the NHL. He's established himself as a top-six on the Canadiens roster already, and put up decent numbers of 13-28-41 to begin his career. He features in the team's long-term plans for sure.

    Tatar has had been an impact player for the Habs as well. The former 2nd rounder has put up campaigns with 25 and 22 goals, respectively, and enjoyed career years in points in both seasons in Montreal.

    The 2019 2nd rounder was traded to Los Angeles for a 2019 3rd (Mattias Norlinder) and a 2020 5th (Jacob Legurrier), a pair of defence prospects. Norlinder is currently playing with Modo in the Swedish Elite League, while Legurrier just wrapped up his 4th campaign with the Greyhounds in the OHL.

    Pacioretty himself is doing just fine with the Golden Knights.

    So, thirteen years later, the Canadiens have numerous assets from the Rivet trade:
    Nick Suzuki
    Tomas Tatar
    Mattias Norlinder (prospect - Bio)
    Jacob Legurrier (prospect)
    2020 2nd
    2020 7th
    2021 3rd

    It's pretty tough to top this one - it checks all the boxes for a successful trade that had, and continues to have, positive impact on the organization. They won the deal at the time, and the assets from Gorges and Pacioretty's subsequent trades ensure that the Canadiens will continue to benefit for years to come.
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  2. #2




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    Love these trade tree posts!

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    This stuff amazes me thank you for posting

  4. #4
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    That's a really good one. I know at the time of the Rivet trade, I (along with a few other people I know) thought "hunh? How did Montreal get a 1st + for Rivet?" He was good, but on his best day he never seems like "trade a first round pick, he's the missing piece of our championship puzzle" good.

    That *IS* pretty fantastic asset management though. Compare that with the return for Roy. Somehow the best goalie on the planet returned nothing very good, and trading a mid-pairing dman turned into a bounty.

  5. #5
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    That's a really good one. I know at the time of the Rivet trade, I (along with a few other people I know) thought "hunh? How did Montreal get a 1st + for Rivet?" He was good, but on his best day he never seems like "trade a first round pick, he's the missing piece of our championship puzzle" good.

    That *IS* pretty fantastic asset management though. Compare that with the return for Roy. Somehow the best goalie on the planet returned nothing very good, and trading a mid-pairing dman turned into a bounty.

    I think it's as much that the Sharks probably didn't care too much about the 1st knowing that it would be 20+ in that draft as it was their pick. As it happened, on draft day the Sharks were involved in a convoluted 3-way trade with Toronto and St. Louis --the Sharks ended up with the #9 pick from the Blues (which became Logan Couture), the Blues got the #13 from Toronto (Lars Eller), and the Leafs ended up with Vesa Toskala and Mark Bell. Some other picks got moved around as well.

    On Montreal's end, yeah they did so well with this deal. Either of Gorges (7 years) or Pacioretty (10 years) alone would have made this a winner. To get both, plus making the moves they did with those players after they had outlived their time in Montreal (especially Pacioretty! HAHAHA) was tremendous work, initially by Gainey and then by Bergevin much later. People give MB a rough time but he's won a lot more deals than he's lost. Just look what's become of Subban and Galchenyuk since they were dealt.

  6. #6
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    I think it's as much that the Sharks probably didn't care too much about the 1st knowing that it would be 20+ in that draft as it was their pick. As it happened, on draft day the Sharks were involved in a convoluted 3-way trade with Toronto and St. Louis --the Sharks ended up with the #9 pick from the Blues (which became Logan Couture), the Blues got the #13 from Toronto (Lars Eller), and the Leafs ended up with Vesa Toskala and Mark Bell. Some other picks got moved around as well.

    On Montreal's end, yeah they did so well with this deal. Either of Gorges (7 years) or Pacioretty (10 years) alone would have made this a winner. To get both, plus making the moves they did with those players after they had outlived their time in Montreal (especially Pacioretty! HAHAHA) was tremendous work, initially by Gainey and then by Bergevin much later. People give MB a rough time but he's won a lot more deals than he's lost. Just look what's become of Subban and Galchenyuk since they were dealt.

    Subban & Galchenyuk, I can't figure it out.

    Subban in particular, the dude just oozes with talent. Even the whole "bad in his own end" thing, IMO, was overblown. Dude was a Top 5 dman in the league, and absolutely deserved that Norris win. Of course a big part of his game was taking chances, and some coaches (and I'm sure) player hate that. Looked bad when he was burnt, but looked amazing when it worked. Did the trade to New Jersey just break his spirit? I didn't pay too close attention in Nashville, though my impression was he was stilling playing pretty well - just not the #1 guy there, as a result of their depth. Can he turn it around? Jersey buys him out?

    Galchenyuk, much like Yakupov, I'm still convinced that with a coach that would put him into a position to succeed, he could have done well. When they moved him to centre, and he tore it up, and hit the 30 goal mark.... they did the obvious thing: move him back to wing, and watch his stats decline. I don't think he was ever going to be a guy that could drive a line all by himself (Yakupov, same thing). Pair him with a couple of players... who compliment each other's games well? I think the 30 goal / 65 point range was very realistic as a consistent target for him. Probably never happens now.

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    Oh man, now I have been totally inspired to create a really complex trade tree by Oilers and RGM81.... I'll do some research - but I think it would be awesome to take my trade tree back to the 70's, if possible and see if I can find anything still alive that benefits any present day teams... I have a few Ideas, and a few players to look at that could help my "quest"....

    Back in the day there was this website called "6degreesofKevinBacon" - I'm not sure if it was "6" or "Six" but you could type in anyone and the site would provide 6 or less degrees of separation between your search and the objective of your search.... I don't know if the site still exists, but beware: you will be on this site for at least a few hours.... I mean you can connect Marilyn Monroe to Ty Cobb, lol.....

  8. #8
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    Haha yeah there's a few deals out there that have some real legs to them, ones that you don't think will have much meaning in the short term yet turn out to have long-term impact on an organization.

    I mostly go with what I know best, and that's the Habs. I'm sure there's tons of little gems from Sam Pollock's era that had long-term impact. Some would be small, but sneaky, and he'd end up with Ken Dryden. LOL

  9. #9




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    Haha yeah there's a few deals out there that have some real legs to them, ones that you don't think will have much meaning in the short term yet turn out to have long-term impact on an organization.

    I mostly go with what I know best, and that's the Habs. I'm sure there's tons of little gems from Sam Pollock's era that had long-term impact. Some would be small, but sneaky, and he'd end up with Ken Dryden. LOL

    I'm sure Jagr and Mike Sillinger still have trade trees that are still alive..

    The best resource to research trade trees is www.hockey-reference.com IMO. But I'm sure Hockeydb works just as well... There is also another site out there called "hockey transactions" I believe - and that site literally has EVERY transaction ever made by a team - from promotions, demotions, suspensions, trades, sales, waivers - pretty much all player movements in NHL history are documented on that site... So that is an excellent resource if you want really detailed information on a player or team - it has a search engine too - so you can search by team, player, year etc... If there is an NHL transaction, suspension or retirement of any kind it's documented on that site.

    I believe this is the site: https://www.prosportstransactions.com/hockey/

    - Nick

  10. #10







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    Love these trade tree posts!

    Agreed! Thanks for doing all of these. They are all a great read.
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