News & Views

Five Really-Lopsided NHL Trades

What makes a trade lopsided? Many hockey fans think it is when one team gets the better players, declaring that that team had “won” the trade. But getting the better players doesn’t necessarily mean that team always wins.

For example, look at the Wayne Gretzky trade. One could rightly surmise  that the Los Angeles Kings won that exchange, since they acquired the game’s greatest player in the deal. But consider that the Edmonton Oilers got $15 million in the trade, which allowed them to stay afloat, and won the Stanley Cup in 1990 with some of the assets they received. The Kings raised their profile exponentially with Gretzky on their team, but did not win a Stanley Cup Championship until 2012, long after that trade had any bearing. 

That trade doesn’t seem so lopsided anymore when you look at it that way, does it?

With today being the NHL trade deadline, here is a look at five lopsided trades, where one team clearly benefited, while the other got hosed. 

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This Bunch of Jerks Know How to Make a Buck!

They say that Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Or at least that’s what Paul McCartney says before he plays “Wonderwall” at his concert. Sometimes just getting someone to talk about you and recognize your existence is flattery in and of itself. This is what the Carolina Hurricanes (and more importantly their fans) found out as they were finishing up yet another home win on Saturday night against the Dallas Stars.

Don Cherry, a man who has ignored hockey below the Mason Dixon line for so long that couldn’t find North Carolina on a map if you handed him a map of NORTH CAROLINA, decided to call out the Hurricanes on his weakly weekly segment, “Coaches Corner.” Continue reading “This Bunch of Jerks Know How to Make a Buck!”

Possible Names for Seattle’s NHL Team

[Photo Credit: NHLSeattle.com]
Yes, we know. The new Seattle NHL team won’t start playing until the 2021-22 season. And the ownership group probably won’t reveal the name of that team until at least 2020. But we still can’t help but think what nickname the new team will use. Will the ownership group go retro and pick the name of a prior pro hockey team that played in Seattle, such as the Totems? Or will it go with something original? And if so, what? Members of the Puck Junk Team gave their suggestions on what they think would be a great name for the new Seattle NHL team. 

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Interview: Tom DuBois, Blades of Steel Box Cover Artist

If you grew up playing video games in the 1980s and 1990s, you definitely have seen artwork by Tom DuBois. He is an illustrator from Chicago who created many of the iconic covers that graced video game boxes. Remember Bayou Billy and Castlevania III for Nintendo, Lethal Enforcers for Sega Genesis, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time for Super Nintendo? All of those games, and dozens more, featured DuBois’ art on the covers. But most importantly for hockey fans, he illustrated the cover art for Blades of Steel, which came out for Nintendo in 1988. Recently, DuBois spoke with me about how he got his start in creating video game artwork, including Blades of Steel – and how working on that game got him in trouble.

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Interview: Bruce Dowbiggin, Author of the Book “Cap In Hand”

If there are two things that Bruce Dowbiggin loves, it is sports and business – or more specifically, the intersection between the two. He is a former sportscaster for the Canadian Broadcast Company (CBC) and writer for The Globe and Mail. Dowbiggin was a part of the investigation that put Alan Eagleson, the corrupt former head of the NHL Players’ Association, in prison.

He has also written numerous books about sports and business. His latest work, entitled “Cap in Hand,” explains how parity and the salary cap are ruining professional sports in North America. Dowbiggin recently spoke with Sports Collectors Digest about his new book, why pro sports must change, and how soccer gets it right.

Sal Barry: Why would someone want to read “Cap in Hand”?

Bruce Dowbiggin: If you’re like a lot of sports fans, who wonder why it is that every season starts with eight to 10 teams that basically say “we’re not going to try and compete,” then I think you’re going to want to read this book. This is a book about how we got to where sports are today, to the point where it is that teams don’t care about winning, that teams are tanking. It’s all in the service of parity for the major league sports in North America. I make the argument that the usefulness of parity is over. We want a new sports economy, and it’s time that the people that run the leagues understood that.

SB: So, why write a book about the salary cap?

BD: I wanted to write a book about the 10 or 12 most-significant player contracts in history. I wanted to show the evolution from Babe Ruth to current contracts today. My publisher suggested that I put it in a bigger context. So, that’s where the idea came in, about how salary caps have done more harm to pro sports in North America than they have to help.

SB: Why is the salary cap the main culprit?

BD: As you know, in baseball, football, basketball and hockey, we’ve lost seasons or half-seasons. We’ve lost considerable amounts of time where leagues have locked out its players to get salary caps. Was it worth it? No, it wasn’t. Whenever there is a labor lockout, the owners and their commissioner are always talking about that somehow this is going to keep ticket prices restrained. That doesn’t happen at all.

Read the full article at Sports Collectors Digest. 

Follow Sal Barry on Twitter @PuckJunk.