Worst trades #3; Mike Milbury style

   Have you ever wondered how or why the New York Islanders could be so bad for so long? One man is mainly responsible for it, and his name is Mike Milbury. From 1995-2006, the former Boston Bruin player & coach tormented Islander fans with dozens of awful trades; that still hurts the team today.
   In the middle of the 1997-98 seasons, Milbury thought it would be wise to move top prospects Bryan Mccabe, Todd Bertuzzi and a 3rd rounder. In return he got Trevor Linden, whose best years were behind him. Over the next 9 seasons, Linden would not score more than 19 goals & 47 points. Bertuzzi went on to become a point a game player all-star; McCabe went onto get 50 points or more three seasons.
   One of the worst trade ever in NHL history, and I was at the Saddledome when it was announced was the following. Isles dealt Roberto Luongo, still today one of the top ten goalies in the NHL. Along with Olli Jokinen (4 time 30 goal scorer, 4 time 20 goal scorer); in return Mark Parrish (3 time 20 goal scorer, 1 time 30 goal scorer) & Oleg Kvasha, (15 goal career high, 51 points). The worst part is at the same time they drafted Rick Dipetro; compared to Luongo it’s not even close. Obviously Jokinen & Luongo are still above NHLers compared to Parrish who struggles to find work in the AHL; or Kvasha who has been in the KHL for the past 7 years.
   Longtime Islander Derek King (30 goal scorer twice, 40 goals 1 time) traded to Hartford for a 5th round pick. King went onto score 20 goals the next two seasons.
   Another bad deal was acquiring Alexei Yashin for Zdeno Chara, 2nd overall pick (Jason Spezza) and Bill Muckalt. I’m not going sit here and bash Yashin; he for the most part went onto be a very productive member of the New York Islanders, (other than his lack of defensive ability). It’s not his fault ownership signed him to a 10 contact worth 8.75 per year. But the fact is Spezza & Chara have been much more effective NHLers than ever envisioned.  Spezza has been one of the premier centerman’s & Chara gone onto win the Norris Trophy for NHL’s best defenseman.
Decent trades made by Milbury
    Not many, but Milbury made a couple of shrewd moves; one of which was getting veteran Michael Peca for then prospects Tim Connolly and Taylor Pyatt. Neither Connolly nor Pyatt developed into a topline NHLER. Peca led the Isles into the playoffs all 3 years with New York.
    Another smart move was Darby Hendrickson,  Kenny Jonsson,  Sean Haggerty and TOR 1st round choice in 1997 Entry Draft(4th overall: G Roberto Luongo) from TOR to NYI for Wendel Clark, Mathieu Schneider and D.J. Smith.  Jonsson went onto to play 9 consistent years for the Isles.