Maple Leafs: A Look at the Tangled Web a Trade Weaves

Recently the Toronto Maple Leafs sent captain Dion Phaneuf to Ottawa, then followed it up with trading Shawn Matthais to Colorado on Sunday. While there is much discussion regarding who got the better end of the deal, sometimes the results are not fully known or understood for years. Even then it can be difficult to judge how good of a trade it truly was as each move affects future decisions made by the team, creating the ultimate what if scenarios.

The effect moving players have on a team goes beyond what the player brings to the ice once acquired. Perhaps no trade better illustrates this point than the Grant Fuhr, Vincent Damphousse trade in 1991.

In September of that year, the Maple Leafs sent Vincent Damphousse, Peter Ing, Luke Richardson, Scott Thornton and other considerations to Edmonton for Grant Fuhr, Glenn Anderson and Craig Berube.

While the move appeared to solve the Leafs goaltending situation at the time, it was not to be. A young netminder named Felix Potvin would become the answer just one season later, while Fuhr looked less like his Hall of Fame self in a Toronto uniform.

What this trade did create was a hole at center that was filled a few months later when the Maple Leafs acquired Doug Gilmour from Calgary in a ten player deal. Part of the contingent that went to Calgary included Craig Berube. Chances are the Maple Leafs would still have been interested in acquiring Gilmour even if they still had Damphousse in the squad, and Berube could have easily been replaced in the deal by another piece.

By the beginning of the 1992 season, the Leafs felt that Potvin could take the net, making Fuhr expendable. The Leafs were able to move Fuhr along with a conditional 1996 fifth round pick, to the Buffalo Sabres for Dave Andreychuk, Daren Puppa and the Sabres 1993 first round pick. The Leafs would utilize the pick on defenseman Kenny Jonsson.

While the Leafs definitely made out well on that deal, the lack of depth behind Gilmour at center, led to the infamous Wendel Clark, Mats Sundin trade at the 1994 draft. Toronto knew they had to create more scoring outside of the Gilmour line to go further in the playoffs. This meant giving up fan favorite Clark while his value was at its highest.

Less than two years later, Toronto re-acquired Clark to try and bring that spark back to a team trying to make another deep run in the playoffs. Mathieu Schneider was part of the package coming to Toronto with Clark, but part of the group going the other way was Kenny Jonsson and the Leafs 1997 first round pick.

Clark was not the player he had been when he was first traded from Toronto. Unfortunately for the Leafs, the 1997 first round pick turned out to be fourth overall. Roberto Luongo was the player selected with that pick.

The what ifs can be played to no end with this string of player transactions that were directly related to each other. This does not even begin to take into consideration all the other decisions made during this six year period that were influenced by these players involved.

It is impossible to determine if the Maple Leafs would have been better off if they would have not made the Damphousse for Fuhr trade. Without Fuhr, it is highly unlikely they could have acquired Andreychuk. With Damphousse at center, would they still have been able to acquire Gilmour, and if so, would the Clark for Sundin trade still been necessary? If Clark is never traded for Sundin, then the Leafs do not have to re-acquire him, keeping Jonsson and the 1997 first round pick, but who would have led the team heading into the new millennium without Sundin?

Next: Should Maple Leafs be Interested in Subban Rumors?

The possibilities to consider are mind numbing, but they illustrate how a single move begins the domino effect on future moves and decisions. With so many pieces currently in play for the Maple Leafs, it will be interesting to look back ten years from now to see how many other moves were directly related and how they turned out.