Toronto Maple Leafs: 5 Worst Trades

In this series, we will take a journey down memory lane and taking a look at the five worst trades in Toronto Maple Leafs history.

Trying to decide on the five worst trades in Toronto Maple Leafs history is a herculean task that isn’t for the feint of heart. For the last 30 odd years, bad trades have basically been the Leafs trademark.

We begin the series by taking a look into the 5th worst trade in Toronto Maple Leafs history: the horrendous trade that sent Darryl Sittler to the Flyers for nearly nothing.

In return for a player almost universally acknowledged as one of the best players to ever wear the blue and white, the Leafs acquired Rich Costello, a second round pick that became Peter Ihnacak, and future considerations that became Ken Strong.

You may not have heard of these names or have little idea of what they did for the Leafs so it might be a good trade. But the reason why you haven’t heard of their names is because they sucked and barely lasted in the NHL.

Darryl Sittler

Sittler is a huge part of the Toronto Maple Leafs history. In the 1970 NHL Amateur Draft, the Leafs selected Sittler eighth overall.

Sittler was the Leafs’ captain for years, played 12 seasons with the team, and was the first Leaf to ever score 100 points, with 41 goals and 59 assists in the 1975-76 season.

Daryl Sittler also has the NHL record for most points in one game that still stands today. Not even Lemieux, Crosby or Gretzky scored ten points in a game. He is second only to Mats Sundin in Toronto Maple Leafs all-time goals and points.

Rich Costello

Drafted 37th overall by the Philadelphia Flyers, he wasn’t much for the Leafs nor the Flyers. He only played 12 games in his entire career, and was mainly an AHL presence in the St Catherines Saints, the previous Leafs farm team.

Even in the AHL, he didn’t put up good numbers. In fact, in the ’83-’84 season, he played 20 games, with no goals. After that season, he played 80 games with a mere eight goals and six assists as a forward.

Peter Ihnacak

Peter Ihnacak was also acquired. He was the only piece of the trade that could be called “okay.”

In his first season with the Leafs, he scored 28 goals and 66 points. But sadly, he never made that mark ever again. His production slowly decreased until he had 3 conditioning stints in the AHL. He then played in Europe.

Ken Strong

Ken Strong was another piece that didn’t work out well for the Leafs. Strong played a mere 15 games for the blue and white in his entire career, in three seasons where he scored two goals and two assists as a Leaf. Strongs mostly played for the St Catherines Saints, where like Rich Costello, still wasn’t a core player. Scoring 58 goals in three seasons with the Saints, he left to Austria where he played out the rest of his career.

Why was he traded?

You might be wondering why he was traded for such a low price. He had great stats, amazing records smashed, and a huge leader on the Toronto Maple Leafs. After being traded, he was still a point-per-game player for the Flyers for another two seasons.

Here’s why he was traded:

Former Leafs owner Harold Ballard fired coach, Roger Neilson and the players rebelled. The players wanted him back, and Sittler was apparently the leader of the group that lobbied for Neilson to return.

Neilson returned, but Ballard held a grudge against Sittler. Ballard then hired a new general manager, Punch Imlach who did not have a good relationship with Sittler’s agent. Imlach determined Sittler had too much power on the team and undermined his authority, so he traded him.

Next: Hainsey and Rielly

And that is how the Leafs treated the (arguably) best player in franchise history. Sittler was jettisoned out at the start of the 80s, a decade that would go on to become a ten-year quagmire of bad trades, horrible draft picks and terrible seasons for the Leafs.

Stats from hockeydb.

Toronto Maple Leafs: 5 Worst Trades – #5 Sittler To Flyers