Grant Fuhr
Ill-advised trades can sink a team. The impact can be felt for years.
Such was the case surrounding an exchange headed by GM, Cliff Fletcher, on September 19, 1991. He pulled the trigger on a blockbuster seven-player deal with the Edmonton Oilers.
This was a massive deal that scored the Toronto Maple Leafs established veteran players, including two Hall of Famers, Glenn Anderson and Grant Fuhr. The problem for Toronto was the timing of the acquisitions. They got Fuhr and Anderson on the latter halves of their careers.
Fuhr joined the Leafs at age 29 and played 95 games for the franchise. It resulted in 38 wins, 42 losses, and nine ties. His time with the Buds hurt his career numbers. Over the two seasons he spent with the team, he had a save percentage of 0.885 and a goals against average of 3.50.
Going the other way was a player who was about to figure things out. Vincent Damphousse was just 23-years-old at the time of the trade. It was a stark contrast to the best player the Leafs acquired, Anderson. At age 30, he was far removed from being a 100-point player. Damphousse played one season for the Oilers and was then foolishly flipped to the Montreal Canadiens, where he went on to have a masterful career.
Damphousse played five seasons in Toronto. The next year he scored 38 goals and 51 assists for a total of 89 points. The following season that improved to 39 and 58. It was the best total of his career, 97. He carried on at that pace the next year. He scored the most goals in his career, 40. He also added 51 assists for 91 points. That season he also helped his team win the Stanley Cup. In Anderson’s best season as a Leaf, he had 65 points.
This was a trade where the Leafs gave up three top-ten picks for big names, not production. Luckily, some of that was salvaged when the organization decided to cut ties with Fuhr and ship him to the Sabres in exchange for Dave Andreychuk.