How Did Teams Do In Previous Seasons At The Trade Deadline? Find Out In This Trade Deadline Rewind

Time, as has been said, makes fools of us all, and looking back on 2008’s great Marian Hossa sweepstakes with the benefit of hindsight sure does make any assertion the deadline price was exceptionally steep seem especially ludicrous.

That’s not to say Hossa, a recently minted Hall of Famer, shouldn’t have commanded a hefty price. At the time, only six players had scored more goals and nine players more points than Hossa since the end of the 2004-05 lockout. He was a legitimate superstar, a two-way dynamo who helped the loaded Penguins advance to the 2008 Cup final.

But what makes the swap so absurd is that it was the deal’s so-called throw-in, Pascal Dupuis, who turned this into an absolute fleecing. It’d be revisionist to say he was an overnight sensation in Pittsburgh, particularly as his contribution to the Pens’ 2009 Cup victory was zero points and an average ice time below nine minutes, but Dupuis had a late-career rebirth that saw him turn into a legitimate top-six contributor and fan favorite in Pittsburgh. He peaked with a 25-goal, 59-point output in 2011-12, and his 109-goal, 247-point totals as a Penguin more than double the combined output of any of the four players who wound up Thrashers.

Especially embarrassing for then-Atlanta and current Carolina GM Don Waddell is that the Thrashers didn’t get meaningful games out of any of the acquired players. In large part, the deal hinged on Esposito. Once considered a potential No. 1 overall pick, he fell to 20th in the 2007 draft, but Atlanta was banking on developing him into a top-line talent. It wasn’t to be, as Esposito never played an NHL game. Meanwhile, Armstrong played fewer than 200 games for the team before leaving as a free agent, Christensen played 57 games before being traded and Leveille’s career fizzled in the minors.

BUFFALO SABRES

ACQUIRE:

> Daniel Briere

> 2004 third-round pick (Andrej Sekera)

ARIZONA COYOTES

ACQUIRE:

Chris Gratton