Who was the best player to ever be the worst player in a trade?

With just days until the deadline, I want to try to tackle one of those questions that sounds simple but ends up being tougher than you might think: Who was the best worst player in an NHL trade?

In other words, if you took every player from a given trade and ranked them from best to worst, which trades from history give you a really good player in the last spot?

Clearly, we’re not looking at deals that only had one player involved, or even those with just two. Johnny Bucyk was probably worse than Terry Sawchuk, but that doesn’t really fit the spirit of what we’re going for here.

But a funny thing happens if you set the minimum at even three players: It suddenly gets really hard to find “good” bad players, because as it turns out, NHL GMs really love to start tossing random names into trades. Once you knock them out of the one-for-one equilibrium, they start floundering around and the next thing you know, your Phil Esposito-for-Brad Park blockbuster also has Joe Zanussi in it.

So today, let’s try to find that best worst trade piece from a trade of three players or more. We’re not counting draft picks here – your name has to have been in the original trade.

I went looking through the archives, and here are a few candidates I came up with.

Bob Rouse

The player: Rouse was never a Norris candidate, but he was a very good defensive defenseman in an era where that was a highly coveted skillset.

The trade: At the 1989 deadline, the North Stars traded Rouse and Dino Ciccarelli to the Capitals for Mike Gartner and Larry Murphy.

Why this guy was good: Rouse was a classic hard-nosed blueliner who could throw big hits and handle himself in a fight with pretty much anyone. That translated to a 17-season career that included two Cups with the Red Wings. His 127 playoff games in the 1990s ranks third among all defensemen.

But the other guys in the deal were: Hall-of-Famers. All of them.

That’s what makes this trade such a great example of what we’re looking for. Bob Rouse was really good! His arrival in Toronto was a big piece of turning that team around, and there’s a reason the Wings targeted him in free agency when they felt like they were on the verge of winning it all. But he’s the fourth best piece in this four-player trade by a mile, because the other pieces in the deal were a 600-goal scorer, a 700-goal scorer, and a guy who ranks in the top-five in all-time scoring for his position.

Compared to those guys, Rouse is schlub. But he might be the best player to ever be the worst player in a four-player trade.

Then again, this next guy might have something to say about that…

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Remembering some of the NHL’s greatest one-hit wonders

I love a good one-hit wonder.

Honestly, I don’t even really need the “good” qualifier. One-hit wonders are one of my favorite genres of music, and they don’t even have to be all that good. My playlist is clogged with these things, especially from the 80s and 90s.

Some people would make the argument that this is because I’m “old” and “uncool” and “have bad taste in music.” None of that rings especially untrue. But those people can criticize me as much as they want. I get knocked down, but I get up again. You can’t steal my sunshine.

I also love a good one-hit wonder story when it comes to sports, especially the NHL. A lot of fans seem to want to look down on a player who only managed one memorable season as if the rest of their career was a disappointment. But the odds of even making the big leagues are so slim that it seems like getting all the way there, and then having it all come together for one magical season, is a story worth celebrating.

That’s what we’re doing this week at The Athletic. Today we’re looking at the NHL, with features on players like Guillaume Latendresse, Dave Hindmarch, Joe Juneau and Kjell Dahlin. I’m going to cover a few of my favorites, with a twist: I’m going to raid my awful playlist and try to find a musical one-hit wonder that best matches the NHL version.

Can we make beautiful music together? Not really, no, but we can find a few hits. Let’s do this.

Jim Carey

The player: Carey was an American goaltender who debuted for the Capitals with a very good rookie showing in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season. He seemed set for big things, and we didn’t have to wait long.

The season: In his first full season, Carey played 71 games for the Caps, winning 35 while also leading the league in shutouts. He won the Vezina and was voted a first-team All-Star. He even finished eighth in Hart Trophy voting.

The one-hit wonder: “Informer” by Snow.

Why it fits: Two reasons. First, because Carey’s more famous namesake pretty much ended Snow’s career with one of the most vicious parodies in music history. Good lord, Jim, the man has a family. There was no coming back from that.

But more importantly, Carey’s Vezina season is Snow-like in that it doesn’t hold up well in hindsight. Sure, he won a lot of games, ranking second in the league, and he was third in goals-against average. But his .906 save percentage was well outside the top ten, so even by what would be considered basic metrics, he wasn’t close to being the best goalie in the league.

Therefore, it wasn’t surprising that Carey’s success didn’t last. What was shocking was how quickly it all fell apart. The Penguins lit him up in the playoffs — one version of the story says that they realized he couldn’t go side-to-side and made sure to make cross-ice passes before shooting — and the book was out. One season later, he was traded to the Bruins. A season after that, he played 10 games. A season after that, he was back in the minors before being cut altogether. By the end of the 1998-99 season, just three years after his Vezina win, his NHL career was over.

Ken Hodge

The player: No, not that Ken Hodge. The two-time Cup winner and first-team All-Star who scored over 300 goals for the Hawks, Bruins and Rangers wasn’t a one-hit wonder. But his son was. Ken Hodge Jr. was drafted by the North Stars but only managed to crack the NHL for five games before he was traded to the Bruins for a fourth-round pick in 1990. (Fun fact: The Stars used the pick on franchise mainstay Jere Lehtinen.)

The season: Hodge Jr. stepped into the Boston lineup almost immediately. He didn’t score as a Bruin until his 10th game, but once the goals started coming they didn’t stop. He had two goals on the season’s final night to hit the 30-goal mark, an impressive enough total that he finished third in Calder voting, ahead of Hall of Famers Rob Blake, Mats Sundin and Jaromir Jagr.

The one-hit wonder: “She’s So High” by Tal Bachman.

Why it fits: Both Bachman and Hodge Jr. did some solid work in their career. But when dad is a legend, it can be tough to live up to expectations.

Hodge Jr. went on to cap off his strong season with a decent playoff run. But he followed that year up with just six goals in 1991-92, spending half the year in the minors, and was traded to the expansion Lightning (whose GM, Phil Esposito, had been a longtime teammate of his father). Even on an expansion roster, Hodge Jr. couldn’t regain his touch; he scored two goals in 25 games and never saw the NHL again.

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A Jets fan's guide to how the NHL has changed since 1996

Of course back then, you just held
down the "neutral zone trap" button
until the game ended 0-0.

The Jets have apparently been cleared for take off. While nobody can seem to agree on exactly when the formal announcement will take place, it's all but certain that NHL hockey will be returning to Winnipeg next season when the Atlanta Thrashers move north.

No matter what you think about the viability of hockey in Atlanta, you have to be happy for long-suffering Winnipeg hockey fans. They never gave up on the NHL, even after the devastation of losing their beloved Jets at the end of the 1995-96 season. Fifteen long years later, their loyalty is about to be rewarded.

But while Winnipeg hockey fans have every reason to be excited, they may be in for a shock. After all, the NHL is a very different league today than it was the last time the Jets were on the ice. Winnipeg fans are in for a major adjustment.

I want to help. So as a service to Winnipeg-based readers, here's a handy guide to the various ways the league has changed since the last time you pulled on your Jets jersey and went to a game.

1996 - The Atlanta Thrashers don't exist yet.
2011 - The Atlanta Thrashers don't exist any more.

1996 - Claude Lemieux earns the contempt of the entire hockey world after driving Kris Draper face first into the boards during the Western Conference Finals.
2011 - Since the play didn't involve a leaping elbow to the head or somebody eating a metal stanchion, it would probably result in Lemieux winning the Lady Byng.

1996 - Goaltender Grant Fuhr sets a new league record by playing in a total of 79 games.
2011 - Goaltender Rick DiPietro sets a new personal record by playing for a total of 79 minutes.

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