Livescore
Jared Clinton looks back at NHL trade deadline deals in the last five, 10, 15, 25 and 30 years ago in The Hockey News’ 2025 Rookie Issue.
From the moment he arrived in Atlanta just months after being selected first overall in the 2001 draft, Ilya Kovalchuk was the Thrashers. Though others flitted in and out during his time in Atlanta – the likes of Marian Hossa, Dany Heatley, Marc Savard and Vyacheslav Kozlov – Kovalchuk was the untouchable, undeniable and unstoppable face of the franchise.
Consider the facts: in every season in Atlanta, Kovalchuk finished first or second in goals, no lower than third in points and, all told, netted more than twice as many goals and nearly 200 more points than anyone with whom he shared a dressing room.
But when Kovalchuk was on the cusp of free agency in 2010, he made it clear to the Thrashers that he was uninterested in re-signing. That set the stage for a monumental swap that kicked off one of the stranger modern-day off-ice sagas.
Despite the sizable trade package, the New Jersey Devils received no guarantee that Kovalchuk would sign. And, indeed, after the Devils’ first-round playoff exit, ‘Kovy’ tested the market. Ultimately, he decided to stand pat and put pen to paper on a 17-year, $102-million deal with the Devils – but the pact was voided the day after it was submitted to the league office because it was deemed salary-cap circumvention. It took months, but by September, a landmark 15-year, $100-million deal was signed and certified.
What followed were ups and downs for both Kovalchuk and the Devils. The club missed the playoffs in his first and third seasons in New Jersey but made an unexpected drive to the Stanley Cup final in 2012, falling to the Los Angeles Kings. But the biggest twist came after the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season as Kovalchuk announced his NHL retirement. Having played in the KHL amid the lockout, he wanted to return to Russia. He did so with 12 years and $77 million remaining on his contract.
Perhaps Kovalchuk’s tumultuous time in New Jersey softened the blow in Atlanta. Perhaps so, too, did the fact the Thrashers managed to use the pair of 2010 picks to acquire Dustin Byfuglien from Chicago.
Here are more NHL trades from past deadlines.
Five Years Ago
Not all deadline deals pay immediate dividends. Such is the case with the Golden Knights’ acquisition of Alec Martinez from the division-rival Kings.
At the time of Martinez’s arrival, Vegas’ blueline was its greatest weakness. Though the back end was run by Shea Theodore and Brayden McNabb, who remain key cogs for the Golden Knights, an evident drop-off in defensive reliability necessitated the Golden Knights’ search for a solid rearguard who could anchor the second pairing. Martinez, a two-time Stanley Cup winner in Los Angeles, was an obvious target. And while Martinez didn’t immediately help Vegas over the hump, he was integral to the franchise’s 2023 Cup victory – only Alex Pietrangelo saw more minutes.
To make it sweeter for Vegas, the cost of doing business with Los Angeles was…next to nothing. The Kings leveraged the picks to land Lias Andersson, who now plays in the Swiss League, and Francesco Pinelli, who has yet to make his NHL debut.
10 Years Ago
Despite his denials, Evander Kane’s desire to leave Winnipeg was no secret. In fact, months after this blockbuster deal, Kane confirmed as much to The Hockey News’ Ken Campbell, saying he’d “asked for a trade every off-season in Winnipeg.” And in the aftermath, it seemed the Jets’ acquiescence was primed to backfire. Rarely does a franchise trade a 30-goal threat – and tack on an established top-four defender – and come away the better.
After three productive seasons, though, Kane was out in Buffalo, and an oft-injured Bogosian played just 243 games in six seasons for the Sabres. Meanwhile, Drew Stafford was a half-point-per-game player during his time in Winnipeg, Tyler Myers and Joel Armia were pieces of a Jets team that made a Western Conference final run in 2018, and the 2015 first-round pick landed Jack Roslovic, who had a few productive seasons.
The Jets’ return wasn’t splashy. But in the aggregate, the long-term winner was Winnipeg.
25 Years Ago
Legend has it that Ray Bourque was almost a Philadelphia Flyer. After it became clear the bottom-feeding Bruins would deal Bourque, several teams stepped up, and even Bourque has said he believed he was on his way to Philadelphia, which finished the 1999-2000 season as the top team in the East. But after negotiations between the Flyers and Bruins fell apart, Boston struck a deal with Colorado, sending the eventual Hall of Fame blueliner to the Avalanche.
Bourque’s dream of hoisting Lord Stanley went unfulfilled in his first attempt in Colorado, as the Avs were felled in the Western Conference final by the Dallas Stars. But persistence paid off. Bourque passed on free agency and re-signed in Colorado only weeks after the playoff exit. The then-40-year-old finished second in Norris Trophy voting in 2000-01 and was central to Colorado’s 2001 Stanley Cup victory, racking up 10 points along the way and capping it with the most iconic Cup-raising moment in league history.
30 Years Ago
Despite Viascheslav Fetisov playing five-and-a-half solid seasons in New Jersey, the realities facing Fetisov and the Devils in April 1995 were as follows: the blueliner was nearly 37, he had lost his top-four spot and was often sidelined, and New Jersey was playing well enough that he had become expendable.
That opened the door for Detroit, the West’s top team, to scoop up the veteran defenseman for effectively nothing – the pick sent to the Devils was used to select David Gosselin, who played just 13 NHL games, all with the Nashville Predators.
Despite the meager return, the swap was a win-win. It got Fetisov off the Devils’ books without hampering their performance; New Jersey defeated Detroit, of all teams, to win the 1995 Stanley Cup. The painful defeat calcified the Red Wings, who won titles in 1997 and 1998, their first back-to-back Cups since the 1950s. And Fetisov played in all but one game of those consecutive championship runs.
This article appeared in our 2025 Rookie Issue. Our cover story focuses on Dustin Wolf, the Calgary keeper who’s “jumped” in to help the team in its surprising playoff push. We also profile other sensational NHL freshmen: Macklin Celebrini, Matvei Michkov and Logan Stankoven. In addition, we look at some of the top rookies from the PWHL, the AHL and the CHL, and we preview the NHL trade deadline, with breakdowns for all 32 clubs.
It’s available on newsstands now, or you can get it in print for free when you subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/Free today. All subscriptions include complete access to more than 76 years of articles at The Hockey News Archive.
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