How quickly we forget that Darcy Regier hasn’t always been quiet at the trade deadline. Darcy is no stranger to the deadline deal and with less than two weeks before the deadline he could be at it again. It seems that he develops a specific strategy based on the teams chances of making a run in the playoffs. He usually doesn’t guess wrong either. What will his strategy be this season?
Enough about what is going to happen over the next two weeks, let’s look back at deadline deals he has made in the past. Admittedly, they aren’t all great but it was easier to find the few bad ones than it was to pick his three best deadline deals.
Darcy Regier Trade Deadline History
Total Deadline Deals: 23
Players Traded Away: 20
Draft Picks Traded Away: 10
Players Received: 21
Draft Picks Received: 11
Top Three Deadline Deals
- Chris Gratton and a 4th Round pick in 2004 to Phoenix for Danny Briere and a 3rd pick on 2004 – I don’t think the Coyotes will be in a hurry to trade with Darcy Regier anytime soon. We all know the history of where these two players have been since that trade. Gratton has been all over the place (not contributing) and Briere will forever have a place in Sabres history.
- Michal Grosek to Chicago for Doug Gilmour and J.P. Dumont – Obviously the Blackhawks were trying to unload the salary of Doug Gilmour but seriously? Did this trade really happen? Doug Gilmour contributed in his short time with the Sabres but had an unceremonous departure from the club. J.P. Dumont turned out to be a pretty good player for the Sabres before they were forced to let him go because of financial reasons. We’ll never know if he was the missing piece to a run at the Cup but he was a great player in Buffalo anyway. As for Michal Grosek…well, who cares?
- Matthew Barnaby to Pittsburgh for Stu Barnes- This was a difficult trade at the time because Matthew Barnaby was a popular player with the Sabres. He was popular among his teammates and more importantly he was popular with the fans. Stu Barnes quickly erased the memory of Matthew Barnaby and was the leader of this team when they went to the Stanley Cup against the Dallas Stars. Barnes was always there to score the big goal when the Sabres needed it and was a key part of this team until he was traded to, ironically enough the Dallas Stars.
Honorable Mention: Mike Wilson to Florida for Rhett Warrener, Alexei Tezikov to Washington for Joe Juneau and a 4th round pick
Worst Three Deadline Deals
- Cory Sarich, Wayne Primeau, Brian Holzinger and a 2000 3rd Round draft pick to Tampa Bay for Chris Gratton and a 2nd Round draft pick- Sure in the end this trade worked out for Buffalo because it turned into Briere but giving up Sarich was too much. My guess is that he was the key to the deal or Darcy wouldn’t have parted with him.
- Curtis Brown to San Jose for Jeff Jillson- This one could be left off the list but there weren’t too many bad trades made by Darcy. Brown was on the downside of his career but was still serviceable and Jillsin never amounted to anything.
- Brian Campbell and a 7th Round pick to San Jose for Steve Bernier and a 1st Round Pick- Only because it meant we were giving up on the season. It felt like Darcy was pressured into this trade by the fans and wouldn’t have made it if he didn’t have to.
I may have left some trades off the list but this is what I remember. The point being that we may have forgotten that Darcy can work magic at the deadline and maybe this will be the season he reminds us. What do you want to happen?