#2: October 29, 1996, Habs trade Turgeon to the Blues
Well, Houle couldn’t outdo his Roy trade for worst in franchise history, but he came close. Pierre Turgeon played parts of two seasons with the Habs and one full season. When he arrived in 1994-95 he scored 20 points in 15 games.
His only full season, 1995-96, the Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec native scored 96 points in 80 games. He followed that up with 11 points in nine games to start 1996-97. His 127 points in 104 games is actually the second highest points per game total in Habs history, behind Guy Lafleur.
Turgeon was dealt to the St. Louis Blues with Craig Conroy and Rory Fitzpatrick for Murray Baron, Shayne Corson and a fifth round pick. You could make the argument that is Turgeon wasn’t involved, that it would be an even deal. In fact, Conroy is definitely the second best player in the trade.
Corson stuck around the NHL for eight more years, but wasn’t more than a third liner. Baron was a fighter at best and just bad at hockey at worst. Conroy would play 1000 games after the trade and had some great years with the Flames.
Turgeon averaged more than a point per game for the next five seasons with the Blues. He was a terrific playmaker and finished his career with 97 points in 109 career playoff games.
#1: June 30, 2009, Canadiens trade McDonagh to the Rangers for Gomez
What were the Habs thinking? Gomez was a vastly overpaid player who had worn out his welcome in New York. He was thought to be untradeable due to his $50 million contract. However, the Habs took on every penny of the deal with five years left on it and gave up one of their top prospects to do so.
All told, the trade was McDonagh, Chris Higgins, Pavel Valentenko and Doug Janik for Gomez, Tom Pyatt and Mike Busto. It pretty much boiled down to McDonagh for Gomez. The Alaskan center scored 12 goals and 59 points in his first year in Montreal.
It pretty much matched his output from the previous season, but it wasn’t nearly enough for one of the highest paid forwards in the league. Gomez dipped the next season to seven goals and 38 points before dropping to 11 points in 38 games.
Though his cap hit would suggest he was one of the league’s best players, Gomez was asked by Candiens general manager Marc Bergevin to stay home during the lockout shortened year. He wanted to buy Gomez out at the end of the season, but the league made an exception to allow the Habs to dump their overpaid center immediately.
McDonagh was a first round pick and developed into a top pairing defenceman for the Rangers. Adding insult to injury, he was excellent in the 2014 Eastern Conference Final when the Ranger knocked off the Habs en route to the Stanley Cup Final.
Taking on Gomez contact could only have been considered doing a favour to the Ranger Glen Sather. Deciding to give the Rangers our top prospect who developed into a top defender makes it the worst move Montreal has made since trading Roy.