A Winning Habit
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Montreal Canadiens: Five Trades That Ruined Habs Latest Dynasty Before It Started

By Ken MacMillan

MONTREAL - NOVEMBER 5: A general view of the rafters that show the Stanley Cup Champion banners along with the retired jerseys of the Montreal Canadiens at the Molson Centre on November 5, 2002 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
MONTREAL - NOVEMBER 5: A general view of the rafters that show the Stanley Cup Champion banners along with the retired jerseys of the Montreal Canadiens at the Molson Centre on November 5, 2002 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON – SEPTEMBER 22: Pierre Turgeon #77 of the Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Graig Abel/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON – SEPTEMBER 22: Pierre Turgeon #77 of the Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Graig Abel/Getty Images) /

1. Pierre Turgeon, Craig Conroy and Rory Fitzpatrick traded to St. Louis Blues for Shayne Corson and Murray Baron

Finally, the last trade chronologically that completely derailed a potential dynasty. Rejean Houle went back to work to pull off this dandy deal. He traded Pierre Turgeon and threw in a couple of decent young prospects for an aging Shayne Corson and a hard-nosed third pairing defender in Murray Baron.

Turgeon’s tenure with the Habs is not remembered that fondly by fans it seems, but he has the second highest points-per-game of all-time in a Habs sweater. He only played one full season in Montreal, but also played parts of two others between stints with the New York Islanders and St. Louis Blues. However, that one full season saw him score 96 points which is still the highest by a Canadiens player since Vincent Damphousse had 97 in 1993.

In total, Turgeon played 104 games and scored 127 points with the Canadiens. After leaving Montreal very early in the 1996-97 season, Turgeon played five years with the Blues and scored 355 points in 327 games during that time. He didn’t get all the accolades because there were other centers like Joe Sakic, Steve Yzerman and Wayne Gretzky dominating the headlines, but Turgeon quietly was a terrific scorer at that time.

Turgeon did have a terrific power forward winger who could score 50 goals in Keith Tkachuk playing on his left side, but if the Habs avoided these trades, Turgeon would have had John LeClair on his line in Montreal.

The Blues had a hard time in the Western Conference getting past the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado in the postseason, but Turgeon scored 35 points in his last 35 playoff games in St. Louis. Craig Conroy was a decent player for the Blues in the late 1990’s, scoring 43 points in 1997-98 and 39 the following year.

Meanwhile, Corson had a solid year in Montreal in 1997-98, scoring 21 goals and 55 points in 62 games. His offence fell off a cliff after that as he continued to be a valuable depth player that killed penalties and provided leadership, but he didn’t score more than 12 goals again in his career. Murray Baron was a typical late 1990’s defenseman. He was big and could get 100 penalty minutes no problem, but he could not skate well and had a hard time passing ten points in a season.

Though Corson did have one solid season in Montreal, Turgeon was dominant for five more years after the trade and would have been the team’s top center for the next half-decade if the Habs were wise and kept him in town.

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