Top five NHLers to be traded for future considerations

Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

Imagine getting to the highest level of the sport you love, getting to play in front of tens of thousands of fans every single night.

Imagine looking at your bank account, checking out the millions, and thinking life’s good.

And then imagine getting a call from your general manager telling you you’ve been given away. Not traded for another asset, not moved for another play. Literally. Nothing.

The term “future considerations” has become synonymous with trade deadline time, with clubs looking to move contracts to clear space for someone else. Sometimes, it’s a pure cap dump. Other times, a player just wanted another chance somewhere but wasn’t worth taking up a valuable spot on the 50-player contract list.

It’s often minor league players that get moved for future considerations, with most of the 19 instances of it happening in 2022-23 happening with guys that were in-betweeners at best. But it’s not uncommon for some notable names to be moved for future considerations – Arturs Irbe, Alexandre Daigle, Ben Bishop and Matt Murray are some of the guys you might remember.

But they’re far from the best players to go on to succeed after getting moved for nothing. Here’s a look at five of the most notable cases of guys that went on to have solid careers after being involved in future consideration deals. If you’re looking for Marc-Andre Fleury, who was basically dealt to the Chicago Blackhawks for nothing after winning the 2020-21 Vezina Trophy: technically a player went Vegas’ way in minor-leaguer Mikael Hakkarainen, so ‘Flower’ doesn’t qualify.

Kris Draper to Detroit Red Wings – June 30, 1993

Draper’s first NHL trade might be one of the most hilarious moves in NHL history. After years of him struggling with the original Winnipeg Jets, the Detroit Red Wings took a flier on the 1989 third-rounder and acquired him for… $1. One. Dollar. That’s it.

Draper went on to spend the rest of his career with the Red Wings, and while he never broke out offensively – he had a career-best 24 goals and 40 points in 2003-04 – he was a valuable piece of Detroit’s four Stanley Cups in the 1990s and 2000s. Draper was an elite defensive forward, winning the Selke Trophy during that strong 2004 campaign.

The 52-year-old is still part of the franchise today, currently serving as the team’s assistant general manager behind long-time teammate Steve Yzerman. Draper’s son, Kieran, was drafted in the seventh round by Detroit in 2022 and currently plays with the University of Michigan.

From getting moved for the equivalent of $1.84 today to playing more than 1,100 games in the NHL. Not too shabby. If you care, Draper paid back the dollar to former Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch after winning his first Stanley Cup.

Larry Murphy to Detroit Red Wings – March 18, 1997

Ask any Toronto Maple Leafs fan; they’ve got bitter feelings about Murphy’s time at Maple Leaf Gardens. He was the highest-paid player on the team, but the results didn’t seem to reflect that. He had a good first year offensively with 61 points, but it was still a step down from his numbers in Pittsburgh when he helped the team win two Stanley Cups.

By 1997, Leafs management had enough, moving him to Detroit for nothing. Murphy went on to help the Red Wings win two Stanley Cup championships in 1997 and 1998, because of course. He had three 40-plus point seasons to close out his tenure with the Red Wings before getting inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004.

That’s just the most Leafiest outcome, isn’t it?

Jeremy Roenick to Los Angeles Kings – Aug. 5, 2005

Given it was a few months before the return to hockey after the lockout, Jeremy Roenick’s move from Philadelphia and Los Angeles served as the NHL’s first true cap dump. He had a $4.49 million hit, which took a huge chunk out of the initial $39 million cap imposed on the NHL. Roenick never was the same after the lockout, scoring just nine goals and 22 points in 58 games before departing for a second trip to Arizona the following year. He’d see a bit of an uptick offensively, with 28 and 33 points consecutively, before ending his career with San Jose in 2009.

The Kings acquired a third-round pick in the deal as well, with the club selecting Bud Holloway 86th overall. It took him nearly a decade to make his NHL debut, playing his lone NHL game with the Montreal Canadiens after some incredible seasons in the AHL and over in Europe. Holloway is still active today, playing for the Moosomin Rangers of the Big Six Hockey League – a senior men’s circuit in Saskatchewan with some other players with pro experience.

Radim Vrbata to Chicago Blackhawks – Dec. 30, 2005

Vrbata made a splash early in his NHL career, putting consecutive 30-point seasons together after spending time with Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg. He had a lackluster run in Carolina for three years, prompting the team to move him for future considerations during the 2005-06 season.

The move to the Windy City helped Vrbata break out, scoring 13 goals and 34 points in 45 games in his first year. He played his only full season with the Hawks the following year before getting moved to Arizona in exchange for Kevyn Adams, with Vrbata going on to record two 60-plus-point seasons before closing his career with 623 points in 1,057 games.

To complete the deal, Anton Babchuk was later moved to the Carolina Hurricanes alongside a 2007 fourth-rounder who was Cade Fairchild. Danny Richmond went to Chicago along with a 2006 fourth-round pick that ultimately became James Reimer after the pick was later moved to Toronto. There were quite a few moving parts, but Vrbata became the most valuable player in the deal.

Sean Monahan to Montreal Canadiens – Aug. 18, 2022

While it might require a job at NASA to fully understand the complexity of all the conditions of the trade, the Canadiens benefited from picking up Monahan back in 2022. The Flames needed some cap relief from his $6.3 million hit, and the Canadiens were bound to have another brutal year and had room to make it happen. At the very least, it would be a one-year deal and he’d move on quietly, with Montreal still taking home a first-round pick for their troubles.

But Monahan was actually quite good before getting injured, scoring six goals and 17 points in 25 games. The Habs brought him back on a one-year deal worth $1.985 million, and now Monahan is on pace for his fourth 60-point campaign of his NHL career.

The Canadiens will look to capitalize on him at the trade deadline, with Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli suggesting he could be traded to a contender for a first-round pick. Given they took one to make this deal work, that’s some incredible asset management from GM Kent Hughes.

Meanwhile, the Flames used the extra cap space to sign Nazem Kadri, who, despite some ups and downs, is on pace for 65 points this season. So it worked out just fine for everyone involved.

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