When you're trying to think of the best defensive forward who's ever played the game, there's a good chance your mind will go to Bob Gainey. The Montreal Canadiens' left winger won the Frank J. Selke Trophy awarded to the top defensive forward four years in a row when it was created. However, Gainey also showed himself to be a great hockey mind when he built up the Dallas Stars and led them to their first and only Stanley Cup in 1999.
When Gainey was hired as the Canadiens' GM, the fans hoped he would be able to repair what five years under Rejean Houle and Andre Savard had destroyed. He stayed at the helm for nearly seven years and when he saw the team's centennial approaching, he tried to give it all the weapons it needed to go and win a 25th Stanley Cup. As the future told us though, the team he had assembled fell short and one of the players he had acquired turned out to be one of the worst trades in Canadiens history.
Gearing up for the Centennial
In the run-up to December 9, 2009, the Canadiens announced a myriad of events to be held throughout the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons. While the program was fantastic, the best way to celebrate the centennial would have been bringing a 25th Cup to Montreal. In the off-season between the two years, Gainey did his best to accomplish the goal he had set himself.
He started to trade away veterans he thought had become expandable and didn't re-sign players who had been with the team for quite some time but just weren't part of his plan. At the 2008 trade deadline, he shipped goaltender Cristobal Huet to the Chicago Blackhawks for a 2009 second-round pick. In the run-up to the 2009 trade deadline, he sent Steve Begin to Dallas.
It's in the Summer of 2009 that he played his biggest cards. He let captain Saku Koivu walk away when the free agency period opened and did the same with Alexei Kovalev. Defenseman Mike Komisarek signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Francis Bouillon with the Nashville Predators, Mathieu Schneider left and Patrice Brisebois announced his retirement in September. Those are just some of the moves Gainey made in what was a rather quick rebuild.
The Trade
On the eve of free agency, he signaled to the rest of the league that he was ready to rumble. He packaged Christopher Higgins, Doug Janik, Pavel Valentenko and (most importantly) his 12th overall selection in the 2007 draft defenseman Ryan McDonagh, then sent them to the New York Rangers. In return, the Rangers sent Tom Pyatt, Michael Busto and Scott Gomez to Montreal. This also showed free agents that Gainey was ready to put all of his chips on the table.
As a result on July 1, 2009, he managed to sign Mike Cammalleri, Brian Gionta, Hal Gill, Jaroslav Spacek and Mathieu Darche. On July 10, he also signed Travis Moen and Paul Mara. Finally, in early October, he signed Marc-Andre Bergeron. When the dust settled, it was clear the Canadiens were hungry for a Cup.
Unfortunately for Gainey, he wouldn't stay until the end of the season, resigning on February 8, 2010 citing personal reasons. The team he had assemble scraped into the Spring dance and did get far in the playoffs that year, but lost in the Conference Final in five games against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Aftermath
If the early days went well for Gomez in Montreal, it wouldn't be the case for very long. In his first season, he racked up 59 points in 78 games spending nearly 20 minutes on the ice per game.
Things quickly went downhill in his second season. In 80 games, he could only muster 38 points and finished the year with a minus-15 rating. His hefty contract and his low offensive production immediately angered the fans.
A website called "Célébrons Gomez" was created online as Gomez neared a full calendar year without a goal, even though the center had missed several games because of an injury, the fans weren't having it. He finished his third year in Montreal with only 38 games played and 11 points to his name.
When training camp opened in January 2013, after half the season was lost to a lockout, GM Marc Bergevin announced Gomez would not be playing for the Habs for the remainder of the season. The final year of his contract would then be bought out in the off-season. The NHLPA was concerned players sitting out for a whole season would struggle to find work afterward and the brand new collective bargaining agreement was amended to allow teams to use their buyout early. This prompted Montreal to put Gomez on waivers and immediately buy him out.
Gomez bounced around the league for the following four seasons, playing for five different teams before calling time on his career in September 2016, before the start of the season.
Meanwhile in New York, Higgins only played 55 games for the Rangers and was traded before the roster freeze. Pavel Valentenko split the rest of his career between the KHL and the AHL while Doug Janik, who was on an expiring deal, wasn't re-signed by the Rangers and found work with the Detroit Red Wings.
The crown jewel of the deal for the Rangers was Ryan McDonagh and he became everything they wanted. The blueliner was an integral part of their core for years. In the 2014 playoffs, he helped his team dispatch the Canadiens in the Eastern Conference final but lost in the Stanley Cup final in five games.
At the start of the following season, he was named the team's captain, the first defenseman to wear the 'C' since Rangers' great Brian Leetch. McDonagh wore it until he was sent to the Tampa Bay Lightning at the 2018 trade deadline.
The defenseman spent five seasons with the Lightning and won the Stanley Cup twice in that stay. In a salary dumping move, the Bolts traded the blueliner to the Nashville Predators who sent him back to Tampa this off-season.
In the end, Gomez's three years in Montreal ended with a painful buyout and he never found his scoring touch again. In that deal, Gainey acquired a declining player while the Rangers received an insanely solid blueliner who became a great leader and captain for them. Even after his departure from New York, he was an important member of John Cooper's team in Tampa and has yet to retire. It's quite easy to determine who won that trade.
