June 30th, 1992 - On June 20th, 1992, the Quebec Nordiques traded their petulant, bratty holdout Eric Lindros to the Philadelphia Flyers. Unfortunately, the also had apparently agreed to trade their petulant, bratty holdout to the New York Rangers. An arbitrator had to rule on the case (and, in circle-of-life fashion, that arbitrator was a relative of Todd Bertuzzi's). In the end, Lindros went to the Flyers for the following haul:
- Peter Forsberg
- Ron Hextall
- Steve Duchene
- Kerry Huffman
- Mike Ricci
- Chris Simon
- a 1993 first round pick (Jocelyn Thibault)
- a 1994 first round pick (later traded)
- $15 million
Originally, instead of Simon and the 1994 pick it was the 7th overall pick in the '92 draft. By the time the ruling came down, the 1992 draft had taken place and the Flyers had chosen Ryan Sittler, so the Nordiques received Simon and the '94 pick instead.
There's a tremendous HF post recapping negotiations from Jay Greenburg's Full Spectrum. There's a lot of opportunities for "what if". The Rangers offer, for example, was Dough Weight, Alexei Kovalev, Tony Amonte, John Vanbiesbrouk (or James Patrick), 3 first round picks and $12 million.
Toronto had reportedly offered Felix Potvin, Wendel Clark (!), Dave Ellet, Craig Berube, several #1 picks and $15 million. But Pierre Page wanted Apples Gilmour and the Leafs wouldn't part with him.
The Nordiques reportedly was interested in a deal with Chicago for Steve Larmer, Steve Smith and Ed Belfour, but Blackhawks' owner Bill Wirtz would not agree to send the $5 million that the Nordiques requested.
In the end, the fact that Forsberg was in the Philadelphia deal makes it seem like the best for the club. Hell, had the trade just been Lindros for Forsberg, the Nordiques / Avalanche might have been the winners (I could see arguments made for both sides). Instead, the, um, Avalanche of assets received set up the franchise for years. For example, Thibault was part of the Roy deal. Hextall was traded (with the pick that became Bertuzzi!) for the pick that became Adam Deadmarsh. Simon was traded for Keith Jones and the pick that became Scott Parker. Jones was traded for Shjon Podein. And so on...