Philadelphia Flyers: LeClair/Desjardins might have been best trade

Despite what some may say, the long history of the Philadelphia Flyers has produced some very good moves, and the deal for John LeClair and Eric Desjardins in 1995 is a contender as the best.

By the time the NHL’s lockout-shortened 1995 season rolled around, the Philadelphia Flyers were riding a 5-year playoff drought and were in need of some serious help to put around franchise cornerstone Eric Lindros, who was entering his third NHL season. And early on, things didn’t look good, as the Flyers stumbled to a 3-6-1 mark to start the year (in a 48-game season, mind you).

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The time was ripe for something bold.

Usually, a deal where you trade away a future Hall of Famer who just turned 27 is a colossal mistake. But that wasn’t the case here. Yes, the Flyers paid a steep price when they sent Mark Recchi to the Montreal Canadiens, but they got back a pair of players who would help carry the franchise for a decade in the forms of John LeClair and Eric Desjardins. Oh, and they also got Gilbert Dionne, but who cares?

Neither LeClair nor Desjardins would become Hall of Famers themselves, but they each established themselves as being top performers in the history of the Flyers franchise, helping the Flyers reach four Eastern Conference Finals and one Stanley Cup Final during their long and productive stints in Orange and Black.

John LeClair would play 10 years with the Flyers. In Flyers history, he sits 5th in goals (333), 13th in assists (310), and 8th in points (643). He’s also top 10 in plus/minus and power play goals, while his 61 game-winning goals are the most ever for the team. A 5-time all-star, he produced three straight 50-goal seasons, and he’s still the most recent Flyer to hit that mark.

Eric Desjardins would play 11 years with the Flyers. His 738 games are 9th in franchise history, and he sits second only to Hall of Famer Mark Howe in goals, assists, and points among all Flyer D-men. He captained the team for three seasons and was a 2-time all-star.

The deal holds up even better in retrospect when you take into account that the Flyers reacquired Recchi from Montreal four years later, and he’d go on to play over 400 more games with the team. Yes, it’s cheating to take Recchi’s performance after coming back into account, but it sure makes the trade seem even more lopsided in the Flyers’ favor.

Maybe this isn’t the best trade in team history since it, unfortunately, never led to a Stanley Cup for the Flyers. If that’s a prerequisite, then you’d have to go with the 1973 trade that brought Bernie Parent back to town, two years after the Flyers had traded him to Toronto. This franchise’s trophy case would probably be empty if it wasn’t for that one.

But LeClair/Desjardins has to be the best trade that the franchise has made in the second half of its existence, as it was largely responsible for turning the tide and making the Flyers into one of the most successful teams in the league for a full decade. It was a welcome change from the half-decade of misery that everyone endured once the key cogs of the Flyers’ excellent 80’s teams had moved on.

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One last contender for “best Flyers trade ever” might still be the swap that sent Jeff Carter to Columbus in 2011, which brought Jakub Voracek and the draft pick that the Flyers used on Sean Couturier. But I’m going to need to see a parade down Broad Street before I put that ahead of LeClair and Desjardins as having a bigger impact on the Flyers organization.

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