The Biggest Lose-Lose-Lose Trade in NHL History
There have been a lot of bad trades through the years in the NHL but nothing was as bad as a trade made in 2021 offseason. At the time of this trade, this looked like a win-win-win but after a full season, it evolved differently.
The worst trade in NHL history has to be this and it came in two parts:
- The Nashville Predators traded Ryan Ellis to the Philadelphia Flyers
- The Philadelphia Flyers traded Nolan Patrick and Philippe Meyers to the Nashville Predators
- Then Nashville Predators traded Nolan Patrick to the Vegas Golden Knights
- The Vegas Golden Knights traded Cody Glass to the Nashville Predators
Let’s dive deep into how each player hurt each team they went to.
Ryan Ellis
Picture by YONG KIM / The Enquirer Staff Photographer
Ryan Ellis was the cornerstone piece of the two-part deal. At the time of the trade, he was peaking his prime. He is one of the better offensive defensemen in the league. With this trade to the Flyers, Ellis would have had more playing time and would have been a huge part of their defense.
Ryan Ellis is 31 years old and his cap hit is 6.25 million for the next five seasons.
In 2019–20 Ellis got 38 points in 49 games with the Nashville Predators. Then he dipped down to 18 points in 35 games in 2020–21. When he started with Philadelphia last season he started well with 5 points in the first 4 games.
Then the injury happened. Ellis didn’t play the rest of the season. At the beginning of this offseason, it was confirmed that he had a pelvic injury. There is also reason to believe Ellis will miss more time this season due to his age giving them no timetable at the moment. All these games missed at 6.25 million a season is hard to swallow for a cornerstone piece of a three-team trade.
As you can tell this tweet from Frank Seravalli shows that his health will plague Ellis for a while. There is a possibility that the Flyers will lose him for a whole season. So with as much cap as he has and with him being the savior of the Flyer’s defense, this does not bode well for being a great piece of the trade.
Nolan Patrick
Image by The Hockey Writers
Nolan Patrick had some misfortune also coming from the Flyers to the Predators. At age 24 he is struggling to get back to his career but his health is letting him down. Eventually, he was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights where he had a chance to redeem his career on a playoff-caliber team.
In Nolan’s last season with the Flyers, he only had 9 points in 53 games. With Vegas, he played 25 games with 7 points. He wasn’t that great and didn’t have the consistency the Golden Knights were hoping for. Nolan had plenty of injuries during last season but they were hoping for a resurgent year.
So obviously injuries are continuing to plague Nolan Patrick because he will not play next season.
Phillippe Meyers
Meyers (age 25) was the other piece that the Predators got from the Ellis trade. In his one season with the Predators, he had only 4 points in 27 games. He was later traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning. So that was another bust for the Nashville Predators.
Cody Glass
The last player involved in this three-team trade was Cody Glass. Out of all the players involved he has the most potential to be really good on the Nashville Predators.
Glass is a former 6th overall pick in 2017. He is age 23. He hasn’t burst his way onto the NHL elite yet but he still has the potential to get there.
Glass last season in Vegas he scored 10 points in 27 games. In his first season with the Predators, he played only 8 regular season games and 2 playoff games. Where they see the potential is when he scored 62 points in 66 games in the AHL.
Conclusion
In conclusion, no team got what they wanted out of this major trade. It looked like a win-win-win before last season and it became a royal bust after one season on this trade. The team that has the best potential of winning this trade is the Predators due to Cody Glass possibly breaking out in the NHL.
