30 years ago the NY Islanders and Don Maloney broke my hockey fan heart

Every hockey fan has a favorite player growing up. Sometimes it's the best player, sometimes it's the big personality or the tough guy, but everyone has one.

For me, during my formidable years as a fan of the New York Islanders, that player was Pierre Turgeon. I started following the team daily during the 1992-93 season, and Turgeon, who had been acquired two seasons earlier from the Sabres in the blockbuster deal that sent Pat LaFontaine to Buffalo, scored 58 goals, was an All-Star, and finished 5th in Hart Trophy voting.

He was a gentlemanly player who won the Lady Byng and was the elite scorer you build your team around for years to come. The following Christmas, I was gifted my first Islanders sweater with Turgeon and his No. 77 on the back. Turgeon was on a four-year, $11M contract, the largest in Islanders history, so it seemed like a safe investment.

Then, 30 years ago, on April 5, 1995, GM Don Maloney made a trade that made my 12-year-old stomach turn. He traded Turgeon and defenseman Vladimir Malakhov to the Montreal Canadiens for Habs' captain Kirk Muller, defenseman Matthieu Schneider, and forward Craig Darby. Ugh.

“We’ve all talked about how we all expected something to happen, but when you see the trainers come in and pack up Pete’s (Turgeon’s) bag . . . it kind of makes your stomach turn,” said Ray Ferraro.

You see, I wasn't the only the one that felt that way.

Malakhov had tons of offensive talent, but he was slightly different as coaches and players questioned his commitment and work ethic. “We were down certain nights and we expected him to step up,” head coach Lorne Henning said of Malakhov. “Some nights he would, some nights he wouldn’t. I don’t think that sent a good message to the guys. You want someone who’s going to compete every night. He went on to play six seasons in Montreal and finished a 13-year NHL career with 86 goals and 260 assists for 346 points in 712 games.

Maloney said the trade for the organization to "set a new course" by trading away a 25-year-old top-line center who I believed was destined for the Hall-of-Fame (I was right!). “We have to find somebody that’s going to show Brett Lindros, and a Todd Bertuzzi and a Bryan McCabe how to play the game and how to win,” said Maloney.

How did that work out? Maloney was fired months later in December and replaced by Darcy Regier for 10 days before the Islanders named Maloney's off-season choice for head coach Mike Milbury as the new General Manager. The rest is infamous history.

Muller never wanted to be on Long Island and emphatically made it known by refusing to report before reluctantly skating in 15 games that season. The player brought in to deliver an "attitude adjustment" was disinterested in playing for the Islanders. This led to his being traded to Toronto on Jan. 23, 1996, with Don Beaupre for Ken Belanger and Damian Rhodes.

That's right; the Islanders traded a future Hall-of-Famer and turned it into Ken Belanger and Damian Rhodes. Schneider was a solid defenseman with offensive skills who had to suffer through wearing the Fisherman sweater for most of the 1995-96 season before being traded to Toronto. At least in that deal, which also included Wendel Clark, brought back Toronto's 1st round pick in 1996 (Roberto Luongo) and a young defenseman named Kenny Jonsson who ended up in the team's Hall-of-Fame.

For fans old enough to remember that era of Islanders hockey, the Turgeon trade for Muller was the moment the dark years of Islanders hockey started. The Fisherman jersey came in the off-season, Milbury gaining total control, the ownership and arena drama, all came after.

30 years later, it's hard to fathom what Maloney was thinking. It felt horribly wrong at the time and proved to be even worse than that and the gut punch feeling of hearing the news is forever engrained in my 12-year-old mind.