What if the Islanders never traded Zdeno Chara for Alexei Yashin?

We have officially reached the dog days of summer, so let's look at what if the Ottawa Senators decided to not trade Alexei Yashin to the New York Islanders for Zdeno Chara, Bill Muckalt, and the second overall pick (Jason Spezza). A truly franchise-altering trade for both sides that could very well have changed the course of at least the Senators.

The hardest part about this is it was no secret that Yashin did want out of Ottawa. He asked to be traded three times in seven years, which also included two contract disputes. So, if the Senators didn't part with him in a trade with the Islanders, it would have likely happened at some point after that.

But would the return be as good as Chara and Spezza? Definitely not, because the other GM involved in the trade wouldn't have been Mike Milbury. Who didn't have a good track record at trading players. However, Yashin did have a large impact on the roster, but was it worth trading a top-pairing blue liner and a future number-one center?

What would the Isles look like in an alternate universe?

The most ironic part of this trade is that the aforementioned Milbury wanted an upgrade at center. Which is why he pulled off this trade in the first place. But he would have gotten that if he had just selected Spezza with the second overall pick. And having a 6-foot-9 defenseman isn't so bad either.

Looking over their roster, they had an exceptionally good blue line. They had Adrian Aucoin, Kenny Jonsson, and Roman Hamrlik; adding Chara in there gives them arguably the best top four in the league for years to come. Which would have pushed Dick Tarnstrom and Radek Martinek down to their third pairing, with Eric Cairns as the seventh defender. That could have been a Stanley Cup-winning defense core.

Up front, they would have added Spezza into their top six rather than Yashin. Who, in his peak, was much better. Yes, Yashin was good; he had 290 points in 338 games. However, Spezza went on to have 687 points in 686 games with the Senators.

Now, that may not have been his total with the Islanders because of who he played with. But it would have given the organization the opportunity to add to their roster with high-level free agents. Therefore, making the roster better and potentially competing for a Cup.

Especially after you consider just years later, they'd add the likes of Bill Guerin, Doug Weight, and Miroslav Satan, plus the emergence of Jason Blake as a top-six forward. The only thing left to answer is, if they decided to keep Chara and Spezza, would they have eventually landed John Tavares in the 2009 NHL Draft?

There's a good chance that keeping Chara and drafting Spezza would have changed the entire landscape of the organization and probably made them Cup contenders for the better part of a decade.

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