No matter how big a name in the world of hockey a player might have, it did not make him immune from a change of address in 2001.
The Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres and Philadelphia Flyers traded Jaromir Jagr, Dominik Hasek and Eric Lindros in separate deals during the summer, unloading three players who have combined for four Most Valuable Player awards, six Vezina Trophies, five NHL scoring titles, four Stanley Cup Finals appearances and two championships.
This unprecedented movement of such established talent was evidence that today's NHL is looking more and more like Major League Baseball -- the rich get richer, all others barely compete.
Jagr and Hasek were traded simply because their former teams no longer could afford them. Jagr and his $10 million salary was shipped to the Washington Capitals for three prospects, just one of whom was able to crack the Penguins' roster this season.
Pittsburgh owner-player Mario Lemieux, buoyed by the unqualified success of his comeback last season, sacrificed Jagr so the team could retain restricted free agents such as Alexei Kovalev, Martin Straka and Robert Lang. While Lemieux's strategy proved financially successful, on the ice proved a different story.
Kovalev missed time following knee surgery, Straka was lost for the season with a broken leg and Lemieux himself spent much of the 2001-02 campaign as he did the first three months of last season -- watching from the owner's box.
The 36-year-old Hall of Famer missed all but 11 games with a nagging hip injury that could threaten to keep him off the Canadian Olympic team.
The small-market Sabres bristled at the prospect of picking up the $8 million option on Hasek's contract, so they sent him to the well-heeled Detroit Red Wings for underachiever Vyacheslav Kozlov and other considerations.
A week earlier, Buffalo dealt disgruntled former captain Michael Peca to the New York Islanders for two young forwards. The day before, the Islanders -- having undergone a swift transformation to big-market franchise -- took a chance on former Hart Trophy finalist Alexei Yashin, acquiring him from the Ottawa Senators in a deal involving the second overall pick in the NHL draft.
The Lindros trade had little to do with money and everything to do with personal enmities. The 1995 Hart Trophy winner finally won his freedom from Philadelphia, where his relationship with general manager Bob Clarke gave new meaning to the term "cold war."
In August, the Flyers finally rid themselves of their former captain, sending him up the New Jersey Turnpike to the New York Rangers for three players.
With his team having missed the playoffs each of the previous four years, Rangers General Manager Glen Sather took a chance on the oft-injured Lindros. And three months into the season, the gamble paid off. New York challenged for the top spot in the Atlantic Division well into December and Lindros earned a spot on the Canadian Olympic team before suffering a minor knee injury.
Tracing the route these three former MVPs took over the summer is as easy as following the money.
With a fortune amassed through AOL, Capitals owner Ted Leonsis not only could afford to acquire Jagr, he wasted little time signing him to what amounted to a seven-year, $77 million contract extension.
Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch made his money through pizza and again spent it like a certain baseball owner fond of pinstripes. With Hasek in the offseason came free agents Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille, who along with long-time captain Steve Yzerman give Detroit an unprecedented three 600-goal scorers.
As the new year approached, the Red Wings were proof that as in baseball, big money translates to big success in hockey. They suffered just three regulation losses in their first 27 games and led the league with a .742 winning percentage.
For every team like the Capitals and Red Wings, however, there are teams like the Sabres and Edmonton Oilers, who have been forced part with All-Stars Bill Guerin and Doug Weight over the last two seasons for nothing more than financial reasons.
The NHL is only one year removed from its last wave of expansion, but with baseball moving forward with plans to contract by two teams and the hockey's collective bargaining agreement set to expire in 2003-04, one can envision a future without the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim or Tampa Bay Lightning.
Back to the present.
Ilitch is hoping to use profits from Crazy Bread to supplant the Colorado Avalanche, who are defending their Stanley Cup championship without two key cogs. Five-time Norris Trophy winner Ray Bourque retired soon after realizing his Stanley Cup dream and Peter Forsberg stunned teammates and management on the eve of the season when he announced he was taking a leave of absence.
But Avalanche owner Stan Kronke, who married into the family that owns Wal-Mart, is not exactly a shrinking violet when it comes to wielding the checkbook. On the eve of the free-agent signing period, he shelled out more than $100 million to retain Patrick Roy, Joe Sakic and Rob Blake.
Already headed to the Hall of Fame, Roy may have enjoyed the finest 10-day stretch of his career with four shutouts in five games from November 14-24. After a rough start, he backstopped the Avalanche back into pursuit of an eighth consecutive division title.
Colorado was not the only team that got off to a surprising start this season.
Bolstered by the additions of Peca, Yashin and goaltender Chris Osgood, the once-moribund Islanders battled the archrival Rangers for first place in the Atlantic Division. Equally eye-raising was the team at the other end of the division.
Sorely lacking scoring after losing Alexander Mogilny to free agency, the two-time defending Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Devils spent the first three months of the season flirting with the .500 mark.
After missing the playoffs each of the past four years, the Chicago Blackhawks went nearly two months before suffering their first home loss and were holding on to second place in the Central Division.
The Oilers and Calgary Flames championed the cause for small-market teams by occupying the top two spots in the Northwest Division. Edmonton managed to stay on top without star left wing Ryan Smyth, who was lost for two months due to a broken ankle.
Operating on an even tighter budget than their provincial rivals, the Flames' hopes for their first playoff berth in six years were buoyed by Jarome Iginla. Leading the league in goals, points and plus-minus may not have been enough to earn a spot on the All-Star ballot, but it was enough to earn a spot on the Canadian Olympic team.
The year will end six weeks before Hasek and Jagr help the Czech Republic try to defend its Olympic gold medal at Salt Lake City.
Lindros will be there, too. So will Yashin, Peca and Lemieux, assuming he's healthy. It's becoming increasingly clear that the only way to bring players like that together is by removing money from the equation.
