Habs : The ten most impactful Habs trades of the 90's: Corson for Damphousse

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While the 90's were a particularly bad decade for the Habs in terms of trades, not every trade was a complete failure. In the 1992 off-season, the Habs acquired eventual captain Vincent Damphousse from the Edmonton Oilers.

So, the last article in this series was not so upbeat. But, unlike the Chelios for Savard trade, this one worked out quite nicely, and immediately for the Canadiens. In the 1992 off-season, the Habs shipped the ever-dependable Shayne Corson to Edmonton and received Vincent Damphousse in return. The Quebec native would go on to win a Stanley Cup with Montreal and captain the team.

Vincent Damphousse was originally drafted by the Leafs, sixth overall in the 1986 draft. He spent five seasons with them, and was quite successful in the stats department, but the leafs sent him to Edmonton anyways in 1991. Oilers GM Glen Sather once said of him that the only French-Canadian player with more skill was Mario Lemieux. Pretty high praise, and deservedly so. In his first season with the Oilers, he racked up 89 points and helped them to the Conference Finals before being swept by Chicago. In spite of a great season, and Glen Sather's praise of the French-Canadian forward, he would be shipped to Montreal after that year.

Shayne Corson was the big name coming the other way for the Oilers in the deal. Corson joined the Habs full-time in 1986 after playing only a few games in the 85-86 cup-winning season. He was an excellent player with the Canadiens, consistently good for 50-plus points in nearly all of his seven (original) seasons with the club. While Corson was productive, I'm not sure what the thinking was in Edmonton at the time. Damphousse had put up 94, 73, and 89 points in his last three seasons with the Leafs and Oilers, whereas Corson's best season to that point was a 75 point effort. I feel comfortable saying that at one-for-one this trade would be entirely unfair for Edmonton.

But contrary to what the title of this article may suggest, Corson and Damphousse were not the only players involved in the deal. The Canadiens also shipped Brent Gilchrist and Vladmir Vujtek to Edmonton, and received a fourth-round pick in 1993 along with Damphousse. The Habs used the pick to select Adam Wiesel, who never wound up playing for the team. Brent Gilchrist only played one season in Edmonton, and was not much of a difference maker, while Vladmir Vujtek spent most of his career overseas, and only appeared in 70 games over two seasons in Edmonton. So, while it was not a straight up trade at the time, in hindsight it kinda was.

If you evaluate this trade on a one-for-one basis, which I'm inclined to do, it is a pretty clear win. The Habs managed to get a major difference maker whereas the Oilers got one dependable top-six player and two depth players. Now, if that sacrifice of depth hurt the team, I'd be pissed. But, Damphousse went on to put up 97 points his first season in Montreal, added 23 points in the playoffs and had a drink from Lord Stanley's mug. Clearly the loss of the other two players had no effect on the success of the Canadiens, rather it gave them the piece they needed to bring home a championship.

I'm not knocking Corson, but this was a heck of a deal for the Canadiens during a time period where almost every other trade went very badly. Even if you're a big Corson fan, he came back to the team in 1996 anyways, so he wasn't really gone that long. When I think about this trade I wonder if Oilers fans felt like they got a good deal at the time. They got three players in return for one player and a fourth-rounder, which I bet seemed like a sweet deal considering that Corson was a very good player. In hindsight, clearly the benefactors of this trade were us Habs fans.

In a decade where the once-dominant franchise was decimated by a number of terrible trades, this one is a diamond in the rough. After the lockout finished this year, and the Habs finally had their "raise the torch" season opener, I was like a little schoolgirl when Damphousse was passed the torch. He is the only Habs captain of my 23 year lifetime that I've loved nearly as much as Saku Koivu. And, in my opinion, this was probably the best trade made by the Habs in the 1990's.


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Charges against former Hab withdrawn

Source : Montrealgazette.com

Assault charges laid more than two years ago against former Canadiens captain Vincent Damphousse were withdrawn Tuesday in Quebec Court.

Damphousse, 45, was subsequently acquitted.

The prosecution re-evaluated all of its evidence and decided to withdraw the charges, Crown prosecutor Sylvie Dulude told the court.

Damphousse had pleaded not guilty in 2011 to six charges alleging he assaulted his estranged wife, Allana Henderson, at different times between Jan. 1, 2008, and March 29, 2011.

Henderson was also charged in April 2011 with assaulting Damphousse. She faces charges alleging she stole an accordion file folder from Damphousse as well as assault with a weapon while driving a vehicle. (The alleged weapon being the vehicle)

She also pleaded not guilty.

The two charges against Henderson are still pending. A trial date for Henderson’s case was set on Tuesday for January 2015.

Damphousse, who appears as a panellist on the popular sports talk show L’antichambre on RDS, declined to speak to journalists following his acquittal after he left the Montreal courtroom.

 Carolyne Paquin, the crown prosecutor in Henderson’s case, said outside the courtroom the two cases have always been evaluated separately by prosecutors despite the fact that the two events intersected. For their part, Paquin said, they’ve never considered withdrawing the charges against Henderson.

Henderson’s lawyer Vincent Rose told reporters outside the courtroom that his client was very disappointed with the prosecution’s decision. Rose objected to the withdrawal of the charges against Damphousse, wanting Judge Sylvie Durand to postpone her decision to acquit.
“
I suggested that in this case the decision to withdraw (the charges) is reviewable and unfounded,” he said.

Rose said he is looking at the recourse that might be available to his client for possibly challenging the judge’s decision.

He also noted the Crown prosecutor decided in Henderson’s case to submit it to a judge to allow him or her to decide on innocence or guilt. “And we’re asking but why wasn’t the same thing done” with 
Damphousse, he said.

Damphousse played 18 seasons in the NHL. He was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round — 6th overall — of the 1986 NHL draft. Damphousse spent five seasons with the Leafs before being traded to the Edmonton Oilers, where he played for one season. He was with the Habs for seven seasons starting in 1992-93 when he put up 97 points and was part of the Canadiens’ last Stanley Cup victory. His final season in the NHL was in 2003-04 with the San Jose Sharks.

«Doug Jarvis a fait son temps» -Damphousse

Alors que l'on s'attend à ce que Jacques Martin nomme ses adjoints avant le repêchage les 26 et 27 juin prochains, Vincent Damphousse a une bonne idée de ce que le Canadien a besoin derrière le banc.

«J'aime bien Kirk Muller, c'est le seul adjoint que je garderais. Je pense que Doug Jarvis a fait son temps. Ce que j'entends des joueurs, Kirk est apprécié. Mais la décision va revenir à Jacques Martin. De là à changer tout le monde juste parce qu'il y a un nouvel entraîneur-chef, je ne pense pas que ça devrait être le cas», a lancé Damphousse à CKAC Sports, contredisant ainsi les propos d'Éric Desjardins sur nos ondes mardi. Desjardins avait affirmé que le Canadien devait faire table rase derrière le banc pour que Jacques Martin s'entoure de ses hommes de confiance.

L'ancien capitaine du Canadien a pratiquement toujours évolué dans des équipes où un arrière dirigeait la brigade défensive. Dans la nouvelle réalité de la LNH, ça ne devrait même plus être une question à son avis.

«Pour moi c'est essentiel d'avoir un ancien défenseur comme entraîneur des défenseurs. En ce moment, Doug Jarvis, je suis sûr qu'il a de bonnes qualités, mais maintenant, les adjoints deviennent extrêmement spécialisés.»

À l'époque avec le Canadien, Jacques Laperrière avait permis à plusieurs jeunes défenseurs d'éclore et de mener le Tricolore à une coupe Stanley.

«C'était très important dans le cas de nos jeunes défenseurs quand on a gagné la coupe Stanley. Jacques Laperrière a donné beaucoup de petits trucs à Éric Desjardins, Patrice Brisebois et Mathieu Schneider. Ils sont tous devenus de grands joueurs.»

Congédier Carbo : injustifié

Damphousse est également revenu sur le congédiement de Guy Carbonneau en mars dernier. Selon lui, son ancien coéquipier ne méritait pas de perdre son emploi.

«Je considère que le Canadien avait un club moyen et quand il a été congédié, ils étaient au 5e rang dans l'Est. Tous les jeunes qu'on pensait qu'il monterait d'un cran, c'est le contraire qui est arrivé. Je ne pense pas que ce soit de la faute à Carbo.»

«C'était plus ou moins justifié.»

À savoir si la carrière de Guy Carbonneau est terminée dans la LNH, Damphousse n'est pas trop inquiet pour son bon ami.

«Je pense que Carbo, c'est une question de temps avant qu'il se retrouver quelque chose.»

Vincent Damphousse sera la vedette d'un match des célébrités afin de recueillir des dons pour la Société de la Sclérose latérale amyotrophique du Québec le 2 juillet prochain. Les billets sont disponibles via le réseau Admission.

(Source : CorusSports)