NHL history: Worst trade in each team’s history

NHL history: Worst trade in each team’s history: New York Islanders

There are so many trades to choose from in this era of New York Islanders hockey. Mike Milbury might be the worst GM in hockey history. His batting average is near Pittsburgh Pirates levels. They were always selling because they never wanted to spend money. Unfortunately for them, athletes like to get paid a lot of money. So, we can choose from such stars as Roberto Luongo, Zdeno Chara, the pick that turned into Jason Spezza, Todd Bertuzzi, and Chris Osgood. He even traded away Olli Jokinen after getting him in this deal.

The Islanders desperately needed a star, and Zigmund Palffy was quickly turning into one. He had three seasons where he was scoring between 85 and 90 points with the Islanders, but he was dealing with injuries in the 1998-99 season.

Palffy could have been incredible, but he fell by the wayside because of shoulder injuries limiting his ability. He was out of the NHL by the age of 33, but he still made a major impact on the Kings. He had 340 points over 311 games that spanned five seasons. He was the face of the Kings when they absolutely needed one. They also added a few other pieces to the deal.

Milbury was sitting on his pieces, and the Islanders spent years trying to wash off the stink he left on Long Island. The team is in better shape now, but it took about a decade to recover from the Milbury era.