There are dozens of trades during every NHL season, many of them being less than memorable. But throughout history, there have been some blockbuster moves that can directly be tied to Stanley Cup championships and, without those deals, the outcome may have been vastly different.
These trades have gone down as some of the smartest in NHL history, leading to team success at the highest level.
Widely known as the final puzzle piece in the New York Islanders dynasty, the acquisition of Butch Goring in 1980 catapulted the Isles from run-of-the-mill greatness to legendary status. To this day, it goes down as one of the best trade deadline swaps ever made.
The Islanders already had a dynamite team shaped around Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier, and Denis Potvin. But the team couldn't seem to get past the semi-finals, failing to advance to the Conference Final in each of the previous five seasons leading up to 1980.
Goring's identity as a two-way center was just what New York needed in the lineup. GM Bill Torrey had to give up the team's first-ever draft pick, Billy Harris, as well as a reliable defender in Dave Lewis. But Goring's leadership and versatility proved to be the final ingredient in the recipe for a championship. The team went from hovering around .500 at the deadline to finishing second in the Patrick Division after acquiring Goring from the Kings.
Goring would go on to be an instrumental part of the Islanders' four straight Stanley Cup wins from 1980 to 1983, even winning the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP in 1981. He tallied 62 points in 78 playoff games during the dynasty, sparking Bill Torrey to say "if it weren't for Butch, it's debatable how many Stanley Cups we would have won."
In 1991, the Edmonton Oilers shocked the hockey world by trading away one of the team's biggest stars -- and salaries. At that point, Mark Messier was already an eight-time All-Star and just one season removed from a Hart Trophy win as the league's most valuable player. He had won five Stanley Cups with the Oilers and took home the Conn Smythe in 1984.
But his growing paycheck became too much for the Oilers to juggle, leading to the fateful swap that sent him and Jeff Beukeboom to the New York Rangers. It took a few years, but this trade was the cornerstone of the Rangers 1994 Cup victory.
Messier proved his worth immediately, winning his second career Hart Trophy in his first year on Broadway. The Rangers won 50 games in the 1991-92 season but were eliminated in the Division Finals, and that was followed by a steep regression to last place in the division the next season.
But Messier's most memorable contribution to New York was his performance in the 1993-94 campaign, which saw the Rangers win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1940. He scored 30 points in 22 games en route to the championship, including his famous guarantee that the Rangers would battle back from a 3-2 defecit in the Eastern Conference Final that turned out to be true.
In 10 years with the Rangers across two stints, Messier would score 691 points in 698 games, but the trade that brought him there is among the NHL's best for the lasting impact it had on the team.
One of the most memorable trades of all time turned out to be one of the smartest as well. Ray Bourque was a career Bruin in 1999, and was already known as one of the league's best defensemen to ever take the ice having won five Norris Trophies. But he had never reached the Stanley Cup and, with his retirement approaching, Bourque wanted to chase that championship.
The Bruins did Bourque a favor by sending him to the Colorado Avalanche alongside Dave Andreychuk during the 1999-00 season and his impact was immediately felt with 14 points in his first 14 games. The Avs were on the verge of winning a second Stanley Cup in five seasons led by Bourque as well as future Hall of Famers Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg, but they were eliminated in the Conference Finals by the defending champion Dallas Stars.
Bourque decided to try his luck in one last campaign at the age of 40, and the 2000-01 season is what further solidified his status as an all-time legend. He scored 59 points in 80 regular season games before chipping in with 10 points en route to Colorado's Stanley Cup victory. The image of captain Sakic passing the trophy to Bourque so he could be the first one to lift it is one of the most iconic in hockey history.
Bourque retired after finally accomplishing his ultimate goal, and he was greeted by over 15,000 fans when he brought the trophy back to Boston to celebrate with the Bruins faithful who supported him for so long. He was the most significant addition to the Avs leading up to the championship season and the trade that sent him to Colorado is among the best of all time.