The Deal That Helped Doom the Hartford Whalers: The 25th Anniversary of the Ron Francis Trade

Before I begin, checkout Jeremiah Rufini's recent article entitled "Exile on Trumbull Street." It's an 8 part in-depth investigation about the history of the Hartford Whalers and their eminent demise. It's really fantastic and informative. A must read for any Whaler fan.

On March 4th 1991, Whalers General Manager Ed Johnston decided to trade the face of the Whalers, captain Ron Francis.

Hockey pants. The NHL's dark embarrassing secret. This happened. We let it happen

Johnston packaged defenseman Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings along with Francis and traded them to the Pittsburgh Penguins for forwards John Cullen, Jeff Parker and defenseman Zarley Zapaski. Francis was coming off his best season as a pro, he played all 80 games, posted 101 points (32 goals and 69 assists) in during the 1989-90 season. In 65 games as a Whaler in the 1990-91 season Francis tallied 76 points (21 g, 55 a) prior to the trade. It's pretty obvious what Francis brought to table. No one really knows what Ed Johnston was thinking when he pulled the trigger. Cullen had his best year as a pro in 1989-90, registering 92 points (32 g, 60 a) in 72 games. Zalapski and Samulesson were both quality defenseman so maybe Johnston thought he was getting even value. Jennings and Parker were more or less throw ins. Parker played 4 games in Hartford and that would be his last in the NHL. Over a forgettable 10 year career, Jennings played 389 games with Hartford, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Buffalo. He was a part of the Pittsburgh championship seasons.

While teamed up with the likes of Lemieux, a very young Jaromir Jagr, Paul Coffey and Kevin Stevens (if it wasn't for Steven's suffering a brutal concussion in the 1993 playoffs, that group would ALL be in the Hall of Fame), Francis and the Penguins would win back to back Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992. This team was really fun to watch. Francis put up incredible numbers playing alongside that kind of talent. The Whalers were bounced in the first round of the playoffs in 1991 and again in 1992 (with the exception of the 1985-86 season, that was their usual playoff fate). After the '92 season the Whalers would ever make the playoffs again while playing in Hartford.

In his first full season with the Whalers in the 1991-92 season, Cullen played 77 games, tallied 77 points and was named to the All-Star team. Zalapski enjoyed 2 solid season during the '91-'92 and '92-'93 campaigns until being traded after 56 games into the '93-'94 season. GM Ed Johnston was fired after the '91-'92 season ended and was replaced with Brian Burke. After Cullen's 1st full season with the Whale Burke traded him away to Toronto for a 2nd round pick after only 19 games. After the trade to Calgary, Zalapski would only play two more full seasons before injuries ended his NHL career in 2000. Cullen wasn't quite the same player with Toronto and had a series of injuries before being diagnosed with cancer after the 1997 season.

So if you're keeping score, here's the breakdown (to the best of my ability and desire) of the transactions stemming from the Francis trade:

• March 4, 1991: Francis is traded to Pittsburgh by Hartford with Grant Jennings and Ulf Samuelsson for John Cullen, Jeff Parker and Zarley Zalapski.
• November 24, 1992: Cullen is traded to Toronto by Hartford for Toronto's 2nd round choice (later traded to San Jose - San Jose selected Vlastimil Kroupa) in 1993 Entry Draft (as far as I could find, the Whalers got zilch for this).
• March 10, 1994: Zalapski is traded to Calgary by Hartford with James Patrick and Michael Nylander for Gary Suter, Paul Ranheim and Ted Drury. (Ranheim plays 6+ seasons with Hartford/Carolina and Drury played 50 games for the Whale before being picked up by the Senators in the 1994 waiver draft).
• March 11, 1994:  Suter (the next f*cking day!) is traded to Chicago by Hartford with Randy Cunneyworth and Hartford's 3rd round choice (later traded to Vancouver - Vancouver selected Larry Courville) in 1995 Entry Draft for Frantisek Kucera and Jocelyn Lemieux (Kucera played 94 games in Hartford.
• December 19, 1995: Kucera is traded to Vancouver by Hartford with Jim Dowd and Hartford's 2nd round choice (Ryan Bonni) in 1997 Entry Draft for Jeff Brown and Vancouver's 3rd round choice (later traded to Calgary - Calgary selected Paul Manning) in 1998 Entry Draft (Brown plays 81 games with Hartford/Carolina and is traded for draft picks in 1998).
• December 19, 1995: Jocelyn Lemieux is traded to New Jersey by Hartford with Hartford/Carolina's 2nd round choice (later traded to Dallas - Dallas selected John Erskine) in 1998 Entry Draft for Jim Dowd and New Jersey's 2nd round choice (later traded to Calgary - Calgary selected Dmitri Kokorev) in 1997 Entry Draft (Lemieux played 86 games for the Whalers).

So that's it. this is what Ron Francis gave the Whalers from 1981-91; 714 games played, 797 points (240 goals and 557 assists), advancing to the 2nd round of the playoffs in 1986 and 1 Regular Season Adams Division Championship. Here's what the Whalers got in return from the 8 players that resulted from the initial trade that actually suited up from 1991-1997; 823 games played and 427 points (139 goals and 288 assists). The team never got back to the playoff after the 1992 season whereas with Francis they had 5 appearances (6 if you count 1991). The organization gave up on a potential star in Cullen and traded him away after 109 games. They got rid of a solid blue liner in Zalapski after 229 games. Hell. Gary Suter was an All-Star (I actually met him at an All-Star Game festivity in 1986 when Hartford hosted the game), Calder Cup winner and he never suited up for the team (though to be fair I do not the details of the trade that brought him in and shipped him right back out, it's possible that the organization had no intention of keeping him around).

Francis went on to an illustrious career that got him 3 Lady Byng Awards (Most Gentlemanly Player) and a Selke Award (Best Defensive Forward), 2 Stanley Cups and induction to the Hall of Fame. It's easy to say that being traded from Hartford was the best thing for his career.