Canucks Land Markus Naslund In One Of The Most Lopsided Trades EVER! | This Day In Hockey History

We look back to this Day in Hockey History, March 20th, 1996, where the Vancouver Canucks land Markus Naslund via trade from the Penguins, in a deal considered one of the most lopsided in NHL history.
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[Junketsuadidas]

Gettin teary eyed from this, the Naslund era is when I started watching hockey as a kid sittin with my great grandma watching Hockey Night in Canada. Brings back so many great memories

[September]

I remembered Naslund while he was with the Penguins in 1995-96. I was following Lemieux because he came back and was tearing up the league.

I noticed he wasn't playing with Jagr (that was Francis) and was playing with Tomas Sandstrom and Markus Naslund instead. I thought he seemed pretty solid with 52 points in 66 games for the Penguins so his trade to us was a bit of a shock.

I can't remember too much about him for the next few years until he was approaching 40 goals one season. Then he became Captain and the West Coast Express started and he was the top left-winger in the league for 3 consecutive seasons. It was amazing to see him grow a bit more each year once Keenan was gone.

[joeywheeler]

Markus naslund is a legend, watched all of his games, he can carry the puck, make scores by him self, out skate and do laps, naslund would be a great Canucks president

[georgeostromiv]

Hey Steve, a trade tree video on this would be amazing!

[TheNewsstandMan]

I remember the trade, thinking this guy will be back in Sweden in a couple of years. Man was I wrong. So happy he came to the best destination possible. Typical humble Swede from the MoDo mill.

[markaguirre]

Remember being 8 years old watching the Canucks play, he is the reason why I love hockey today and will always be my favorite player of all time

[blackhawks]

The greatest Canuck ever, the only Canuck everyone respects. Not only by fans, but his fellow peers as well. Just another great #19. Todd Bertuzzi alone showed just how much he’s respected, I remember Henrik getting dropped by Dustin Brown, and no one did anything. Hmmm.

[PuthSardaraDha]

One of the best SP vids. Thank you for this

[forfuxakes]

I think they were whistling at his wife🤣😂

[theodorebelmont]

Well the Penguins ripped off the Canucks in 2015 with trading Sutter for Nick Bonino
That trade worked out great for Pittsburgh

[Styles]

According to Doug Gilmore he nixed a trade to Vancouver for Naslund from the leafs in 96-97 season. Wanted to stay closer to Toronto...accepted a trade to New Jersey shortly afterward. Imagine Sundin and Naslund on the same team?
Vancouver went on to acquire Messier instead.

[JustinFH]

The ironic thing is they could've drafted him in the first place instead of taking Stojanov. Just goes to show how abysmal Canucks drafting history is. I'd say the Cam Neely trade and Rick Vaive/Bill Derlago trades are amongst the most lopsided too.

[Statsy]

Naslund was drafted 16th in 1991. We got Stojanov at number 7 that same year. We actually traded down when we swapped these two players. 😂

[goodeye]

I remember almost everyone saying that the Pens skinned us. And that he was not really that good and he got most of his points playing with Mario. I laughed at that cause I had watched a lot of Pens game and he played primarily on I think it was the 3rd line and still got good points with limited ice time. It was a OMG moment for me. The Bertuzzi one was pretty good too.

[The_Bad_Guy.]

The penguins would have probably won at least 1 more stanley cup if not 2 in the late 90s early 2000s if they didn't make this trade....

[jonboey]

I’m a Canucks fan... but it’s sad to say that the Pens still went on to win cups while... well you know

[christhornycroft]

He was a great captain for the Canucks. It's just too bad they were a one line team at best with goaltending issues the entire time he was here. I remember for those 3-4 years, he had one of the best wrist shots in the NHL and he was an excellent playmaker too. His career went south pretty quickly after the Steve Moore hit, though. I don't condone what Todd did, but I can understand why he'd be upset. Markus' career was basically ended with that dirty hit.

[lordbyron]

Hockey players give the greatest speeches....

[jasonjansen]

Naslund wasn't good when he was traded. I remember when he started at Vancouver he was terrible. Somehow Mike Keenan pushed him in some way and Markus responded, and became a Canucks legend. I think Keenan has to be given some credit.

[irinfrq]

Is he still the gm of modo? Id like to see him be the canucks gm one day!! Ala sakic for colorado