February 9 is a big date in Montreal Canadiens history, not only is it the date of Martin St-Louis’ hiring, but it’s also the date on which 31 years ago, then GM Serge Savard made one of the worst trades of his tenure.
On that date, Savard, keen to acquire some real star power, made a big trade with the Philadelphia Flyers. He traded Mark Recchi and a third-round pick in 1995 (who became Martin Hohenberger, an Austrian player who never made the NHL) for John LeClair, Eric Desjardins, and Gilbert Dionne.
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At the time, Recchi was 27 years old, had won a Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and had registered three 100-plus-points seasons (one in Pittsburgh with Mario Lemieux and two in Philadelphia with Eric Lindros). He was already an established NHL star.
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Meanwhile, John Leclair was 25 years old, had never scored more than 19 goals in a season, and his most productive season had yielded 44 points, but he did contribute 10 points in the Canadiens’ run to the 1993 Stanley Cup.
As for Eric Desjardins, the right-shot defenseman was also 25 years old, and a key element of the Canadiens’ blueline. He had registered 45 points in his most productive season. He contributed 14 points in 20 games during the 1993 Stanley Cup conquest, including a hat trick in game two of the final, the game that is now known as the turning point of that series because of the illegal stick penalty.
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Finally, Dionne was 25 years old and had played only two and a half full seasons in Montreal, during which he had scored 21, 20, and 19 goals. He had also produced 12 points in 20 games during the 1993 playoffs, but he could be a frustrating player to watch at times.
Recchi went on to play parts of five seasons in Montreal, never putting up more than 80 points on a Canadiens’ team that didn’t feature a Lindros or a Lemieux. Vincent Damphousse, Brian Bellows, and Patrick Roy were Canadiens at the time, but not for much longer for the last two. Bellows left in June 1995, and Roy in December. Pierre Turgeon was also acquired later in 1995 but was traded in October 1996.
Recchi led the Canadiens in points in the shortened 1994-95 season with 43 points, three more than Damphousse. The following season, he was third with 78 points behind Turgeon (96) and Damphousse (94). In 1996-97, he was second with 80 points behind Damphousse, who had 81 points. In 1997-98, he was the team’s highest scorer with 74 points; no one else cracked the 60-point mark, with Damphousse second at 59 points. Finally, in 1998-99, he had 47 points in 61 games before being traded back to the Flyers. The years that followed the Roy trade in Montreal were a very dark time. There were three seasons in which the Canadiens made the playoffs with Recchi, but they never got very far.
It’s not that Recchi didn’t play well for the Canadiens, but he wasn’t surrounded well enough to have the same kind of impact he had with his previous teams. Meanwhile, John LeClair became a three-time 50-goal scorer in Philadelphia, adding another two seasons with 40-plus goals. He was a third of the famous Legion of Doom line alongside Lindros and Mikael Renberg, a line that has marked the Flyers’ history and that took them to the Stanley Cup Final in 1997.
The power forward spent nine and a half seasons in Philadelphia and was one of their key players, just like Eric Desjardins. The blueliner spent 10 and a half seasons in Pennsylvania, finishing his career with the Flyers, reaching new heights in points production, including three 40-plus-point seasons and two 50-plus-point campaigns, and all the while remaining a stabilizing presence on the blueline, very rarely finishing the year with a negative differential (twice).
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As for Dionne, he never managed to establish himself as an NHLer in Philadelphia and played only 27 NHL games after being traded from Montreal, the last five with the Florida Panthers.
In the end, that trade helped the Flyers become Cup contenders by giving them two of their key pieces while the Canadiens were on the verge of entering a very dark age with Roy’s departure. Recchi was an important piece of the Canadiens during his stay, but he didn’t make the kind of impact LeClair and Desjardins had in Philadelphia. For younger fans, he remains the Boston Bruins player who made questionable comments on the Max Pacioretty-Zdeno Chara incident.
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
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