I find myself writing about Rejean Houle often these days as I dive deep into the Montreal Canadiens’ worst trades. After trading names like Patrick Roy, Mike Keane, Vincent Damphousse and Pierre Turgeon, Houle was still allowed to lead the Canadiens for a few more years. In 1998, he made another trade, this time with Tampa Bay Lighting.
In this one, he dispatched Stephane Richer, who until then wasn’t much of a threat, but it wouldn’t be the former 50-goal scorer who would come back to bite the Canadiens.
A real plague
Before Brad Marchand and after Claude “Pepe” Lemieux, the Canadiens drafted an Alberta native Caster in the 1993 draft; Darcy Tucker. His first season in the WHL yielded modest results with 13 points in 26 games, but his second year showed there was more where that came from, in 67 games he scored 89 points and had 155 penalty minutes.
If that draft performance caught Montreal’s attention, his next two seasons in the WHL were even more impressive and earned him a contract with the team. In his first professional season in the AHL, Tucker recorded 93 points and 174 penalty minutes and managed three NHL games. Montreal assumed he was ready for the NHL next season. In 73 games, he had 20 points and spent 110 minutes in the sin bin. The following season, his performance was no better and the Canadiens ended his tenure in Montreal, 39 games into the 1997-1998 season. During that period, he only collected six points and 57 penalty minutes.
The trade
Unhappy with Tucker’s performance, Houle decided to package him with Stephane Richer (who had been back in Montreal for a year and a half), former 20th overall pick in the 1992 draft, defenseman David Wilkie, and send them to Tampa Bay.
In return, the Canadiens acquired Patrick Poulin, a Quebecer who was the ninth overall pick of the Hartford Whalers in the 1991 draft; right-shooting defenseman Igor Ulanov, a tenth-round pick in 1991 (yes, the draft was that deep back then) who was on his fourth team in eight seasons; and forward Mick Vukota, an undrafted tough guy who had already played 11 seasons in the NHL and his best days are obviously behind him.
Its consequences
Unsurprisingly, Montreal was Vukota’s last stop in the NHL. He continued playing professionally for a few seasons in the AHL. He finished the season under contract with the Canadiens and had 76 penalty minutes to his name at the end of the regular schedule.
As for Ulanov, he only played four games before the end of the season after the trade. He got one assist and 12 minutes in that span. He spent the entire following campaign in Montreal, suiting up for 76 games and racking up a dozen points to his 109 penalty minutes. After playing 44 games in the 1999–2000 season, he was sent to the Edmonton Oilers on a minor deal. the Canadiens received Matthieu Descoteaux and Christian Laflamme while Alain Nasreddine went to Alberta with Ulanov.
The third player acquired by the Canadiens in the deal, Poulin, would spend an unimpressive four and a half years with Sainte-Flanelle and failed to make much of an impact. In the 2001-2002 season, he was sent to the AHL, where he played his last 28 professional hockey games with the Quebec Citadelles. Unfortunately for him, he never lived up to the high expectations that are often placed on first-round picks. Ultimately, he simply couldn’t keep up with the NHL game, although the Canadiens’ patience allowed him to play 634 games before retiring.
Meanwhile, Tucker’s performance improved under the Florida sun. Slowly but surely, he began to have more influence on games. However, it was when he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs that he became the best version of himself, scoring points while stirring the pot. For three years, he even played with brother-in-law Shayne Corson after signing with the Leafs as a free agent before the 2000-2001 season. The forward was fortunate to be able to count on Tucker, who helped him deal with panic attacks and restless nights, as he was not only his linemate but also his roommate on the road.
Wilkie didn’t leave much of a mark in Tampa Bay or anywhere else. He had only played 167 NHL games when he decided to suspend them. As for Richer, he wasn’t the lethal striker he once was. He played just three more seasons of NHL hockey with the Bolts, St. Louis Blues, Pittsburgh Penguins and Devils. Still, when the curtain fell on his career, he had played 1,054 games and scored 819 points. To this day, he remains the last 50-goal scorer the Canadiens have had. A feat that hadn’t been seen in Montreal since the 1989-1990 season.
In the end, Tucker was arguably the most impactful player in the trade and played 12 seasons in the NHL after being cut by the Canadiens. He didn’t reach the 1,000 NHL game mark, but he did play 947 games. His final season was with the Colorado Avalanche in 2009-2010 and when he hung up, he had 476 points and 1,410 penalty minutes.
