Colorado Avalanche and the gift that keeps on giving.
Christmas is over, and it's safe to say that, once again, the Colorado Avalanche sent the Philadelphia Flyers a Christmas card that went unopened.
Oh well, there's always Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving Day,...Well, you get the message.
Plenty of holidays on the calendar for the Colorado Avalanche to show the Flyers just how much they mean to them.
Sixteen years after arguably the most lopsided trade in NHL history, the Avalanche are still, indirectly, reaping the rewards for the ill-advised Eric Lindros trade.
We just celebrated that joyous season of merriment and giving and, upon reflection, the Flyers sure did give to their Colorado brethren.
Or should we say Colorado gave it to Philadelphia?
And the gifts we are talking about came in the form of two Stanley Cups dropped off on the other side of the Rockies.
This one still has to sting for the Flyers, even a decade and a half later.
Way back in 1992, surely Philly was thinking they were making a great deal with what were then the Quebec Nordiques to get Lindros, who was adamant about never wearing the Nordiques jersey.
The Flyers, of course, overspent. Just a tad. Going to Quebec were the rights to Peter Forsberg, Steve Duchesne, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall, Chris Simon, first-round draft picks in 1993 and 1994 and $15 million in cash.
If ifs, ands and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have that Merry Christmas.
I know, I know, it's been 15 years but man, someone was hosed.
Not long afterwards, the Nordiques packed up and moved to Colorado, where, thanks to the benefits reaped from the Lindros deal, the Avalanche won their initial Cup in their first year in Denver.
Thanks, Flyers.
With the likes of Joe Sakic and Mats Sundin leading the team in the early ‘90's, the Nordiques/Avalanche seemed well on their way to becoming a league powerhouse anyway.
The Flyers just hurried that process up.
In essence, Philadelphia engraved Colorado's name on the Stanley Cup on June 30, 1992.
So, yes, as has probably become an annual tradition, the mailman may have dropped off another holiday card postmarked from Denver at the Flyers offices a few weeks back.
It, like 15 others, was probably marked "Return to Sender."