On this day in 1999, the Vancouver Canucks traded Pavel Bure, Brad Ference, Bret Hedican and a 3rd round draft pick to the Florida Panthers for Ed Jovanovski, Kevin Weekes, Dave Gagner, Mike Brown and a 1st round pick.
The trade of Pavel Bure, who had scored 50 goals three times in his seven seasons with the Canucks, caught no one off guard. Bure was sitting out the 1998-99 season, and the accompanying $8 million in salary, until the Canucks moved him to another team. Three days after the trade, Bure went into his reasons for wanting to move on. These included a strained relationship with Canucks’ management, due in part to what he felt was dishonest dealings from team management. Chief among them was story in 1994 that Bure was threatening not to play during the playoffs unless his contract was extended, which he believed was planted by management. According to Brian Burke’s autobiography, Burke’s Law, Pat Quinn confirmed the story about the demand was not true, but there was no denial made by management at the time of the story.
Rumors about Bure’s eventual destination were abundant in the months leading up to the trade being executed. On December 2, Tony Gallagher of the Vancouver Sun suggested it looked like only the Kings and Rangers were potential suitors for the star winger. On December 7th, Larry Wigge of the Sporting News quoted Panthers’ GM Bryan Murray about his interest in either Bure or Islanders holdout Ziggy Palffy: “Are you kidding? We know one wants $8 million to $10 million — and the other is telling teams he wants the same. It makes no sense to pay one player two and three times more than any other player you have on your team. Even the Rangers. What do they say to Wayne Gretzky?”
Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun reported that Burke asked the Kings for forwards Jozef Stumpel, Glen Murray and 1997 3rd overall pick Olli Jokinen, but was denied. Rumors were consistent throughout December that Burke wanted three out of Stumpel, Murray, Jokinen, Aki Berg and Jamie Storr from the Kings.
Rick Carpiniello of the Westchester Journal News wrote on December 5th that any package from the Rangers would involve Niklas Sundstrom and Dan Cloutier, but the Rangers would refuse to include Todd Harvey or Manny Malhotra. Both Carpiniello and John Dellapina of the New York Daily News wondered if acquiring Bure would take the Rangers’ out of a potential offer-sheet for Peter Forsberg the following summer, lessening the Rangers’ interest in the Canucks’ winger. The Rangers were also aware of fellow wingers and pending unrestricted free agents Theo Fleury and Mark Recchi available on the market (the Rangers would eventually sign Fleury that summer).
There were rumors surrounding the Islanders involving their own holdout Zigmund Palffy. After Palffy signed a five-year contract with the Islanders, Burke indicated that the Canucks’ interest in Palffy was strictly to flip him to another team. Rumors were abound that the Canucks’ were using the Islanders to put pressure on the Rangers. Another Eastern team linked to Bure was the Washington Capitals. Pierre McGuire wrote in Sports Illustrated about a possible trade with Washington that would include Sergei Gonchar, Richard Zednik and a 1st round pick.
Brian Burke said on December 13th, about why no deal had been struck: “The deal will make sense or we’ll take five first-rounders. That’s our safety net. It wouldn’t bother me a bit if he sat out all year.” Bure was to be a restricted free agent the following summer and the compensation to the Canucks from a club signing him would be five first round picks.
Despite what was rumored, the trade that materialized for Bure was with the Panthers. Former #1 overall pick Ed Jovanovski was the centerpiece of the deal. The big blueliner burst on to the scene in his rookie season which saw the Panthers go to the Stanley Cup Finals when he was just 19 years old. In the three seasons with the Panthers following his rookie season, he failed to build substantially on his early success. Once Jovanovski was agreed to, the Panthers took promising young center Rob Niedermayer off the table.
The Canucks also received center Dave Gagner, goaltender Kevin Weekes, pugilist prospect Mike Brown and a 1st round pick in either 1999 or 2000 (at the Panthers’ discretion). Gagner, 33, put up 20 goals and 28 assists in 72 games in his first season with the Panthers in 1997-98. Kevin Weekes was considered a promising young goalie, but had asked for a trade from the Panthers after not being able to wrestle time from either Kirk McLean or Sean Burke in the Florida crease. Mike Brown finished the 1998-99 season with 28 goals (and 285 penalty minutes) with the Kamloops Blazers.
Ed Jovanovski would reach another level with the Canucks. After putting up 37 points in his first 106 games with the Canucks, Jovanovski set career-highs with 12 goals, 35 assists and 47 points in 2000-01. In seven seasons with the Canucks, Jovanovski put up 57 goals and 177 points, as he and Mattias Ohlund lead the Canucks’ defense during the Markus Naslund-lead era.
Kevin Weekes would carve out an NHL career, but played only 31 games over two seasons with the Canucks. He was traded to the Islanders in December 1999 in a trade that brought Felix Potvin to the Canucks.
Dave Gagner would finish out the 1998-99 season with the Canucks and proceed to retire at age 34. He was hired by the Canucks in June 2008 by Mike Gillis, Bure’s former agent, as Director of Player Development. He stayed in that role until 2013.
Once traded, Pavel Bure did report to the Panthers. They re-negotiated his 1998-99 contract. The new contract included no retroactive pay, something agent Mike Gillis called “cost of doing business to get out of Vancouver”. In 11 games in his debut season with the Panthers, Bure put up 13 goals and 3 assists.
In the two following seasons, Bure would win the Rocket Richard trophy with the Panthers scoring 58 and 59 goals respectively. His Panther career was cut to 223 games however, as he would finally be traded to the New York Rangers days before the 2002 trade deadline. He registered 12 goals and 8 assists in 12 games for the Rangers during their playoff push, which would fall short. His career would be limited to only another 39 games, as a knee injury would force his retirement.
Sources referenced (in addition to those linked):
Pavel Bure Fan Club: December 1998 Archives
Pavel Bure Fan Club: January 1999 Archives
