New York Rangers: The ten worst trades in franchise history
By Steve Paulus
#5- Luc Robitaille traded to the Los Angeles Kings for Kevin Stevens.
August 28 ,1997
Luc Robitaille was one of the most prolific left wingers in NHL history. He became a Ranger in 1995 along with Ulf Samuelsson in a blockbuster trade with Pittsburgh that saw Petr Nedved and Sergei Zubov join the Penguins. In Robitaille, the Rangers got a player who averaged 42 goals in his first nine seasons.
In his two seasons in New York, “Lucky Luc” under-performed, scoring 23 and 24 goals. After losing to the Flyers in the 1997 Conference Finals, Rangers general manager Neil Smith decided to send Robitaille back to Los Angeles in a trade of underachieving left wings.
In exchange the Rangers got hulking left winger Kevin Stevens who had seen his career slide after back-to-back 50 goal seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he was playing alongside Mario Lemieux.
How did it work out for the Rangers? Not so well.
Stevens played two seasons in New York before being arrested in a St. Louis motel with a prostitute and crack cocaine. He entered the NHLPA substance abuse program and never played another game for the Blueshirts.
As for Luc Robitaille, he revived his career with his return to Los Angeles, playing eight more years and scoring over 30 goals in four of those years. Robitaille was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009.