Scotty Gets His Man: But at What Cost?

Scotty Gets His Man: But at What Cost?
By Jonah A. Sigel, Detroit Correspondent

After two seasons with virtually the same roster, Scotty Bowman had enough.
"All the pressure by you guys (the media) led to this trade," a relieved Bowman told the press the morning after he made arguably the biggest Wing trade since the arrival of Paul Coffey.
Bowman, who was never much of a Coffey fan, traded the future Hall of Famer along with Keith Primeau (a training camp holdout) and a first-round draft pick in the 1997 entry draft to Hartford in exchange for disgruntled forward Brendan Shanahan and a veteran journeyman defensman named Brian Glynn. Glynn, not really wanted by the Wings, was never officially notified of the trade by either club. He had heard on the radio in Hartford. When he called to find when he and Brendan would travel to Detroit, he learned that Brendan was already on his way.
If all that occurred was the trade, the story would be big. However, in lieu of all the events leading up to the trade the story is huge.
What really happened will never really be known. What is known is that deal was killed by both Coffey and Primeau at least once. On several occasions Bowman went to sleep thinking the deal was done and awoke to find it was off again. The first road block was getting Primeau to agree to a new deal. When that was done, the trade should have gone down. But, rumor leaked to the press and Coffey was informed of his apparent fate and he balked. Roadblock two. While in New Jersey, Coffey gets sent away by Bowman and concedes to the trade, the trade should go down. Primeau then reneges on the new deal. Roadblock three. It took Jimmy Rutherford's ability to accept Primeau under his current contract to finally get the deal done.
At first glance the Wings come out way on top in this deal. Primeau would not be able to play here again. His brutal playoff performance and his brittle relationship with both the fans and the media took their toll on the big forward.
In Primeau, the Wings had a potential never realized. Since he was drafted, Primeau's biggest asset was his promise. Having been drafted ahead of Jarmoir Jagr promise was also his nemesis.
In Coffey, the Wings lose a guy who the coach has always hated. When Coffey termed his relationship with Bowman as "professional," more than a couple of smirks could be seen. Since their days in Pittsburgh they detested each other. So, as one Wing official termed it, the deal was a first-round pick for Shanahan.
Lost in all the moves of course is the personality factor, the team chemistry and leadership. The Wings have deleted several great character guys from this team and added but one in Shanahan. It is very ironic that the Whalers grabbed Stu Grimson from the Wings in that he too was a big character guy in the locker room. Some argue that there have been several examples of winning teams that hated each other. This could be different. It is widely accepted that the players do not care for Bowman's old-school tactics. His antics and ego have been blamed for the teams poor performance on several occasion. Mike Vernon likened this summers dealings to the changes Doug Reisbrough made with the Calgary Flames when he traded Doug Gilmour to Toronto a few years back. Vernon alluded to the fact that the quality of the people on the team had greatly been diminished. Vernon's honesty landed him in the press box for the home opener and possibly on the way out soon.
With Coffey sitting in Hartford, one has to believe that the tale of this deal will live until Coffey is dealt again. How will Bowman look if Coffey ends up as rumored in Philadelphia, a team that could very well challenge the Wings for the Cup? Would it be worse for Bowman if Coffey gets dealt to a division rival such as Toronto? Only time will tell.
The Wings have made a deal for this season. The only way to judge this trade fairly is to wait to see who drinks from Lord Stanley's Cup this spring. If it's Detroit, then Bowman was right. If not though, well, he is only supposed to coach this year anyway.
Once again, only time will tell...