A brief history of the Sam Pollock Trophy, a fake award for NHL trade of the year (2024)

We’re into August, well and truly the dead zone of the NHL offseason. While we occasionally do see a major roster move or two this late into the summer, it’s just as often the case that all the big headlines are done until we get close to camp.

So if the 2024 offseason is over, what was your favorite blockbuster? Was it the Mitch Marner trade that finally blew up the Leafs’ underachieving core? Or maybe big moves involving Martin Necas or Nikolaj Ehlers? Are you going with one of those culture-changing shakeups that the Rangers promised? Or maybe it was when the Ducks finally pulled the trigger on the long-rumored Trevor Zegras deal.

Oh … right.

None of those deals happened. At least not yet, and in some cases, pretty clearly not anytime soon. The summer hasn’t been a total letdown, with some legitimately big moves involving names like Jacob Markstrom, Mikhail Sergachev, Linus Ullmark and Pierre-Luc Dubois.

This sounds like a good excuse to make up another award.

We like to do that around here, having already kept the engravers busy with the Carson Trophy (for best sophom*ore) and the Bourque Trophy (for best final season). Today, let’s honor the greatest GM to ever pick up a phone and swindle an overmatched colleague. I present to you the Sam Pollock Award, for best trade of the year.

We’ll do this by season, which we’ll define as starting with the offseason and carrying through to the trade deadline. We want a trade as influential and important as possible, and we are of course using the full benefit of hindsight to get there. We’ll consider all kinds of deals but will lean heavily toward actual hockey trades in which both sides are trying to improve. The bigger the names involved the better. And while seeing lots of players on either side can be fun, we’ll also try to show some love to old-fashioned one-for-one.

We’ll cover off the cap era. That gives us 19 seasons to get through, meaning we’ll engrave 38 names on the trophy. (Yes, each GM gets to be a co-winner, if only because it will be fun to imagine some guy who got ripped off awkwardly having to accept the trophy with the guy who robbed him.)

It’s Slow News Summer, let’s argue about an award that doesn’t exist.

2005-06

Candidates: The post-lockout chaos was fertile ground for creative GMs, and we saw some big moves like the Dany Heatley-for-Marian Hossa trade. Deadline deals for Mark Recchi and Dwayne Roloson helped shape the Stanley Cup Final matchup, while the offseason move that sent Chris Pronger from St. Louis to Edmonton was the strong favorite for the Pollock throughout the summer. But in the end, this one isn’t too tough of a pick.

But the winner is: The Bruins sending Joe Thornton to the Sharks for Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau, which to this day remains the only trade in NHL history to see a player moved in the middle of an MVP season. Congratulations to Doug Wilson and Mike O’Connell on the win, and let’s all look forward to Boston fans showing up in the comments explaining how trading away a future Hall of Famer for Sturm was good, actually.

2006-07

Candidates: It’s possible the most memorable deal was the deadline trade that sent a sobbing Ryan Smyth from the Oilers to the Islanders. Peter Forsberg went from Philadelphia to Nashville, which is a very weird sentence to write. And for the second straight year, Chris Pronger just misses, despite the deal that sent him from Edmonton to Anaheim leading directly to a Ducks championship.

But the winner is: The offseason blockbuster that saw the Panthers send Roberto Luongo to Vancouver in a five-player deal that included power forward Todd Bertuzzi. Luongo went on to win 252 games for the Canucks in over a decade’s work before returning to Florida at the end of his career. Congratulations to Dave Nonis and Mike Keenan on the Pollock win.

2007-08

Candidates: This was a weird season that saw GMs pretty much take the year off until the trade deadline. But they eventually woke up, giving us one of the better deadline days in memory, featuring names like Sergei Fedorov, Adam Foote, Brian Campbell and a five-player blockbuster involving Brad Richards and Mike Smith.

But the winner is: As much as I don’t want this to be an award for rentals, I don’t think we can avoid the Marian Hossa blockbuster that sent him from Atlanta to Pittsburgh. Ray Shero and Don Waddell, come get your Pollock.

2008-09

Candidates: This is another season that didn’t see much action until deadline time, although the deal that sent Dan Boyle from Tampa to San Jose is at least worth a mention. The deadline saw deals for names like Bill Guerin, Mark Recchi and Justin William. Oh, and also Olaf Kolzig, sort of.

But the winner is: For the first time, we get to really lean into our ability to use hindsight, as we award this year’s trophy to the deadline deal that saw Ryan Whitney go from Pittsburgh to Anaheim for Chris Kunitz. It didn’t make major headlines at the time, but it ended up being a key piece of three Penguins titles. Bob Murray wins his first Pollock, while Shero becomes our first two-time winner.

2009-10

Candidates: The deadline is a dud, but that’s OK because the GMs have been busy in the months before. Brian Burke makes a strong play for the trophy, pulling off deals for both Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf. The Devils get Ilya Kovalchuk in a blockbuster with the Thrashers, although that eventually gets overshadowed by the massive extension they give him. And of course, the Canadiens made the Scott Gomez trade that worked out great.

But the winner is: Call it a lifetime achievement award, but after two near-misses we’re finally going to give the trophy to a Chris Pronger trade. Paul Holmgren and the Flyers get him from back-to-back winner Bob Murray and the Ducks, and it sends them directly to the Stanley Cup Final.

2010-11

Candidates: Barely any, as a very slow year leads to the worst deadline in recent memory. The Hawks send a young Dustin Byfuglien to the Thrashers, the Bruins add a few guys at the deadline (and give up Blake Wheeler in the process), and the Blues and Avalanche at least make a decent hockey trade.

But the winner is: In the Sam Pollock Trophy equivalent of Jose Theodore’s Hart or Jim Carey’s Vezina, the 2011 award again goes to Shero, along with Joe Nieuwendyk, for the James-Neal-for-Alex-Goligoski trade. Next!

2011-12

Candidates: That’s a bit more like it, as we get Brent Burns going from Minnesota to San Jose and Semyon Varlamov heading to the Capitals from the Avalanche. And there’s a strange one featuring Mike Cammalleri.

We also get two genuinely shocking deals on the same day in the offseason, as the Flyers tear their core apart by trading Jeff Carter and Mike Richards in separate moves. The deals leave the hockey world stunned, although in hindsight both work out well. Please don’t ask how they spent all that cap space they saved.

But the winner is: It’s the Carter trade, but not the one involving the Flyers. Instead, we have to go with the Blue Jackets sending a disgruntled Carter to the Kings, where he ends up being the final piece of the franchise’s first Stanley Cup win. Congratulations to Scott Howson and Dean Lombardi, one of whom probably remembers the deal more fondly than the other.

2012-13

Candidates: It’s a lockout-shortened year, but GMs are busy pulling off deals involving big names like Sergei Bobrovsky, Jordan Staal, Rick Nash and Jay Bouwmeester. The Lightning get an unproven Ben Bishop, while the Flames finally pull the trigger on a Jarome Iginla trade several years too late. And even Jaromir Jagr shows up, as he gets dealt from one of those teams you don’t really remember him playing for to another team you don’t really remember him playing for.

But the winner is: This was the year of the big Blue Jackets trade, and I’m going with the late-breaking deadline deal that saw them acquire Marian Gaborik from the Rangers. It was a big trade, featuring six players and a pick. More importantly, it signaled the Blue Jackets weren’t content to be a farm system for the rest of the league after recently sending away Nash and Carter.

Put it this way: When your trade is getting explainer pieces from New York Magazine, you know it’s a big move. Unfortunately, Howson can’t claim two-time-winner status, as he’d been fired a few weeks earlier. Instead, Jarmo Kekäläinen and Glen Sather share the 2013 trophy.

2013-14

Candidates: We’ve got some strong candidates this year, including Martin St. Louis going to the Rangers and Ryan Miller to the Blues. Thomas Vanek is traded twice, and the Kings make another Cup-winning deal with the Blue Jackets, this time for Gaborik. And the Canucks pull off a pair of goaltending blockbusters, sending Cory Schneider to the Devils at the draft and then Roberto Luongo to the Panthers at the deadline.

But the winner is: The Bruins and Stars pull off a seven-player blockbuster built around Tyler Seguin and Loui Eriksson. Lots of teams have out-thought themselves into trading young players in deals they’d come to regret. But not many have proudly published behind-the-scenes footage of the pre-trade discussions. Congrats to Jim Nill and Peter Chiarelli.

Side note: In case you were wondering, I haven’t decided what the actual trophy looks like, but I feel like these two guys capture the general vibe.

2014-15

Candidates: After a couple of busy years, GMs take it easy this time around, mostly settling for mid-tier deals involving names like Jason Spezza, Keith Yandle, Ryan Kesler and Nick Leddy. And I’m not sure there was a more surprising trade than this one.

But the winner is: A genuinely creative blockbuster between the Sabres and Jets that sees seven players and a first-round pick swapped. The big names are Tyler Myers and Evander Kane, the latter of which is interesting because he’s hurt at the time and won’t play that season. That’s just fine for the Sabres, who are trying to tank for Connor McDavid. Come to think of it, those two probably would look good together.

Our Pollock Trophy winners this year are Kevin Cheveldayoff and Tim Murray. Can’t wait to hear his acceptance speech.

2015-16

Candidates: The 2015 draft is all sorts of fun, as the Sabres get Ryan O’Reilly from Colorado, the Flames get Dougie Hamilton from Boston, and the Islanders somehow get two high picks from Edmonton for Griffin Reinhart. We even get one last Chris Pronger deal, as his contract goes to Arizona. And a few days later, the Leafs send Kessel to Pittsburgh in a deal I called the decade’s best win-for-both-sides move. The deadline is a letdown, though, with Eric Staal being the biggest name moved.

But the winner is: We said we’d be looking for a classic one-for-one deal, and we get one of the best in January when the Blue Jackets and Predators swap Ryan Johansen for Seth Jones. Nothing fancy, nothing complicated, just two young stars being dealt for each other (and then bumping into each other at the airport, which was a nice touch). Congratulations to Kekäläinen on joining Shero and Murray in the multi-time winner club, as he shares the trophy with David Poile.

2016-17

Candidates: The Leafs get Freddie Andersen for picks that become John Gibson and Rickard Rakell, the Senators cough up a young Mike Zibanejad to the Rangers, and Jarome Iginla goes to chase his last chance at a Cup in Los Angeles, in what turns out to be a legitimate bummer of a trade when the Kings miss the playoffs.

But of course, none of that is in the running because of a question: Where were you on June 29, 2016, when the NHL’s transaction wire went completely nuts for 23 minutes? We got two mega-deals that day, with the Taylor-Hall-for-Adam-Larsson trade followed immediately by Shea Weber for PK Subban. The trades were one-for-one.

But the winner is: Either of those deals would win in a walk most years, but we have to pick one. I’m going with Weber for Subban since it featured a Norris winner being traded for what we now know was a future Hall of Famer. That makes Poile a back-to-back winner, as he shares the trophy with Marc Bergevin.

2017-18

Candidates: At first I figured this would be the Golden Knights’ trophy to lose thanks to their expansion wrangling, but that ended up being more about quantity than quality (especially since Jonathan Marchessault, Marc-Andre Fleury and William Karlsson were ultimately drafted, not directly traded for). We get another Rick Nash trade, this time to Boston, and a Matt duch*ene deal to Ottawa that ends up being even bigger than it felt at the time. And in hindsight, the Lightning getting both Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller from the Rangers stands out.

But the winner is: The 2018 trophy goes to the Artemi Panarin trade, as the Hawks sent the star winger to Columbus in a deal for Brandon Saad. While it’s easy to forget now, at the time this felt like at least a reasonable gamble for the Blackhawks, even as it turned out to be a disaster. The trophy goes to Stan Bowman, along with three-time winner Kekäläinen.

2018-19

Candidates: We’ve got a ton to choose from, including a pair of Senators blockbusters that see them deal away Erik Karlsson and Mark Stone. There are big moves involving names like Jeff Skinner, Max Pacioretty and Brandon Montour. And you don’t see many five-player deals bigger than the one that saw Dougie Hamilton, Adam Fox and Micheal Ferland go to Carolina for Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm.

But the winner is: I really thought it would be the Karlsson trade, especially when the first-round pick ended up being Tim Stützle. But with the benefits of hindsight, I’m not sure there was a bigger move than the Sabres sending O’Reilly to the Blues, where he immediately won the Selke and the Conn Smythe. That was a blockbuster at the time, but it’s only looking bigger a few years later now that Tage Thompson has emerged as a star in Buffalo. That means Doug Armstrong and Jason Botterill get the honors.

2019-20

Candidates: Some familiar names reappear this year, including Subban going to New Jersey, Miller going to Vancouver and Hall heading to Arizona. We also see Jacob Trouba go to the Rangers and future Stanley Cup Final hero Nazem Kadri head to Colorado.

But the winner is: While Trouba was a bigger deal at the time, our hindsight clause allows us to instead go with a different Rangers blue-line move. That would be the one that saw Carolina send an unsigned Fox to New York for two high picks. That means the trophy goes to Jeff Gorton and Waddell, who becomes the first GM to win it twice with different teams.

2020-21

Candidates: Not many, as the COVID-19-shortened season plays havoc with the rhythms of the offseason and midseason markets. Even the deadline is a bit of a dud, although we do get some decent names like Taylor Hall, Anthony Mantha and Jeff Carter on the move.

But the winner is: I gave some consideration to the Avalanche getting Devon Toews. But I think the winner here has to be the Patrik Laine/Pierre-Luc Dubois swap, a genuine blockbuster that had everyone around the league talking. Even as the deal didn’t really work out for either team, it’s not often you see a pair of top-three picks from the same draft year flipped for each other just a few years later. That makes it a second Pollock win for Cheveldayoff and a record fourth for Kekäläinen.

2021-22

Candidates: Our GM pals get busy again, although most of this year’s trades are salary-based moves under the new flat cap reality. Some of those are still fun, including moves involving Duncan Keith and Marc-Andre Fleury. The Panthers get Sam Reinhart from the Sabres, which turns out to be important in a few years. The deadline features some big names like Claude Giroux, Hampus Lindholm and Fleury again. And in what can only be described as an act of pure gluttony, Kekäläinen makes a bid for a fifth Pollock by dumping Seth Jones on the Blackhawks.

But the winner is: There isn’t too much debate this year, as the award goes to Kevyn Adams and Kelly McCrimmon for the Jack Eichel blockbuster. It was meant to be the move that was the final piece for a championship-caliber Vegas team while setting up the Sabres for a brighter future, and it certainly accomplished one of those things.

2022-23

Candidates: The offseason features moves for guys like Brent Burns, Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach; the Islanders’ midseason move for Bo Horvat is a big one; and the deadline includes names like Patrick Kane, Mattias Ekholm, Jonathan Quick (twice) and Timo Meier.

But the winner is: I’m not actually sure how the voting works in our fictional world where the Pollock exists, but I’m pretty confident this year’s winner is unanimous. The trophy goes to Bill Zito and Brad Treliving for the Matthew Tkachuk trade, the rare blockbuster that was a genuine jaw-dropper at the time and only looms larger in hindsight.

2023-24

Candidates: And that takes us to our most recent award. We get some star players making a return to contention thanks to offseason trades involving Dubois, DeBrincat and Karlsson, plus a fun deadline that includes deals for Jake Guentzel, Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin.

But the winner is: I think we go with the deadline deal that sent Tomas Hertl to Vegas, if only because it was the rare blockbuster these days that seemed to come out of nowhere. The era of insiders and social media rumor mills has been fun in its own way, but it was nice to be legitimately blindsided by a major move. McCrimmon gets his second Pollock, while Mike Grier gets his first.

And that’s it for the history of our latest made-up award. If we learned anything, I think it’s that we may have underappreciated the front-office career of Jarmo Kekäläinen, who pulls off enough big trades to win the Pollock four times. Other multi-time winners include Ray Shero, Bob Murray, Don Waddell, Kelly McCrimmon, Kevin Cheveldayoff and David Poile.

Who’s the front-runner for the 2025 trophy? It’s hard to say, but we’ve still got 11 months to go. If history is any indication, that’s enough time for a blockbuster or two, a few surprises, a busy deadline, and three more Pierre-Luc Dubois trades. Get busy, NHL GMs, there’s now a fake trophy on the line.

(Top photo of Jonathan Huberdeau and Matthew Tkachuk: Brett Holmes / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)