The Keith Primeau-Rod Brindamour Flyers trade 23 years later

January 23, 2000, is a day that forever altered the courses of two franchises; although it didn’t seem like it at the time. At the time, it seemed as if it was just two teams swapping two very talented forwards.

And while both were good players and both helped out their teams, one team, in particular, benefitted from this trade more than the other in ways that we are still seeing today.  Today is the 23rd anniversary of the Philadelphia Flyers trading center Rod Brind’amour, a second-round pick, and goalie prospect Jean-Marc Pelletier to the Carolina Hurricanes for center Keith Primeau and a fifth-round pick.

Rod Brind’amour

Brind’amour came to Philly in 1991. The St. Louis Blues had lost Scott Stevens to the New Jersey Devils as a way to make up some RFA capital back after successfully getting Shanahan from Jersey. But with that happening, it left a hole in the defense. The Blues contacted Philly and gave up Brind’amour, a 21-year-old forward with 43 goals in two seasons, for former 1980s star Ron Sutter and touted prospect, Murray Baron.

“Rod the Bod”, as he was known because of his intense workout efforts, immediately clicked in Philly. He scored 30+ goals the next three seasons, including a career-high 37 in 1992-93 and a career-high 97 points the following season. He did everything you could want in a player. He could hit, he could score, he could defend, he could score on the power play or help on the penalty kill.

He could fight, he would battle it out in the corners, and he wouldn’t turn the puck over. He also had this insane ability to win faceoffs. It may not sound like a big deal, but it’s one of those fundamental things that actually can change the course of a game.

He was the second-line center during the 90s while Eric Lindros manned the top line with his Legion of Doom linemates John LeClair and Michael Renberg. The Flyers were fortunate to have two of the biggest centers, both over 6’0″ and 200 lbs, manning their top two lines. They were a formidable pair down the middle that helped keep the Flyers near the top of the standings every year.

During the 1997 Stanley Cup playoff run, he had one of the best playoff games in Flyers’ history. As the Flyers swept the Pittsburgh Penguins, Brind’amour had two shorthanded goals on the same penalty kill! And he would lead all goal scorers with 13 in the 97 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the Flyers would be swept by Detroit; thanks in some part to Shanahan (more on him in a second).

Then Brind’amour got hurt…for the first time in his career. He had become an NHL “iron man” having played in 484 straight games; still a Flyers record. He took a puck to the ankle during training camp. He tried to do the “typical man thing” and “Walk it off and rub some dirt on it”. It didn’t work. He had to miss time and when he came back, was a little slower. In the 12 games he played in during the 1999-00 season in Philly, he had scored just five goals and three assists.

Now, there are also rumors that a rift happened between Brind’amour and Lindros. It could be jealousy over how the two were perceived by fans/management/coaches/etc. Maybe there was a rivalry between the two. There are rumors that something else happened, but since I have no concrete evidence for it…I’m not going to share it here. BUT, if the stories ARE true, then between your second-line center and your superstar, someone has to go…and it’s not going to be the star.

Keith Primeau

Primeau was a highly sought-after junior league player. He scored 57 goals for the Ontario Hockey League’s Niagara Falls Thunder in 1989-90. He was drafted third overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1990 NHL draft behind Owen Nolan and Petr Nedved and just ahead of Mike Ricci and Jaromir Jagr.

He spent his first two as a professional hockey player bouncing back and forth between Detroit and the Adirondack Red Wings before becoming a full-time starter in the 1992-93 season. After four seasons as a starter, he demanded to be traded following the World Cup of Hockey, threatening to miss training camp until he is traded.

He was jealous that Igor Larionov had gotten more ice time than he had gotten and was tired of being blamed for the Red Wings’ postseason failures. After all, he was the third overall pick and was not scoring anywhere close to what Nolan or Jagr had been doing.

As the 1996-97 season started, and Primeau holding out, he was traded along with Paul Coffey to the Hartford Whalers for Brendan Shanahan and defender Bryan Glynn. Interestingly enough, Coffey hated being traded to a basement dweller like Hartford and demanded a trade of his own. Two months later, he was shipped with a third-round pick to Philly for a first-round pick, a seventh-round pick, and Kevin Haller.

Primeau now was on the Whalers. He scored 26 goals and had 25 assists in his first season. Then the team moved out of Hartford and headed south to North Carolina. The Hurricanes, as the team was rebranded, spent their first two seasons in Greensboro before moving to Raleigh. However, during this time, Primeau demanded that he be paid more than his $800,000-a-year salary. He shared the team lead in goals (26) and points (63) with Sami Kapanen (another future Flyer) in 1997-98 and lead the team with 30 goals and 62 points the following season.

He wanted to be paid. He initially rejected a five-year contract worth $20 million. He then rejected a two-year deal for $7 million. He was a 27-year-old RFA and refused to play in Carolina. Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford threatened to match any offer sheet that came his way, keeping Primeau in-house and refusing to trade him. Primeau refused to sign with Carolina and was starting to develop a reputation as a “brat“.

As happens with talent like this, teams start circling. Some teams will lowball, knowing that a team could be forced to sell low because they are stuck. However, teams could end up in a bidding war and if teams in the same division start looking in, such as the New York Rangers who offered Nedved, the price could be driven higher. Rutherford even rejected an offer from Phoenix that included Keith Tkachuk

It was at this point that Clarke made the trade. Primeau would become a Flyer, but it would cost the team Brind’amour. The Flyers would then sign Primeau to a $22.75 million deal over five years.

Rod Brind’amour

Until his final season, the 1999-2000 season was Brind’amour worst season of his career. Between Philly and Raleigh, he scored only nine goals with 13 assists. The effects of his foot injury were still lingering that year. However, if that’s the case, why is this trade listed among the worst trades ever in Flyers’ history?

Brind’amour would bounce back the following season with a 20-goal campaign.  When he was traded to Carolina, he went to a team that missed the playoffs. In his first full season there, the Canes made the playoffs. The following year, they made an incredible playoff run only to lose in five games to the Red Wings (and Shanahan again!) in 2002.

Carolina would miss the playoffs the next two seasons, followed by the lockout. In the first season following the lockout, Brind’amour lifted Lord Stanley’s Cup high as the Hurricanes were named Cup Champions in 2006. Two years later, they were swept by the Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Meanwhile, after the trade, Brind’amour played for 10 seasons in Carolina. He would score 31 goals in the year that he brought the Canes to the Stanley Cup Championship as their captain. He would be named the Selke Trophy winner in 2006 and 2007. In 694 games in Raleigh, Brind’amour would score 174 goals and have 299 assists. That’s good for 11th all-time in goals, third in assists, and fourth in points for Carolina.  Likewise, he is still ninth in career assists and 11th in career points for the Flyers.

This trade has gone down, in the eyes of Hurricanes’ fans, as the team’s greatest ever. And it still paying dividends. Brind’amour is the current head coach of the Hurricanes and he is teaching his players how to play as he did. Watch them sometime.

You’ll see the players battling for the puck in the corners, creating havoc in front of the net, delivering a hard hit when necessary, not turning the puck over but creating turnovers, and winning those faceoffs. It’s a reason why the Carolina Hurricanes have been near the top of the Eastern Conference standings every year since he took over as head coach. His emphasis on a “team first” mentality has fit them well.

Overall, Brind’amour has 452 goals and 1184 points. He is a borderline Hall of Famer whose case is picking up steam.

Keith Primeau

Primeau would score seven goals with 10 assists in the 23 games he played in during his first year in Philly. During the team’s playoff run, he made one of the most famous goals in Flyers history when he scored in the fifth overtime against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 4. While it didn’t clinch the series, it pretty much sucked the life out of the Penguins. But when Lindros got smashed apart by Scott Stevens in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, that would seal the team’s fate.

Ironically, if Brind’amour was traded to appease Lindros, the star of the team, that problem solved itself when Lindros himself was traded in the 2001 offseason after sitting out the previous year following the 2000 playoff run. The Flyers were now Primeau’s team, as he was named captain when Eric Desjardins stepped down. the 2001-02 year was the best season of Primeau’s career in Philly as he scored a career-high with 34 goals and tied a career-high with 73 points.

But injuries would start to hamper him. After the 2004 team fell in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals, there was a lockout. Upon returning, Primeau got a concussion that ended his career. He played just six seasons in Philly. And while he was able to get the team behind him for big playoff moments, including nine goals in the 2004 run, he was never the scoring threat he was billeted to be as a youngster.

Despite his reputation as a “brat” when he was younger, he matured a lot in Philly and became a great team leader. However, his stats were never stellar and the cost paid to get him was too high.