Schenn 'fits exactly what we need' for Islanders following Deadline

Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Also known as "The Hockey Maven," he shares his weekly humor and insight with readers each Wednesday. With another NHL Trade Deadline now history, the focus is if a key deal leads to a Stanley Cup championship like it did for the New York Islanders in 1980 to launch a dynasty.

Almost a half-century ago, an exchange before the NHL Trade Deadline led directly to the New York Islanders dynasty of the 1980s: Four consecutive Stanley Cup championships and an unprecedented 19 straight series victories in the Stanley Cup Playoffs between 1980 and 1984.

The question down the stretch of the 2025-26 season is who can potentially replace the Florida Panthers as Stanley Cup winners. The two-time defending champs are outside of the playoff bubble with 18 games to play.

Several teams believe that they have their answer after the 3 p.m. ET Deadline on Friday. The Anaheim Ducks acquired longtime Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson for a conditional first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft and a third-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft. The Colorado Avalanche fortified their Stanley Cup hopes with Nazem Kadri's return via a trade with the Calgary Flames for a conditional first-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft, a conditional second-round pick in 2027, forward Victor Olofsson and unsigned forward prospect Maxmilian Curran.

The Islanders made a bold move, sending forward Jonathan Drouin, goalie Marcus Gidlof and a first-and third-round pick in 2026 for St. Louis Blues captain Brayden Schenn, a 2019 Stanley Cup champion.

"When you play hockey after the Deadline and in the playoffs, it's fighting for every inch on the ice, being able to take a hit and dish out hits," said Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche, himself a two-time Cup winner (2020, '21) as a Tampa Bay Lightning executive. "We want to be physical and Brayden does that, so I think he fits exactly what we need right now."

Sometimes more than one preliminary exchange must be facilitated for the really big one to be pulled off at the 11th-and-a-half hour. That happened 46 years ago after two excellent Islanders teams were eliminated from Cup contention in the previous preliminary rounds,

"Our problem," Islanders general manager Bill Torrey said, "was that we had only one outstanding center in Bryan Trottier. The opposition was able to double-team 'Trots,' tire him out and beat us out. The answer was to find a good center who could spell him off and give us more balance."

Torrey's high command included coach Al Arbour and chief scout Jim Devellano, who had a few potential trade prospects in mind. One was Los Angeles Kings versatile center Butch Goring. 

They put their game plan to work in the middle of the 1979-80 season.

"We knew we'd have to give up more than a player if we expected to get a quality guy like 'Butchie,'" Devellano said. "That meant we also had to fill in the additional gaps, and we knew that the Kings would want at least one defenseman. My job was to start building over a couple of months and to strengthen us while I was at it. I knew where to start."

Though the Islanders boasted some big, tough hombres like Clark Gillies and Bob Nystrom, it was felt that a more intense hitter was needed. The man targeted was Gord Lane, a defenseman with the Washington Capitals.

Lane admitted to author Greg Prato for "Dynasty: The Oral History of the New York Islanders, 1972-1984" that he was hoping for such a trade. The Capitals sent him to the Islanders for forward Mike Kaszycki on Dec. 7, 1979.

"I knew the Islanders were struggling a bit," Lane said, "and I knew I could help them."

With the first piece of the puzzle in place, Torrey and Devellano began searching for another defenseman because they expected that their trading partner would be interested in Dave Lewis, a young, reliable defensive defenseman. With that in mind, they scouted Team USA in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.

"The fellow we wanted was our property, Ken Morrow," Torrey said. "What we didn't know was whether he could make the jump directly from the Olympics -- amateur players -- right into the NHL, but Ken's performances helping the Americans win was good enough for me. As soon as Morrow got his gold, we had him fly in and join the roster."

With two pieces in place, the Islanders shopped Billy Harris, their first-ever NHL Draft pick when they took him No. 1 in the 1972 NHL Draft, to Los Angeles. As expected, the Kings wanted more and that's where New York added Lewis and the deal for Goring was sealed just under the deadline March 10, 1980.

"When Butch arrived, we suddenly got hot," Morrow told author Allan Kreda for his autobiography, "Miracle Gold: Four Stanley Cups and a Lifetime of Islanders Hockey."

"We won our last dozen games right up to the start of the playoffs."

Arbour could now form a big second line so the opposition couldn't concentrate on the first line. Goring instantly adapted to his new team as if he had been there for a decade. 

"The Islanders were a good team when I arrived," Morrow said. "The whole League knew they were good. There was an attitude of what expectations were. It was, we're supposed to win. That's it. I could feel that right away. That air of expectation was there from my opening time as an Islander."

Goring returned the favor with the best hockey of his life and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the 1981 playoffs. The Islanders' reign ended after reaching the Stanley Cup Final for the fifth consecutive year, a five-game loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

"We couldn't have done it without that Goring deal at the Trade Deadline," Devallano said. "Come to think of it, we couldn't have pulled it off had we not landed Gord Lane and Kenny Morrow before that."