Long before he became one of the biggest and most disappointing contracts in
New York Islanders franchise history, Alexei Yashin was traded to the Islanders
 from the Ottawa Senators back on June 23, 2001.

At the time, Yashin was a talented forward with a high-skill level and
offensive upside that was clearly appealing to the Islanders and their general
manager at the time, Mike Milbury. So much so, that Milbury moved a budding
defenceman, a frisky forward and a first-round pick in 2001.

While Yashin spent the first seven seasons of his NHL career with the Senators,
 the team shipped the forward to the Islanders following two 85-plus point
seasons for Bill Muckalt, Zdeno Chara and a first-round pick that turned into
Jason Spezza at second overall in 2001.

But how did the trade play out for both teams? Let's have a look.Over Yashin
Yet?

In seven years with the Senators, Yashin was nearly a point-per-game player. He
 had 218 goals and 491 points in 504 regular season games - good enough for a
0.97 average. While his defensive game was somewhat suspect, he did manage to
become one of the better players to ever wear a Senators jersey - still sitting
 fourth all-time in franchise points behind only Erik Karlsson (518), Spezza
(687) and Daniel Alfredsson (1,108).

Still, there came a day when the franchise decided to move on from the big
forward and that came in June 2001 after the Senators had suspended him for
the entire 1999-2000 season for refusing to report to the team.The New York
Islanders signed Yashin to a 10-year deal that they eventually bought out of.
(Photo by Mike Stobe /Getty Images)

The Islanders went on to sign Yashin to a 10-year deal prior to the 2001-02
season worth just under $64 million. That included an NHL lockout in 2004-05
and a subsequent buyout by the Islanders on June 6, 2007, which forced the team
 to pay him just over $2.2 million through the 2014-15 season.

That said, while his Islanders career was cut short thanks to the buyout, it
was exactly disappointing by any stretch of the imagination. He still
maintained a 0.84 point-per-game average with the Isles - tallying 290 points
in 346 regular season games. Still, the end to his career wasn't what the
Islanders or their fans thought it would be and it certainly wasn't what
Milbury had in mind when he signed Yashin to that big contract.

But Yashin finished his NHL career following the buyout and went over to play
in the KHL where he spent four years playing for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, SKA St.
Petersburg and CSKA Moscow until he retired in 2011-12.

As for the Senators, they ended up with quite the haul from the Yashin
deal.Senators Score Spezza and Big Z

For starters, the Senators grabbed Muckalt in the deal, who at 27 years old was
 a player you could throw into the lineup to simply eat up some minutes. While
he only averaged about 10 minutes per game over his 70 games with the Sens in
2001-02, he did tally eight assists to go along with his 46 penalty minutes.
Following that season, he signed with Minnesota where he played just eight
games to finish his career.

But the Senators did score some major pieces when the moved Yashin - including
Chara who hadn't really found himself yet on the offensive end of the spectrum
and a first-round pick that was eventually used to take Spezza second overall
in 2001.Before he was a Bruin, Zdeno Chara played four seasons with the Ottawa
Senators. (Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports)

Chara played four seasons with the Senators as a pillar on their blue line. It
was in Ottawa that he really started to shine on both ends of the ice -
notching 146 points in 299 regular season games and averaging close to 25
minutes per game. He legitimized himself as a true top-pairing defenceman
during his time with the Sens and finished second and fourth in Norris Trophy
voting in his final two seasons with the club.

When it came to his free agent year, however, the club had to make a decision
on who to keep between him and Wade Redden and Chara would eventually end up in
 Boston as a free agent signing where he's gone on to captain the team as well
as win a Stanley Cup in 2010-11. He remains fourth in franchise history when it
 comes to the Senators defensive scoring.

In Spezza, the Sens got a player that would stamp his name on the franchise.
Spezza made his NHL debut in 2002-03 as a 19-year-old and posted 21 points in
33 games. From there he went on to notch four 80-point campaigns with the
Senators, including two in which he hit the 90-point plateau.Spezza, who ranks
second on the Sens all-time scoring list, was eventually shipped to the Dallas
Stars for a handful of players. (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

He played parts of 11 seasons with Ottawa and finished with 687 points in 686
regular season games, which is still good enough for second on the team's
all-time scoring list. On top of that, he had some impressive playoff runs with
 the franchise including 22 points in 20 games during the Senators' 2006-07
postseason run.

But in the final year of a seven-year deal he signed with the Senators in 2007,
 the team traded him to the Dallas Stars for a handful of players who've never
really left any impression on the team. Especially when you're talking about
having given up a player who still ranks second in goals, assists and points
for the franchise in Spezza.

That said, while it lasted, it's safe to say the Senators were the beneficiary
of the Yashin trade. The troubles that took place in 1999-00, led to the
eventual trade and for a number of seasons the Sens had the opportunity to see
what Spezza could do while Chara manned the point for four of those years.

The post Alexei Yashin Trade Revisited appeared first on The Hockey Writers.

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