You have to think that if you were a kid growing up in Montreal your hockey related dreams might involve winning a Stanley Cup for your beloved Habs.  If this was the case for Vincent Damphousse than Mission Accomplished! Damphousse hoisted the Stanley Cup as a first-line centre for his home town Montreal Canadians in 1986.

Generally when General Managers engineer trades both hope for some sort of accurate equity in return. The New York Rangers certainly did not get that equity when they traded Rick Middleton to the Boston Bruins for Ken Hodge who was at the tail end of his career. Middleton however was just getting started. The man dubbed “Nifty” scored 898 points for his new team and proved to be the best offensive threat for the Bruins for nearly a decade.

Bernie Nicholls was already a productive member of the Los Angeles Kings, but when the legendary Wayne Gretzky went Hollywood, Nicholls’ statistics reached the stratosphere. With attention paid toward the other star center, Nicholls set personal records. To this day, Bernie Nicholls is one of eight players to score 70 goals in a season and one of five to have scored over 150 points in a single season. Yet even with those accomplishments, it seems that Bernie Nicholls racked up his 1,200 + career NHL points quietly. He wasn’t flashy, he wasn’t gritty and he was not the darling of any fan base or media outlet. Still, with 1,200 career points, he has earned more than a healthy look for Hall consideration.

It wasn’t that Dave Taylor wasn’t supposed to make the NHL, but when you are drafted 210th overall the expectations aren’t great. Dave Taylor shattered all expectations becoming part of the legendary Los Angeles Kings Triple Crown Line with Marcel Dionne and Charlie Simmer. Taylor was an unexpected scoring machine who eclipsed the 100 point plateau twice early in his career. Despite his offensive prowess, Taylor was a mean checker and had a strong feel for the defensive side of the game. He would use this defensive skill well late in his career which would prolong his fruitful career in Hollywood. In what is a rarity, Dave Taylor began and ended his career with one team and his number is currently retired by the Kings. It is not impossible for Dave Taylor to join his Triple Crown teammate Marcel Dionne into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.