NHL trade history: Top 10 goalie deals

This year's NHL trade deadline will go down in history as one of full-tilt goalie madness.

In the days leading up to the deadline, Ryan Miller, Jaroslav Halak, Ilya Bryzgalov, Viktor Fasth, Roberto Luongo and Jacob Markstrom have all changed jerseys.

It's a list that includes Olympic medallists, Vezina Trophy finalists, Jennings Trophy winners, and prized goalie prospects.

Which deals will end up being the most momentous? Here's a look back at arguably the 10 most notable deals involving goalies up until this eventful past week. Trades made down the stretch, not just on deadline day, are considered since the development of the modern trade deadline period in 1980. Only goalies active in the NHL at the time are considered, not traded draft picks later used to select netminders.

Significantly, only one goalie on this list went on to win a Stanley Cup in his new location, with three others reaching the final.

1985: Mike Liut to Hartford from St. Louis, which receives Greg Millen

Very significant deal for its time, with Liut the pick of NHL players for MVP four years earlier. Both goalies carry the freight for their new clubs until near the deadline of the 1989-90 season, with 461 starts and 21 shutouts between them. Neither the Whalers nor the Blues get past the second round of the playoffs during those years, however.

1988: Bill Ranford to Edmonton from Boston for Andy Moog

The netminders square off in the Stanley Cup final two years later, with Ranford taking the Conn Smythe Trophy and the championship. You can make the case the result may have been unchanged if there was never a trade, as the Oilers had the deeper club. Moog has better regular-season stats and more shutouts in the first few seasons after the deal, but Ranford carries a heavier load and lasts longer (seven seasons to five).

1989: Clint Malarchuk to Buffalo in a multi-player deal with Washington

On this list for nothing to do with performance. Just a handful of games into his time with the Sabres, Malarchuk nearly dies on the ice in Buffalo after getting cut in the neck by a skate in a game against St. Louis. Malarchuk overcomes 300 stitches and plays about 100 more games with the Sabres, but the incident would traumatize the Alberta native for many more years.

1989: Kelly Hrudey to Los Angeles from the New York Islanders in a multi-player deal

Hrudey is nervously awaiting the birth of his daughter when he gets moved to the opposite coast. He racks up 10 shutouts in 360 regular-season games in seven-and-a-half seasons with Los Angeles and five playoff series wins, leading to the Stanley Cup final in 1993.

2000: Tom Barrasso to Ottawa, with Ron Tugnutt going to Pittsburgh

After getting swept by Buffalo the previous spring with a tandem of Ron Tugnutt and Damian Rhodes, the Sens whiff by dealing the former for Barrasso, a veteran of two Cup wins. But Barrasso wins just five of his 13 total games in Ottawa as the Sens begin a pattern of losing to Toronto in the first round. Tugnutt wins a playoff series in Pittsburgh, and in the second round is the losing goalie in the longest modern NHL game of all time.

2006: Dwayne Roloson to Edmonton from Minnesota for two draft picks

The Oilers score big with this deal, and may have gone on to a Stanley Cup win had Roloson not been injured in the final three months later. Edmonton doesn't get back to the playoffs in three more seasons with Roloson, though not through anything to do with the goaltender's play.

2006: Jose Theodore to Colorado from Montreal for David Aebischer

A whiff for both sides, but way more so the Habs. Aebischer proves ill-suited for the Montreal pressure cooker, playing just 39 games. Theodore needed desperately to get out of Montreal after several faux pas and fares better, with two playoff round wins in three seasons with Colorado. But Theodore as an Avs goalie is still a notch below the standard he set between 2000 and 2004 in Montreal.

2009: Pascal Leclaire and a second-round pick (Robin Lehner) to Ottawa from Columbus for Antoine Vermette

Still hard to say if this deal will be a total bust for Ottawa, as it would be if assessed only on the glass-bodied Leclaire. The second-round pick in the deal was used to select Robin Lehner, the wild-card factor. The Swedish goalie has shown flashes, but the jury is still out.

2010: Kari Lethonen to Dallas from Atlanta for Ivan Vishnevskiy and a fourth-round pick (Ivan Telegin)

Lehtonen's career was on a downward trajectory in Atlanta. He's still yet to get back to the playoffs after a disastrous 2007 series against the Rangers, but has been otherwise quite good for a struggling Dallas club in nearly 250 regular-season games. The effects of this trade have been felt all the way to Winnipeg. Defender Vishnevskiy never played in Atlanta and is now in the KHL, as is young Ivan Telegin, who refused to report to the AHL when assigned by the Jets earlier this year.

2010: Ottawa acquires Craig Anderson from Colorado for Brian Elliott

The streaky Elliott went 2-8-1 with a goals-against average of 3.83 in Colorado, regaining his lustre only after being dealt to St. Louis. Anderson has been mostly brilliant in Ottawa, helping the Sens defeat Montreal in last year's playoffs and making the Leclaire-Elliott tandem seem like a long ago era.

Honourable mentions

Ben Bishop to Tampa Bay from Ottawa (2013), Dan Cloutier to Vancouver from Tampa Bay (2001), Tommy Salo to Edmonton from the Islanders (1999), Jim Carey to Boston from Washington (1997), Ken Wregget to Pittsburgh from Philadelphia (1992), Dan Bouchard to Quebec from Calgary (1981).