Remembering the Bernie Nicholls Trade

On Jan. 20, 1990 the Los Angeles Kings shocked the hockey world by trading All Star Bernie Nicholls to the New York Rangers in exchange for Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato.

The NHL All Star Game was played the following day.

What happened? Why would the Kings trade a fan favorite? A player who had scored 70 goals the previous season (only 1 of 8 players in the NHL to ever accomplish this feat) along with 80 assists for an unhearadled 150 points (only 5 players have accomplished that task).

In 47 games with the Kings Nicholls had already scored 27 goals and 48 assists. In today’s times, that would be enough to warrant a 7 million dollar a year contract.

But there was a growing concern in Inglewood.

“Things didn’t seem to be clicking,” Bruce McNall told me in a recent phone interview.

Despite Bernie’s stellar year and All Star selection, the Kings were 21-21-5 and were 10 points behind division leading Edmonton.

“Everybody thought (Bernie) was a great scorer but something was missing,” McNall said. “We were soft. Even Wayne (Gretzky) said, “We need some grit.”

Unbeknownst to McNall, the New York Rangers GM Neil Smith had been looking for some scoring and had been negotiating back and forth with Kings GM Rogie Vachon on a deal.

“There was this opportunity that came along for Tomas Sandstom and Tony Granato from the Rangers,” said McNall. “Then finally, (Rogie and Kings coach Tom Webster) came to me and said, “We can do this deal, and we should” and I said “Oh, shit” Because Bernie was a friend of mine, so it was a very unusual circumstance.”

Sandstrom was in his 7^th season with the Rangers. At 6’3” and weighing in at over 200 pounds and averaging 30 goals a season, he was the winger the Kings were seeking. Granato had a stellar rookie campaign with 36 goals and 27 assists with 140 penalty minutes, but he was undoubtedly a victim of the sophomore jinx potting only 7 goals and 18 assists in 37 games.

Bernie was enjoying his All Star selection in Pittsburgh, with fellow teammates Wayne Gretzky, Luc Robitaille and Steve Duchesne.

“After the skills competition,” Nicholls told me today in a phone conversation, “(Calgary Flames Goalie) Mike Vernon came up to me and said, “I heard you’ve been traded.” And I said “What are you talking about?” I’d never heard a thing!”

“I was elected to tell Bernie the great news,” McNall said sarcastically. “As opposed to the normal GM doing it.”

Nicholls finally did run into McNall. “I said, “Bruce, have you heard anything about a trade?””

McNall replied, “Look. There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is we’re trading you. The good news is, we’re trading you to the New York Rangers.” I told him, “From an ego standpoint, you’ll always be in the shadow of Wayne and the Rangers are the highest profile team around and this could do wonders for your career.”

A stunned Nicholls replied, ““You’ve got to be kidding me?” I was devastated. That was the first I had heard about it.”

Once the shock of the deal kicked in, Nicholls began to think about what had just happened.

“I knew they needed someone for Wayne to play with. They had no one to play with Wayne at the time. I knew they had wanted that and there had to have been talks.”

“I loved Bruce. He treated me so good. He did a lot of great things for me and you know when someone is joking or not and when Mike Vernon mentioned it at first and then Bruce said it, I knew he was telling the truth.”

“I was just absolutely in shock.”

McNall recalls, “His wife at the time went hysterical. They had just bought the house and the kids were in school. It was a nightmare. She was crying and I just felt like (poop). She was not happy.”

Nicholls recalled, “Three months before the trade I went to Bruce. I had just signed a new contract and I wanted to buy a house. An expensive house. I’m not a businessman, so I went to someone a lot smarter than me and I said, “Look, I’m thinking about buying this house here, it’s pretty expensive, what do you think?” Bruce said, “”You’re gonna be here forever, we’ll never trade you.”

With the shock and overwhelming emotion of being traded less than 24 hours before the All Star game, the NHL had a dilemma on their hands. Nicholls was representing the Kings in the West, but he had been traded to the Rangers… in the East.

The NHL ultimately decided to keep Nicholls in the West.

But how did Nicholls feel? “It was weird,” he recalled. “It was weird being there playing, knowing you were traded.”

“Actually, (Rangers defenseman) Brian Leech and (goaltender) Mike Richter was on the other side, my new teammates that I never knew anything about so I kind of got to meet them DURING the game.”

While Nicholls was getting used to his new teammates on Broadway, little did he realize that the Rangers 3^rd game on their upcoming schedule was at the Forum, against the Kings.

“It was probably the most nervous I’d ever been in a game,” Nicholls remembers. “I was usually pretty relaxed for a game, I’m excited nervous, but not nervous nervous. I couldn’t even feel myself in warm-up. It was the most nervous I’d ever been in a game.”

“I actually scored a goal and we won 3-1 (Ulf Dahlen had the game winner), so it couldn’t have turned out any better for me. The fans were great. They treated me so well. It was really pretty cool.”

But Nicholls was still trying to figure out why it was he who was dealt.

“(The Kings) were looking for someone to play with Wayne and I knew Wayne had something to do with it.”

“We were both centerman. At the time I played with Luc (Robitaille) and Dave Taylor and for some reason, they didn’t really click with Wayne which was strange to me, but Wayne didn’t really have anyone to play with.”

“They went out and got two guys to go out and play with Wayne. But it was tough.”

Business decisions are always tough, but McNall explained it this way:

“I hate to put it in this term, but as a business ploy, you try and sell at the height of the market and 70 goals was at the height of the market. His value was not going to get any better from a standpoint of just an asset trade. From a purely asset standpoint his value was at the top of his market at the time. I think that’s why everyone thought at this time it made the most sense.”

“If we didn’t get Sandstrom and Granato, we would have never made it to the finals (in 1993). They brought an intensity and combined, they equaled Bernie’s goal scoring ability. Plus they were both very good defensemen. They were gritty, they went into the corners and did all the dirty stuff that nobody likes to do. It worked out fairly well.”

As a player, Nicholls view was much different.

“There’s no loyalty to players, there’s no loyalty to management and that’s part of the business that I don’t like. I’m a firm believer in you sign a contract for five years…”

Nicholls played one more seasons for the New York Rangers, and just before he was about to buy a house for his wife and unborn twins, he went to Rangers GM Smith who told him, “I’ll never trade you.”

On October 4^th, 1991, just one game into the season, Nicholls was traded to Edmonton for Mark Messier.