Is the Roberto Luongo Trade the Worst in the History of Hockey?

Florida Panthers General Manager Jacques Martin thinks so. In an interview with Dan Le Batard of the Miami Herald, Martin answered "true" when asked "True or false -- the Roberto Luongo trade is the worst trade in the history of your sport?" He answered with a laugh, giving him a little wiggle room with reporters, but he refused to back away from the claim on Thursday.

Taking the puck and skating with it, Sportsnet.ca has published what its experts feel are five of the worst trades in NHL history, in an attractive format that assures some extra page views. The list:

5. Doug Gilmour, Ric Nattress, Jamie Macoun, Rick Wamsley and Kent Manderville to Toronto. The Flames received Gary Leeman, Michel Petit, Jeff Reese, Craig Berube and Alexander Godynyuk.
4. The Florida Panthers trade Roberto Luongo, Lukas Krajicek and a 6th round (Sergei Shirokov) for Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan Allen and Alex Auld.
3. The Canucks dealt Cam Neely and a first-round pick to Boston for forward Barry Pederson in 1986.
2. Patrick Roy to Colorado along with Montreal captain Mike Keane in exchange for Jocelyn Thibault, Martin Rucinsky, and Andrei Kovalenko.
1. Peter Forsberg, Ron Hextall, Chris Simon, Mike Ricci, Kerry Huffman, Steve Duchesne, a 1st round selection (Jocelyn Thibault) in 1993, a 1st round selection (later traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, later traded to the Washington Capitals - Nolan Baumgartner) in 1994, and $15,000,000 cash to the Nordiques. The Flyers received Eric Lindros.

The "Lindros-as-worst-trade" nonsense is about as played out as the "Alex-Daigle-as-worst-draft-pick" routine. Lindros averaged 82 points per season for the Flyers, won a Hart Trophy and led the team to a conference title. In hindsight, this was lopsided; at the time, it was actually less than what the Rangers were offering. Plus, there's no accounting for future health or Scott Stevens's open-ice checks when making this deal.

But the worst of all time? Worse than Markus Naslund for Alek Stojanov? Worse than Bernie Nichols, Steven Rice and Louie Debrusk for Jeff Beukeboom and Mark Messier? Worse than Adam Oates and Paul MacLean for Tony McKegney and Bernie Federko? Not a chance.