Okay, listen up, because I'm going to rant about this. I'm still not over it (and yes, I know it's been 12 years).

On June 23, 2011, the Columbus Blue Jackets made what has to be one of the worst trades ever. They traded my favorite player at the time, Jake Voracek, and their 1st and 3rd in the 2011 Entry Draft to Philadelphia for *breathes* Jeff Carter (FJC). Those picks? Turned into Nick Cousins and Sean Couturier. While Cousins has slipped into a journeyman 4th liner role, over 11 seasons (all with the Flyers), Couturier has played 721 games and put up a 180-28-460 line along with being a perennial Selke contender (including winning in 19-20). Voracek? He played 727 games and scored over 600 points for the Broad Street Bullies.

Shall we talk about the other side of the coin? The Blue Jackets, after years of gross mismanagement by Doug "Tickled Pink" MacLean, were desperate for some wins, and to get franchise superstar Rick Nash the ultimate present: a first line center that could keep up with him. Don't get me wrong, over the years Manny Malhotra, Jan Hrdina, Derick Brassard, Nikolai Zherdev (not a center), David Vyborny (also not a center), Antoine Vermette, Sergei Fedorov, Mike Peca, and R.J. Umberger tried, they really did. But none of those were what the franchise needed. When Scott Howson swung for the fences, he thought he was getting that 1C so many teams desperately covet... locked up longterm. Conveniently look away from the character issues and drug problems that caused friction in the Philly locker room.

Carter refused to report. Rick Nash had to fly out to beg him to leave his shore house to even report to Columbus. He then made everyone know how miserable he was for the 39 games he played in Union Blue before forcing a trade to play with his best buddy Mike Richards in Los Angeles. Columbus got back nowhere near the value they gave up and the franchise struggled to recover from the PR nightmare that FJC painted over the city as undesirable, even leading idiots on the Internet to group the Panarin, Duchene, Jones, Dubois, Bobrovsky, and Josh Anderson situations as all being the same "no one wants to play in Columbus" narrative.*

All in all, Frosted Tips got very lucky with winning a Cup that season and then avoiding his best bud's fate. He will forever be #1 on the Mt. Everest of most despised hockey players in Columbus. JFC. Having lived in Columbus and Philadelphia, I would take Columbus every time.


*Duchene was always going to Nashville, and the franchise refused to pay Bob and BJA what they were asking for (correctly). Panarin had his mind set on a big city market. It wasn't just Columbus Dubois felt wasn't good enough for his "talents." Not all the same.