Lewis Looks Back on Butch Goring Trade

The story of the
New York Islanders deadline deal on March 10, 1980
centers around Butch Goring
- and for obvious reasons.
Goring, who was acquired from the LA Kings, is widely considered the final piece of the Islanders puzzle, a catalyst that helped the New York Islanders go from disappointing contender to dynasty, winning four straight Stanley Cups from 1980-83. Goring, it should be noted, won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1981.
Less is heard from Billy Harris and Dave Lewis, the pair of longtime Islanders who were the cost of acquiring said puzzle piece.

It was not totally unexpected for Lewis, who was home watching Johnny Carson with his wife the night Torrey called him with news of the trade. The players could sense a trade was brewing, though the defenseman initially thought the Edmonton Oilers were the team in talks with the Islanders, instead of Los Angeles.
"They needed a little more depth," Jim Devellano, the Islanders Director of Scouting at the time, said of the Kings. "We were able to provide LA with some depth, because we traded them two legitimate NHL players."
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Harris had been with the organization since day one, the franchise's first-ever draft pick, playing 594 straight games - still a team record - until a healthy scratch midway through the year. Lewis wasn't far behind, joining the team in the second year. His 514 games rank seventh all-time among Isles d-men, but the arrival of Ken Morrow, fresh off Olympic gold, gave the Islanders a replacement for the serviceable defenseman.
"What was right for the team at that time was to get centerman to play behind Bryan," Lewis told the
Talkin' Isles podcast
. "Kenny Morrow, who had just finished winning the Olympics with the USA Hockey Team was quality enough to replace a guy like me."
Lewis and Harris packed their bags at the rink the next morning and flew out to LA, admittedly shedding a few tears as they flew over New York. Less than a month later, Harris and Lewis faced their former team, as the Isles faced in the Kings in the first round of the 1980 playoffs. Lewis remembers scanning the ice at Nassau Coliseum to see if anyone was wearing his old number 25.
"That was a real tough transition for me. And I know it was for Billy too, because we knew the team was good," Lewis said. "We knew there was that we had gone through those growing pains, but as it turned out, it's a business and Bill and Al had to do what was right for the team."
The Islanders beat the Kings three games to one in that series, sending Lewis back home to Saskatoon for the offseason. He followed the team on their march to the first of four straight Stanley Cups and on the night of May 24, 1980, got a long distance call from Long Island. Bob Bourne, who grew up in the neighboring town as Lewis, Lorne Henning and Clark Gillies, all Saskatchewan natives, were on the other end.

"They were so excited, so happy and they just wanted me to feel a part of that," Lewis said. "That tells you the character of those guys, and the whole team, how they felt about the players who had gone through those growing pains, those years. They knew exactly what we felt, but we didn't get the reward, they got the reward. I'll never forget that either, that little phone call meant so much to me."
Lewis wound up winning three Stanley Cups as an Assistant/Associate Coach with the Detroit Red Wings in 1996, 97 and 2002 and he jokes with Denis Potvin that he's only one behind him. Lewis doesn't have a grudge with the organization for trading him on the precipice of the dynasty, holding the perspective that it's a business, even if that can be hard on a personal level. He even runs into Butch from time to time, most recently at the team's alumni weekend.
"The went on to win not one, not two, not three, but four cups. And congratulations to them," Lewis said. "It's just part of pro sports. It's the hard part."