"We were the last club general manager Glen Sather] wanted to send Jari to," said LA general manager Rogie Vachon
[to the Times' Steve Springer
.
Kurri, however, forced Sather's hand: The Edmonton property, who had played the previous season in Italy, threatened to return to HC Devils Milano for another year if he wasn't moved by May 31st. He also made it clear that a reunion with Gretzky was his top priority.
Sather conceded, "The only thing I could do was not trade him." But he didn't want to lose the seven-time 40-goal scorer, also considered to be among the best two-way forwards in the game, for nothing once again.
So an hour before the right winger's deadline, Sather traded his rights, along with Dave Brown and Corey Foster to Philadelphia for Craig Fisher, Scott Mellanby, and Craig Berube. The Flyers then re-routed the 31-year-old, along with Jeff Chychrun, for Steve Duchesne, Steve Kasper, and LA's 1991 fourth-round draft pick.
Kurri, however, almost became a Red Wing.
Before the trade, the Kings were allowed to negotiate a new contract with him. They agreed to a four-year, 3.75 million dollar pact.
But according to Sather, the "Wings offered more money than Los Angeles."
The Red Wings also refused to facilitate a three-team swap -- despite the possibility that Kurri might choose to return to Italy instead of play for Detroit.
"Fortunately for us," said Vachon, "[Sather] liked Philadelphia's offer better than Detroit's."
Today, Kurri admits that he would've worn the Winged Wheel, his desire to re-join Gretzky withstanding.
"When I left for Europe, I knew it had to be for one year. If I was longer than one year, I might have retired there. If I wanted to play high-level hockey, I had to come back to the NHL."
