I don't think the Lindros trade was that bad, actually. Firstly, had the Flyers drafted Thibault (or had Thibault been in Quebec as opposed to Colorado) that trade would not have happened because Montreal wouldn't trade the best goalie ever in their conference.
Secondly, Lindros did so much for the Philadelphia area; kids hockey went crazy in the Philly area after that, and it was mostly due to Lindros.
Lastly, the trade really becomes Lindros for Forsberg, because I don't give a rat's *** about Ricci or Simon when you're talking about 2 players like this. If you wanna compare stats, also think about the crazy talent that Colorado had on those teams as compared to the Legion of Doom...and the rest in Philly. Lindros never led his team to a Cup, Forsberg never led a team to a Cup. They were both top-3 players for a long time. Was the deal better in the end for Colorado? yes. Was it the worst trade in NHL history? Far from it, as all the other trades mentioned have shown.
My vote goes for Chris Gratton for Daniel Briere. Gratton played 82 games over 2 season for Phoenix, scoring 12 goals and 30 points before being shipped to Colorado and producing just as impressively. Briere played 225 games for Buffalo, scoring 92 goals and 230 points while serving as co-captain with Chris Drury.
