Arizona Coyotes Throwback: Getting To Know Ladislav Nagy
Catching up with Ladislav Nagy
On March 13, 2001, the St. Louis Blues traded Ladislav Nagy to the Phoenix Coyotes — along with Michal Handzus –for Keith Tkachuk, the rights to Jeff Taffe, and a 1st round draft choice.
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Nagy only played six games with Phoenix during the ’00-’01 season — but he made his presence known the following campaign, when he registered forty-two points over the course of his seventy-four game season. As a twenty-two year old, Nagy was good for twenty-three goals in his second full NHL season — but even better, he contributed five power play goals and five game winners that first full season.
Despite his good numbers, though, Nagy wasn’t exactly what the Coyotes fans were looking for — at least, initially.
When you trade a franchise cornerstone player like Tkachuk, you want something of equal value in return — and although the franchise had swapped a player in his decline for one on his way up, many fans believe that this had been a salary cutting type of trade for a franchise whose books were cooked.
Nagy was a good player for the Yotes — but with the way the ownership merry-go-round was going, they had to make financial moves to survive as a business. The unstable ownership made the team one that was driven by financial decisions; before fans knew what was happening, deals like this one become more and more commonplace. To the naked eye, Tkachuk’s relocation to St. Louis was a business-first call; whether the intent had been to shed salary or not, it didn’t go over well with many in the crowd.
The ’02-’03 season, though, Nagy became more of what the team had hoped — and still seemed like he had room to grow.
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Nagy stepped up in his sophomore season with Arizona by contributing twenty-two goals en route to fifty-seven points, once again making game-changing plays by adding eight power play goals and six game-winners.
This would wind up being his best season with Phoenix, though — the following two seasons only saw Nagy play in 106 games due to injuries, and his numbers dropped. In ’03-’04 he only played in 55 games, managing superior stats nonetheless by putting up twenty-four goals and fifty-two points in those games.
The ’05-’06 year saw him playing fifty-one games with fifty-six points — between his point-plus per game numbers and the effective power play production he managed to maintain, it seems that he could have really established himself as an offensive weapon with a healthier career.
Apparently, though, the Desert Dogs didn’t consider keeping Nagy around — so on February 12, 2007, he got traded to the Dallas Stars for Mathias Tjarnqvist and Dallas’s 1st round draft choice.
"“I’d like to have stayed in Phoenix, but they did not want me,” Nagy told The Arizona Republic as he left the Coyotes’ workout in Plantation, Fla. “We talked a little bit about [a contract extension] but they did not offer me anything.”"
"Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said the trade was made because “we weren’t winning.“"
"“I know he’s a good player but sometimes a player needs a different view,” he told the Republic, “and we didn’t want an asset to just walk out the door [after the season].”"
Nagy was signed as a free agent by the L.A. Kings on July 2, 2007 — and although he didn’t stick around much longer in the NHL, he is still playing professional hockey overseas. Right now, the thirty-five year old forward has twenty-seven points in thirty games with the Bratislava Slovan in the KHL.
He was a NHL player with potential who didn’t quite get to the next level — still, I remember watching him play, and can’t be the only fan who wishes they’d seen him amount to more.
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