Trade Tree: Allan Rourke trade tree

This is the first trade tree I'm ever going to do. But I won't pick out just any trade tree, one that's either active, unexpected or finished. This one will be put down as unexpected because of how big it got. 

Today we talk about Allan Rourke. Allan Rourke signed as a free agent with the New York Islanders after player twenty-five games with the Carolina Hurricanes back in the 2003-04 season where he put up one goal and two assists in just twenty-five games. Rourke originally got his start with the Toronto Maple Leafs as he got drafted by them 154th overall in 1998. After three seasons with the Leafs playing for the St. John's Maple Leafs, he was traded for Harold Druken where he made his NHL debut with the Carolina Hurricanes. He spent two seasons with the Islanders putting up in a span of two seasons two assists in seventeen games total. 

What made Allan Rourke a unique player was he had all the physical tools. But felt he needed a better chance elsewhere. 

Allan Rourke was traded to the Edmonton Oilers. Going to the Islanders was a second-round pick in 2008.

Now Allan Rourke only player thirteen games with the Oilers not putting up a single point, likely an Oiler people likely forget. For me one Oiler I'll shockingly never forget is Sebastien Basillion who was called up from the QMJHL and only played his two career games. And after that, he went onto play in Germany before retiring. That's it for the Oilers end of the trade tree.

Now, who did the Islanders take with that second round-pick? 

Travis Hamonic. But before making his debut, he was a star with the Moose Jaw Warriors, where he was on the silver-winning World Junior Team Canada in 2010 putting up three points in six games. He was even traded to the Wheat Kings when they hosted the Memorial Cup, but didn't win. Very quickly, he made his NHL debut with the Islanders the following year after getting called up from Bridgeport after nineteen games. Not all second-round picks get this opportunity. Afterwards, he became a staple on the Islanders blue-line getting lots of ice-time, and putting up an exceptional amount of points for someone with his style of play. 

Hamonic requested to be traded closer to his hometown of Winnipeg, which included the team he'd be later traded to which was the Calgary Flames with a fourth-round pick, in exchange for a first-round pick in 2018, second-round pick in 2018, and a second-round pick in 2019. 

Calgary selected Lucas Fuek with the fourth-round pick who retired after playing with the Flames AHL affiliate the Stockton Heat. The Islanders took with the 2019 second-round pick Samuel Bolduc who was up and down between the Bridgeport Islanders and New York Islanders and has recently signed with the Los Angeles Kings. The Islanders took with the 2018 second-round pick Ruslan Iskhakov, who only played one game for the Islanders putting up one point while also playing in one playoff game both in the 2023-24 season; he put up fifty points in 69 games each season and wasn't given a shot due to his size, where he returned to Russia to play with CSKA Moscow. And last but not least, with the 2018 first-round pick the Islanders took Noah Dobson!

Dobson was deemed a steal at that draft, and recently they traded him for Emil Heineman and two first-round picks, which became Victor Eklund and Kaishawn Aitcheson. So, this free agency signing from nothing turned into the Islanders future. It makes you wonder, if the Islanders would've taken Hamonic in the third-round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, or earlier if they had the pick. But lots would've been different.