Luck didn’t smile on the Canadiens in the years following their Stanley Cup victory in 1993. From 1993-94 until 1997-98 they only won a single playoff round, including the first failure in a quarter century to make the playoffs. The 1998-99 season was not looking any better.
On the eve of the 1999 trade deadline, there were few questions in the Canadiens’ locker room from the press about the game they just played, and more about the rumours of an impending trade. General Manager Réjean Houle, wanted to help boost the ninth-place Canadiens into a playoff spot. This, on the heels of Houle trading Mark Recchi a few weeks prior for Dainius Zubrus.