The Pittsburgh Penguins drafted Waltham, MA native Shawn McEachern with the 110th overall pick in the 1987 Draft. He debuted in 1991-92 and played 15 regular season games before 19 more in the playoffs to get his name on the Stanley Cup at 22.
In the following season, McEachern played in all 84 games, scoring 28 goals and 61 points to finish eighth in team scoring behind four future Hall of Famers: Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Larry Murphy, and Joe Mullen.
After the season, the Penguins traded McEachern to the Los Angeles Kings for Marty McSorley, who had just led the NHL in penalty minutes with 399.
It would be McSorley’s second tour of duty with the Penguins, who signed him as an undrafted free agent in 1983. Before jetting off to play with the Edmonton Oilers in 1985, the defenseman had nine points in 87 games over two campaigns.
In Edmonton, McSorley would win two Stanley Cup titles in 1987 and 1988 before being one of the players in the Wayne Gretzky trade to the Kings in August 1988.
While in Hollywood, he scored 172 points in 354 games and racked up 1,560 penalty minutes. Pittsburgh acquired him to be a more challenging opponent to skate against and sacrificed a young 20-goal scorer in McEachern.
Upon returning to Pittsburgh, McSorley collected 139 penalty minutes in 47 games with three goals and 21 points. Meanwhile, McEachern, now skating alongside Gretzky, scored eight goals and 21 points.
The experiment wasn’t working out for either player on their new teams, so in February 1994, just five and a half months after their trade, McEachern was traded again for McSorley, this time in a four-player deal that sent defenseman Jim Paek to Los Angeles and forward Tomas Sandstrom to Pittsburgh.
In his old digs, McEachern bounced back with 12 goals and 21 points in 27 games, while Sandstrom contributed 17 points in 27 games. McSorley scored 10 points in 18 games, while Paek had only two in 18 games.
On February 16, 1994, the @LAKings reacquired Marty McSorley, and added Jim Paek from the Pittsburgh Penguins for Shawn McEachern and Tomas Sandstrom. In his second stint with the #LAKings, McSorley recorded 17 goals, 62 points, and 286 penalty minutes in 118 games.#GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/49QS6v6AWN
— The Kingstorian (@Kingstorian) February 16, 2023
After the trade, Paek left the Kings as a free agent to sign with the Ottawa Senators. McSorley stayed in Hollywood until the 1995-96 season before being traded to the New York Rangers.
McEachern stayed with the Penguins until an August 1995 trade with Kevin Stevens sent him to his hometown, Boston Bruins. Interestingly, Sandstrom is the only one involved in these trades to go on and win the Stanley Cup after the deal.
In January 1997, the Penguins sent him to the Detroit Red Wings, who would win the title in June.
Even though the McEachern for McSorley trade could be revisited on two separate occasions, this first deal on August 27 altered the courses of both the Kings and Penguins. If the first trade didn’t occur, there’s no guarantee that the transaction in February 1994 would happen, changing the careers of more than two players.
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Related: Revisiting the Penguins’ Kevin Stevens Trade With the Bruins
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