#2 Trading Jagr in 2004 to kick off a fire sale
Going hand in hand with the previous slide is when the Caps traded away Jaromir Jagr. It was a move with the New York Rangers for Anson Carter. The latter only suited up for 19 games with the Caps scoring five goals and five assists for 10 points before he was traded at the deadline to the Los Angeles Kings.
What made this trade troubling wasn't Carter's struggles with the Caps by any measure but rather the success Jagr found with their foes in the New York Rangers. Jagr had just 16 goals prior to getting traded but finished the season with 15 goals when he joined the Blueshirts.
The next year Jagr had 54 goals and then would have 30 and 25, respectively, before continuing his tour across the NHL from city to city. Although this was a bad trade and the Caps would go on to lose other fan favorites that deadline such as Peter Bondra, it was something they had to do to get Alex Ovechkin as the number one pick in the 2004 NHL Draft.