Dallas Stars Official Review: Reversing An Integral Stars Trade

Official Review returns with another brain busting simulation: would you reverse one of the biggest trades in Dallas Stars history?

On December 20th, 1995, the Dallas Stars completed what is now regarded as one of the most memorable and intriguing trades in National Hockey League history. General manager Bob Gainey acquired Hockey Hall of Fame center Joe Nieuwendyk from the Calgary Flames in exchange for powerful forward prospect Jarome Iginla, for whom the Stars used the 11th overall in 1995’s Entry Draft.

Gainey and the Stars felt the need to pull the trigger on the move, which helped Dallas set their top six and power play up to become true Stanley Cup contenders over the coming seasons. With Mike Modano, Jere Lehtinen, and Derian Hatcher already holding down the fort, Nieuwendyk jumped into a lineup built to succeed.

Calgary’s hand was forced with Nieuwendyk from the outset; the member of the NHL 100, who also served as team captain for three seasons, went into the 1995-96 in protest of contract offers given to him in the process of arbitration. Nieuwendyk held out until the Flames paid up, which is exactly what Calgary would not commit to, and therefore was sent to Dallas for Iginla and journeyman center Corey Millen.

Dallas immediately signed Nieuwendyk to a five-year deal with an average annual value of $2.26 million. His play in all three zones as the second-line center behind Modano proved to be instrumental to the success of the late 90s and early 2000s Dallas Stars clubs, highlighted by his 1999 Conn Smythe Award for Playoff MVP.

Dallas Stars

Iginla didn’t make his NHL debut until the 1996-97 season, but became arguably a better play than Nieuwendyk was in his heyday. Iginla is one of only seven players to score 30 goals in 11 consecutive seasons, one of just 19 to pot more than 600 goals, and is the Flames’ all-time leader in goals, points, and games played.

Iginla took no time to get up to speed, making the NHL’s all-rookie team in 1997. He eventually turned into the bonafide superstar he was all throughout the 2000s when he scored 52 goals and added 44 assists to win the Maurice Richard and Art Ross trophies. The Flames made the Stanley Cup Final, taking the Tampa Bay Lightning to seven games in 2004, with Iginla at the helm as team captain.

His accolades span far and wide, with a career 1,300 point mark only passed by 33 other players in the 100-year League history. Iginla is a legend of epic proportions in the Canadian province of Alberta, and also assisted the Sidney Crosby gold medal winning goal in 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

It’s safe to say that what Gainey did in late 1995 was a move that got Dallas over the hump, but it’s also a safe assumption to assume that Calgary would have been a far different team without Iginla. In terms of rebuild/win-now trades, this was the absolute perfect example for what is seen now: Dallas, a Cup contender, received a proven 29-year-old while Calgary, in the beginning of a rebuild, netted one of the most promising prospects in hockey.

It’s possible that keeping Iginla, rather than trading for Nieuwendyk, would have set the Dallas Stars up to succeed over the 2000s decade; the Stars clubs led by Brenden Morrow, Sergei Zubov, Modano, and Marty Turco would have had a generationally-talented goal-scorer to bring them loads of offensive contributions and clutch scoring. As Dallas won the Pacific or Central Division in seven out of nine seasons from 1997 to 2006, Iginla might have contributed more to the success of the Stars after Nieuwendyk was sent packing in 2002’s trade to the New Jersey Devils.

It’s hard to say what would have happened, because Iginla has played zero of his 1,554 career games with the Dallas Stars, who initially drafted the Kamloops Blazers superstar. But would you, if you had a time machine, reverse the famous Iginla-for-Nieuwendyk trade?

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