One swap, two Hall of Famers. Explore how a bold trade for a proven champion birthed a Dallas dynasty and delivered Calgary its greatest franchise icon.
On July 8, 1995, the Dallas Stars used the 11th overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft on a forward out of the Kamloops Blazers named Jarome Iginla.
He would never suit up for the team that selected him as just over five months later, in December, the Stars sent the future Hall of Famer and center Corey Millen to the Calgary Flames in exchange for the rights to Joe Nieuwendyk, who was in the middle of a contract standoff with Calgary.
Dallas made the move because Mike Modano was the only true star center on the roster, and the Stars didn't feel they could keep pace with other contending teams up the middle of the ice.
Nieuwendyk, already a Stanley Cup champion, fit that need perfectly, and the trade looked like a shrewd, low-risk move for Dallas at the time. In hindsight, though, it meant giving up a player who would eventually eclipse Nieuwendyk entirely, with Iginla developing into arguably the greatest player in Flames history.
Nieuwendyk walked into a Dallas lineup built for a championship run, and he delivered. He was a key piece when the Stars won the only Stanley Cup in franchise history in 1998-99, taking home the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in the process.
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He played three more seasons in Dallas before adding a third career Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 2002-03, and he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011 after a 20-year career that produced 564 goals and 1,126 points.
Calgary's return on the deal took longer to materialize but ended up reshaping the franchise. Iginla spent 16 of his 20 NHL seasons with the Flames and left as the club's all-time leader in goals, points and games played among several other historic marks.
He hit superstar status in 2001-02, topping the league with 52 goals and 96 points on his way to sweeping the Art Ross, Maurice Richard and Lester B. Pearson Awards. In the end, both franchises walked away with exactly what they needed as Nieuwendyk helped deliver a title to Dallas while Iginla turned into a Calgary mainstay for 16 seasons.
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