Revisiting the Petr Sykora for Jeff Friesen Trade in 2003

On July 6, 2003, the New Jersey Devils and the then Mighty Ducks of Anaheim pieced together a seven-player deal that saw big names Petr Sykora and Jeff Friesen swap coasts.

Overall, the transition broke down as follows:

To New Jersey:

To Anaheim:

As we look back at this particular trade 19 years later, it's clear that the Devils were the victors in the deal, as both Friesen and Tverdovsky would go on to win the Stanley Cup less than 12 months after this deal.

Meanwhile, Sykora and Commodore would win championships years later with other franchises. 

Let's look at how everyone performed on their new teams.

Friesen played 162 games in New Jersey, scoring 88 points, including 14 points in 24 playoff games during the run to the 2003 Stanley Cup Final. While in East Rutherford, he scored his final 20-goal season, finishing the 2002-03 campaign with 23.

Oleg Tverdovsky skated only one season in New Jersey, collecting 13 points in 50 games. During the playoff run to his first Stanley Cup victory, he chipped in three assists in 15 contests. 

Maxim Balmochnykh played six NHL games, all with the Ducks, and never returned to the league with New Jersey. Instead, he played one season (42 games) with the Albany River Rats before moving to Russia and Belarus to finish his professional career.

Petr Sykora had a respectable tenure in Anaheim, scoring 131 points in 197 games, including 34 goals in 2002-03. That was the same season the Ducks and Devils met in the Stanley Cup Final, with Sykora's new team losing to his former one in Game 7. 

A decade later, he returned and played his final NHL season with New Jersey, part of the club that lost in the 2012 Stanley Cup Final. 

Mike Commodore never played for Anaheim; instead, he was traded from the AHL to the Calgary Flames for Rob Niedermayer. Interestingly, the other player in this deal included Damphousse, who came from New Jersey in this deal.

Damphousse is another skater in this transaction who never dressed for a game in Anaheim. He appeared in 41 games in the AHL in 2002-03, split between two clubs, but after another season, he returned to Quebec to play his final year of pro hockey in the LNAH.

Anaheim acquired the rights to Igor Pohanka, who would play two seasons in the AHL with the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. He never made it into the NHL, playing one more season in the minors before skating in the CHL and ECHL, departing the game in 2008.