How New Jersey Devils Turned Jason Arnott Into Shakir Mukhamadullin
Devils Side of the Trade Tree and Subsequent Deals Pt. 1
We have already covered what Jason Arnott did his first time around with the Devils immediately after the trade from the Edmonton Oilers. We all know what happens next. He scored a game-winning goal in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2000. He wasn’t able to stay healthy the following season, and he was eventually traded to Dallas in 2002. But if you stop and look at it, that trade with the Stars has reach far beyond its original intention. Before we get to that, we should talk about Bryan Muir and his contribution to the Devils. Spoiler alert, it is not much.
Muir didn’t play a game with the Devils during the rest of the 1997-98 season. He then played a singular game in the 1998-99 season. Lamoriello traded Muir to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for a 3rd-round pick in the 2000 draft. The Devils used that pick on Mike Rupp. Rupp would famously score the game-winning goal in Game 7 of the 2003 Stanley Cup Final. Rupp would then be dealt to the Phoenix Coyotes along with a 2004 2nd-round pick for Jan Hrdina. Hrdina played 13 games with the Devils before leaving in free agency to the Blue Jackets.
Muir played 64 games with the Blackhawks before being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning with Reid Simpson in exchange for Michael Nylander, William and Alex’s father. Simpson left Tampa Bay for St. Louis in free agency. Nylander was traded after 239 games with the Blackhawks to the Washington Capitals with a draft pick for Chris Simon and Andrei Nikolishin. The draft pick would become Stephen Werner who never made it to the NHL. Chris Simon left Chicago in free agency. He would become to be more well known for cross checking Ryan Hollweg in the face. Nikolishin was later traded to the Colorado Avalanche in return for a draft pick that became Mitch Maunu, who also never played a game in the NHL.
Before returning to New Jersey in 2006, Rupp was dealt by the Coyotes along with Cale Hulse and Jason Chimera to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Geoff Sanderson and Tim Jackman. Hulse played a few games for the Blue Jackets before being traded to the Calgary Flames for Cam Severson, who has no relation to Damon. Chimera was dealt to the Capitals for Milan Jurcina and Chris Clark. Neither of them was traded. Chimera left the Capitals to join the New York Islanders in free agency. Tim Jackman was traded to Los Angeles for Yanick Lehoux, who was never traded again. Geoff Sanderson left in free agency to join the Philadelphia Flyers. Interestingly, Sanderson is the second father of players drafted into the NHL on this side of the tree.