Old NHL trades are always a fun talking point during the NHL off-season. Trades in the NHL today seem to be so carefully coordinated, where as back long ago trades were not done with the same level of consideration. I’m sure you’ve also heard of some weird trade returns from the past, such as a player for some unique future considerations, or a trade involving multiple players with conditional draft picks included.

Today, I’m taking you way back to some notable trades made by the original Winnipeg Jets. This team played before I was even born, but you may or may not remember some of these players and trades that I’m about to mention. The current (2011-now) Jets have a relatively short trade history, and this summer I already looked back at a few notable ones from the past, including the Stastny and Dubois trades. But now it’s time to flashback to the 90s, to examine some trades the Jets made involving players you might not commonly think of as being remembered for their playing time with the Jets.

If you want to see the full list of Jets trades, check it out on NHL trade tracker. The 1st trade (going from most recent to oldest) that surprised me involved Tie Domi. The Jets sent Tie Domi to the Leafs in exchange for Mike Eastwood and a 1995 3rd round pick. Domi went on to play the rest of his career with the Leafs, and is now remembered as one of the best tough guys from the 90s / 2000s. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t know until I saw this trade that Domi played 3 seasons with the Jets early in his career.

The 2nd trade is one from 1993 involving hall of fame defenceman Phil Housley. I knew that Housley played a few seasons in Winnipeg, but something I didn’t know was that he had his best season of his career with the Jets. In the 1992-93 season Housley scored 18 goals and added 79 assists for 97 points in 80 games. Then the Jets traded him to the Blues? I would need to look up the backstory as to why that happened, but in return the Jets acquired 2 players that would have themselves solid NHL careers.

Nelson Emerson, one of the players acquired, had his best season of his career in his 1st of 2 seasons with the Jets, scoring 74 points. Stephane Quintal was the other player acquired, and he also played 2 seasons for the Jets following the trade. Quintal collected his 2nd best point total of his career (26) in his 1st year with the Jets. Meanwhile, Housley went on to play for the Blues for just one season, before finishing his career with a handful of other teams.

The 3rd trade is an infamous one that is an example of a trade that would only have happened back in the old NHL. The Jets traded forward Kris Draper to the Detroit Red Wings for future considerations. But not just any future considerations, the Jets received a singular dollar.

$1 for Draper, who went on to have a very successful 17 seasons with the Red Wings, highlighted by 4 Stanley Cup championships. Draper was never a super offensive player, but his two-way play style allowed him to be a valuable teammate during the Red Wings “golden era” in the late 90s and mid 2000s. Just a weird and unfortunate trade for the Jets here… I wonder what they bought with that one dollar?

The 4th trade involves the newest Jets head coach Scott Arniel. After 5 seasons with the Jets, Arniel was sent to the Boston Bruins for future considerations. Arniel had his best NHL season in his 3rd season with the Jets where he collected 56 points. After Arniel’s lenghty coaching career within the Jets organization, including the Manitoba Moose in the AHL and as the Jets assistant coach, Arniel finds himself as the main bench boss for the 2024-25 season. I wonder if he’ll bring up that trade with the team at some point?

The 5th and final trade made by the original Jets that was noteworthy (this time not for the player) was the Jets 1st ever official trade. June 9th, 1979 (the year the Jets joined the NHL from the WHA) the Jets acquired a 1980 7th round pick from the Pittsburgh Penguins. The return? The Jets promised the Penguins not to claim Kim Clackson as a “priority selection” from their WHA franchise. I remember back when the Vegas Golden Knights joined the NHL, and they made some of these unique “promise” trades during their expansion draft, some of which ended up paying off in their favour. The Seattle Kraken didn’t have the same expansion draft luck as a result, but regardless, it’s a unique type of trade that is always a possibility during expansion.

There’s 5 interesting, unique and maybe even wacky trades that were made by the original Winnipeg Jets. As mentioned earlier, some of the players involved in the trades may have played just a few years for the Jets, which is why they usually aren’t “remembered” as Jets. I’m sure I missed a few other classic trades made by the original Jets, but these were just a few that caught my attention at 1st glance. Now it’s time to see if the 2024 Jets make any interesting trades before the 2024-25 season begins in 3 months time.