Don’t worry, Devils fans, you got a really good deal. That 3rd round pick is a fan favorite and the Jackets are really going to miss him.
Joke all you want this is pretty exciting stuff.
As far as I know the Devils have never traded the signing rights of UFA for a pick.
The closest we got was swapping Henrik Tallider’s signing rights with Buffalo for very fringey minor leaguer in 2013.
This bring’s me back to the fun wacky decade of compensatory picks for UFAs (1994-2005).
Lots of picks:
1996 4th Rd (#101) for FA Bruce Driver
1997 3rd Rd (#58) for FA Phil Housley
1998 5th Rd (#143) for FA Dave Ellett
1999 2nd Rd (#42) for FA Doug Gilmour
1999 4th Rd (#100) for FA Steve Thomas
2000 5th Rd (#135) for FA Dave Andreychuk
2001 3rd Rd (#67) for FA Claude Lemieux
2002 2nd Rd (#53) for FA Alex Mogilny
2002 7th Rd (#218) for FA Ken Sutton
2003 2nd Rd (#42) for FA Bobby Holik
2004 7th Rd (#216) for FA Jim McKenzie
Alas, not very good results for the most part, the Devils drafting started to get dodgy by end of this period.
The best pick of the lot:
Mike Commodore, 1999 NJD 2nd Rd (#42) for FA Doug Gilmour
The best picks out of all the compensatory picks for UFAs? (You know you want to know!)
The earliest pick is a 3-way tie.
1997 STL Rd 2 (#40) for FA Wayne Gretzky
1998 NYR 2nd Rd (#40) for FA Mark Messier
1999 STL 2nd Rd (#40) for FA Brett Hull
Here’s the best players by draft date. This period had some really crap drafts so there’s slim pickings earlier on but one draft brings the heat. (Guess which one!):
Toni Lydman, 1996 CGY Rd 4 (#89) for FA Joel Otto
Niklas Hagman, 1999 FLA 3rd Rd (#70) for FA John Vanbiesbrouck
Jarrett Stoll, 2000 COL 2nd Rd (#46) for FA Theo Fleury
Travis Moen 2000 CGY 5th Rd (#155) for FA Ken Wreggett
Ryan Clowe 2001 SJS 6th Rd (#175) for FA Jeff Norton
Patrice Bergeron 2003 BOS 2nd Rd (#45) for FA Bill Guerin
Matt Carle 2003 SJS 2nd Rd (#47) for FA Curtis Joseph
Shea Weber 2003 NSH 2nd Rd (#49) for FA Ed Belfour
Alex Edler 2004 SJS 3rd Rd (#91) for FA Mark Messier
Mark Streit 2004 MTL 7th Rd (#262) for FA Bill Lindsay