The return was an 11th-overall pick that could've been even higher and a 2nd. What they did with those assets is totally irrelevant. If you're going to look at it that way, keep going; they turned a declining, UFA-to-be Brendan Witt into Brown, Latta, and a 4th. Go back even further and you can probably find an even less valuable asset to arbitrarily connect it back to.
Scott Stevens netted 5 first round picks.
Trevor Halverson – Never became anything
Alexander Kharlamov – Never became anything
Miika Elomo – Traded for 2nd(Matt Pettinger). Pettinger traded for 2 months of Matt Cooke.
Sergei Gonchar – Traded after 10 seasons for Shaone Morrisonn and two draft picks a bust and the long term bust Jeff Schultz
Brendan Witt – Traded after 10 seasons for Kris Beech and a 1st (Varlamov). Varly traded for Forsberg + eventually Ribeiro for 1 season. Forsberg traded for Latta + Erat. Erat traded for Klesla, Chris Brown, 4th