Mike Smith liked to draft his Russians. One of my friends in high school was Russian, and his dad was friends with Igor Kuperman, who worked for the Jets as a scout. I remember my friend telling me there was this great defenceman in Russia that the Jets really wanted to draft. I remember calling him after the draft, and he was so excited. O well.
As for the Selanne trade, I'm a bit of a tin foil hat conspiracy theorist on this one. I remember the papers had pictures of Michael Eisner at a Jets game. Eisner was of course CEO of Walt Disney at the time, who owned the Ducks. After Selanne was traded to the Ducks, I wondered if Eisner's visit to the old Winnipeg Arena was because he was scouting the player he wanted to sell seats for the Ducks in Anaheim.
Now, I read earlier someone saying that the new Jets' owners forced Paddock to trade one of Tkachuk, Selanne and Zhamnov. Well, before the Jets became the Coyotes, Zhamnov was also traded, but not for a cheap contract, for Jeremy Roenick.
Does anyone think Zhamnov was worth Jeremy Roenick? What team did this trade? The Chicago Blackhawks, whose old owner at the time was still holding on to a grudge with this team for signing Bobby Hull in 1972.
Pure speculation on my part, but I wonder if the Roenick trade to the Coyotes was a reward for trading Selanne to the Ducks.