I was always curious about that trade. I was in the midst of becoming a hockey fan around '93, so I didn't have a ton of knowledge yet. It seemed like Winnipeg made the trade knowing that it was going to be a top 5 pick which appears odd by today's standards.
Was it something equivalent to say Edmonton at this year's deadline giving up their first for an established defender?
Winnipeg had had a massive 'European experiment' under Mike Smith in the early 1990s. Drafted nothing but Russians and Europeans almost every year from 1990-93, and had the most Euro-centric roster in the NHL.
It failed miserably and Smith was fired in January 1994 and replaced by a stereotypical hard-nosed Western Canadian GM in John Paddock.
Paddock immediately attempted to cleanse the organization of the Russian influence and give them a new identity (their top 5 picks in the 1994 draft were all from the WHL).
Acquiring Manson was a statement of the change in direction. 'Yeah, we're going to miss the playoffs, but we don't like it, we aren't drafting more Euro kids, and we're going to win with a tough team.' It was basically them paying a premium to get a player who made a statement of that new direction, and to win back fans who were unhappy about the Smith mess.
In addition to the #1 pick, they also sent out rookie Boris Mironov and their best prospect in Mats Lindgren. It was a huge haul and a terrible trade for Winnipeg ... until Edmonton wasted the pick on Bonsignore and Lindgren suffered a serious back injury as a rookie that would plague him for the rest of his career.
So it was a weird/bad trade ... but there was definitely a context behind it.
