Vish was traded in a hockey trade, Salei walked (or was allowed to walk). Pretty major changes that summer since they acquired Pronger, so the top 4 was going to be set - Nieds-Beauch/Pronger-O'Donnell. Couldn't really afford guys of Salei's level as bottom pairing guys. We went with Huskins/DiPenta/O'Brien/Jackman in that role.
We got our pick's worth from Rusty for sure. The Ducks had drafting issues for years, but that '96 draft got us Salei and Cullen, who while not superstars were legit mid-roster contributors in the NHL for a long long time. Go look at that '96 draft list, it was horrible ... to get two NHLers out of our first two picks out of that garbage talent pool was frankly amazing.
I had soured on Vish by the time he was dumped. Yeah, he was a fantastic open ice hitter, but put him up against gritty big guys in front of the net or on the boards and he would too often get outfought for position or for the puck ... he wasn't particularly physically overpowering for a guy who hit as much as he did. Games aren't typically won and lost with highlight hits in open ice, it's the unglamorous grunt work that matters more for guys in his role.