The Columbus Blue Jackets have been a franchise in the NHL for the last 25 years. In 2000, they formed, and on May 11, 2000, they made their first trade in history.
The Columbus Blue Jackets traded a 2000 4th-round pick (#98 – Jonas Ronnqvist) and a 2000 9th-round pick (#264 – Dmitri Altarev) for Chris Nielsen.
Unfortunately, Nielsen only played 52 games in the NHL. He appeared in 29 games in 2000-01 with the Blue Jackets and recorded four goals and five assists for nine points.
In 2001-02, he played in 23 games with Columbus and scored two goals and three assists for five points.
Over those 52 games, he scored a total of six goals and eight assists for 14 points.
After the 2001-02 season, Nielsen never played another game in the NHL. He spent three seasons in the AHL before jumping to the DEL in Germany.
As for Jonas Ronnqvist and Dmitri Altarev, only Ronnqvist played in the NHL. During the 2000-01 season, he played 38 games with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and recorded four assists. Altarev never left Russia and spent his entire career playing in the KHL.
Considering the state of the Blue Jackets after their expansion draft, their team didn’t have a ton of well-known players, and it shows with this trade.
They made 11 trades in their first year of existence, and none were bigger than acquiring Marc Denis from the Colorado Avalanche in June of 2000 for a 2000 2nd-round pick (#32 – Tomas Kurka).
Some of those 11 deals were agreements to select or to not select certain players in the expansion draft.
Although their first trade in franchise history was not the best, they have gone on to make some pretty good trades to help alter the organization for the better.
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