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Throwback Thursday: Looking at the Joe Nieuwendyk trade with the Stars
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski/USA Today Sports
Ryley Delaney
Nov 20, 2025, 18:00 ESTUpdated: Nov 20, 2025, 14:35 EST
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Everyone loves a win-win trade.
In last week’s edition of Throwback Thursday, we looked at the Miikka Kiprusoff trade between the Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks. The Flames host the Dallas Stars on Saturday, and those two teams have an important win-win trade in their past as well.
On Dec. 19, 1995, the Flames sent Joe Nieuwendyk to the Stars. Drafted 27th overall in the 1985 draft, the Hall of Famer found tons of success with the Flames, scoring 314 goals and 616 points in 577 games. Nieuwendyk scored 51 goals and 92 points in 75 games in his first full season, en route to the Calder Trophy.
That wasn’t his only award he’d win with the Flames, as he scored 10 goals and 14 points in 22 games during the 1989 post-season, helping the Flames win their first and only Stanley Cup (so far).
Over the course of his nine seasons with the Flames, Nieuwendyk was a four-time All-Star and even won the King Clancy trophy in 1994-95. The forward had two 51-goal seasons, followed by two 45-goal seasons. Overall, he reached the 30-goal plateau with the Flames six different times.
Nieuwendyk found success after the Flames as well. In 1997-86, his third season with the Stars, the Oshawa, Ontario native scored 39 goals and 69 points in 73 games, his best season in the National Hockey League away from the Flames. The following season, he won it all with the Stars, as he scored 11 goals and 21 points in 23 games, earning the Conn Smythe Award.
In seven seasons with the Stars, Nieuwendyk scored 178 goals and 340 points in 442 games. The Conn Smythe was Nieuwendyk’s lone award, as he didn’t earn any other type of hardware, nor earn an All-Star appearance in his tenure with the Stars. That said, he finished 12th in Hart voting in 1997-98.
The Stars nearly won back-to-back Stanley Cups, but fell short to the New Jersey Devils in 2000. During the 2001-02 season, Nieuwendyk was traded to the Devils, playing a season and a half with the team. The Devils fell in six games to the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round.
In Nieuwendyk’s lone full season with the Devils, he scored 17 goals and 45 points in 80 games, helping the Devils earn the second seed in the Eastern Conference. They beat the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning in five games before beating both the Ottawa Senators and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in seven games to earn their third Stanley Cup in history.
For the 2003-04 season, Nieuwendyk returned home to the Greater Toronto Area to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs. In 64 games, he scored 22 goals and 50 points in 64 games, as well as six goals in nine post-season games, the last time he’d play in the playoffs.
Nieuwendyk signed with the Florida Panthers after the 2004-05 lockout, scoring 26 goals and 56 points in 65 games, his final full season in the league. In 2006-07, he played 15 more NHL games before being forced to retire due to back pain.
The Flames traded away a player who went on to win two more Stanley Cups and enter the Hockey Hall of Fame, so how was this trade a win for them? Well, the prospect they received for Niuewendyk was none other than Jarome Iginla (also receiving Corey Millen).
Starting with Millen, he played parts of two seasons with the Flames, scoring 15 goals and 40 points in 92 games before spending the rest of his career in Germany. Iginla, as you likely know, went on to become arguably the best Flame player of all time.
Iginla never played for the Stars, but made his NHL debut in 1996-97. He ended up scoring 21 goals and 50 points in 82 games, earning an All-Rookie appearance and finishing second in Calder voting. Iginla played two post-season games in 1996, scoring a goal and picking up an assist. It wasn’t until 2003-04 that he’d play another playoff game.
In between his two playoff appearances, Iginla established himself amongst the league’s best power forwards, scoring 188 goals and 380 points in 463 games between 1997-98 and 2002-03. It wasn’t until the 2001-02 season that Iginla truly broke out, scoring a league-high 52 goals and 96 points, winning the Rocket Richard Trophy, the Art Ross, and the Ted Lindsay.
The 2003-04 season saw Iginla lead the league in goals for the second time, potting 41 of them and picking up 32 assists for 73 points in 81 games. On top of his second Rocket Richard Trophy, Iginla also picked up the King Clancy Trophy.
More importantly, Iginla led the Flames to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in his first season as their captain, scoring a playoff-leading 13 goals, as well as 22 points in 26 games. The Flames never reached the second round again in Iginla’s tenure, either being knocked out in six or seven games.
Still, Iginla was productive for the rest of his Flames’ career, scoring 275 goals and 592 points in 593 games. He finished as a finalist for the Hart Trophy for the third time in his career in 2007-08, and earned votes in 2006-07, 2008=09, and 2010-11.
With the Flames out of contention in the twilight of Iginla’s career, they traded their captain to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Kenneth Agostino, Ben Hanowski, and a 2013 first-round pick that turned out to be Morgan Klimchuk.
In his return to the postseason, Iginla scored four goals and 12 points in 15 games with the Penguins, as they were swept by the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Finals. Iginla joined the Bruins the following season, scoring 30 goals and 61 points in 78 games, but they fell in seven games to the Montréal Canadiens in the second round. That happened to be the last time Iginla played in the post-season.
During the 2014 off-season, Iginla signed a three-year deal with the Colorado Avalanche, where he scored 59 goals and 124 points in 225 games. Midway through the 2016-17 season, Iginla was traded to the Los Angeles Kings, where he played his final 19 NHL games, scoring six goals and nine points in 19 games as the Kings fell eight points short of making the playoffs.
Iginla retired in the 2018 off-season and made the Hall of Fame two years later. He was teammates with Nieuwendyk in the 2002 Olympics, and assisted on the game-winning goal in the 2010 Olympics to earn Canada the Gold Medal. Iginla’s son, Tij, was drafted sixth overall by the Utah Mammoth in 2024, while his other son, Joe, is a top prospect eligible for the 2026 draft.
It’s not often you see two Hall of Famers traded for one another, but it’s hard to argue that either the Flames or Stars lost this trade.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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