NHL History: Vancouver Canucks acquire Sami Salo today in 2002

It was 18 years ago today that the Vancouver Canucks acquired defenceman Sami Salo from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for holdout Peter Schaefer.

Salo, 28, had spent the four prior seasons playing for the Sens after being drafted by that club in the ninth round of the 1996 round. Salo had been a top-four defenceman for Ottawa and stepped into a similar role with the Canucks, but saw an uptick in his offensive production.

He spent nine years patrolling the Canucks backend playing 566 games. In those games, he scored 74 goals and 236 points for Vancouver.

Salo left the Canucks via free agency in 2012 and played the final two years of his career with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Schaefer, meanwhile, was in his third season with Vancouver at the time of the draft. Drafted in the 3rd round of the 1995 draft, Schaefer had scored 37 goals and 77 points in 194 games with Vancouver, and only played six years after the trade.

He spent four years in Ottawa and one year in Boston before in 2009, his contract was bought out. Schaefer returned for his final NHL season in 2010-11 season playing 16 games and scoring two points.

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