Just to clarify, there was a process called "equalization" which wasn't exactly a trade or future considerations. The concept of free agency was still relatively new in the major sports in the late 80's / early 90's. That CBA had three different levels of restricted free agency. The really goofy one was Group I RFA. The original team wasn't allowed to match (which is kinda mind blowing). The two teams had a window to work out a pseudo trade. If they couldn't agree, each team would present its offer/request to an independent arbitrator who would decide between the two.
In this case, St. Louis offered Rod Brind'Amour, a young unproven Curtis Joseph, and a couple of mid-round picks. New Jersey requested Scott Stevens. Arbitrator sided with the Devils.
Later that summer, Detroit signed enforcer Troy Crowder and offered Dave Barr+Randy McKay in return. Fresh off the Stevens ruling, Devils GM Lou Lamoriello had the nerve to request Bob Probert. Arbitrator sided with Detroit.
Also around the same time, the Rangers signed Adam Graves to a Group I offer from Edmonton. Oilers asked for prospects Steven Rice and Louie DeBrusk. The Rangers offered Troy Mallette. And this kinda exposed the problem with using an arbitrator who wasn't really hockey savvy. If you were just looking at their stats, Graves and Mallette looked close enough so the arbitrator sided with the Rangers. Afterwards, I recall reading that arbitrator wasn't exactly sure how to value the prospects.
One of the last ones before the expiration of the CBA was Petr Nedved signing with St. Louis who offered Craig Janney and a 2nd round pick. Vancouver requested Brendan Shanahan. This led to an awkward week where Shanahan and Janney played for the Blues knowing one was going to be out the door. Eventually the arbitrator sided with St. Louis. Janney refused to report (Scott Stevens initially did the same with New Jersey). With the playoffs on the horizon, Vancouver didn't have the time to wait out Janney so they worked out a trade to send him back to St. Louis.
Understandably this didn't survive into the 1995 CBA and Group I got rolled in with the more familiar Group II which had the predefined draft pick compensation. Those deals were a few years before my time, but I grew to understand why Scott Stevens signed an offer sheet in 1994 to try to get back to St. Louis. He had just bought his dream house and had a good season in St. Louis. The Blues had no intention of trading him but now he was being shipped to New Jersey against his will.
