IMO, it was to originally pay for Keith Tkachuk's contract. He was about to sign a deal with Chicago or Boston for a heck of alot of money but Winnipeg management at the time, who were thinking "hey since were moving to Phoenix next year, we need a start to center that franchise"...and thus, Teemu was OUT, Keith stayed..since Keith was American and Teemu was from Finland. I never liked that deal back then and I still don't like it now, after Teemu left, Keith was hailed as the poster boy for the Jets and put the team on his back towards the playoffs...his numbers that year were good 50 goals, 48 assists for 98 points..
Keith has good talent, but that stupid money put his brain into complete trash
and what Winnipeg got in return...geeze...
but at the time I hated it, but Tverdovsky was a solid defenseman..