Bure held out well into the 1998–99 season until he was traded on January 17, 1999, to the Florida Panthers, with Bret Hedican, Brad Ference, and Vancouver's third-round choice in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft (Robert Fried) for Ed Jovanovski, Dave Gagner, Mike Brown, Kevin Weekes, and Florida's first-round choice in the 2000 draft (Nathan Smith). Talks between Burke and Bryan Murray, general manager of the Panthers, had begun in late-December. After the trade was completed, Bure explained that he felt alienated from Canucks' management after arriving in North America having defected from Russia. He claimed he had been in Los Angeles for two weeks before any Canucks' representative came to see him, as well as several bitter contract negotiations—particularly those of 1994. He also claimed that someone within the Canucks' management planted the constant allegations that he threatened not to play during the 1994 playoff run. Bure's agent at the time, Ron Salcer, also believed the story.