The Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild were the last two expansion clubs allowed into the NHL, admitted in 1997. They wouldn't take to the ice until 2000, after the completion of the construction of their new arenas: Nationwide Arena in Columbus and the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
The Blue Jackets hired Doug MacLean as general manager on February 11, 1998, about two-and-a-half months after he was dismissed as the Florida Panthers' head coach. MacLean also assumed the title of president shortly thereafter.
The Wild hired former Flames GM Doug Risebrough over a year later, on September 2, 1999.
The rules of the 2000 expansion draft were almost exactly the same as the rules of the 1999 and 1998 expansion drafts. Existing clubs were allowed to protect either up to one goalie, five defencemen and nine forwards or up to two goalies, three defencemen and seven forwards. The Blue Jackets and Wild would alternate selections in a 'snaking' pattern (ABBABAAB) and take two players from each of the 26 existing clubs participating in the draft (a total of 52). Neither the Atlanta Thrashers nor the Nashville Predators would participate, being that they had only taken to the ice one and two years before, respectively.
Each existing club was mandated to expose players with a minimum level of experience. If a team protected two goalies they had to offer a goalie with a minimum of 10 games played in 1999-2000, or 25 games over the course of 1998-99 and 1999-2000. A "game played" in this case was defined as a minimum 31 minutes in a game. A team protecting only one goalie did not have to offer a goalie with any NHL experience. Each team had to offer at least one defenceman and two forwards with 40 games played in the 1999-2000 season or 70 in 1998-99 and 1999-2000.
All first- and second-year professionals were exempt from selection as were any unsigned draft choices, except choices from Europe from 1996 or earlier.
Of the exposed players the Blue Jackets and Wild would select three goalies, eight defencemen and 13 forwards, and two more players of any position. Any existing club that lost a goalie could not lose a defenceman, and no more than one defenceman or goalie could be chosen from an existing club. Each of the new clubs could select a maximum of six players apiece that were due to become free agents of any sort.
The deadline for protected lists was 4:00 pm Mountain Daylight Time on June 12, two days after the Devils beat the Stars for the Stanley Cup. A trade freeze also went into effect at the same time, and would last until the end of the expansion draft on June 23. Prior to the trade deadline a few minor trades were made between the existing clubs:
- Blackhawks traded Steve Passmore to the Kings for a 4th round draft pick in 2000 or 2001 to the Blackhawks (Blackhawks chose 2000, and selected Olli Malmivaara) on May 1
- Mighty Ducks traded Trent Hunter to the Islanders for the Blue Jackets' 4th round pick in 2000 (Jonas Ronnqvist) on May 23
- Hurricanes traded Paul Ranheim to the Flyers for an 8th round pick in 2002 (traded later to the Lightning, who selected Darren Reid) on May 31
- Mighty Ducks traded the rights to Stephen Peat to the Capitals for a 4th round pick in 2000 (traded later to the Canadiens, who traded to Penguins, who selected Michel Ouellet) on June 1
- Lightning traded the rights to Eric Beaudoin to the Panthers for a 7th round pick in 2000 (Marek Priechodsky) on June 1
- Lightning traded Kevin Hodson to the Canadiens for a 7th round pick in 2000 (traded later to the Flyers, who selected John Eichelberger) on June 2
- Lightning traded Rich Parent to the Senators for a 7th round pick in 2000 (traded later to the Sabres, who selected Paul Gaustad) on June 4
- Flames traded Jean-Sebastien Giguere to the Mighty Ducks for a 2nd round pick in 2000 (traded later to the Capitals, who selected Matt Pettinger) on June 10
- Mighty Ducks traded Ed Ward to the Devils for a 7th round pick in 2001 (Tony Martensson) on June 12
- Thrashers traded Steve Staios to the Devils for a 9th round pick in 2000 (Simon Gamache) on June 12
- Blackhawks traded Mark Janssens to the Flyers for a 9th round pick in 2000 (Arne Ramholt) on June 12
- Predators traded Patrick Cote to the Oilers for the Coyotes' 5th round pick in 2000 (Matt Koalska) on June 12
- Senators traded Patrick Traverse to the Mighty Ducks for Joel Kwiatkowski on June 12
The most notable trade in retrospect was the Flames trading Giguere to the Ducks. Giguere was about to become a restricted free agent and there was a risk that either one of the Blue Jackets or Wild would have taken the former first-round pick. Instead the Flames dealt him to Anaheim, getting something for him, and Anaheim took the risk that one of Guy Hebert or Corey Hirsch would be selected.
The Blue Jackets and Wild also made several trades, some of which were made with existing clubs on the condition that certain players would or would not be picked in the expansion draft.
- Islanders traded Chris Nielsen to the Blue Jackets for a 4th round pick in 2000 (traded to the Ducks, who selected Jonas Ronnqvist) and a 9th round pick in 2000 (Dmitri Altarev) on May 11
- Ducks traded Espen Knutsen to the Blue Jackets for a 4th round pick in 2001(Vladimir Korsunov) on May 25
- Avalanche traded Marc Denis to the Blue Jackets for a 2nd round pick in 2000 (traded to the Hurricanes, who selected Tomas Kurka) on June 7
- Sharks traded Jan Caloun, a 9th round pick in 2000 (Martin Paroulek) and a conditional pick in 2001 to the Blue Jackets for future considerations on June 11
- Sharks traded Andy Sutton, a 7th round pick in 2000 (Peter Bartos) and a 3rd round pick in 2001 (later traded to the Thrashers, who traded to the Penguins, who traded to the Blue Jackets, who selected Aaron Johnson) to the Wild for an 8th round pick in 2001 (traded to the Flames, who selected Joe Campbell) and future considerations on June 11
- Devils traded Krzysztof Oliwa and future considerations (the rights to Deron Quint) to the Blue Jackets for a 3rd round pick in 2001(Brandon Nolan) and future considerations (Turner Stevenson) on June 12
- Stars traded Manny Fernandez and Brad Lukowich to the Wild for a 3rd round pick in 2000 (Joel Lundqvist) and a 4th round pick in 2002 (traded back to the Wild, who traded to the Kings, who selected Aaron Rome) on June 12
The Sharks' trades with the Blue Jackets and Wild were made in order to keep goalie Evgeni Nabokov safe; that was the "future considerations" in both cases. The Avalanche traded Marc Denis to the Blue Jackets as part of a more elaborate deal that I will explain below.
Protected Lists
| Mighty Ducks of Anaheim | Boston Bruins | Buffalo Sabres | Calgary Flames |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goaltenders | |||
| J.S. Giguere | Byron Dafoe | Martin Biron | Fred Brathwaite |
| John Grahame | Dominik Hasek | ||
| Defencemen | |||
| Jason Marshall | Hal Gill | Jay McKee | Tommy Albelin |
| Ruslan Salei | Kyle McLaren | Rhett Warrener | Wade Belak |
| Patrick Traverse | Darren Van Impe | Alexei Zhitnik | Denis Gauthier |
| Pavel Trnka | Phil Housley | ||
| Oleg Tverdovsky | Derek Morris | ||
| Forwards | |||
| Antti Aalto | Jason Allison | Curtis Brown | Valeri Bure |
| Marc Chouinard | P.J. Axelsson | Chris Gratton | Jarome Iginla |
| Matt Cullen | Anson Carter | Mike Peca | Bill Lindsay |
| Paul Kariya | Mike Knuble | Erik Rasmussen | Andrei Nazarov |
| Ladislav Kohn | Brian Rolston | Miroslav Satan | Marc Savard |
| Mike Leclerc | Sergei Samsonov | Vaclav Varada | Jeff Shantz |
| Marty McInnis | Joe Thornton | Cory Stillman | |
| Steve Rucchin | Jason Wiemer | ||
| Teemu Selanne | Clarke Wilm | ||
| Carolina Hurricanes | Chicago Blackhawks | Colorado Avalanche | Dallas Stars |
| Goaltenders | |||
| Arturs Irbe | Jocelyn Thibault | Patrick Roy | Ed Belfour |
| Defencemen | |||
| Steven Halko | Jamie Allison | Ray Bourque | Derian Hatcher |
| Sean Hill | Brad Brown | Adam Foote | Richard Jackman |
| Marek Malik | Anders Eriksson | Jon Klemm | Richard Matvichuk |
| Nolan Pratt | Bryan McCabe | Aaron Miller | Darryl Sydor |
| Glen Wesley | Boris Mironov | Sandis Ozolinsh | Sergei Zubov |
| Forwards | |||
| Bates Battaglia | Tony Amonte | Adam Deadmarsh | Aaron Gavey |
| Rod Brind'amour | Eric Dazé | Chris Dingman | Brett Hull |
| Ron Francis | Michal Grosek | Peter Forsberg | Mike Keane |
| Sami Kapanen | Jean-Yves Leroux | Dan Hinote | Jamie Langenbrunner |
| Ian MacNeil | Dean McAmmond | Brad Larsen | Jere Lehtinen |
| Sandy McCarthy | Michael Nylander | Ville Nieminen | Grant Marshall |
| Jeff O'Neill | Steve Sullivan | Shjon Podein | Mike Modano |
| Gary Roberts | Ryan Vandenbussche | Joe Sakic | Kirk Muller |
| Shane Willis | Alexei Zhamnov | Stephane Yelle | Joe Nieuwendyk |
| Detroit Red Wings | Edmonton Oilers | Florida Panthers | Los Angeles Kings |
| Goaltenders | |||
| Chris Osgood | Tommy Salo | Trevor Kidd | Stephane Fiset |
| Jamie Storr | |||
| Defencemen | |||
| Chris Chelios | Sean Brown | Bret Hedican | Aki Berg |
| Mathieu Dandenault | Roman Hamrlik | John Jakopin | Rob Blake |
| Steve Duchesne | Janne Niinimaa | Todd Simpson | Mattias Norstrom |
| Nicklas Lidstrom | Jason Smith | Robert Svehla | |
| Aaron Ward | Igor Ulanov | Mike Wilson | |
| Forwards | |||
| Kris Draper | Mike Grier | Pavel Bure | Kelly Buchberger |
| Sergei Federov | Bill Guerin | Viktor Kozlov | Ian Laperriere |
| Tomas Holmstrom | Chad Kilger | Oleg Kvasha | Glen Murray |
| Vyacheslav Kozlov | Georges Laraque | Paul Laus | Zigmund Palffy |
| Martin Lapointe | Todd Marchant | Scott Mellanby | Luc Robitaille |
| Kirk Maltby | Ethan Moreau | Rob Niedermayer | Bryan Smolinski |
| Darren McCarty | Rem Murray | Mike Sillinger | Jozef Stumpel |
| Brendan Shanahan | Ryan Smyth | Ray Whitney | |
| Steve Yzerman | Doug Weight | Peter Worrell | |
| Montreal Canadiens | New Jersey Devils | New York Islanders | New York Rangers |
| Goaltenders | |||
| Jeff Hackett | Martin Brodeur | Kevin Weekes | Mike Richter |
| José Théodore | |||
| Defencemen | |||
| Patrice Brisebois | Josef Boumedienne | Eric Cairns | Jason Doig |
| Craig Rivet | Ken Daneyko | Zdeno Chara | Brian Leetch |
| Sheldon Souray | Scott Niedermayer | Kenny Jonsson | Sylvain Lefebvre |
| Scott Stevens | Jamie Rivers | Dale Purinton | |
| Colin White | Ray Schultz | Stephane Quintal | |
| Forwards | |||
| Benoit Brunet | Jason Arnott | Mariusz Czerkawski | Jason Dawe |
| Saku Koivu | Sergei Brylin | Josh Green | Rob DiMaio |
| Trevor Linden | Patrik Elias | Brad Isbister | Radek Dvorak |
| Martin Rucinsky | Bobby Holik | Olli Jokinen | Theoren Fleury |
| Brian Savage | John Madden | Claude Lapointe | Adam Graves |
| Sergei Zholtok | Randy McKay | Mats Lindgren | Eric Lacroix |
| Dainius Zubrus | Alexander Mogilny | Dimitri Nabokov | Darren Langdon |
| Jay Pandolfo | Dave Scatchard | Petr Nedved | |
| Petr Sykora | Steve Webb | Tim Taylor | |
| Ottawa Senators | Philadelphia Flyers | Phoenix Coyotes | Pittsburgh Penguins |
| Goaltenders | |||
| Jani Hurme | Brian Boucher | Nikolai Khabibulin | Jean-Sebastien Aubin |
| Patrick Lalime | |||
| Defencemen | |||
| Chris Phillips | Andy Delmore | Keith Carney | Bob Boughner |
| Wade Redden | Eric Desjardins | Jyrki Lumme | Sven Butenschon |
| Jason York | Dan McGillis | Stan Neckar | Darius Kasparaitis |
| Luke Richardson | Teppo Numminen | Janne Laukkanen | |
| Chris Therien | Radoslav Suchy | Jiri Slegr | |
| Forwards | |||
| Daniel Alfredsson | Mark Greig | Danny Briere | Matthew Barnaby |
| Magnus Arvedson | Daymond Langkow | Shane Doan | Rene Corbet |
| Radek Bonk | John LeClair | Travis Green | Robert Dome |
| Andreas Dackell | Eric Lindros | Trevor Letowski | Jan Hrdina |
| Shawn McEachern | Kent Manderville | Robert Reichel | Jaromir Jagr |
| Vaclav Prospal | Gino Odjick | Mikael Renberg | Alexei Kovalev |
| Andre Roy | Keith Primeau | Jeremy Roenick | Robert Lang |
| Paul Ranheim | Keith Tkachuk | Alexei Morozov | |
| Mark Recchi | Juha Ylonen | Martin Straka | |
| St. Louis Blues | San Jose Sharks | Tampa Bay Lightning | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| Goaltenders | |||
| Brent Johnson | Steve Shields | Dan Cloutier | Curtis Joseph |
| Roman Turek | |||
| Defencemen | |||
| Al MacInnis | Shawn Heins | Sergey Gusev | Cory Cross |
| Chris Pronger | Bryan Marchment | Pavel Kubina | Alexander Karpovtsev |
| Bryce Salvador | Marcus Ragnarsson | Marek Posmyk | Danny Markov |
| Mike Rathje | Petr Svoboda | Chris McAllister | |
| Gary Suter | Andrei Zyuzin | Dmitri Yushkevich | |
| Forwards | |||
| Lubos Bartecko | Vincent Damphousse | Stan Drulia | Sergei Berezin |
| Craig Conroy | Jeff Friesen | Dwayne Hay | Tie Domi |
| Pavol Demitra | Todd Harvey | Brian Holzinger | Jonas Hoglund |
| Michal Handzus | Alexander Korolyuk | Mike Johnson | Dmitri Khristich |
| Jamal Mayers | Patrick Marleau | Ryan Johnson | Igor Korolev |
| Pierre Turgeon | Owen Nolan | Fredrik Modin | Yanic Perreault |
| Scott Young | Mike Ricci | Wayne Primeau | Mats Sundin |
| Marco Sturm | Jaroslav Svejkovsky | Steve Thomas | |
| Niklas Sundstrom | Todd Warriner | Darcy Tucker | |
| Vancouver Canucks | Washington Capitals | ||
| Goaltenders | |||
| Felix Potvin | Olaf Kolzig | ||
| Defencemen | |||
| Adrian Aucoin | Sergei Gonchar | ||
| Murray Baron | Calle Johansson | ||
| Ed Jovanovski | Ken Klee | ||
| Mattias Ohlund | Joe Reekie | ||
| Jason Strudwick | Brendan Witt | ||
| Forwards | |||
| Todd Bertuzzi | James Black | ||
| Donald Brashear | Peter Bondra | ||
| Andrew Cassels | Jan Bulis | ||
| Trent Klatt | Ulf Dahlen | ||
| Brendan Morrison | Steve Konowalchuk | ||
| Markus Naslund | Andrei Nikolishin | ||
| Denis Pederson | Adam Oates | ||
| Peter Schaefer | Chris Simon | ||
| Vadim Sharifijanov | Richard Zednik | ||
Players Available for Selection
| Mighty Ducks of Anaheim | Boston Bruins | Buffalo Sabres | Calgary Flames |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goaltenders | |||
| Tom AskeyVI | Robbie TallasII | Dwayne RolosonII | Grant Fuhr |
| Guy Hebert | Tyrone Garner | ||
| Corey HirschII | Andrei TrefilovII | ||
| Dominic Roussel | |||
| Blaine RussellII | |||
| Defencemen | |||
| Timo Ahmaoja# | Elias AbrahamssonII | Jean-Luc Grand-PierreII | Eric CharronV |
| Ladislav Benysek | Johnathan Aitken | Jason HollandII | Bobby DollasIII |
| Mike Crowley | Shane Belter | Doug Houda | Johan Finnstrom# |
| Scott FergusonVI | Vratislav Cech | Mike Hurlbut | Filip KubaII |
| Kevin HallerV | Mike MatteucciII | James PatrickIII | Stewart MalgunasV |
| Dean MalkocII | Keith McCambridge | Richard Smehlik | Fredrik Oduya |
| Fredrik OlaussonIII | Marty McSorleyIII | Jason WoolleyII | Pavel Rajnoha# |
| Lloyd ShawII | Brandon Smith | Dmitri Riabykin# | |
| Pascal Trepanier | Don SweeneyIII | Darryl ShannonIII | |
| Nikolai Tsulygin | Mattias Timander | Steve Smith | |
| Denis Timofeyev | Lee SorochanII | ||
| Eric Van Acker | Brad WerenkaIII | ||
| Sergei Zhukov# | |||
| Forwards | |||
| Frank BanhamVI | Shawn BatesII | Stu Barnes | Jason BotterillII |
| Ted DonatoIII | Ken Belanger | Eric Boulton | Marc Bureau |
| Stu GrimsonIII | Aaron DowneyVI | Randy CunneyworthIII | Jeff CowanII |
| Tony Hrkac | Peter Ferraro | Matt DavidsonII | Steve DubinskyII |
| Tobias Johansson# | Steve HeinzeII | Mark DutiaumeII | Benoit Gratton |
| Peter LeboutillierVI | Joe HulbigVI | Craig FisherVI | Andreas JohanssonII |
| Tommi Miettinen# | Dmitri Kvartalnov | Doug Gilmour | Mathias Johansson# |
| Kip MillerV | Antti LaaksonenVI | Denis Hamel | Esa Keskinen# |
| Jeff Nielsen | Cameron MannII | Paul KruseV | Sergei KrivokrasovII |
| Jeremy StevensonVI | Peter Nordstrom | Scott NicholVI | Jan Labraaten# |
| Tony TuzzolinoII | Sean ProngerII | Dominic PittisVI | Jesper Mattson |
| Bob Wren | Joel PrpicVI | Rob RayIII | Marty Murray |
| Anders Soderberg# | Geoff SandersonII | Dave RocheII | |
| Joel Trottier | Chris TaylorVI | Martin St. Louis | |
| Landon Wilson | Vladimir TsyplakovIII | Josef Straka# | |
| Jeff Zehr | Dixon WardIII | John TrippII | |
| Sergei Zolotov# | |||
| Carolina Hurricanes | Chicago Blackhawks | Colorado Avalanche | Dallas Stars |
| Goaltenders | |||
| Mark FitzpatrickIII | Marc LamotheVI | David Aebischer | Chad Alban |
| Marc Magliarditi | Erasmo Saltarelli | Frederic CassiviVI | Mike BalesVI |
| Kai Fischer# | |||
| Petr Franek | |||
| Rick TabaracciIII | |||
| Defencemen | |||
| Steve BancroftVI | Radim Bicanek | Jason BowenII | Frederic BouchardII |
| Paul CoffeyIII | Ted CrowleyVI | Greg De Vries | Joel BouchardII |
| Len EsauVI | Kevin DeanIII | Michael GaulVI | Shawn ChambersIII |
| Sergei FedetovII | Dallas EakinsV | Alexei Gusarov | Sylvain CôtéIII |
| Hugh HamiltonII | Todd RohloffVI | Sami HeleniusVI | Alan Letang |
| Dave KarpaII | Marty WilfordII | Eric MessierII | Dave MansonIII |
| Curtis Leschyshyn | Doug Zmolek | Dan SmithII | Matt MartinII |
| Mike RucinskiVI | Evgeny Petrochinin# | ||
| Jamie Pushor | |||
| Mark Wotton | |||
| Forwards | |||
| Eric DandenaultVI | Blair Atcheynum | Dave AndreychukIII | Guy Carbonneau |
| Jeff DanielsV | Jeff ChristianVI | Serge AubinVI | Kelly FairchildVI |
| Gilbert DionneV | Jeff Daw | Tomi Hirvonen# | Sergei Luchinkin# |
| Martin Gelinas | Chris HerpergerVI | Mikael Johansson# | Warren Luhning |
| Dmitri Gorenko# | David Ling | Christian MatteVI | Chris MurrayII |
| Andrei KovalenkoII | Josef Marha | Jeff Odgers | Brian SkrudlandIII |
| Robert Kron | Ed OlczykIII | Dave Reid | Scott ThorntonV |
| Mike MorroneII | Nathan PerrottII | Rob Shearer | Jamie WrightII |
| Andrei Petrunin | Derek PlanteII | ||
| Askhat Rakhmatulin# | Bob Probert | ||
| Byron RitchieII | |||
| Todd SimonVI | |||
| Kevin Smyth | |||
| Detroit Red Wings | Edmonton Oilers | Florida Panthers | Los Angeles Kings |
| Goaltenders | |||
| David ArsenaultII | Mike MinardII | Ryan Bach | Marcel CousineauII |
| Manny Legace | Bill RanfordIII | Sean Gauthier | Mike O'NeillVI |
| Ken Wregget | Kay Whitmore | Denis Khlopotnov# | Steve Passmore |
| Mikhail ShtalenkovIII | Travis Scott | ||
| Rich Shulmistra | |||
| Mike Vernon | |||
| Defencemen | |||
| Todd Gill | Adam Bennett | Lance Pitlick | Philippe BoucherII |
| Yan GolubovskyII | Brett Hauer | Brent Thompson | Rich BrennanVI |
| Uwe Krupp | Frank MusilIII | Jeff WareII | Garry GalleyIII |
| Maxim KuznetsovII | Alain NasreddineII | Dave MacIsaacVI | |
| Larry MurphyIII | Sami Nuutinen | Jaroslav Modry | |
| Bert Robertsson | Jan NemecekII | ||
| Reijo Ruotsalainen | Sean O'Donnell | ||
| Alexander Zhurik | Martin Strbak# | ||
| Lukas Zib# | |||
| Forwards | |||
| Pavel Agarkov# | Kevin BrownVI | Len Barrie | Eric BelangerII |
| Doug Brown | Jozef Cierny | Paul BrousseauVI | Dan BylsmaII |
| David Engblom# | Patrick Cote | Chad CabanaVI | Bob Corkum |
| Johan Forsander# | Boyd DevereauxII | Dave DuerdenII | Allan EgelandVI |
| Brent GilchristIII | Jim Dowd | Alex HicksII | Nelson Emerson |
| Alexandre JacquesII | Ralph Intranuovo | Craig ReichertVI | Craig JohnsonII |
| Joey KocurIII | Dan LacoutureII | Ray SheppardIII | Nathan LafayetteII |
| Darryl LaplanteII | Rob MurrayV | Cam Stewart | Steve McKenna |
| Igor LarionovIII | Michel PicardV | Rocky ThompsonII | Igor Melyakov# |
| Stacy Roest | Martin Reichel# | Jason Morgan | |
| Anatoly Ustyugov | Keijo Sailynoja# | Jason PodollanII | |
| Pat Verbeek | Alexander SelivanovII | Pavel Rosa | |
| B. J. YoungII | Jussi Tarvainen# | Mikael Simons# | |
| German TitovIII | John Thomas | ||
| Alexander Volchkov | Jukka Tiilikainen# | ||
| Vladimir VorobievVI | Marko TuomainenVI | ||
| Juha Vuorivirta# | |||
| Magnus Wernblom# | |||
| Montreal Canadiens | New Jersey Devils | New York Islanders | New York Rangers |
| Goaltenders | |||
| Frédéric Chabot | Mike BuzakVI | Wade Flaherty | Milan HnilickaVI |
| Eric Fichaud | Frederic HenryII | Jean-François Labbé | |
| Kevin Hodson | Chris Terreri | Kirk McLean | |
| Vitali Yeremeyev# | |||
| Defencemen | |||
| Byron BriskeII | Brad Bombardir | Ian Herbers | Drew BannisterII |
| Matthieu DescoteauxII | Vladimir MalakhovIII | Ilja Gorokhov# | |
| Karl Dykhuis | Pasi Petrilainen# | Kevin HatcherIII | |
| Miloslav Guren | Deron QuintII | Rich Pilon | |
| Scott LachanceII | Ken Sutton | Ola Sandberg# | |
| Christian Laflamme | Mathieu SchneiderIII | ||
| Mike McBainII | Terry Virtue | ||
| Barry Richter | David WilkieII | ||
| Stephane RobidasII | |||
| Eric Weinrich | |||
| Forwards | |||
| Niklas Anger# | Jiri Bicek | Ted Drury | Derek ArmstrongII |
| Jesse BelangerV | Steve BruleVI | Mark Lawrence | Alexandre DaigleII |
| Shayne CorsonIII | Sylvain CloutierVI | Christian Dubé | |
| Jim CumminsII | Steve KellyII | Ken Gernander | |
| Craig DarbyII | Sasha LakovicVI | Daniel GoneauII | |
| Jonathan DelisleII | Claude LemieuxIII | Valeri Kamensky | |
| Matt HigginsII | Sergei NemchinovIII | Chris KenadyVI | |
| Arto Kuki# | Richard RochefortII | Radoslav Kropac# | |
| Trent McClearyII | Rob SkrlacII | Alexander Lazarenko# | |
| Boyd OlsonII | Steve Staios | John MacLean | |
| Oleg Petrov | Ed Ward | Brad Smyth | |
| Patrick PoulinII | Jeff Williams | Kevin StevensIII | |
| Terry Ryan | Dody Wood | P. J. StockVI | |
| Kim Staal | Nikolai Zavarukhin# | Dmitry Subbotin# | |
| Turner Stevenson | Rudolf Vercik# | ||
| Peter Strom# | Chris WellsII | ||
| Timo Vertala# | |||
| Ottawa Senators | Philadelphia Flyers | Phoenix Coyotes | Pittsburgh Penguins |
| Goaltenders | |||
| Tom BarrassoIII | Per-Ragnar Bergkvist# | Sean BurkeIII | Tyler MossVI |
| Mike Fountain | Neil Little | Sylvain DaigleII | Peter SkudraII |
| Rich ParentVI | John Vanbiesbrouck | Bob EssensaIII | Ron TugnuttIII |
| Henrik Smangs# | |||
| Defencemen | |||
| Erich GoldmannII | Artem Anisimov#‡ | Trent CullVI | Jonas Andersson-Junkka# |
| Kevin Grimes | Adam BurtIII | J. J. DaigneaultIII | Stefan Bergqvist |
| John GrudenII | Jeff LankVI | Dan FochtII | Peter PopovicIII |
| Igor Kravchuk | Dean Melanson | Sean GagnonVI | John Slaney |
| Grant LedyardIII | Ulf Samuelsson | Chris Joseph | Dan TrebilVI |
| David Van DrunenII | François Leroux | ||
| Per-Anton Lundstrom# | |||
| Sean McCannVI | |||
| Lyle OdeleinIII | |||
| Brad TileyVI | |||
| Forwards | |||
| Viacheslav ButsayevII | Craig BerubeIII | Greg AdamsIII | Jan Alinc# |
| Ivan CiernikII | Travis BrigleyII | Philippe AudetII | Josef Beranek |
| Kevin Dineen | Martin CervenII | Louie Debrusk | Dennis BonvieVI |
| Colin Forbes | Jody HullIII | Dallas DrakeIII | Rob BrownIII |
| David Hruska# | Mark Janssens | Tavis Hansen | Tom ChorskeIII |
| Joe Juneau | Keith Jones | Benoit HogueIII | Pat FalloonII |
| Kevin MillerIII | Mike ManelukVI | Eric HoudeII | Mikhail Kazakevich# |
| Yves SaraultII | Steve McLarenVI | Steven KingVI | Jiri Kucera# |
| Andy Schneider | Jim MontgomeryII | Fredrik Loven# | Stephen LeachIII |
| Jeff ShevalierVI | Sean O'BrienVI | Craig MillsII | Ian Moran |
| Shaun Van AllenIII | Ruslan Shafikov# | David OliverII | Timo Seikkula# |
| Rob Zamuner | Radovan Somik# | Kevin SawyerVI | Mika Valila# |
| Martin Streit# | Mike Sullivan | Tyler Wright | |
| Rick TocchetIII | Shayne ToporowskiII | Boris Zelenko# | |
| Steve WashburnII | Jean-Guy Trudel | ||
| Peter White | |||
| Todd WhiteVI | |||
| Valeri ZelepukinIII | |||
| St. Louis Blues | San Jose Sharks | Tampa Bay Lightning | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| Goaltenders | |||
| Jamie McLennan | Jonas Forsberg# | Zac BierkII | Glenn HealyIII |
| Terry Friesen | Dieter Kochan | Francis LariveeII | |
| Evegeny NabokovII | Daren PuppaIII | Jimmy Waite | |
| Defencemen | |||
| Marc Bergevin | Chris Armstrong | Jassen Cullimore | Greg AndrusakVI |
| Vladimir Chebaturkin | Jon ColemanVI | Bryan MuirII | Bryan Berard |
| Dave EllettIII | Angel Nikolov# | Jason Robinson | Nathan Dempsey |
| Jeff Finley | Jeff NortonIII | Gerald Diduck | |
| Edwin Frylen# | Bob Rouse | Tommi Rajamaki# | |
| Yuri Gunko# | Terran SandwithVI | ||
| Bryan HellmerVI | D.J. SmithII | ||
| Dan KeczmerV | |||
| Ricard PerssonII | |||
| Dmitri Plekhanov# | |||
| Rudy PoeschekIII | |||
| Libor ProchazkaII | |||
| Darren RumbleV | |||
| Matt Smith | |||
| Forwards | |||
| Bob BassenIII | Michal Bros# | Shawn Burr | Kevyn Adams |
| Derek BekarII | Adam Colagiacomo | Xavier DelisleII | Lonny BohonosII |
| Sylvain BlouinVI | Mike CraigV | Bruce Gardiner | Jason BonsignoreII |
| Jim CampbellII | Jarrett DeulingVI | Dan KesaII | Aaron Brand |
| Kelly ChaseIII | Doug Friedman | Steve MartinsII | Wendel ClarkIII |
| Mike EastwoodIII | Tony Granato | Robert PetrovickyII | Mark DeyellII |
| Derek KingIII | Eric LandryVI | Reid SimpsonIII | Kris KingII |
| Reed LowII | Dave LowryIII | Pavel TorgayevVI | Don MacLeanII |
| Tyson NashVI | Stephane Matteau | Alyn McCauleyII | |
| Scott PellerinII | Brantt MyhresII | Marek Melenovsky# | |
| Andrei Petrakov | Peter RoedII | David Nemirovsky | |
| Pascal Rhéaume | Jarrod SkaldeII | Ryan PepperallII | |
| Stéphane RicherIII | Ron Stern | Shawn ThorntonII | |
| Stéphane Roy | Ron SutterIII | Garry Valk | |
| Tore Vikingstad# | Brian WisemanII | ||
| Vancouver Canucks | Washington Capitals | ||
| Goaltenders | |||
| Tim KeyesII | Stephane Beauregard | ||
| Corey SchwabII | Craig BillingtonIII | ||
| Garth SnowII | Martin BrochuVI | ||
| Sebastian Charpentier | |||
| Defencemen | |||
| Roger Akerstrom# | Nolan BaumgartnerII | ||
| Chad AllanII | Patrick Boileau | ||
| Greg Hawgood | Jamie Huscroft | ||
| Karri Kivi# | Dmitri Mironov | ||
| Chris O'SullivanVI | Oleg Orekhovsky# | ||
| Brent SopelII | Steve PoapstVI | ||
| Rob ZettlerIII | |||
| Sergei Zimakov# | |||
| Forwards | Notes | ||
| Hakan Ahlund# | Mike EaglesIII | II—pending Group II restricted free agent | |
| Evgeny Babariko# | Miika Elomo | III—pending Group III unrestricted free agent | |
| Brian BoninVI | Trevor HalversonVI | V—pending Group V free agent | |
| Paul FeroneII | Jim McKenzieII | VI—pending Group VI free agent | |
| Martin GendronVI | Barrie MooreVI | #—unsigned European draft choice | |
| Roger Hansson# | Ryan Mulhern | ‡—Artem Vyacheslavovich Anisimov, born 1976 in Kazan, USSR | |
| Darby Hendrickson | Joe MurphyIII | ||
| Brad May | Jeff Nelson | ||
| Mark MessierIII | Michal PivonkaIII | ||
| Stefan Nilsson# | Joe SaccoIII | ||
| Lubomir VaicII | Jeff TomsII | ||
| Harry YorkII | Stefan Ustorf | ||
| Terry YakeIII | |||
The Expansion Draft
The expansion draft was held on Friday, June 23 at the Westin Hotel in Calgary. The entry draft was held over the following Saturday and Sunday at the Saddledome.
| Over. | Player | Picked from | Picked by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goaltenders | |||
| 1 | Rick Tabaracci | Colorado Avalanche | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 2 | Jamie McLennan | St. Louis Blues | Minnesota Wild |
| 3 | Mike Vernon | Florida Panthers | Minnesota Wild |
| 4 | Frédéric Chabot | Montreal Canadiens | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 5 | Dwayne Roloson | Buffalo Sabres | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 6 | Chris Terreri | New Jersey Devils | Minnesota Wild |
| Defencemen | |||
| 7 | Sean O'Donnell | Los Angeles Kings | Minnesota Wild |
| 8 | Mattias Timander | Boston Bruins | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 9 | Bert Robertsson | Edmonton Oilers | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 10 | Curtis Leschyshyn | Carolina Hurricanes | Minnesota Wild |
| 11 | Tommi Rajamaki | Toronto Maple Leafs | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 12 | Ladislav Benysek | Mighty Ducks of Anaheim | Minnesota Wild |
| 13 | Chris Armstrong | San Jose Sharks | Minnesota Wild |
| 14 | Jamie Pushor | Dallas Stars | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 15 | Filip Kuba | Calgary Flames | Minnesota Wild |
| 16 | Lyle Odelein | Phoenix Coyotes | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 17 | Radim Bicanek | Chicago Blackhawks | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 18 | Oleg Orekhovsky | Washington Capitals | Minnesota Wild |
| 19 | Mathieu Schneider | New York Rangers | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 20 | Ian Herbers | New York Islanders | Minnesota Wild |
| 21 | Artem Anisimov | Philadelphia Flyers | Minnesota Wild |
| 22 | Jonas Andersson-Junkka | Pittsburgh Penguins | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| Forwards | |||
| 23 | Geoff Sanderson | Buffalo Sabres | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 24 | Stacy Roest | Detroit Red Wings | Minnesota Wild |
| 25 | Darryl Laplante | Detroit Red Wings | Minnesota Wild |
| 26 | Turner Stevenson | Montreal Canadiens | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 27 | Scott Pellerin | St. Louis Blues | Minnesota Wild |
| 28 | Robert Kron | Carolina Hurricanes | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 29 | Steve Heinze | Boston Bruins | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 30 | Jim Dowd | Edmonton Oilers | Minnesota Wild |
| 31 | Tyler Wright | Pittsburgh Penguins | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 32 | Sergei Krivokrasov | Calgary Flames | Minnesota Wild |
| 33 | Jeff Nielsen | Mighty Ducks of Anaheim | Minnesota Wild |
| 34 | Kevyn Adams | Toronto Maple Leafs | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 35 | Jeff Odgers | Colorado Avalanche | Minnesota Wild |
| 36 | Dmitry Subbotin | New York Rangers | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 37 | Dallas Drake | Phoenix Coyotes | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 38 | Steve McKenna | Los Angeles Kings | Minnesota Wild |
| 39 | Bruce Gardiner | Tampa Bay Lightning | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 40 | Michal Bros | San Jose Sharks | Minnesota Wild |
| 41 | Joe Juneau | Ottawa Senators | Minnesota Wild |
| 42 | Barrie Moore | Washington Capitals | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 43 | Darby Hendrickson | Vancouver Canucks | Minnesota Wild |
| 44 | Martin Streit | Philadelphia Flyers | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 45 | Kevin Dineen | Ottawa Senators | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 46 | Jeff Daw | Chicago Blackhawks | Minnesota Wild |
| 47 | Jeff Williams | New Jersey Devils | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 48 | Stefan Nilsson | Vancouver Canucks | Minnesota Wild |
| Additional Players | |||
| 49 | Zac Bierk | Tampa Bay Lightning | Minnesota Wild |
| 50 | Sergei Luchinkin | Dallas Stars | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 51 | Cam Stewart | Florida Panthers | Minnesota Wild |
| 52 | Ted Drury | New York Islanders | Columbus Blue Jackets |
The foremost question on your mind, dear reader, is probably "Why did the Blue Jackets chose Rick Tabaracci with the first pick?". I personally have a soft spot for "the Tabby Cat", but Tabaracci was 31 years old at the time, an unrestricted free agent, and not a highly sought after one at that. Teams that lost free agents were entitled to receive compensatory entry draft picks, and the more those free agents were paid the higher the pick. The Predators' David Poile got a couple compensatory picks after taking Mike Richter and Uwe Krupp in the 1998 Expansion Draft; those two players were expected to receive large contracts and therefore high compensatory picks. Tabaracci wasn't going to sign a big contract with anyone.
Rick Tabaracci was chosen first overall in this expansion draft because of the deal the Avalanche made with the Blue Jackets for Marc Denis two weeks earlier. Denis was a promising young player who was expected to become a great starting goaltender. Most expansion teams start out with a pair of older goalies who hold down the fort until a younger, better goalie can be found. Doug MacLean thought he had scored himself his goalie-of-the-future by trading for Denis. The catch was he not only had to give the Avalanche his 2nd round entry draft pick for Denis, he also had to take Rick Tabaracci in the expansion draft. In taking Tabaracci it meant that the Avalanche wouldn't lose another goalie or defenceman in the draft. It guaranteed that the only other player they would lose would be one of their exposed forwards, any of which they could have done without.
This wasn't the only selection made as part of a side deal. Immediately following the draft the Wild and Blue Jackets made three trades apiece:
- Sabres traded Matt Davidson, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, the Sharks' 5th round pick in 2000 (Tyler Kolarik) and a 5th round pick in 2001 (traded later to the Flames, who traded to the Red Wings, who selected Andreas Jamtin) to the Blue Jackets for future considerations
- Canadiens traded a 2nd round pick in 2001(Kiel MacLeod) to the Blue Jackets for future considerations
- Bruins traded a 5th round pick in 2000 (Scott Heffernan) to the Blue Jackets for future considerations
- Flames traded Dan Cavanaugh and an 8th round pick in 2000 or 2001 (Wild chose 2001—Jake Riddle) to the Wild for Mike Vernon
- Stars traded Aaron Gavey, Pavel Patera, an 8th round pick in 2000 (Eric Johansson) and the Wild's 4th round pick in 2002 (traded to the Kings, who selected Aaron Rome) to the Wild for Brad Lukowich, a 3rd round pick in 2001 (Yared Hagos) and a 9th round pick in 2001 (Dale Sullivan)
- Devils traded Brad Bombardir to the Wild for Chris Terreri and a 9th round pick in 2000 (traded to the Lightning, who selected Thomas Ziegler)
- Coyotes traded the rights to Rickard Wallin to the Wild for Joe Juneau
The Sabres traded Davidson, Grand-Pierre and the draft picks to the Blue Jackets in exchange for the Blue Jackets taking goalie Dwayne Roloson and winger Geoff Sanderson. Roloson was expendable—the Sabres elected to protect Marty Biron instead—and losing a goalie meant not losing a defenceman, such as Jason Woolley or Richard Smehlik. Sanderson was an offensively-minded forward who struggled under the Sabres' defence-first style of play at the time. In six seasons in Hartford he had seasons of 34, 36, 41 and 46 goals; in Buffalo the best he mustered was 13. Sanderson had been left exposed in the 1999 Expansion Draft but the Thrashers passed. Sanderson would go on to play over three seasons in Columbus and lead the team in scoring that first season with 30 goals and 56 points. Roloson on the other hand was not tendered a qualifying offer to retain his rights and became an unrestricted free agent. He signed a contract with the AHL's Worcester IceCats, and in 2001 returned to the NHL after signing a contract with (ironically) the Minnesota Wild.
The Canadiens traded the draft pick to the Blue Jackets for the Blue Jackets taking Fred Chabot. They did the exact same thing with the Predators in 1998. Losing Chabot meant that they wouldn't lose another goalie or a defenceman such as Eric Weinrich or Stephane Robidas.
Similarly the Wild had acquired Manny Fernandez from the Stars as their goalie-of-the-future, so their goalie selections were also not particularly imperative. Mike Vernon was 37 years old and approaching the end of his career. The Flames were almost certain to lose backup goalie Grant Fuhr to retirement and after trading away J.S. Giguere their only other goalies were RFA Andrei Trefilov and 21-year-old Tyrone Garner. Trefilov was on his way back to Europe and Garner needed much more pro experience if he ever hoped to make the NHL, so the Flames acquired Vernon for a former 2nd round draft pick (Dan Cavanaugh eventually played six years in the AHL, never making a single appearance in an NHL game) and an 8th round pick (a token sum).
The Devils had stocked up on extra forwards prior to the draft, adding Ed Ward and Steve Staios in separate trades, hoping to lose these surplus forwards and keep their Stanley Cup champion roster intact. Devils GM Lou Lamoriello took the risk no one would take the 35-year-old Chris Terreri, who other than a couple years in San Jose and Chicago had spent his career in New Jersey. Doug Risebrough called Lamoriello's bluff and took Terreri anyway. There were some extenuating circumstances at play. Lou Lamoriello is famous for his loyalty to his players, and he had known Terreri since he was head coach of the Providence College Friars hockey team and Chris Terreri was a 17-year-old freshman. Terreri was also close friends with Devils' starter Martin Brodeur. So, following the draft Lamoriello traded Bombardir to the Wild to get Terreri back. In retrospect it was misguided from a hockey operations point of view: less than a year later Terreri was traded to the New York Islanders due to his poor play and retired as a player at the end of the season. But like I said Lou Lamoriello is famous for being loyal to his players; when Terreri retired as a player Lamoriello hired him as the Devils' AHL affiliate's goaltending coach. (Chris Terreri has been the Devils' goalie coach since 2010.)
The Blue Jackets and Wild finished 23rd and 25th overall respectively in their first season. They were well out of playoff contention however they could take some solace in being far better than their expansion brethren Atlanta Thrashers, who finished 28th overall with a scant 60 points. By their third season the Wild had improved to the point that they made the playoffs for the first time, and ended up going to the conference finals (they were upset by the Mighty Ducks). In 13 seasons the Wild have made the playoffs five times. Success has been a little harder to come by in Columbus. The team did not improve upon its inaugural season's record until their fifth year, and in their 13 seasons of play the Blue Jackets have only made the playoffs twice.
Follow-up Question: How did the Islanders end up with only four players exposed?
(June 18, 2016)
In the comments below someone with the handle 'Admin' (Hi! Thanks for the question!) has asked [paraphrased] "How did the Islanders end up with only four players exposed?" The short answer is: they followed the rules. I feel your question deserves a more comprehensive answer than that though, so let's explore that together.
First, let's go over the rules:
- Protected list: they could protect either two goalies, three defencemen and five forwards, or one goalie, five defencemen and nine forwards. They elected to do the latter.
- Players with fewer than three years of pro experience were not available for selection by the Blue Jackets or Wild, and did not have to be protected.
- The Islanders—given they protected one goalie, five defencemen and nine forwards—had to offer at least one defenceman and two forwards with 40 games played in the 1999-2000 season or 70 combined games played across the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons, and one goalie with any experience.
Now let's go over the Islanders' roster at the end of the season, broken down by goalies, defencemen and forwards.
Goalies: Wade Flaherty, Roberto Luongo, Steve Valiquette, Kevin Weekes
Luongo (one year of pro experience) and Valiquette (two years) were exempt by virtue of their inexperience. The Islanders had to leave at least one goalie exposed, so they chose to protect Weekes and expose Flaherty. In choosing to protect only one goalie the Islanders were entitled to protect five defencemen and nine forwards.
Defencemen: Mathieu Biron, Eric Brewer, Eric Cairns, Zdeno Chara, Vladimir Chebaturkin, Ray Giroux, Ian Herbers, Jamie Heward, Kenny Jonsson, Evgeny Korolev, Jamie Rivers, Ray Schultz
Heward was claimed on waivers by the Blue Jackets on May 26, a little over two weeks before the draft. Chebaturkin's contract expired and he signed a deal with the Blues three days before the draft. Biron, Brewer, Giroux and Korolev were exempt given their inexperience.
Remember that five out of the remaining six could be protected. They protected Cairns, Chara, Jonsson, Rivers and Schultz, and left Herbers exposed.
Forwards: Mikael Andersson, Tim Connolly, Mariusz Czerkawski, Johan Davidsson, Ted Drury, Josh Green, Sean Haggerty, Brad Isbister, Olli Jokinen, Jason Krog, Claude Lapointe, Mark Lawrence, Mats Lindgren, Petr Mika, Bill Muckalt, Dimitri Nabokov, Vladimir Orszagh, Scott Pearson, Dave Scatchard, Mike Watt, Steve Webb
Haggerty and Watt were claimed off waivers by the Predators about three weeks before the draft. Andersson, Davidsson, Orszagh and Pearson's contracts expired and they signed new ones with European clubs prior to the draft. Connolly, Krog, Mika, and Muckalt were exempt given their inexperience.
That left Czerkawski, Drury, Green, Isbister, Jokinen, Lapointe, Lawrence, Lindgren, Nabokov, Scatchard and Webb, and of those 11 players the Islanders could protect nine and leave two exposed. The two they left exposed had to have at least 40 NHL games played in the '99-'00 season, or 70 over '98-'99 and '99-'00. Nabokov had only played in 30 NHL games over that two-season span, so by default one of the spots on the protected list had to be used on him. The remaining spots on the list were used on Czerkawski, Green, Isbister, Jokinen, Lapointe, Lindgren, Scatchard and Webb, leaving Drury and Lawrence up for grabs.
And there you have it: they were a young team with many players not having to be protected due to the limited length of their professional careers, they only protected one goalie which gave them the option to protect the most defencemen and forwards possible, and they ended up only having to offer the absolute bare minimum of one goalie, one defenceman and a pair of forwards. Also keep in mind that they had a fairly small total number of players under contract to begin with, almost certainly a result of the penny-pinching of then-owners Howard Milstein and Steve Gluckstern. Milstein and Gluckstern sold the team to Charles Wang and Sanjay Kumar in April, 2000.
