| | Associated Press
CALGARY, Alberta -- The Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue
Jackets -- who stocked their rosters Friday in the NHL's expansion draft --
certainly weren't content just sticking with their new players.
Wild general manager Doug Risebrough wasted no time in making
changes, dealing three selections.
|  | | Columbus GM Doug MacLean expects Geoff Sanderson to be in the opening-day lineup. |
Goalie Mike Vernon was taken from the Florida Panthers and
traded to the Calgary Flames, the team he helped to the 1989
Stanley Cup. In return, Minnesota gets Boston University center Dan
Cavanaugh and a future eighth-round draft pick.
Joe Juneau was claimed from the Ottawa Senators and traded to
Phoenix for Swedish prospect Rickard Wallin, also a center.
Chris Terreri, New Jersey's backup goalie, was taken from the
Devils and then traded back to the Stanley Cup champions for
defenseman Brad Bombardir.
Columbus traded forward Turner Stevenson, taken from Montreal,
to the Devils as compensation for the deal that sent Krzysztof
Oliwa to the Blue Jackets just days after the Stanley Cup finals.
The Blue Jackets also acquired a second-round pick in the 2001
entry draft from Montreal in exchange for selecting goalie Frederic
Chabot.
Each club selected 26 players in the expansion draft, with each
of the existing clubs -- except for Nashville and Atlanta -- losing
two players each.
The Predators and Thrashers, recent additions to the league,
were exempt.
Among the 26 players taken by Columbus were goalies Rick
Tabaracci, Dwayne Roloson and Frederic Chabot, defenseman Jamie
Pushor, Lyle Odelein, Mathieu Schneider and Bert Robertsson, and
forwards Geoff Sanderson, Kevin Dineen, Robert Kron, Steve Heinze,
Tyler Wright, Kevyn Adams, Dallas Drake and Bruce Gardiner.
"I'm not sure how many we will have at training camp," general
manager Doug MacLean said. "For the most part, the players on the
board are for the Blue Jackets, but I'm open to trade
considerations."
The Wild also chose goalie Jamie McLennan, defensemen Sean
O'Donnell, Curtis Leschyshyn, Ladislav Benysek and Chris Armstrong,
and forwards Stacy Roest, Darryl Laplante, Scott Pellerin, Jim
Dowd, Sergei Krivokrasov, Jeff Nielsen, Jeff Odgers and Darby
Hendrickson.
"This group of players will provide our organization with a
good foundation to build upon," Risebrough said.
McLennan is the most experienced of five goalies on the Wild
roster. He has played 138 NHL games and had his best year in
1997-98, when he won 16 games. "Obviously, McLennan was a member of the team that was the
overall points champion in the league," chief amateur scout Tom
Thompson said.
Risebrough suggested he'd be making fewer changes than MacLean
before his flurry of trades.
"It is the history of expansion that players are turned over
(before the first season begins)," he said. "We didn't go into
this looking for a lot of turnover."
Some of the bigger name, high-ticket players such as Mark
Messier and Claude Lemieux went undrafted as expected.
Side deals between the expansion clubs and the rest of the teams
were also secured before the draft, assuring that certain exposed
players would not be taken.
Both clubs also signed a dozen free agents each and will
stockpile more players in Saturday's entry draft.
The teams also picked up top goalies in advance as Columbus got
Marc Denis from Colorado, while Minnesota acquired Manny Fernandez
from Stanley Cup runner-up Dallas.
MacLean said he'd try to sign Odelein and Drake, taken from
Phoenix and impending free agents. The Blue Jackets are expected to
let Schneider, left unprotected by the New York Rangers, go to free
agency.
Dineen also will be an unrestricted free agent next month.
"We were looking for character and grit and leadership and we
feel strongly about Kevin Dineen," MacLean said. "We'd love to
have Kevin in our opening-day roster and we really think there is a
chance of that happening."
Some players are certain to be retained by Columbus.
Adams, taken from Toronto, played college hockey at nearby Miami
of Ohio.
"It was a natural pick for us," MacLean said. "After watching
him during the playoffs, we were happy to take him."
Wright, taken from Pittsburgh, "is a young player with plenty
of speed and determination and grit -- the type of player we were
looking for," MacLean said.
The veteran Sanderson, taken from Buffalo, is another who will
play for the Blue Jackets.
"Most definitely," MacLean said. "Geoff Sanderson will be in
our opening-day lineup."
Both teams followed the typical expansion blueprint of grabbing
young talent and surrounding it with character players who are not
saddled with large contracts.
The Florida Panthers had the best expansion season among teams
that entered the NHL since 1991. In 1993-94, the Panthers were
33-34-17. The worst of the seven new entries came in 1992-93, when
the Ottawa Senators were 10-74-4. | |
ALSO SEE
Wild fill roster in expansion draft
Blue Jackets fill roster in expansion draft
Sabres assistant in running for Blue Jackets coaching job
ESPN.com's NHL Draft 2000 coverage
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