1998 NHL Expansion Draft
| 1998 NHL Expansion Draft | |
| league |
 National Hockey League
|
| date | June 26, 1998 |
| Expansion franchise (s) | Nashville Predators |
| NHL Expansion and Dispersal Drafts | |
| ◄ previous | next ► |
The 1998 NHL Expansion Draft was carried out on June 26, 1998 by the North American ice hockey league NHL . The Expansion Draft took place because the NHL was expanding by one team and the Nashville Predators roster needed to be filled with players.
The rules
The Nashville Predators were allowed to select 26 players, one from each existing team.
Players who only played in the NHL for a year or two were excluded from the draft. Each of the 26 established teams was allowed to ban either one goalkeeper, five defenders and nine strikers, or two goalkeepers, three defenders and seven strikers so that they could not be selected in the draft.
Each team had to leave at least one defender and one striker unlocked who had played at least 40 games in the 1997–98 season . In addition, the teams had to leave a goalkeeper unbanned who had played at least ten in the 1997–98 season and at least 25 since 1995–96. These requirements for the goalkeepers were intended to prevent the teams from gaining an advantage through tricks or squad manipulation, as was partly the case in the 1992 NHL Expansion Draft , and not providing an experienced goalkeeper in the draft.
It was interesting this year that many of the players who had selected the Nashville Predators had their contracts expired on July 1st and the players had free choice of team. As compensation for any player who left the team before the first season, the Predators received additional draft picks in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft .
Draft result
Explanation: T = goalkeeper; V = defender; F = Forward (striker); C = center forward; LF = left winger; RF = right winger.
For the sake of order, the players are numbered, but they do not have to be selected in that order. The order is not relevant as the Nashville Predators were the only team in the 1999 Expansion Draft.
Agreements
In order for the Nashville Predators not to choose certain unbanned players, they received "compensations" from some teams:
- Calgary transferred Jim Dowd to Nashville so they wouldn't select a Calgary goalkeeper
- Chicago transferred Sergei Kriwokrassow to Nashville so they would n't pick Chris Terreri
- Los Angeles transferred Kimmo Timonen and Jan Vopat to Nashville so they would n't pick Garry Galley
- Montréal transferred Sébastien Bordeleau to Nashville so they would n't pick Peter Popovic
- Philadelphia transferred Dominic Roussel and Jeff Staples to Nashville so they would not select Paul Coffey
- San Jose transferred Ville Peltonen to Nashville so they would not select Tony Granato
- St. Louis transferred Darren Turcotte to Nashville so they would not choose Jamie McLennan
After the draft
Several players selected in the Expansion Draft did not stay on the team long after the draft. The following players left the team before the start of the 1998/99 season :
- Mike Sullivan was transferred to Phoenix on June 30, 1998 for a draft pick in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft
- Uwe Krupp signed a contract in Detroit on July 7, 1998
- Tony Hrkac was transferred to Dallas on July 9, 1998 for future consideration
- Doug Brown was transferred to Detroit on July 14, 1998 for Petr Sýkora , a draft pick in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft and future consideration
- Mike Richter signed a contract with the New York Rangers on July 15, 1998
- Frédéric Chabot moved to Los Angeles on July 20, 1998
- Michail Shtalenkow was transferred to Edmonton on October 1, 1998 with Jim Dowd for Éric Fichaud , Drake Berehowsky and Greg de Vries
- Al Iafrate ended his career before the start of the season
