# 1998 NHL expansion draft

The 1998 NHL expansion draft was an expansion draft held by the National Hockey League (NHL) to fill the roster of the league's expansion team for the 1998–99 season, the Nashville Predators. The draft took place on June 26, 1998, in Buffalo, New York, U.S.

## Rules

The Predators were to select 26 players, one from each of the 26 existing franchises at the time of the draft.
First- and second-year pros were exempt from being selected in the draft. Each of the 26 franchises in the league were allowed to protect either one goaltender, five defensemen and nine forwards or two goaltenders, three defensemen and seven forwards.
Of the unprotected players, each franchise had to include at least one forward and one defenseman who appeared in 40 games in the 1997–98 season. Each franchise also had to include at least one goaltender who appeared in 10 games in the 1997–98 season, and a minimum of 25 games since the 1995–96 season. These minimums for goaltenders were put into place in order to avoid manipulation of rosters, such as what occurred before the 1992 NHL expansion draft, which weakened the talent pool available in the draft.
This draft was interesting in that some of the players the Predators chose (e.g. Mike Richter and Uwe Krupp) were set to become unrestricted free agents on July 1, just days after the draft. The Predators knew they would have little chance to sign these players; however, they received a compensatory pick in the 1999 NHL entry draft for each player they "lost".

## Protected players
### Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division :
| Position | New Jersey | NY Islanders | NY Rangers | Philadelphia | Pittsburgh |
| Forwards | Sergei Brylin | Mariusz Czerkawski | Adam Graves | Rod Brind'Amour | Stu Barnes |
| Forwards | Patrik Elias | Jason Dawe | Wayne Gretzky | Alexandre Daigle | Ron Francis |
| Forwards | Bobby Holik | Trevor Linden | Todd Harvey | Chris Gratton | Jaromir Jagr |
| Forwards | Randy McKay | Sergei Nemchinov | Alexei Kovalev | Trent Klatt | Robert Lang |
| Forwards | Krzysztof Oliwa | Gino Odjick | Pat LaFontaine | John LeClair | Mario Lemieux |
| Forwards | Denis Pederson | Zigmund Palffy | Darren Langdon | Eric Lindros | Ian Moran |
| Forwards | Brian Rolston | Robert Reichel | Kevin Stevens | Mike Maneluk | Petr Nedved |
| Forwards | Vadim Sharifijanov | Joe Sacco | Niklas Sundstrom | Shjon Podein | Martin Straka |
| Forwards | Petr Sykora | Bryan Smolinski | | Mike Sillinger | German Titov |
| Forwards | | | | | Tyler Wright |
| Defencemen | Brad Bombardir | Bryan Berard | Jeff Beukeboom | Dave Babych | Kevin Hatcher |
| Defencemen | Ken Daneyko | Zdeno Chara | Eric Cairns | Eric Desjardins | Darius Kasparaitis |
| Defencemen | Scott Niedermayer | Kenny Jonsson | Maxim Galanov | Jeff Lank | Jiri Slegr |
| Defencemen | Lyle Odelein | Scott Lachance | Alexander Karpovtsev | Luke Richardson | Chris Tamer |
| Defencemen | Scott Stevens | Rich Pilon | Brian Leetch | Petr Svoboda | Brad Werenka |
| Defencemen | | | Ulf Samuelsson | Chris Therien | |
| Goaltender | Martin Brodeur | Tommy Salo | Robb Stauber | Ron Hextall | Tom Barrasso |
Northeast Division :
| Position | Boston | Buffalo | Montreal | Ottawa | Toronto |
| Forwards | Jason Allison | Donald Audette | Shayne Corson | Daniel Alfredsson | Lonny Bohonos |
| Forwards | Rob DiMaio | Matthew Barnaby | Vincent Damphousse | Radek Bonk | Nathan Dempsey |
| Forwards | Ted Donato | Curtis Brown | Saku Koivu | Phil Crowe | Tie Domi |
| Forwards | Steve Heinze | Michal Grosek | Mark Recchi | Bruce Gardiner | Darby Hendrickson |
| Forwards | Dmitri Khristich | Brian Holzinger | Martin Rucinsky | Shawn McEachern | Kris King |
| Forwards | Tim Taylor | Michael Peca | Brian Savage | Chris Murray | Igor Korolev |
| Forwards | Landon Wilson | Derek Plante | Turner Stevenson | Vaclav Prospal | Steve Sullivan |
| Forwards | | Wayne Primeau | Scott Thornton | Shaun Van Allen | Mats Sundin |
| Forwards | | Geoff Sanderson | | Alexei Yashin | Todd Warriner |
| Forwards | | Miroslav Satan | | | |
| Defencemen | Ray Bourque | Darryl Shannon | Patrice Brisebois | Radim Bicanek | David Cooper |
| Defencemen | Kyle McLaren | Richard Smehlik | Vladimir Malakhov | Igor Kravchuk | Sylvain Cote |
| Defencemen | Don Sweeney | Mike Wilson | Dave Manson | Janne Laukkanen | Mathieu Schneider |
| Defencemen | Darren Van Impe | Jason Woolley | Stephane Quintal | Stanislav Neckar | Jason Smith |
| Defencemen | | Alexei Zhitnik | Craig Rivet | Lance Pitlick | Yannick Tremblay |
| Defencemen | | | Igor Ulanov | Jason York | Dmitri Yushkevich |
| Goaltender | Byron Dafoe | Dominik Hasek | Jocelyn Thibault | Damian Rhodes | Felix Potvin |
| Goaltender | Robbie Tallas | | | | |
Southeast Division :
| Position | Carolina | Florida | Tampa Bay | Washington |
| Forwards | Nelson Emerson | Dino Ciccarelli | Mikael Andersson | Craig Berube |
| Forwards | Martin Gelinas | Radek Dvorak | Craig Janney | Peter Bondra |
| Forwards | Stu Grimson | Viktor Kozlov | Sandy McCarthy | Joe Juneau |
| Forwards | Sami Kapanen | Bill Lindsay | Andrei Nazarov | Steve Konowalchuk |
| Forwards | Robert Kron | Scott Mellanby | Brent Peterson | Andrei Nikolishin |
| Forwards | Jeff O'Neill | David Nemirovsky | Mikael Renberg | Adam Oates |
| Forwards | Keith Primeau | Rob Niedermayer | Stephane Richer | Michal Pivonka |
| Forwards | Gary Roberts | Steve Washburn | Alex Selivanov | Chris Simon |
| Forwards | Ray Sheppard | Chris Wells | Darcy Tucker | Richard Zednik |
| Forwards | | Ray Whitney | Rob Zamuner | |
| Defencemen | Adam Burt | Ed Jovanovski | Enrico Ciccone | Sergei Gonchar |
| Defencemen | Steve Chiasson | Paul Laus | Cory Cross | Calle Johansson |
| Defencemen | Kevin Haller | Gord Murphy | Jassen Cullimore | Ken Klee |
| Defencemen | Curtis Leschyshyn | Robert Svehla | Karl Dykhuis | Joe Reekie |
| Defencemen | Nolan Pratt | Rhett Warrener | David Wilkie | Mark Tinordi |
| Defencemen | Glen Wesley | | | Brendan Witt |
| Goaltender | Trevor Kidd | Kevin Weekes | Bill Ranford | Olaf Kolzig |

### Western Conference

Central Division :
| Position | Chicago | Detroit | St. Louis |
| Forwards | Tony Amonte | Mathieu Dandenault | Jim Campbell |
| Forwards | Eric Daze | Kris Draper | Kelly Chase |
| Forwards | Steve Dubinsky | Sergei Fedorov | Craig Conroy |
| Forwards | Chad Kilger | Vyacheslav Kozlov | Pavol Demitra |
| Forwards | Sergei Krivokrasov | Martin Lapointe | Scott Pellerin |
| Forwards | Ethan Moreau | Igor Larionov | Pascal Rheaume |
| Forwards | Bob Probert | Kirk Maltby | Pierre Turgeon |
| Forwards | Jeff Shantz | Darren McCarty | Tony Twist |
| Forwards | Alexei Zhamnov | Brendan Shanahan | |
| Forwards | | Steve Yzerman | |
| Defencemen | Chris Chelios | Anders Eriksson | Marc Bergevin |
| Defencemen | Cam Russell | Yan Golubovsky | Al MacInnis |
| Defencemen | Gary Suter | Nicklas Lidstrom | Chris McAlpine |
| Defencemen | Michal Sykora | Larry Murphy | Rudy Poeschek |
| Defencemen | Eric Weinrich | Aaron Ward | Chris Pronger |
| Defencemen | | | Jamie Rivers |
| Goaltender | Jeff Hackett | Chris Osgood | Grant Fuhr |
Northwest Division :
| Position | Calgary | Colorado | Edmonton | Vancouver |
| Forwards | Valeri Bure | Rene Corbet | Josef Beranek | Todd Bertuzzi |
| Forwards | Andrew Cassels | Adam Deadmarsh | Kelly Buchberger | Donald Brashear |
| Forwards | Nils Ekman | Shean Donovan | Bill Guerin | Pavel Bure |
| Forwards | Theoren Fleury | Peter Forsberg | Mats Lindgren | Brad May |
| Forwards | Ladislav Kohn | Keith Jones | Todd Marchant | Mark Messier |
| Forwards | Marty McInnis | Valeri Kamensky | Dean McAmmond | Alexander Mogilny |
| Forwards | Michael Nylander | Eric Lacroix | Rem Murray | Markus Naslund |
| Forwards | Dave Roche | Claude Lemieux | Ryan Smyth | Dave Scatchard |
| Forwards | Cory Stillman | Joe Sakic | Doug Weight | Peter Zezel |
| Forwards | Jason Wiemer | Stephane Yelle | Valeri Zelepukin | |
| Defencemen | Tommy Albelin | Adam Foote | Drake Berehowsky | Bret Hedican |
| Defencemen | Jamie Allison | Jon Klemm | Greg de Vries | Jamie Huscroft |
| Defencemen | Sami Helenius | Sylvain Lefebvre | Roman Hamrlik | Jyrki Lumme |
| Defencemen | Cale Hulse | Aaron Miller | Boris Mironov | Chris McAllister |
| Defencemen | Todd Simpson | Sandis Ozolinsh | Reijo Ruotsalainen | Bryan McCabe |
| Defencemen | | | | Jason Strudwick |
| Goaltender | Ken Wregget | Patrick Roy | Eric Fichaud | Corey Hirsch |
Pacific Division :
| Position | Anaheim | Dallas | Los Angeles | Phoenix | San Jose |
| Forwards | Travis Green | Bob Bassen | Matt Johnson | Bob Corkum | Shawn Burr |
| Forwards | Paul Kariya | Mike Keane | Ian Laperriere | Jim Cummins | Jeff Friesen |
| Forwards | Josef Marha | Jamie Langenbrunner | Glen Murray | Shane Doan | John MacLean |
| Forwards | Jim McKenzie | Jere Lehtinen | Yanic Perreault | Dallas Drake | Stephane Matteau |
| Forwards | Jeff Nielsen | Grant Marshall | Luc Robitaille | Jean-Francois Jomphe | Joe Murphy |
| Forwards | Steve Rucchin | Mike Modano | Jozef Stumpel | Jeremy Roenick | Owen Nolan |
| Forwards | Teemu Selanne | Joe Nieuwendyk | Vladimir Tsyplakov | Cliff Ronning | Mike Ricci |
| Forwards | | Brian Skrudland | | Keith Tkachuk | |
| Forwards | | Pat Verbeek | | Rick Tocchet | |
| Defencemen | Dave Karpa | Shawn Chambers | Aki Berg | Keith Carney | Bill Houlder |
| Defencemen | Jason Marshall | Sergey Gusev | Rob Blake | Gerald Diduck | Bryan Marchment |
| Defencemen | Jamie Pushor | Derian Hatcher | Mattias Norstrom | Jason Doig | Marcus Ragnarsson |
| Defencemen | Pavel Trnka | Richard Matvichuk | Sean O'Donnell | Teppo Numminen | Mike Rathje |
| Defencemen | | Darryl Sydor | | Deron Quint | |
| Defencemen | | Sergei Zubov | | Oleg Tverdovsky | |
| Goaltender | Guy Hebert | Ed Belfour | Stephane Fiset | Nikolai Khabibulin | Steve Shields |
| Goaltender | Patrick Lalime | | Jamie Storr | | Mike Vernon |

## Draft results

These results are numbered 1–26 for aesthetic purposes, but the players were not necessarily chosen in this order. As the Predators were the only team participating in the draft, the order is inconsequential.
| # | Player | Drafted from |
| 1. | Frederic Chabot (G) | Los Angeles Kings |
| 2. | Mike Dunham (G) | New Jersey Devils |
| 3. | Mike Richter (G) | New York Rangers |
| 4. | Mikhail Shtalenkov (G) | Mighty Ducks of Anaheim |
| 5. | Tomas Vokoun (G) | Montreal Canadiens |
| 6. | Joel Bouchard (D) | Calgary Flames |
| 7. | Bob Boughner (D) | Buffalo Sabres |
| 8. | J. J. Daigneault (D) | New York Islanders |
| 9. | Al Iafrate (D) | San Jose Sharks |
| 10. | Uwe Krupp (D) | Colorado Avalanche |
| 11. | John Slaney (D) | Phoenix Coyotes |
| 12. | Rob Zettler (D) | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 13. | Chris Armstrong (D) | Florida Panthers |
| 14. | Blair Atcheynum (RW) | St. Louis Blues |
| 15. | Paul Brousseau (F) | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| 16. | Doug Brown (RW) | Detroit Red Wings |
| 17. | Andrew Brunette (LW) | Washington Capitals |
| 18. | Patrick Cote (LW) | Dallas Stars |
| 19. | Jeff Daniels (LW) | Carolina Hurricanes |
| 20. | Craig Darby (C) | Philadelphia Flyers |
| 21. | Doug Friedman (LW) | Edmonton Oilers |
| 22. | Tony Hrkac (C) | Pittsburgh Penguins |
| 23. | Greg Johnson (C) | Chicago Blackhawks |
| 24. | Denny Lambert (LW) | Ottawa Senators |
| 25. | Mike Sullivan (C) | Boston Bruins |
| 26. | Scott Walker (RW) | Vancouver Canucks |

## Deals

In return for agreeing not to select certain unprotected players, the Predators were granted concessions by other franchises. The trades not involving Nashville draft picks all officially were booked as being for "future considerations":
* Calgary traded Jim Dowd to Nashville after the Predators agreed not to select a goaltender from the Flames.
* Chicago traded Sergei Krivokrasov to Nashville after the Predators agreed not to select Chris Terreri.
* Los Angeles traded Kimmo Timonen and Jan Vopat to Nashville after the Predators agreed not to select Garry Galley.
* Montreal traded Sebastien Bordeleau to Nashville after the Predators agreed not to select Peter Popovic.
* Philadelphia traded Dominic Roussel and Jeff Staples to Nashville after the Predators agreed not to select Paul Coffey (Nashville also sent the Flyers a seventh-round pick (Cam Ondrik) in the 1998 NHL entry draft).
* San Jose traded Ville Peltonen to Nashville after the Predators agreed not to select Tony Granato (Nashville also sent the Sharks a fifth-round pick (Josh Blackburn) in the 1998 NHL entry draft).
* St. Louis traded Darren Turcotte to Nashville after the Predators agreed not to select Jamie McLennan.

## Post-draft

Several of the players selected by the Predators in the expansion draft did not stay with the team long after the draft. Among those moved before the start of the 1998–99 season were the following:
* Mike Sullivan (traded to Phoenix for a pick in the 1999 NHL entry draft on June 30, 1998)
* Uwe Krupp (signed by Detroit on July 7, 1998)
* Tony Hrkac (traded to Dallas for future considerations on July 9, 1998)
* Doug Brown (traded to Detroit for Petr Sykora, a pick in the 1999 draft, and future considerations on July 14, 1998)
* Mike Richter (signed by the New York Rangers on July 15, 1998)
* Frederic Chabot (claimed off waivers by Montreal on July 20, 1998)
* Mikhail Shtalenkov (traded along with Jim Dowd to Edmonton for Eric Fichaud, Drake Berehowsky and Greg de Vries on October 1, 1998)
* Al Iafrate (retired before the season began)