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Thursday, September 28, 2000
Slim pickings in waiver draft
You know the end of training camp is near.
The writers have stopped producing the puff pieces on Wally from Wiarton, Jean-Luc from Jonquiere, Scott from Swift Current, Mikhail from Murmansk and Mats from MoDo.
The clubs have made their first major cuts and this weekend, coaches on the 30 NHL teams -- that's right 30 teams -- will dispatch players to places such as Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Hartford, Hamilton and Winnipeg.
So the players are antsy, made even more so by the fact the league conducts its annual waiver draft at noon tomorrow, meaning that there may be an unanticipated move or two.
It's hockey's version of a fall rummage sale as veterans and failed draft picks alike are put up for grabs.
Each team protected 18 players and two goalkeepers and can lose only one player in the draft.
A look at who's available.
ANAHEIM MIGHTY DUCKS: Tony Hrkac F, Dean Malkoc D, Chris O'Sullivan D, Kevin Sawyer F, Nikolai Tsulygin D, Bob Wren F, Dominic Roussel G.
The skinny: The veteran Hrkac may entice somebody, but it is unlikely. Roussel may be more likely to move on.
ATLANTA THRASHERS: Brett Clark D, Geordie Kinnear D, Sean McCann D, Rumun Ndur D, Yves Sarault F, Andrei Skopintsev D, Herbert Vasiljevs F, Scott Langkow G, Norm Maracle G
The skinny: Maybe the Canadiens will try to repatriate Brett Clark, who played well for them but did nothing to impress the folks in Georgia. He is as good as anything Montreal has on its defence now.
BOSTON BRUINS: Elias Abrahamsson D, Johnathan Aitken D, Shane Belter D, Peter Ferraro F, Dimitri Kvartalnov F, Eric Manlow F, Keith McCambridge D, Sean Pronger F, Brandon Smith D, Joel Trottier F, Eric Van Acker D, Jeff Zehr F.
The skinny; Not much here unless someone thinks he can make an NHLer of Peter Ferraro, whose twin brother Chris, is also available in this draft. Remember the excitement when the Rangers drafted them a few years back.
BUFFALO SABRES: Doug Houda D, Mike Hurlbut D, Chris Taylor F.
The skinny: Taylor is the best of this bunch, but chances are the Sabres will escape unscathed.
CALGARY FLAMES: Jason Botterill F, Marc Bureau F, Miika Elomo F, Benoit Gratton F, Andreas Johansson F, Mike Martin D, Dave Roche F, Steve Smith D, Mike Vellinga D, Derrick Walser D, Martin Brochu G, Tyrone Garner G, Andrei Trefilov G.
The skinny: Lots of names, but nothing jumps out.
CAROLINA HURRICANES: Brian Felsner F, Ian MacNeil F, Byron Ritchie F, Jon Rohloff D, Kevin Smyth F.
The skinny: Pass.
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS: Jamie Allison D, Blair Atcheynum F, Nolan Baumgartner D, Steve Dubinsky F, Chris Herperger F, Chris McAlpine D, Steve Poapst D, Doug Zmolek D.
The skinny: New GM Mike Smith obviously was not planning to make any gifts available.
COLORADO AVALANCHE: Mike Craig F, Kelly Fairchild F, Brad Larsen F, Stewart Malgunas D, Ville Nieminen F, Joel Prpic F, Rob Shearer F, Dan Smith D, Frederic Cassivi G.
The skinny: Anyone remember when Mike Craig was a rising star in Minnesota? It was a long time ago.
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS: Kevin Dahl D, Matt Davidson F, Ted Drury F, Michael Gaul D, Sergei Klimentiev D, Mike Maneluk F, Reggie Savage F, Jeff Williams F, Frederic Chabot G.
The skinny: The Blue Jackets are trying to discard other teams' discards to picked up from the expansion draft.
DALLAS STARS: Eric Houde F, Alan Letang D, David Ling F, Warren Luhning F, Jeff Tory D, Chris Wells F, Mark Wotton D, Jamie Wright F, Mike Bales G.
The skinny: A whole lot of career minor-leaguers being offered by Stanley Cup finalists.
DETROIT RED WINGS: Doug Brown F, Steve Brule F, Todd Gill D, Yan Golubovsky D, Uwe Krupp D, Marc Rodgers F, Ken Wregget G.
The skinny: The salaries and age of Brown and Wregget should ward off pursuers.
EDMONTON OILERS: Adam Bennett D, Jozef Cierny F, Scott Ferguson D, Paul Healey F, Ralph Intranuovo F, Fredrik Lindquist F, Alain Nasreddine D, Reijo Ruotsalainen D, Terran Sandwith D, Sergei Yerkovich D, Alexander Zhurik D, Alexandre Fomitchev G.
The skinny: A whole lot of never-weres and never-will-bes.
FLORIDA PANTHERS: Paul Brousseau F, David Emma F, Lance Pitlick D, Sean Gauthier G, Rich Shulmistra G.
The skinny: Pass.
LOS ANGELES KINGS: Eric Belanger F, Philippe Boucher D, Rich Brennan D, David Hymovitz F, Peter Leboutillier F, Jason Podollan F, John Thomas F, Marcel Cousineau G, Steve Passmore G, Travis Scott G.
The skinny: Expansion draft leftovers.
MINNESOTA WILD: Chris Armstrong D, Brian Bonin F, Eric Charron D, Jeff Daw F, Ian Herbers D, Christian Matte F, Mike Matteucci D, Nick Naumenko D, Richard Park F.
The skinny: Former college start Brian Bonin complained after being sent down at training camp. Bonin is 26. Now it appears there is no room for him in the organization.
MONTREAL CANADIENS: Andrei Bashkirov F, Eric Bertrand F, Sylvain Blouin F, Enrico Ciccone D, Xavier Delisle F, Matthieu Descoteaux D, Miloslav Guren D, Matt Higgins F, Eric Landry F, Juha Lind F, Mike McBain D, Patrick Poulin F, Barry Richter D, Terry Ryan F.
The skinny: Former first-round picks Ryan and Higgns, Bashkirov, their first choice in the second round last season and the underachieving Poulin are being dangled
NASHVILLE PREDATORS: Alexandre Boikov D, Zdeno Ciger F, Rory Fitzpatrick D, Sean Haggerty F, Jayson More D, Marc Moro D, Brantt Myhres F, Jeremy Stevenson F, Mike Watt F.
The skinny: Ex-Leafs draft choice Haggerty has been deemed expendable as has Fitzpatrick, a former Canadiens defenceman who failed to catch on in St. Louis after being a throw-in in the Pierre Turgeon deal.
NEW JERSEY DEVILS: Sylvain Cloutier F, Chris Ferraro F.
The skinny: End of the NHL dream for Chris Ferraro.
NEW YORK ISLANDERS: Jesse Belanger F, Mark Lawrence F, Anders Myrvold D, Dimitri Nabokov F, Ray Schultz D, Dan Trebil D.
The skinny: Lawrence has been a major under-achiever for the Islanders. Belanger has tried and failed with Montreal (twice) and Florida.
NEW YORK RANGERS: Derek Armstrong F, Drew Bannister D, Jason Dawe F, Ken Gernander F, Daniel Goneau F, Mike Harder F, Johan Lindbom F, John MacLean F, Jan Mertzig D, Rich Pilon D, Brad Smyth F, Ronnie Sundin D, Terry Virtue D, David Wilkie D, Jean-Francois Labbe G.
The skinny: MacLean is long in the tooth, Pilon has had injury woes and Dawe and Wilkie likely will finish their careers in the minors.
OTTAWA SENATORS: Viacheslav Butsayev F, Ivan Ciernik F, John Emmons F, John Gruden D, Derek King F, David Oliver F, Christer Olsson D, Andy Schneider F, Todd White F, Mike Fountain G.
The skinny: This may be it for Derek King.
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS: Mark Greig F, Keith Jones F, Steve McLaren F, Dean Melanson D, Rob Murray F, Michel Picard F, Derek Plante F, Ulf Samuelsson D, Brad Tiley D, Steve Washburn F, Neil Little G.
The skinny: Jones has a huge contract and a wonky knee that should scare away most potential suitors.
PHOENIX COYOTES: Joel Bouchard D, Tavis Hansen F, Francois Leroux D, Craig Mills F.
The skinny: Not much here.
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS: Sven Butenschon D, Trent Cull D, Rich Parent G.
The skinny: Don't even look.
ST. LOUIS BLUES: Chris Murray F, Pascal Rheaume F, Stephane Roy F, Dwayne Roloson G.
The skinny: Murray already has played for Montreal, Carolina, Ottawa, Chicago and Dallas.
SAN JOSE SHARKS: Steve Bancroft D, Larry Courville F, Jarrett Deuling F, Doug Friedman F, Dave MacIsaac D, Jim Montgomery F, Bob Rouse D, Ron Stern F, Terry Friesen G.
The skinny: Stern has retired, Rouse may be thinking about it.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING: Jassen Cullimore D, Dan Kesa F.
The skinny: Take a wide berth.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: Bryan Berard D, Lonny Bohonos F, Aaron Brand F, Nathan Dempsey D, Gerald Diduck D , David Nemirovsky F, D.J. Smith D, Jimmy Waite G.
The skinny: Diduck has an inflated $1 million salary while Waite is complaining about dizzy spells. Berard still trying to recover from an eye injury in March, the rest are career minor-leaguers.
VANCOUVER CANUCKS: Bryan Helmer D, Vadim Sharifijanov F, Dody Wood F, Corey Schwab G.
The skinny: Pass.
WASHINGTON CAPITALS: Patrick Boileau D, Jamie Huscroft D, Dmitri Mironov D, Jeff Nelson F, Mike Peluso F, Stephane Richer F, Todd Rohloff D, Stefan Ustorf F, Terry Yake F, Rob Zettler D, Stephane Beauregard G.
The skinny: Richer has retired, Yake may be useful to someone as would be Mironov. Forget the rest.
AROUNBD RGE NHL: The NHL Players' Association is looking into the decision by the Boston Bruins to indefinitely suspend goaltender John Grahame who broke his right ankle in an off-ice incident during the weekend. Meanwhile the Boston Globe reports today that the Bruins have some interest in free-agent goaltender Garth Snow and have made an offer to him. The Globe also says that New York Islanders general manager Mike Milbury reportedly is interested in Bruins restricted free agent Anson Carter. According to sources, the Bruins are asking for centre Tim Connolly but Milbury is balking. ... Curtis Joseph, who has missed all of pre-season to this point with a groin injury, is set to play at least a period in goal tonight for the Maple Leafs in Detroit. No word on when Shayne Corson will play. He has been sidelined with a gastrointestinal problem. ...