Kimmo Timonen
At one time, Timonen was property of the Los Angeles Kings, but he wanted to remain in Finland and represented his country at the 1998 Winter Olympics. Since the Kings wanted to protect Garry Galley in the upcoming expansion draft, they cut a deal with the Predators and sent them the young defender and Roman Vopat in exchange for the assurance that they would not select the prized veteran.
Timonen started the season in Milwaukee and had 15 points over 29 games at the IHL level before he got the call-up to Nashville for their battle with Anaheim on December 16, 1998. A week later, he recorded his first NHL point with an assist against the Detroit Red Wings. Closer to the end of the year, he recorded a four-game point streak that included goals against Los Angeles, Chicago and New Jersey.
Kimmo Timonen
Tomas Vokoun
Many fans did not know what to expect when the Predators chose Vokoun in the 1998 NHL Expansion Draft, as his only previous action had been a disastrous single-period stint with the Montreal Canadiens during the 1996–97 season.
Vokoun bounced between Milwaukee and Nashville in the early months of the 1998–99 campaign and appeared in nine AHL contests with the Admirals. He debuted with the big club in a loss to Vancouver on November 7, 1998, and his first victory took place against the San Jose Sharks on December 10. Later that month, he strung together three consecutive wins and was in net for the franchise’s first shutout on January 15, 1999, when the Phoenix Coyotes went down by a score of 2–0. In time, he became the team’s number one man in net and he still holds several club records.
Mike Dunham
Being the backup to Martin Brodeur in New Jersey has traditionally been an easy job in many ways thanks to his workhorse-like ways. Dunham spent two years as his apprentice, but they were drafted by the Devils in the same year, 1990. Dunham took a bit of a longer path to the NHL, but as a rookie in 1996–97, he got to share the Jennings Trophy, and the Predators took him in the expansion draft for his potential to be their number one goaltender.
Dunham played strong during Nashville’s opener against the Florida Panthers, making 25 saves in the 1–0 loss on October 10, 1998, but three days later, he made sure the Preds notched their first win while taking on the Calgary Flames. His best stretch in the crease came between October 27 and November 12, when he won five of six games, but he later missed some time because of injury. On March 24, 1999, he was perfect in a tough clash with the Tampa Bay Lightning as he turned back every shot to earn a 3–0 shutout.
Mike Dunham
EXPANSION YEAR RECORD: 14–57–7–4
(39 points — fifth in Southeast Division)
COACH: Curt Fraser
GENERAL MANAGER: Don Waddell
FIRST GAME: October 2, 1999 —
4–1 loss vs. New Jersey Devils
FIRST GOAL: October 2, 1999 by Kelly Buchberger
ATLANTA
THRASHERS
Nearly 20 years after the NHL’s initial experiment in the southern United States failed, the pro hockey landscape had proven that the sport could sometimes work in warmer climates. The league made the somewhat controversial decision to grant a new franchise to Atlanta on June 25, 1997. Since there was some big money behind the club in the form of broadcasting mogul Ted Turner and Time Warner Inc., there was certainly optimism in the NHL’s eyes, but some fans were still skeptical that big-league hockey could survive in Georgia.
The Thrashers, who were expected to begin play in the 1999–00 season, were named after the state bird. The Philips Arena — located at the same spot as the Omni, where the Flames had played years before — was to be their home. The club hired former Detroit Red Wings assistant general manager Don Waddell to serve as their first vice-president and general manager on June 23, 1998, and their colourful jerseys were unveiled a few months before they hit the ice.
Just one week before the 1999 NHL Expansion Draft took place, the team made a trade to get impending free agent goaltender Damian Rhodes away from the Ottawa Senators. On June 25, 1999, they selected many of the players that were part of their first lineup, but not all of them lasted the day as property of the team, though, as they made several other trades to bolster the lineup.
What fans were truly excited about, however, was the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, to see what young prospect the Thrashers were going to take with their first overall pick. At the time, many hockey executives did not realize how weak the 1999 draft class would be. Atlanta could have taken one of the Sedin brothers, but twins Daniel and Henrik made it well-known beforehand that they only planned to go to a club that was going to select both of them. There was also some hype for Pavel Brendl from the Calgary Hitmen. Instead, the Thrashers selected Patrik Stefan, a teenager who had played professionally in 1998–99 with the Long Beach Ice Dogs of the IHL. In the end, Stefan proved to be somewhat of a bust, but he did skate in more than 400 games with the team that drafted him.
The next point of business was hiring a coach, and Atlanta went with former NHL player Curt Fraser, who had a great deal of success in previous years as the bench boss of minor league squads. He was brought up from the IHL’s Orlando Solar Bears and ended up spending a rough three-and-a-half seasons with the Thrashers.
On September 11, the Thrashers won their first exhibition match against the previous year’s expansion club, the Nashville Predators, by a score of 3–1. Their first real test, though, was their opening night game on October 2, when they fell to the New Jersey Devils by a 4–1 margin. Captain Kelly Buchberger scored their only goal in that contest, but they looked marginally better in their home debut a week later as they skated to a 5–5 tie with the Buffalo Sabres. Two days after that, they finally earned their first victory when Rhodes made 20 saves and chalked up a 2–0 shutout against the New York Islanders.
After that, the bright spots were few and far between during Atlanta’s expansion year. Only twice did they string together two straight wins, and their second half was simply atrocious with four wins over their last 41 games. This period of futility also included a 16-game winless streak that ran from January 16 to February 22, 2000, when they got a surprise victory over the Colorado Avalanche.
With their first season mercifully finished, their record was a brutal 14–57–7–4 for a pathetic 39 points. It was not the worst finish ever by an expansion club, but it was the weakest since the 1992–93 Ottawa Senators. A glimmer of hope was around the corner, though, as they took Dany Heatley with the second overall pick in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft and improved enough to win 23 games the next year. Soon after, they added Ilya Kovalchuk to the lineup and slowly began to build into contender that was on the cusp of finally making the playoffs.
Tragedy struck the team on September 29, 2003, when Heatley crashed his Ferrari and seriously injured himself along with passenger and teammate Dan Snyder, who died five days later due to septic shock. Heatley faced criminal charges that were ultimately dropped, but he was given three years of probation and community service.
Following the lockout, the team tried to build on its strong 2003–04 season and won 41 games in 2005–06 despite missing starting goaltender Kari Lehtonen for an extended period. They narrowly missed the postseason again, but they kept their momentum going the next year and finally made it to the playoffs as Southeast Division champs. When they were swept in four games by the New York Rangers, their lack of postseason experience was readily apparent, but there was some short-lived optimism in Atlanta at the time.
Over the next four seasons, things began to fall apart both on and off the ice for the Thrashers as they went through some coaching changes and were basically forced to trade Kovalchuk when it became obvious that he was not going to re-sign with the team. They still tried valiantly to make the playoffs and even hosted the 2008 NHL All-Star Game, but the situation looked bleak at best as a result of declining attendance and decreased revenues. Rick Dudley took over as their general manager in 2010–11 and the club made some last-ditch efforts to try to keep the Thrashers f
rom relocating, attempting to find some local investors to keep the team around, but it was all in vain. At the time, the Atlanta Spirit Group owned the team and noted that they had lost $130 million over six seasons. Some of those losses were credited to an ongoing lawsuit with a former partner.
On May 16, 2011, it was reported that the Thrashers were being sold to Winnipeg-based True North Sports and Entertainment. Despite the NHL’s denial, a deal was finalized four days later. The official announcement of the sale was made on May 31 and it, along with the relocation of the team, was formally approved on June 21. The Atlanta Spirit Group retained the rights and logos for the Thrashers, but True North eventually announced that the team was going to be called the Jets — a direct nod to the city’s previous NHL team, which had been relocated to Phoenix in 1996. The new Winnipeg Jets have been a box office smash and came very close to reaching the playoffs in 2011–12.
Andrew Brunette
Brunette spent the 1998–99 season as a member of the first-year Nashville Predators and had the best season of his career to that point. Sent to Atlanta for a fifth-round draft pick, he was certainly motivated to prove his worth as an NHL performer with the Thrashers. There is little doubt that the Preds regretted making such a hasty move.
Although Brunette did not register a point in the first two games of the year, he had five points over his next three, which included the first game-winning goal in franchise history, when they shut out the New York Islanders on October 14, 1999. In fact, he had a very good start to the season with 32 points over his first 36 games.
His production cooled off a bit over the rest of the year, but Brunette hit the 20-goal mark for the first time on February 25, 2000, against the Edmonton Oilers. After that, he did not appear on the scoresheet for nine games and did not score another goal until March 18. He finished the year as Atlanta’s leading scorer and finished up his career during the 2011–12 season as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Ray Ferraro
After 15 seasons in the NHL, Ferraro had proved himself a solid performer and starred for four different clubs. After missing a good chunk of the 1997–98 campaign with an injury, he bounced back the following year, and that made him an appealing free agent in the summer months of 1999. When he signed on with the Thrashers, the hope was that there was still some gas left in the tank.
One of Atlanta’s most exciting performers during their expansion season, Ferraro had more three-star selections than any other player on the club in 1999–00. Although he was held pointless over the first four games of the year, he notched a pair of assists in a tie with Tampa Bay on October 16, 1999, and repeated the feat again 10 days later in a win over the Calgary Flames. A battle with the Buffalo Sabres saw him notch three points and that was part of a big 10-point month for the veteran forward.
Ray Ferraro
Yannick Tremblay
Fans in Toronto saw a lot of promise in Tremblay during the late 1990s, but the team itself was not necessarily convinced he was going to be a long-term fixture on the roster and he was made available in the NHL Expansion Draft.
It was a move they came to regret, as Tremblay remained healthy for most of the 1999–00 campaign with the Thrashers and led their defence corps in goals, assists and points by a country mile. Within the first month of play, he had recorded a pair of two-point games and ended up having five of them over the course of the season. Four of his 10 goals came on the power play and the first game-winning tally of his career came against the Florida Panthers on December 3, 1999.
While facing his old club on March 18, 2000, Tremblay scored the winner, one of three goals he had that month, in a 4–1 triumph. At the end of the season, he was selected to represent Canada at the 2000 IIHF World Championship.
Patrik Stefan
The 1999 NHL Entry Draft is often regarded as one of the worst in the history of the event, and often some that blame is placed on the shoulders of Stefan, who was taken first overall by the Thrashers. He chose to leave the Czech Republic during the 1997–98 season to play for the Long Beach Ice Dogs of the IHL and performed well enough against established professionals to move to the head of the draft pack. It also did not help that the Sedin brothers were insistent that they be drafted by the same club, since Atlanta might have taken one of them with the premier pick.
Making his big-league debut on October 2, 1999, against New Jersey, Stefan recorded his first point, which was an assist on Atlanta’s only goal of the night by Kelly Buchberger. A week later, he scored twice and chipped in a helper in a 5–5 tie with the Buffalo Sabres. After a weak November, he picked up the pace in December and had 10 points over 13 games. From there, it was very much tough times for the rookie as he scored only seven points over the rest of the year. The highlight of that period was a two-point night in a win over the Colorado Avalanche on February 22, 2000.
Patrik Stefan
Kelly Buchberger
Edmonton’s last link to their Stanley Cup dynasty, Buchberger played for the club until the end of the 1998–99 season and was their leader on and off the ice. A gritty and tough winger, he was picked up by the Thrashers in the expansion draft and was named captain for their first NHL season.
Because of his experience, he was given more opportunity to rack up ice time and his per-game average went up by slightly more than four minutes per game after switching teams. He scored his first goal of the season in the opener against the New Jersey Devils and followed it up with an assist against Detroit on October 7, 1999, and two more helpers two days later in a tie with the Buffalo Sabres.
Buchberger was also very busy stepping up for teammates and dropped the gloves nine times in a Thrashers uniform. During the first game of the year, he tangled with Lyle Odelein of the Devils and had subsequent scraps with heavyweights like Todd Simpson, Shayne Corson and Paul Laus. On December 23, 1999, he recorded three points against the Philadelphia Flyers, and all of his goals with Atlanta came in even-strength situations. As the trade deadline approached, he was shipped off to Los Angeles along with Nelson Emerson.
Damian Rhodes
Rhodes was coming off the best season of his career when the Ottawa Senators traded him to Atlanta for future considerations on June 18, 1999. Since he had been a big part of his former club’s rise to playoff contention, the Thrashers felt that they had a potential number one netminder secured for their expansion season. He was the first player the club acquired.
Rhodes was in net for the club’s first game on October 2, 1999, against the New Jersey Devils and made 26 saves in a 4–1 loss. Less than two weeks later, he made club history when they earned their first-ever victory and shutout in a 2–0 blanking of the New York Islanders on October 14. A sprained ankle derailed his season, however, and he missed a ton of action beginning in mid-November. Once he returned to action on March 10, he was back as the club’s top goalie and won a pair of games down the stretch against Toronto and the Islanders.
Damian Rhodes
EXPANSION YEAR RECORD: 28–39–9–6
(71 points — fifth in Central Division)
COACH: Dave King
GENERAL MANAGER: Doug MacLean
FIRST GAME: October 7, 2000 —
5–3 loss to Chicago Blackhawks
FIRST GOAL: October 7, 2000 by Bruce Gardiner
COLUMBUS
BLUE JACKETS
Before the arrival of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the NHL had made one foray into the state of Ohio, when the Cleveland Barons spent two seasons in the league in 1976–77 and 1977–78. The Barons had a rough time both on the ice and at the box office, but there were factors in play that assured their doom, such as an arena that was located far into the suburbs.
Nearly 20 years later, a group that included industrialist John H. McConnell decided to make a bid for a spot in the NHL’s upcoming expansion plans. The city itself had not had a “big four” major league sports franchise at that point, but there was some pro hockey in Ohio’s capital city with the ECHL’s Columbus Chill t
hat began play in 1991–92. The NHL expressed some concerns about the lack of a suitable arena, and the city itself held a referendum about the use of public funds to build one. If it failed, the city was not willing to put up funds, but McConnell promised the league that the arena would be built privately if necessary.
In the end, the referendum failed and the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company declared that they were going to finance the new arena on May 31, 1997. Just 25 days later, the NHL announced that the new Columbus franchise was set to begin play in the 2000–01 season. They were called the Blue Jackets in honour of the state’s Civil War history, although at the time some hockey fans were a bit confused by the team’s name. They also released a preliminary logo that featured a day-glow green bug named Stinger dressed up in Civil War regalia, and used that as their alternate logo from 2000–01 to 2004–05.
The team hired respected hockey executive Doug MacLean as their general manager on February 11, 1998, and right away he went to work putting the on-ice product together. Soon after, he was also given the responsibilities of club president. He was busy in the weeks leading up to the 2000 NHL Expansion Draft signing free agents and trading away some late draft picks for a few players that gave Columbus some depth early on. Two of his best pickups at this time were Espen Knutsen from Anaheim and David Vyborny, who went on to become one of the best players in franchise history.
Of all the players the Blue Jackets took in the expansion draft, just 12 of them suited up for the team during the 2000–01 season. They picked up several solid veterans like Geoff Sanderson, Kevin Dineen and Lyle Odelein before the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, when they took promising defender Rostislav Klesla in the first round.
Not long after the expansion draft, the Blue Jackets named Dave King their first coach. King had previous experience with the Calgary Flames and leading the Canadian National Team. They also signed some more free agents around this time, including veteran goaltender Ron Tugnutt and prospect Serge Aubin.
Changing the Game Page 38