1993 NHL Expansion Draft

The Backgrounds

In 1992, only a couple months into the 1992-93 NHL season and fresh off the addition of the Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning to the league, the NHL decided to expand again.

It came as a surprise to many. In stark contrast to the long, drawn-out process by which the Senators and Lightning were added—they were awarded new franchises almost two years before they began play—the new franchises conditionally awarded on December 10, 1992 involved no formal application process at all.

If you've read my post about the Senators and Lighting's expansion process you might stop now and ask yourself why the NHL would award the next two franchises so quickly and seemingly so easily. The answer, of course, is money.

In 1990 Jerry Buss, former owner of the Kings, applied for an expansion franchise to play out of a new arena being constructed in Anaheim, California. At the same time John W. Henry applied for a franchise in Miami. Neither Buss nor Henry had lease agreements with their prospective arenas, Buss's application was not even considered, and Henry's was rejected on the basis that he wouldn't pay the full $50 million expansion fee on schedule.

The NHL wouldn't consider Buss and Henry's applications for franchises but that did not mean that the league was not interested in expansion to Anaheim and Miami. Two years after the failed bids the NHL was approached by two businesspeople who wanted expansion franchises—one in Anaheim and one in Miami. Those two people were Michael Eisner, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, and Wayne Huizenga, chairman and CEO of Blockbuster Entertainment.

In a matter of weeks the idea of having a team in Anaheim owned by Disney and a team in Miami owned by Huizenga became a reality. The NHL announced that it would expand again, to Anaheim and Miami, and the teams would begin play as early as the 1993-94 season. The $50 million expansion fees were of little import; Disney and Huizenga cut the league cheques almost immediately.

To be ready for the 1993-94 season the ownership groups needed to establish firm lease agreements with their respective venues and hire front office personnel in less than half a year.

Coincidentally The Walt Disney Company released a movie about hockey in October, 1992 called The Mighty Ducks. It was the story of a Minneapolis lawyer played by Emilio Estevez who was caught drunk-driving and ordered by a court to coach a hapless pee-wee team as his "community service" punishment. It was a modest hit that had over $50 million in North American domestic box office receipts. Eisner attended the press conference announcing the franchise awarding wearing a Ducks jersey. He made no bones about his desire to name the team "Mighty Ducks", and they officially did so at a press conference on March 1, 1993. 'Anaheim' had to be included in the team's operating name as a condition of the lease agreement with the City of Anaheim so the team was officially christened the "Mighty Ducks of Anaheim". It was the first and only time an NHL club went by nickname first and city (or state) name last.

Huizenga never had any intention of naming his franchise after the city of Miami. Blockbuster was based in Fort Lauderdale, a Miami suburb, and Huizenga was particularly sensitive about being as inclusive in the naming of his team as possible. They held a "name the team" contest with no intention whatsoever of using 'Miami' in the name. 'Florida', "South Florida" or "Tri-County" (as in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties) perhaps, but definitely not 'Miami'. He had already secured the rights to the expansion baseball franchise in the area and named it the Florida Marlins. On April 19, just a couple months before the expansion draft, Huizenga announced that he had hired long-time New York Islanders GM Bill Torrey as his hockey club's new president and the club would be known as the Florida Panthers. (The Florida panther is a critically-endangered subspecies of cougar, and the official state animal.)

Torrey was not the first Panthers employee though. Bobby Clarke was hired as GM on March 1. The announcement was a little lost among the news that the other expansion club was going to be named Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

The Ducks hired Jack Ferreira as their first general manager and Pierre Gauthier as his assistant on March 23.

Expansion Draft Rules

At the time of the Anaheim-Miami expansion announcement the Tampa Bay Lightning were 10-19-2 and the Senators—oh, the Senators… The Senators were 3-26-2. They were on pace to be the worst expansion team ever. The Sharks were a year older but they weren't much better at 5-23-1.

It was clear that the expansion plans in the previous two seasons were far too onerous on the new clubs, despite the measures put in place that would force the existing clubs to expose a minimum number of nominally 'experienced' players in the expansion drafts.

It was going to be different in 1993. In 1992 the new clubs were owned by a small group of Ottawa real estate developers and a mysterious group of Japanese businessmen who some questioned even existed. They had to scrounge to make their $50 million expansion fee payments. They had to fight to get their arenas built. '93 was completely different. '93 was "big money". Disney and the head of Blockbuster didn't need to scrounge to pay for anything, and they sure as hell wouldn't accept the sort of deal that the Senators and Lightning got.

In the 1992 Expansion Draft the established clubs could protect 14 skaters, regardless of position, and a pair of goalies, and the clubs that lost defencemen and goalies in the '91 Expansion Draft couldn't lose any in '92. In '93 the existing clubs (including the Sharks, Lightning and Senators) were allowed to protect the same number of skaters, but it was further specified to only nine forwards and five defencemen. They were also allowed to protect only one goalie. First-year pros on all teams were exempt but second-year pros were not, except on the Sharks', Senators' and Lightning's reserve lists.

Each existing club had to offer at least one goalie on a pro contract (with no stipulations for NHL experience), at least one defenceman with 40 games' experience in the 1992-93 season or 70 over the course of 1991-92 and 1992-93, and at least two forwards with the same experience requirements as the defenceman. The Mighty Ducks and Panthers would choose three goalies, eight defencemen and 13 forwards each, one more in each category than the Senators and Lightning chose in 1992. Each of the existing clubs could lose only a maximum of one goalie or one defenceman: a team that lost a goalie could not lose a defenceman. This meant that six clubs would lose a goalie and a forward, sixteen would lose a defenceman and a forward, and two would lose two forwards. In 1992 the teams were allowed to pick one impending free agent apiece; in 1993 they were allowed to pick up to four each, with no more than one goalie, two defencemen or two forwards among those four.

These conditions clearly favoured the Ducks and Panthers by comparison to the plight the Lightning, Senators and Sharks faced in 1991 and 1992 so in order to help the other three recent expansion clubs a second phase was added to the 1993 Expansion Draft. The Sharks, Senators and Lightning would be allowed to pick players from the Panthers and Ducks.

"Phase II" of the draft would see the Panthers and Ducks each protect one goalie, five defencemen and 10 forwards. The Sharks, Lightning and Senators would also protect two goalies, five defencemen and 10 forwards. No pro players would be exempt, even first and second-year players. Phase II would last two rounds, with the order of selection being Lightning, Senators and Sharks. Now here's where it gets tricky…

When one of the Lightning, Senators or Sharks picked a player from the Panthers or Ducks the team that picked the player had to drop a player from their protected list of the same position (goalie, defenceman or forward) as the player that was claimed. The player that was dropped and every other player in the same position and not on his team's protected list was then offered to the other two '91/'92 expansion clubs. If either of those two teams claimed a player they in turn had to drop a player of the same position, and the process started over again. If the '91/'92 teams passed on claiming a player from the team that originally picked one from the Ducks or Panthers then the right to claim an unprotected player fell to the team that lost a player in the first place. If that team passed the other '93 expansion team was given a chance to claim a player from the '91/'92 team that claimed a player. The last club to claim a player in the whole rigamarole was designated the "ultimate claiming club", and the ultimate claiming club had to pay $100,000 to the '93 expansion club that lost a player in the first place. The fee dropped to $50,000 in the second round.

Let me try to explain this ridiculously convoluted process with an example. Let's say the Lightning chose "Player W" from the Panthers with the first pick in Phase II. Let's say 'W' was a forward. The Lightning would then drop a forward from their own protected list. Let's call that player 'X'. 'X' and any other forward not protected by the Lightning was then offered to the Sharks and Senators. Let's say the Sharks claimed an unprotected forward from the Lightning, 'Y'. They would have to drop a forward from their own protected list. That forward, 'Z', would be offered along with all the other unprotected Sharks forwards to the Lightning and Senators.

Let's say the Lightning and Senators passed on claiming 'Z' or any other unprotected forwards from the Sharks. The Panthers would then get first dibs on an unprotected forward from the Sharks because they lost 'W' in the first place. Let's say they passed, and so too did the Ducks afterward. The "ultimate claiming club" in this case would be the Sharks, and the Sharks would pay the Panthers $100,000.

The Lightning would have acquired 'W' from the Panthers, the Sharks would get 'Y' from the Lightning, and the Panthers would get $100,000 from the Sharks. The Sharks' selection of 'Y' from the Lightning would count as their selection in that round, and the next choice would pass to the Senators.

In the course of Phase II of the draft the Panthers and Ducks could lose a maximum of one goalie, one defenceman and one forward.

The protected lists for Phase I were to be filed by 5:00 pm eastern time on Sunday June 20, and Phase I would be held on Thursday the 24th. Phase II was held the next day, June 25. Both phases of the expansion draft were held in the Salle Octave-Crémazie at the Grand Théâtre de Québec in Quebec City (the 1993 Entry Draft was held in Quebec City on the 26th, at the Colisée).

Protected Lists

Boston Bruins	Buffalo Sabres	Calgary Flames	Chicago Blackhawks
Goaltenders
Andy Moog	Grant Fuhr	Mike Vernon	Ed Belfour
Defencemen
Ray Bourque	Doug Bodger	Kevin Dahl	Chris Chelios
Glen Featherstone	Keith Carney	Al MacInnis	Frantisek Kucera
David Shaw	Gord Donnelly	Frank Musil	Bryan Marchment
Don Sweeney	Ken Sutton	Gary Suter	Cam Russell
Glen Wesley	Petr Svoboda	Trent Yawney	Steve Smith
Forwards
Ted Donato	Donald Audette	Craig Berube	Dirk Graham
Steve Heinze	Dale Hawerchuk	Theoren Fleury	Steve Larmer
Joe Juneau	Pat LaFontaine	Paul Kruse	Jocelyn Lemieux
Stephen Leach	Brad May	Joe Nieuwendyk	Stephane Matteau
Daniel Marois	Alexander Mogilny	Joel Otto	Joe Murphy
Glen Murray	Rob Ray	Paul Ranheim	Brian Noonan
Cam Neely	Bob Sweeney	Robert Reichel	Jeremy Roenick
Adam Oates	Scott Thomas	Gary Roberts	Christian Ruutu
Dave Reid	Randy Wood	Ronnie Stern	Brent Sutter
Dallas Stars	Detroit Red Wings	Edmonton Oilers	Hartford Whalers
Goaltenders
Jon Casey	Tim Cheveldae	Bill Ranford	Sean Burke
Defencemen
Paul Cavallini	Steve Chiasson	Igor Kravchuk	Adam Burt
Enrico Ciccone	Paul Coffey	Dave Manson	Brad McCrimmon
Derian Hatcher	Vladimir Konstantinov	Luke Richardson	Allen Pedersen
Jim Johnson	Nicklas Lidstrom	Dave Manson	Eric Weinrich
Mark Tinordi	Yves Racine	Brad Werenka	Zarley Zalapski
Forwards
Shane Churla	Shawn Burr	Kelly Buchberger	Andrew Cassels
Russ Courtnall	Dino Ciccarelli	Zdeno Ciger	Mark Janssens
Mike Craig	Sergei Federov	Shayne Corson	Robert Kron
Ulf Dahlen	Sheldon Kennedy	Louie DeBrusk	Nick Kypreos
Dave Gagner	Keith Primeau	Scott Pearson	Sergei Makarov
Brent Gilchrist	Bob Probert	Steven Rice	Jim McKenzie
Trent Klatt	Ray Sheppard	Craig Simpson	Geoff Sanderson
Mike McPhee	Mike Sillinger	Kevin Todd	Jim Sandlak
Mike Modano	Steve Yzerman	Doug Weight	Pat Verbeek
Los Angeles Kings	Montreal Canadiens	New Jersey Devils	New York Islanders
Goaltenders
Kelly Hrudey	Patrick Roy	Chris Terreri	Ron Hextall
Defencemen
Rob Blake	Patrice Brisebois	Tommy Albelin	Uwe Krupp
Charlie Huddy	Eric Desjardins	Ken Daneyko	Scott Lachance
Marty McSorley	Kevin Haller	Bruce Driver	Wayne McBean
Darryl Sydor	Lyle Odelein	Scott Niedermayer	Rich Pilon
Brent Thompson	Mathieu Schneider	Scott Stevens	Dennis Vaske
Forwards
Jimmy Carson	Brian Bellows	Bill Guerin	Brad Dalgarno
Mike Donnelly	Benoit Brunet	Bobby Holik	Ray Ferraro
Tony Granato	Vincent Damphousse	Claude Lemieux	Patrick Flatley
Wayne Gretzky	Paul DiPietro	John MacLean	Travis Green
Jari Kurri	Gilbert Dionne	Randy McKay	Benoit Hogue
Corey Millen	Mike Keane	Bernie Nicholls	Derek King
Luc Robitaille	Stephan Lebeau	Stephane Richer	Marty McInnis
Tomas Sandstrom	John LeClair	Alexander Semak	Steve Thomas
Brandy Semchuk	Kirk Muller	Valeri Zelepukin	Pierre Turgeon
New York Rangers	Ottawa Senators	Philadelphia Flyers	Pittsburgh Penguins
Goaltenders
Mike Richter	Craig Billington	Dominic Roussel	Tom Barrasso
Defencemen
Jeff Beukeboom	Chris Luongo	Terry Carkner	Larry Murphy
Brian Leetch	Norm Maciver	Garry Galley	Jim Paek
Kevin Lowe	Kent Paynter	Greg Hawgood	Kjell Samuelsson
James Patrick	Darren Rumble	Dan Kordic	Ulf Samuelsson
Brad Tiley	Brad Shaw	Ryan McGill	Peter Taglianetti
Forwards
Tony Amonte	Dave Archibald	Josef Beranek	Jeff Daniels
Mike Gartner	Jamie Baker	Claude Boivin	Ron Francis
Adam Graves	Jody Hull	Rod Brind'amour	Jaromir Jagr
Joey Kocur	Bob Kudelski	Dave Brown	Mario Lemieux
Mark Messier	Mark Lamb	Jim Cummins	Shawn McEachern
Sergei Nemchinov	Darcy Loewen	Kevin Dineen	Joe Mullen
Ed Olczyk	Troy Mallette	Pelle Eklund	Mike Needham
Esa Tikkanen	Mike Peluso	Brent Fedyk	Kevin Stevens
Darren Turcotte	Sylvain Turgeon	Mark Recchi	Rick Tocchet
Quebec Nordiques	St. Louis Blues	San Jose Sharks	Tampa Bay Lightning
Goaltenders
Stephane Fiset	Curtis Joseph	Jimmy Waite	J.C. Bergeron
Defencemen
Steve Duchesne	Jeff Brown	Link Gaetz	Bob Beers
Adam Foote	Garth Butcher	Jayson More	Marc Bergevin
Alexei Gusarov	Bret Hedican	Jeff Norton	Shawn Chambers
Dave Karpa	Stephane Quintal	Neil Wilkinson	Donald Dufresne
Curtis Leschyshyn	Rick Zombo	Rob Zettler	Joe Reekie
Forwards
Martin Gelinas	Bob Bassen	Dave Capuano	Mikael Andersson
Valeri Kamensky	Nelson Emerson	Ed Courtenay	Brian Bradley
Claude Lapointe	Denny Felsner	Gaetan Duchesne	Marc Bureau
Owen Nolan	Brett Hull	Dean Evason	Danton Cole
Mike Ricci	Craig Janney	Johan Garpenlov	Adam Creighton
Martin Rucinsky	Basil McRae	Igor Larionov	Rob DiMaio
Joe Sakic	Kevin Miller	David Maley	Petr Klima
Mats Sundin	Brendan Shanahan	Jeff Odgers	John Tucker
Scott Young	Ron Sutter	Mike Sullivan	Rob Zamuner
Toronto Maple Leafs	Vancouver Canucks	Washington Capitals	Winnipeg Jets
Goaltenders
Felix Potvin	Kirk McLean	Rick Tabaracci	Bob Essensa
Defencemen
Dave Ellett	Gerald Diduck	Sylvain Côté	Phil Housley
Todd Gill	Robert Dirk	Kevin Hatcher	Dean Kennedy
Sylvain Lefebvre	Jyrki Lumme	Al Iafrate	Teppo Numminen
Jamie Macoun	Dana Murzyn	Calle Johansson	Fredrik Olausson
Bob Rouse	Adrien Plavsic	Jason Woolley	Igor Ulanov
Forwards
Glenn Anderson	Greg Adams	Peter Bondra	Stu Barnes
Dave Andreychuk	Pavel Bure	Pat Elynuik	Luciano Borsato
Ken Baumgartner	Geoff Courtnall	Dale Hunter	Evgeny Davidov
Wendel Clark	Murray Craven	Dimitri Khristich	Tie Domi
Mike Eastwood	Trevor Linden	Todd Krygier	Kris King
Doug Gilmour	Sergio Momesso	Alan May	Darrin Shannon
Kent Manderville	Petr Nedved	Kelly Miller	Thomas Steen
Rob Pearson	Gino Odjick	Michal Pivonka	Keith Tkachuk
Peter Zezel	Cliff Ronning	Mike Ridley	Paul Ysebaert

Available Players

The shenanigans that occurred prior to the 1992 Expansion Draft, especially with respect to starting a goalie for one game so that he'd qualify as an 'experienced' goaltender for the purposes of the draft, weren't repeated in 1993. There were however a few relevant trades made prior to the expansion draft that affected the players who were protected and exposed.

The best known example of this was John Vanbiesbrouck's trade to the Vancouver Canucks on the 20th, the day the protected lists had to be finalized and filed. Vanbiesbrouck was traded by the Rangers to the Canucks for future considerations (on June 25, after Phase II of the draft, the Canucks sent Doug Lidster to the Rangers to complete the trade). Vanbiesbrouck and Mike Richter had been sharing the duties in the Rangers' goal for a few years by that point but given they were only allowed to protect one of them and Richter was younger they elected to protect Richter. Rather than leave Vanbiesbrouck exposed they dealt him to the Canucks so that the Canucks could expose him. The Canucks in turn wanted to keep Kirk McLean and Kay Whitmore, and by having Vanbiesbrouck on offer as well they could limit their losses. If Whitmore was chosen instead of Vanbiesbrouck at least they would have had Vanbiesbrouck to fall back on.

The Nordiques also faced the same conundrum as the Rangers. They wanted to protect young goalie Stephane Fiset, which would almost assuredly mean they'd lose more experienced starter Ron Hextall in the draft. The Islanders' starter, Glenn Healy, was an impending free agent and they weren't going to re-sign him anyway. So the Nordiques and Islanders came to an agreement: the Nordiques would trade Hextall and their first round entry draft pick (#23 overall) to the Islanders in exchange for goalie Mark Fitzpatrick and their first round pick (#14 overall). The Islanders had a new starting goaltender and the Nordiques got something in return for him instead of losing him for nothing in the expansion draft. (The Nordiques used the 14th overall selection to pick Adam Deadmarsh and the Islanders used the 23rd pick to select Todd Bertuzzi.)

Other trades before the June 20th deadline included:

• Brad McCrimmon from the Red Wings to the Whalers for a sixth round pick in the '93 Entry Draft (Tim Spitzig) on June 1, 1993
• Dennis Vial from the Red Wings to the Lightning for Steve Maltais, June 8, 1993
• Stephane Beauregard from the Flyers to the Jets for the Flyers' third round pick in 1993 (previously acquired; traded to the Penguins, who selected Dave Roche, as a compensatory pick) and the Flyers' fifth round pick in 1994 (previously acquired; traded to the Red Wings, who selected Frederic Deschenes), June 11, 1992
• Paul Ysebaert and future considerations (Alan Kerr—June 18, 1993) from the Red Wings to the Jets for Aaron Ward and a fourth round pick in 1993 (John Jakopin), June 11, 1993
• Kevin Kaminski from the Nordiques to the Capitals for Mark Matier, June 15, 1993
• Petr Klima from the Oilers to the Lightning for a third round pick in 1994 (Brad Symes), June 16, 1993
• Jimmy Waite from the Blackhawks to the Sharks for future considerations (Neil Wilkinson—July 9, 1993), June 18, 1993
• Peter Ahola from the Sharks to the Lightning for Dave Capuano, June 19, 1993
• Paul Cavallini from the Capitals to the Stars for future considerations (Enrico Ciccone—June 25, 1993), June 20, 1993
• Jim Cummins and the Flyers' fourth round pick in 1993 (previously acquired; Charles Paquette) from the Red Wings to the Flyers for Greg Johnson and a fifth round pick in 1994 (Frederic Deschenes), June 20, 1993
• Gaetan Duchesne from the Stars to the Sharks for a sixth round pick in 1993 (later reacquired by the Sharks, who selected Petri Varis), June 20, 1993
• Mike Hough from the Nordiques to the Capitals for Reggie Savage and Paul MacDermid, June 20, 1993
• Sergei Makarov from the Flames to the Whalers for future considerations (the Capitals' fourth round pick in 1993, used to select Jason Smith), June 20, 1993
• Gord Murphy and future considerations (Andy Moog—June 25, 1993) from the Bruins to the Stars for future considerations (Jon Casey—June 25, 1993), June 20, 1993
• Jeff Norton from the Islanders to the Sharks for a third round pick in 1994 (Jason Strudwick) and future considerations, June 20, 1993
• Scott Pearson from the Nordiques to the Oilers for Martin Gelinas and a sixth round pick in 1993 (Nick Checco), June 20, 1993
• Peter Sidorkiewicz, a fourth round pick in 1994 (traded to the Flames, who selected Nils Ekman) and future considerations (Mike Peluso—June 26, 1993) from the Senators to the Devils for Craig Billington, Troy Mallette and a fourth round pick in 1993 (Cosmo Dupaul), June 20, 1993

Boston Bruins	Buffalo Sabres	Calgary Flames	Chicago Blackhawks
Goaltenders
Mike Bales	Tom Draper	Jason Muzzatti	Roch Belley
	Dominik Hasek	Jeff Reese	Ray LeBlanc
	Clint Malarchuk
	Bill Pye
Defencemen
Jamie Huscroft	Dale DeGray	Chris Dahlquist	Adam Bennett
Mark Krys	Bill Houlder	Alexander Godynyuk	Keith Brown
Stéphane J. G. Richer	Grant Ledyard	Paul Holden	David Hakstol
Gordie Roberts	Randy Moller	Roger Johansson	Craig Muni
Jim Wiemer	Sean O'Donnell	Michel Petit	Mike Speer
	Dirk Rueter	Ken Sabourin	Milan Tichy
	Chris Snell	Greg Smyth	Kerry Toporowski
	Hannu Virta	Kevin Wortman
Forwards
Darren Banks	Peter Ciavaglia	Brent Ashton	Rob Brown
Brent Hughes	Bob Corkum	Rich Chernomaz	Shawn Byram
Darin Kimble	Bob Errey	Kerry Clark	Dave Christian
Dmitri Kvartalnov	François Guay	Thomas Forslund	Rob Conn
Andrew McKim	Jeff Hamilton	Todd Gillingham	Tracy Egelund
Dave Poulin	Dave Hannan	Todd Harkins	Greg Gilbert
Vladimir Ruzicka	Gates Orlando	Tim Harris	Michel Goulet
Tim Sweeney	Wayne Presley	Shawn Heaphy	Stu Grimson
Chris Winnes	Brad Rubachuk	Patrick Lebeau	Tony Horacek
C.J. Young	Joel Savage	Chris Lindberg	Brad Lauer
	Jason Winch	Greg Paslawski	Troy Murray
		Brian Skrudland	Bill Watson
		Carey Wilson
Dallas Stars	Detroit Red Wings	Edmonton Oilers	Hartford Whalers
Goaltenders
Darcy Wakaluk	Dave Gagnon	Norm Foster	Mario Gosselin
	Vincent Riendeau	Peter Ing	Frank Pietrangelo
		Ron Tugnutt
Defencemen
Colin Bauer	Serge Anglehart	Brian Benning	Jim Agnew
Brad Berry	Bob Boughner	Jeff Bloemberg	Corey Beaulieu
David Jensen	Bobby Dollas	Brian Glynn	Doug Houda
Paul Jerrard	Mark Howe	Chris Joseph	Karl Johnston
Craig Ludwig	Steve Konroyd	François Leroux	Dan Keczmer
Roy Mitchell	Gord Kruppke	Selmar Odelein	Randy Ladouceur
Gord Murphy	Stewart Malgunas	Reijo Ruotsalainen	John Stevens
Mark Osiecki	Jason York	Jason Soules	Jukka Suomalainen
Ville Siren
Brian Straub
Forwards
Doug Barrault	Troy Crowder	Dean Antos	Denis Chalifoux
Todd Bergen	Gerard Gallant	Richard Borgo	Yvon Corriveau
James Black	Alan Kerr	Todd Elik	Randy Cunneyworth
Neal Broten	Steve Maltais	Craig Fisher	Scott Daniels
Kevin Evans	Pete Stauber	Mike Hudson	Chris Govedaris
Stewart Gavin		Fabian Joseph	Mark Grieg
Alan Haworth		Marc Laforge	Paul Guay
Yves Heroux		Tommy Lehmann	Scott Humeniuk
Cal McGowan		Craig MacTavish	Tim Kerr
Kip Miller		Scott Mellanby	Jamie Leach
George Servinis		Shjon Podein	Trevor Steinburg
Derrick Smith		Scott Thornton	Mike Tomlak
Ross Wilson			Terry Yake
Los Angeles Kings	Montreal Canadiens	New Jersey Devils	New York Islanders
Goaltenders
David Goverde	Frederic Chabot	Chad Erickson	Glenn Healy
Robb Stauber	Les Kuntar	Corey Schwab	Danny Lorenz
	André Racicot	Peter Sidorkiewicz	Jamie McLennan
Defencemen
Jeff Chychrun	J.J. Daigneault	Viacheslav Fetisov	Kevin Cheveldayoff
Kevin Grant	Luc Gauthier	Alexei Kasatonov	Dean Chynoweth
Mark Hardy	Sean Hill	Peter Kuchyna	Jeff Finley
Jim Maher	Rob Ramage	Tapio Levo	Tom Kurvers
Dave Tretowicz	Darcy Simon	Dean Malkoc	Joni Lehto
Tim Watters		Brent Severyn	Gary Nylund
Forwards
Bob Berg	Jesse Belanger	Mike Bodnarchuk	Dave Chyzowski
Scott Bjugstad	Guy Carbonneau	Doug Brown	Wayne Doucet
Tim Breslin	Todd Ewen	Tom Chorske	Dean Ewen
Marc Fortier	Steve Larouche	Jeff Christian	Tom Fitzgerald
Kyosti Karjalainen	Gary Leeman	Jim Dowd	Paul Gagne
Lonnie Loach	Mats Naslund	David Emma	Brent Grieve
Dave Taylor	Mario Roberge	Ben Hankinson	Claude Loiselle
Jim Thomson	Ed Ronan	Jason Miller	Brian Mullen
Mike Vukonich	Denis Savard	Kent Nilsson	David Volek
Sean Whyte	Pierre Sevigny	Janne Ojanen	Mick Vukota
	Lindsay Vallis	Matt Ruchty
		Jarrod Skalde
		Peter Stastny
		Brian Sullivan
		Claude Vilgrain
New York Rangers	Ottawa Senators	Philadelphia Flyers	Pittsburgh Penguins
Goaltenders
Boris Rousson	Mark Michaud	Yanick Degrace	Rob Dopson
			Bruce Racine
			Ken Wregget
Defencemen
Joe Cirella	Mark Ferner	Bill Armstrong	Paul Dyck
Per Djoos	Ken Hammond	Shawn Cronin	Bryan Fogarty
Peter Fiorentino		Corey Foster	Grant Jennings
Mike Hurlbut		Willie Huber	Paul Laus
Dave Marcinyshyn		Gord Hynes	Robert Melanson
Jay Wells		Steven Morrow	Todd Nelson
		Ric Nattress	Mike Ramsey
		Lance Pitlick	Paul Stanton
		Tony Porkka
		Bob Wilkie
Forwards
Rick Bennett	Laurie Boschman	Keith Acton	Jamie Heward
Don Biggs	Neil Brady	Len Barrie	Troy Loney
Phil Bourque	Mark Freer	Al Conroy	Mark Major
Paul Broten	Marc Labelle	James Cooke	Ken Priestlay
Craig Duncanson	Andre McBain	Eric Dandenault	Jason Smart
Jan Erixon	Shawn McCosh	Daniel Doré	Mike Stapleton
Lee Giffin	Rob Murphy	Andrei Lomakin
Mike Hartman	Martin St. Amour	Glenn Mulvenna
Steven King		Pat Murray
Dan Lacroix		Dave Snuggerud
John McIntyre		Wes Walz
Brian McReynolds
Mike Stevens
Dave Thomlinson
Quebec Nordiques	St. Louis Blues	San Jose Sharks	Tampa Bay Lightning
Goaltenders
Mario Brunetta	Guy Hebert	Wade Flaherty	Mike Greenlay
Jacques Cloutier		Jeff Hackett	Pat Jablonski
Mark Fitzpatrick			David Littman
Patrick Labrecque			Wendell Young
John Tanner
Defencemen
Mario Doyon	Murray Baron	Michael Colman	Peter Ahola
Steven Finn	Doug Crossman	Pat MacLeod	Eric Charron
Kerry Huffman	Jason Marshall	David Williams	Alain Côté
Jon Klemm	Tom Tilley	Doug Wilson	Rick Lanz
Andy Rymsha	Alain Vigneault		Rob Robinson
Mikhail Tatarinov			Dennis Vial
Randy Velischek
Craig Wolanin
Forwards
Niclas Andersson	Kelly Chase	Robin Bawa	Tim Bergland
Gino Cavallini	Derek Frenette	David Bruce	Jock Callander
Stéphane Charbonneau	Dave Lowry	John Carter	Stan Drulia
Bryan Deasley	Dave Mackey	Lary DePalma	Randy Gilhen
Murray Garbutt	Kevin Miehm	Troy Frederick	Steve Kasper
Bill Lindsay	Brian Pellerin	Kelly Kisio	Chris Kontos
Paul MacDermid	Richard Pion	Jon Morris	Jason Lafreniere
Michel Mongeau	Kyle Reeves	Mark Pederson	Keith Osborne
Reggie Savage	Rich Sutter	Michel Picard	Herb Raglan
Martin Simard		J.F. Quintin	Jason Ruff
Steve Tuttle			Shayne Stevenson
Tony Twist
Ed Ward
Toronto Maple Leafs	Vancouver Canucks	Washington Capitals	Winnipeg Jets
Goaltenders
Daren Puppa	Troy Gamble	Don Beaupre	Stéphane Beauregard
Damian Rhodes	John Vanbiesbrouck	Byron Dafoe	Sean Gauthier
Rick Wamsley	Kay Whitmore	Olaf Kolzig	Jim Hrivnak
			Mike O'Neill
Defencemen
Ted Crowley	Dave Babych	Bob Babcock	Steve Bancroft
Jerome Dupont	Jason Herter	Chris Felix	Randy Carlyle
Curtis Hunt	Rick Lessard	Rod Langway	Rob Cowie
Guy Lehoux	Doug Lidster	Jim Mathieson	Mike Lalor
Bob McGill	Troy Neumeier	Brad Schlegel	Dan Lambert
Brad Miller	Risto Siltanen		Roger Ohman
Dmitri Mironov	Phil Von Steffenelli
Darryl Shannon	Behn Wilson
Forwards
Normand Aubin	Shawn Antoski	Randy Burridge	Jason Cirone
Rob Cimetta	Neil Eisenhut	Bob Carpenter	Kris Draper
John Cullen	Tom Fergus	Trevor Halverson	John Druce
Mike Foligno	Tim Hunter	Mike Hough	Mike Eagles
Greg Johnston	Jay Mazur	Kevin Kaminski	Bryan Erickson
Mike Krushelnyski	Anatoli Semenov	Randy Pearce	Ken Gernander
Guy Larose	Garry Valk	John Purves	Scott Levins
Kevin McClelland		Mike Richard	Craig Martin
Dave McLlwain		Alfie Turcotte	Rob Muray
Ken McRae			Russ Romaniuk
Mark Osborne
Yanic Perreault
Jeff Perry
Rudy Poeschek
Joe Sacco
Dave Tomlinson

Expansion Draft — Phase I

Over.	Player	Picked from	Picked by
Goaltenders
1	John Vanbiesbrouck	Vancouver Canucks	Florida Panthers
2	Guy Hebert	St. Louis Blues	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
3	Glenn Healy	New York Islanders	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
4	Mark Fitzpatrick	Quebec Nordiques	Florida Panthers
5	Daren Puppa	Toronto Maple Leafs	Florida Panthers
6	Ron Tugnutt	Edmonton Oilers	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Defencemen
7	Milan Tichy	Chicago Blackhawks	Florida Panthers
8	Alexei Kasatonov	New Jersey Devils	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
9	Sean Hill	Montreal Canadiens	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
10	Paul Laus	Pittsburgh Penguins	Florida Panthers
11	Bill Houlder	Buffalo Sabres	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
12	Joe Cirella	New York Rangers	Florida Panthers
13	Alexander Godynyuk	Calgary Flames	Florida Panthers
14	Bobby Dollas	Detroit Red Wings	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
15	Gord Murphy	Dallas Stars	Florida Panthers
16	Randy Ladouceur	Hartford Whalers	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
17	David Williams	San Jose Sharks	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
18	Steve Bancroft	Winnipeg Jets	Florida Panthers
19	Dennis Vial	Tampa Bay Lightning	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
20	Stéphane J. G. Richer	Boston Bruins	Florida Panthers
21	Gord Hynes	Philadelphia Flyers	Florida Panthers
22	Mark Ferner	Ottawa Senators	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Forwards
23	Steven King	New York Rangers	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
24	Tom Fitzgerald	New York Islanders	Florida Panthers
25	Jesse Belanger	Montreal Canadiens	Florida Panthers
26	Tim Sweeney	Boston Bruins	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
27	Scott Levins	Winnipeg Jets	Florida Panthers
28	Troy Loney	Pittsburgh Penguins	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
29	Stu Grimson	Chicago Blackhawks	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
30	Scott Mellanby	Edmonton Oilers	Florida Panthers
31	Terry Yake	Hartford Whalers	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
32	Brian Skrudland	Calgary Flames	Florida Panthers
33	Mike Hough	Washington Capitals	Florida Panthers
34	Jarrod Skalde	New Jersey Devils	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
35	Dave Lowry	St. Louis Blues	Florida Panthers
36	Bob Corkum	Buffalo Sabres	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
37	Anatoli Semenov	Vancouver Canucks	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
38	Bill Lindsay	Quebec Nordiques	Florida Panthers
39	Joe Sacco	Toronto Maple Leafs	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
40	Andrei Lomakin	Philadelphia Flyers	Florida Panthers
41	Randy Gilhen	Tampa Bay Lightning	Florida Panthers
42	Lonnie Loach	Los Angeles Kings	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
43	Doug Barrault	Dallas Stars	Florida Panthers
44	Jim Thomson	Los Angeles Kings	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
45	Trevor Halverson	Washington Capitals	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
46	Marc Labelle	Ottawa Senators	Florida Panthers
47	Robin Bawa	San Jose Sharks	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
48	Pete Stauber	Detroit Red Wings	Florida Panthers

Expansion Draft — Phase II

For Phase II the Panthers elected to protect John Vanbiesbrouck, Milan Tichy, Paul Laus, Joe Cirella, Alexander Godynyuk, Gord Murphy, Tom Fitzgerald, Jesse Belanger, Scott Levins, Scott Mellanby, Brian Skrudland, Mike Hough, Dave Lowry, Bill Lindsay and Andrei Lomakin. Goalies Mark Fitzpatrick and Daren Puppa, defencemen Steve Bancroft, Stéphane J. G. Richer and Gord Hynes, and forwards Randy Gilhen, Doug Barrault, Marc Labelle and Pete Stauber were left exposed.

Unfortunately I'm not sure who was on the protected lists of the Sharks, Lightning, Senators and Ducks in Phase II, other than that I know Guy Hebert was protected by the Ducks (leaving Ron Tugnutt and Glenn Healy exposed).

Over.	Player	Picked from	Picked by
Round 1
1	Daren Puppa	Florida Panthers	Tampa Bay Lightning
2	Dennis Vial	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	Ottawa Senators
	passed		San Jose Sharks
Round 2
3	Glenn Healy	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	Tampa Bay Lightning
	passed		Ottawa Senators
	passed		San Jose Sharks

Puppa's acquisition by the Lightning was actually pre-planned. The Lightning gave the Panthers the Penguins' third round pick in the '93 Entry Draft (previously acquired for Peter Taglianetti; the Panthers selected Steve Washburn) in exchange for the Panthers taking Puppa from the Maple Leafs in Phase I, and the Panthers left Puppa exposed in Phase II so that the Lightning could choose him (the Lightning also gave the Panthers the $100,000 draft fee).

Healy was traded immediately following the conclusion of Phase II to the Rangers for the return of the Lightning's own third round pick in the '93 Entry Draft (which had previously been awarded as a compensatory pick to the Rangers for the free agent signing of Rob Zamuner), and the Rangers signed him to a new contract.

The 1993-94 Season

The Panthers and Ducks finished ninth in their respective conferences at the end of the 1993-94 season, just on the outside of the playoffs looking in. The Panthers finished with 83 points, only a point shy of eighth in the Eastern Conference. The Panthers hold the record for most points by a first-year expansion team. The Sharks dramatically improved over their results in the 1992-93 season and finished eighth in the west, making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. The Lightning improved from 23-54-7 to 30-43-11. The Senators improved from their record-setting 10-70-4 (24 points) in '92-'93 to 16-61-9 (37 points) in '93-'94; still dead-last by a great margin.

1992 NHL Expansion Draft

For more about the 1992 expansion click here.

The 1992 NHL Expansion Draft was held June 18, 1992 at 6:00 pm local time at one of the ballrooms at the Gouverneur Hotel in Montreal (two days before the Entry Draft, which was held at the Forum).

The Rules

The rules for this expansion draft were set well in advance. Given the teams were announced so early—December, 1990—it was already known that there would be an expansion draft in 1991 to stock the San Jose Sharks and another in 1992 to stock the Senators and Lightning. The rules for both were set at roughly speaking the same time in the spring of 1991.

The 1992 Expansion Draft would be similar to the 1991 draft with respect to teams having to expose goalies, defencemen and forwards with minimum levels of experience. At least one goalie with 60 minutes of NHL experience, at least one defenceman with 40 or more games played in 1991-92 or 70 over 1990-91 and 1991-92, and at least one forward with 40 or more games in '91-'92 or 70 in '90-'91 and '91-'92 had to be offered by each of the existing clubs. Protected lists would be only 14 skaters and a pair of goalies (two fewer skaters than in 1991), with first and second-year professionals exempt. The idea was that this would help to give the expansion clubs some half-decent players. The 1979 draft was not particularly helpful to any of the four former WHA clubs. Of the four only the Oilers had had much success: the Whalers had missed the playoffs five out of their first six years, the Jets were atrocious in their first couple years and as of the time of this expansion draft the Nordiques had missed the playoffs for five straight seasons and finished the preceding three in last place overall. The 1974 Expansion Draft was shockingly poor for the Capitals and Kansas City Scouts. In the Scouts franchise's first 10 seasons it had relocated to another city (twice; to Denver in 1976 and to New Jersey in 1982) more often than it had made the playoffs (only once, in 1978). The Capitals weren't much better, missing the playoffs for their first eight seasons.

The San Jose Sharks, being that they would have just finished their first season, were exempt from the proceedings entirely. The Minnesota North Stars, despite participating in the 1991 Expansion Draft alongside the Sharks, were not.

The rules of the 1992 Expansion Draft were also tied to the results of the 1991 Expansion Draft in that any team that lost a goaltender in 1991 (it turned out only one did, the Islanders) would not have to expose a goaltender, and any team that lost a defenceman in 1991 would not have to expose one in 1992. Similar to the 1991 draft the 1992 draft was split into goalies, defencemen and forwards rounds. The first four selections of the draft would be reserved exclusively for the selection of goalies, the following 14 exclusively for defencemen, and the final 24 for forwards. The Lightning and Senators would each pick two goalies, seven defencemen and 12 forwards for a total of 42 players between the two new clubs. Of their 21 selections each team could pick only one player who was or was about to become a free agent.

The order of selection was determined by a coin toss. The winner, "Team A", would get the choice of having the 1st and 4th goalie selections or the 2nd and 3rd. "Team B" would get the choice of 1st, 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 12th and 14th defencemen or could cede them to 'A' and have the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 8th, 10th, 11th and 13th picks. 'A' would choose between having the 1st, 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 17th, 20th, 22nd and 23rd forwards or 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 13th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 21st and 24th forwards. The Senators ended up being "Team A" and chose to keep the first picks of goalie and forward. The Lightning ceded the choice of 1st defenceman to the Senators as well.

The Available Players

The list of players available for selection was long but not particularly deep. The rules about providing players with minimum experience levels were designed to force the existing clubs to expose at least a few worthwhile players but those existing clubs worked very hard to skirt the rules as well as they could. Several free agent signings and trades were made in the days leading up to the draft, many of them designed to work around the rule about exposing a goalie with a minimum of one game played in the NHL.

For example the Jets had three goalies who saw significant playing time in 1991-92: Bob Essensa, Rick Tabaracci and Stéphane Beauregard. Mike O'Neill also played, but only 12 minutes and 27 seconds in a 7-4 loss to the Flames on December 19, 1991. The Jets could only protect two of them, and Mike O'Neill wouldn't count as a goalie with 'experience' because he didn't play a full 60 minutes. They stood a very real chance of losing one of Essensa, Tabaracci or Beauregard, whichever they didn't protect, and they didn't want to lose any of them.

Instead of losing one of them for nothing they acquired goalie Daniel Berthiaume from the Bruins for forward Doug Evans on June 10. They didn't really want to keep Berthiaume but he would count as their 'experienced' goalie and they could then trade one of Essensa, Tabaracci or Beauregard for an asset. Five days later they traded Beauregard to the Sabres for Christian Ruutu. The Sabres protected Beauregard and the Jets protected Ruutu, and on August 7 the Sabres traded Beauregard and a fourth round pick in the 1993 Entry Draft to the Blackhawks for (drumroll please) Dominik Hasek. Three days after that the Blackhawks traded Beauregard back to the Jets for (another drumroll please) Christian Ruutu! In effect the Jets stashed Beauregard with the Sabres, the Sabres stashed Ruutu with the Jets, and the Sabres got Hasek from the Blackhawks for Christian Ruutu and a fourth round draft pick (who ended up being Eric Dazé, by the way). Berthiaume went unclaimed in the expansion draft and the Jets released him over the summer. He signed with the Senators as a free agent in December of 1992.

That's just one example of many transactions that were made in efforts to keep certain players or entice the expansion clubs to take certain others. On June 13 the Devils acquired defenceman Brad Shaw from the Whalers for future considerations and left him exposed in the draft. They left several experienced defencemen available, including Tommy Albelin and Slava Fetisov, but by having Shaw they hedged their bets. If the expansion clubs took one of their other defencemen they could keep Shaw and if Shaw was chosen they could keep the defencemen they had in the first place. As you will see in the results they lost Shaw in the draft to the Senators.

The same thing occurred between the Detroit Red Wings and Quebec Nordiques. The Nordiques acquired Dennis Vial and Doug Crossman from the Wings for cash on June 15, and Crossman was selected from the Nordiques by the Lightning in the draft.

The Maple Leafs made another such trade with the Sharks on June 15. The Leafs had three goalies who played in the NHL in '91-'92: Grant Fuhr, Rick Wamsley and rookie Felix Potvin. They didn't have to protect Potvin, nor did they have to protect Damian Rhodes (who played in the AHL for the St. John's Maple Leafs). If you have read my post about the 1991 Expansion Draft you might recall that the Leafs put Rhodes in a game in the 1990-91 season in order to expose him in the '91 Expansion Draft and protect their other goalies with NHL experience (at the time, Peter Ing and Jeff Reese). As of the end of 1991-92 Rhodes could still be automatically protected by virtue of only being a second-year pro, but the Leafs had to expose somebody. So they cut a deal with the Sharks: they acquired Jarmo Myllys for future considerations, and exposed Myllys. That way they could keep Fuhr, Wamsley, Potvin and Rhodes.

Goalies were of particular importance, as they always are, and teams went to all sorts of lengths to hang on to the ones they had rather than lose them in the draft. The Capitals had three goalies play in the '91-'92 season too: Don Beaupre, Mike Liut and Jim Hrivnak. Ordinarily they might have just protected Beaupre and Hrivnak and expose Liut, who was 36 years old at the time and very well-paid. They had a problem though: Liut retired! The only other goalie they had with NHL experience was Olaf Kolzig, who was then only 22 years old and would normally have been automatically protected being that he had just finished his second year as a professional (he played two games with the Capitals at the very start of the 1989-1990 as a 19-year-old, but that didn't count as a 'pro' season; he was sent back to the Tri-City Americans of the WHL). They didn't want to lose Kolzig, Beaupre or Hrivnak, so Caps GM David Poile came up with a cunning, devious plan. He signed former Capitals goalie Bernie Wolfe to a contract on June 15.

"Bernie Wolfe?" you say. Bernie Wolfe played four seasons for the Capitals in the 1970s. By the time he signed a contract in 1992 he was 40 years old and hadn't played hockey in 13 years, but the NHL's rules didn't say when a goalie exposed in the expansion draft had to have played in the NHL, just they he had to have played at least one game.

The NHL wouldn't let that fly. President John Ziegler refused to allow the contract with Wolfe to be registered. It was clear in his eyes that the Capitals were deliberately trying to skirt the rules of the draft. Poile signed goalie Steve Weeks to a contract on the 16th instead; Weeks was 33 and had been a regular NHLer since 1981. (Weeks was not claimed in the draft and was traded to the Senators on August 13, 1992 for future considerations.)

Other teams didn't go to such lengths, instead electing to play a farmhand goalie for a single game in the 1991-92 season as the Leafs had done with Rhodes the year before. The Blackhawks didn't want to lose one of their three top goalies: Eddie Belfour, Jimmy Waite and Dominik Hasek. Hasek didn't have to be exposed—he had just finished his second pro year (in North America)—but they had to expose at least one goalie with one game of NHL experience. Enter Ray LeBlanc.

LeBlanc was a minor-league goalie who was never drafted and up until 1991-92 had spent almost his entire pro career in the IHL. He played in the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France and that's when his profile rose considerably. In Albertville he finished 4-0-1 with two shutouts in the round robin, and was named the top goalie in the tournament despite Team USA's loss to the Czechoslovak team in the bronze medal game. Not long after the tournament ended he was called up from the Blackhawks' IHL affiliate. Ray LeBlanc played his one and only NHL game on March 10, 1992. The Hawks beat the Sharks 5-1, and LeBlanc's career stats in the NHL are 21 saves on 22 shots and a 1.00 GAA. LeBlanc, having played a complete 60 minutes, was exposed in the expansion draft as the Hawks' 'experienced' goalie and as a result they were able to protect Belfour and Waite and didn't have to expose Hasek.

The Flames did the same thing. On April 16, 1992—the Flames' last game of the season— Scott Sharples played in his only NHL game, a 4-4 tie versus the Canucks (36 saves on 40 shots, a 3.69 GAA). The Flames exposed Sharples, protected Mike Vernon and Jeff Reese, and didn't have to expose Trevor Kidd.

Boston Bruins	Buffalo Sabres	Calgary Flames
Goaltenders
Matt DelGuidice	Clint Malarchuk	Scott Sharples
Mike Parson
Defencemen
none	Dale DeGray	none
	Randy Hillier
	Bill Houlder
	Grant Ledyard
	Brad Miller
	Mike Ramsey
	Dirk Rueter
	Hannu Virta
Forwards
Peter Douris	Gord Donnelly	Rich Chernomaz
Doug Evans	Jody Gage	Kerry Clark
Jeff Lazaro	François Guay	Bryan Deasley
Ted Miskolczi	Jeff Hamilton	Marc Habscheid
Shayne Stevenson	Darcy Loewen	Tim Hunter
Jim Vesey	Gates Orlando	Chris Lindberg
	Colin Patterson	Todd Strueby
	Joel Savage	Tim Sweeney
	Rick Vaive	Carey Wilson
Chicago Blackhawks	Detroit Red Wings	Edmonton Oilers
Goaltenders
Ray LeBlanc	Allan Bester	Norm Foster
Defencemen
none	Gord Kruppke	none
	Bob McGill
	Bob Wilkie
Forwards
Shawn Byram	Troy Crowder	Nick Beaulieu
Greg Gilbert	Kory Kocur	Dan Currie
Michel Goulet	Lonnie Loach	David Haas
Stu Grimson	Brian MacLellan	Fabian Joseph
Tony Horacek	Max Middendorf	Tomas Kapusta
Tony Hrkac	Ken Quinney	Marc Laforge
Brad Lauer		Mark Lamb
Mike Peluso		Tommy Lehmann
Dan Vincelette		David Maley
Bill Watson		Bill McDougall
Sean Williams		Anatoli Semenov
		Shaun Van Allen
		Mike Ware
Hartford Whalers	Los Angeles Kings	Minnesota North Stars
Goaltenders
Mario Gosselin	Darryl Gilmour	Steve Guenette
Peter Sidorkiewicz	Robb Stauber
Defencemen
none	John Miner	David Jensen
	John Van Kessel	Paul Jerrard
	Tim Watters	Roy Mitchell
		Dave Moylan
		Rob Ramage
		Ville Siren
Forwards
Blair Atcheynum	Scott Bjugstad	Todd Bergen
Paul Cyr	Sylvain Couturier	Neal Broten
Scott Daniels	Mal Davis	Stewart Gavin
Lane MacDonald	Kyosti Karjalainen	Alan Haworth
Mike McHugh	Jay Miller	Tim Lenardon
Daniel Shank	Dave Taylor	Basil McRae
Mike Tomlak	Jim Thomson	Mitch Messier
Terry Yake	Darryl Williams	Brian Propp
		Scott Robinson
		Warren Rychel
		George Servinis
		Derrick Smith
		Bobby Smith
Montreal Canadiens	New Jersey Devils	New York Islanders
Goaltenders
Frédéric Chabot	Doug Dadswell	none
Defencemen
none	Tommy Albelin	Dean Chynoweth
	Viacheslav Fetisov	Jeff Finley
	Brent Severyn	Tom Kurvers
	Jeff Sharples	Gary Nylund
	Brad Shaw	Joe Reekie
Forwards
Todd Ewen	Dave Barr	Bill Berg
John Ferguson Jr.	Laurie Boschman	Brad Dalgarno
Mats Naslund	Neil Brady	Rob DiMaio
Mario Roberge	Doug Brown	Dean Ewen
Sylvain Turgeon	Pat Conacher	Tom Fitzgerald
	Jon Morris	Paul Gagne
	Kent Nilsson	Rich Kromm
	Peter Stastny	Sean Lebrun
	Claude Vilgrain	Claude Loiselle
		Hubie McDonough
		Graeme Townshend
		Mick Vukota
New York Rangers	Philadelphia Flyers	Pittsburgh Penguins
Goaltenders
Mark LaForest	Bruce Hoffort	Bruce Racine
		Wendell Young
Defencemen
Jeff Bloemberg	Dave Fenyves	Gilbert Delorme
Peter Fiorentino	Corey Foster	Bryan Fogarty
John Mokosak	Willie Huber	Grant Jennings
Normand Rochefort	Moe Mantha	Peter Taglianetti
	Darren Rumble
Forwards
Rick Bennett	Mark Freer	Peter Lee
Don Biggs	Chris Jensen	Troy Mick
Jan Erixon	Brad Jones	Joe Mullen
Lee Giffin	Dale Kushner	Ken Priestlay
Randy Gilhen
Jody Hull
Tim Kerr
Dan Lacroix
John Ogrodnick
Mario Thyer
Quebec Nordiques	St. Louis Blues	Toronto Maple Leafs
Goaltenders
Scott Gordon	Darrell May	Jarmo Myllys
Defencemen
Doug Crossman	Curt Giles	none
Mario Doyon	Dominic Lavoie
Stéphane Guérard	Rob Robinson
Tony Twist	Bruce Shoebottom
	Tom Tilley
	Alain Vigneault
Forwards
Gino Cavallini	Kelly Chase	Brad Aitken
Kevin Kaminski	Ron Hoover	Normand Aubin
Steve Maltais	Darin Kimble	Brian Bradley
Everett Sanipass	Dave Lowry	Mike Bullard
Wayne Van Dorp	Dave Mackey	Mike Foligno
Mark Vermette	Kevin Miehm	Todd Hawkins
	Michel Mongeau	Greg Johnston
	Richard Pion	Kevin Maguire
	Rich Sutter	Kevin McClelland
	Steve Tuttle	Keith Osborne
Vancouver Canucks	Washinton Capitals	Winnipeg Jets
Goaltenders
Bob Mason	Steve Weeks	Daniel Berthiaume
		Mike O'Neill
Defencemen
Brian Blad	Shawn Anderson	Randy Carlyle
Ken Hammond	Bob Babcock	Dallas Eakins
Risto Siltanen	Shawn Chambers	Mario Marois
Behn Wilson	Chris Felix	Roger Ohman
	Rod Langway	Kent Paynter
	Ken Sabourin
Forwards
Robin Bawa	Tim Bergland	Danton Cole
Dave Capuano	John Byce	Mike Hartman
Paul Guay	Craig Duncanson	Bob Joyce
Jay Mazur	Jeff Greenlaw	John Leblanc
Rob Murphy	Mark Hunter	Rob Murray
Ryan Walter	John Purves	Rudy Poeschek
	Mike Richard
	Steve Seftel
	Tim Taylor
	Alfie Turcotte

The Draft

Ovr.	Player	Picked from	Picked by
Goaltenders
1	Peter Sidorkiewicz	Hartford Whalers	Ottawa Senators
2	Wendell Young	Pittsburgh Penguins	Tampa Bay Lightning
3	Frédéric Chabot	Montreal Canadiens	Tampa Bay Lightning
4	Mark LaForest	New York Rangers	Ottawa Senators
Defencemen
5	Brad Shaw	New Jersey Devils	Ottawa Senators
6	Joe Reekie	New York Islanders	Tampa Bay Lightning
7	Shawn Chambers	Washington Capitals	Tampa Bay Lightning
8	Darren Rumble	Philadelphia Flyers	Ottawa Senators
9	Peter Taglianetti	Pittsburgh Penguins	Tampa Bay Lightning
10	Dominic Lavoie	St. Louis Blues	Ottawa Senators
11	Brad Miller	Buffalo Sabres	Ottawa Senators
12	Bob McGill	Detroit Red Wings	Tampa Bay Lightning
13	Ken Hammond	Vancouver Canucks	Ottawa Senators
14	Jeff Bloemberg	New York Rangers	Tampa Bay Lightning
15	Doug Crossman	Quebec Nordiques	Tampa Bay Lightning
16	Kent Paynter	Winnipeg Jets	Ottawa Senators
17	Rob Ramage	Minnesota North Stars	Tampa Bay Lightning
18	John Van Kessel	Los Angeles Kings	Ottawa Senators
Forwards
19	Sylvain Turgeon	Montreal Canadiens	Ottawa Senators
20	Michel Mongeau	St. Louis Blues	Tampa Bay Lightning
21	Anatoli Semenov	Edmonton Oilers	Tampa Bay Lightning
22	Mike Peluso	Chicago Blackhawks	Ottawa Senators
23	Mike Hartman	Winnipeg Jets	Tampa Bay Lightning
24	Rob Murphy	Vancouver Canucks	Ottawa Senators
25	Mark Lamb	Edmonton Oilers	Ottawa Senators
26	Basil McRae	Minnesota North Stars	Tampa Bay Lightning
27	Laurie Boschman	New Jersey Devils	Ottawa Senators
28	Rob DiMaio	New York Islanders	Tampa Bay Lightning
29	Steve Maltais	Quebec Nordiques	Tampa Bay Lightning
30	Jim Thomson	Los Angeles Kings	Ottawa Senators
31	Dan Vincelette	Chicago Blackhawks	Tampa Bay Lightning
32	Lonnie Loach	Detroit Red Wings	Ottawa Senators
33	Mark Freer	Philadelphia Flyers	Ottawa Senators
34	Tim Bergland	Washington Capitals	Tampa Bay Lightning
35	Chris Lindberg	Calgary Flames	Ottawa Senators
36	Brian Bradley	Toronto Maple Leafs	Tampa Bay Lightning
37	Keith Osborne	Toronto Maple Leafs	Tampa Bay Lightning
38	Jeff Lazaro	Boston Bruins	Ottawa Senators
39	Shayne Stevenson	Boston Bruins	Tampa Bay Lightning
40	Darcy Loewen	Buffalo Sabres	Ottawa Senators
41	Blair Atcheynum	Hartford Whalers	Ottawa Senators
42	Tim Hunter	Calgary Flames	Tampa Bay Lightning

Poor Mel Bridgman. This day and this draft were the auspicious start of the expansion Ottawa Senators' absolutely miserable first few seasons. Bridgman was a former player who retired in 1989 and went back to school, earning a business degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. By all accounts he was a bright guy, but he did not have a good day on June 18, 1992.

It all started with the Senators staff having brought all of the research they had done for the expansion draft on a laptop computer. It just so happened that when they got to the table at the draft meeting the computer's batteries were dead. They had no backup, and nothing to plug into to charge it. All of their prep work was stuck on a useless laptop. They had to make do with paper and select from memory, which proved to be very difficult.

With the 33rd overall pick they tried to select Todd Ewen from the Canadiens. The Senators had already selected Sylvain Turgeon from the Canadiens and they thought that Ewen was still available and eligible. They neglected to cross Frédéric Chabot's name off their lists when the Lightning chose him with the 3rd overall pick. The Habs had already lost the maximum of two players. Bridgman was told that Ewen was ineligible for selection and he had to walk back to his staff's table and figure out who they could take.

After a few minutes he walked back up to the stage and sheepishly apologized. They took Mark Freer from the Flyers instead.

Seven picks later and it was the Senators' turn again. Bridgman walked up to the mic and announced they would select Todd Hawkins from the Maple Leafs… except that the Lightning had selected Brian Bradley and Keith Osborne with the 36th and 37th picks. Another apology proffered and back he went to the conference table to discuss what to do next. He returned to the mic and called out C.J. Young's name. Young's rights were held by the Flames and the Flames hadn't lost two players yet.

But Young wasn't eligible for selection! He had just finished his second year of professional hockey. His name was mistakenly printed on the Senators' list of eligible players. The Senators (eventually) chose Darcy Loewen from the Sabres.

By contrast Phil Esposito and his crew sailed through the expansion draft proceedings. Esposito had no illusions about the quality of the players available though. He was asked by a reporter if he believed he had chosen any potential superstars; apocryphal stories say he turned to the board with the Lightning's list of players on it, pointed and asked the reporter "Are you blind?"

It didn't take Esposito long to start wheeling-and-dealing. The very next day he pulled the trigger on four trades: he traded goalie Chabot back to the Canadiens for goalie Jean-Claude Bergeron, he traded Tim Hunter to the Nordiques for future considerations, he acquired Danton Cole from the Jets for future considerations and acquired Darin Kimble, Rob Robinson, Steve Tuttle and goalie Pat Jablonski from the Blues for future considerations (which ended up being a fourth round entry draft pick in '94, a fifth round pick in '95 and a sixth round pick in '96).

Mel Bridgman made trades of his own over the summer. On June 22 he traded Chris Lindberg back to the Flames for Mark Osiecki. On July 20 he acquired Brad Marsh from the Leafs for future considerations. He also acquired Jody Hull from the Rangers, Steve Weeks from the Capitals and Neil Brady from the Devils for future considerations on July 28, August 13 and September 3 respectively.

The 1992-93 Season

The '92 Expansion Draft gave the Lightning and Senators a start to their franchises and for the briefest of moments it looked like it might have been a decent start. The Lightning opened their season at the Expo Hall in Tampa on October 7 in a game against the Blackhawks. Chris Kontos, a veteran winger who had experience in the NHL with the Rangers, Penguins and Kings but had been playing for the Canadian national team at the time, scored four goals (still a franchise record) to lead the team to a 7-3 victory. The next night the Senators opened their inaugural season at the Ottawa Civic Centre against the Canadiens and beat them 5-3.

The Lightning's record stayed respectable for the first couple months of the season but the Senators became a laughingstock. They won that first game but went on a 21-game winless streak after that. Their second victory didn't come until November 25. The Lightning finished 22nd out of 24 teams with 53 points, five points behind the Whalers. The Senators finished dead last with a 10-70-4 record good for only 24 points. They were only three points shy of tying the modern-day record of futility set by the expansion Capitals in '74-'75, but the Senators had the benefit of playing an 84-game schedule whereas the Capitals only played 80. The Sharks also finished the season with 24 points but finished ahead of the Senators by virtue of having one more win. At least the Senators didn't finish with the record for most losses in a season; the '92-'93 Sharks still own that record with an alarmingly terrible 71.

The Senators' corporate parent, Terrace Investments, was slowly taken over by CEO Rod Bryden over the course of the team's first season. Bryden became CEO of the Senators in January, 1993 and on April 15 he fired Mel Bridgman. The team's COO, Randy Sexton, took over as GM. Bruce Firestone sold his shares in Terrace to Bryden in August of 1993 and walked away.

1992 NHL Expansion

For more about 1992 Expansion Draft, click here.

In 1989 the National Hockey League was a 21-team league. It had been so since 1979, when the Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association joined. The decade that followed was the NHL's most stable since it began expanding in 1967. From 1967 to 1979 the NHL expanded five times adding sixteen teams in the process, had two teams relocate (the Golden Seals to Cleveland and Kansas City Scouts to Denver in 1976), and one that eventually effectively folded and ceased operations. From 1979 to 1989 the only franchise changes were the Atlanta Flames' move to Calgary in 1980 and Colorado Rockies' move to New Jersey in 1982, moves which solidified those franchises' foreseeable futures.

At the Board of Governors meeting in December of 1989 the NHL owners decided to change all that. They decided to expand again. The plan was the most ambitious since the first big expansion in 1967: the league would add seven teams by the year 2000, at least one by 1992. The league had just signed a new national broadcast agreement in the US with SportsChannel but it paled in comparison to what they had hoped it would be (SportsChannel ended up losing millions in the deal and became effectively defunct by the end of the broadcast agreement in 1992). It was hoped that expanding to new markets would solidify the NHL's case for demanding higher broadcast rights fees in its next negotiations. The NHL was after as big a TV deal as it could get and it was thought that more teams, particularly in the United States, would increase the league's exposure and potential TV market. Coincidentally this was the exact same reason that expansion in the 1960s was pursued in the first place (and a big reason why the California Seals remained in Oakland for nine forgettable years, but that's another story).

The most promising expansion site was San Jose, California. Howard Baldwin (former owner of the Hartford Whalers) and Morris Belzberg (Chairman and CEO of Budget Rent-a-car) were tentatively leading a push for a team in San Jose but the Gund brothers, owners of the Minnesota North Stars, announced their intention to move the North Stars there. The NHL reached a compromise with both groups in May, 1990 whereby the Gunds would get the expansion team in San Jose and Baldwin and Belzberg would buy the North Stars from them instead. That took care of the first team by '92.

The second and third expansion franchises were tentatively planned to begin play in 1992 or 1993, with the franchises being awarded by December, 1990. The three main criteria for acceptance were:

• the ownership group must have at least $100 million net worth
• the team must own or have a lease at an arena with at least 18,000 seats, and the team must receive the revenues from luxury boxes, concessions and other income streams from the arena
• the expansion fee would be $50 million, with $5 million due upon awarding of the franchise, $22.5 million due by June of 1991 and the remaining $22.5 million due by December 15, 1991.

That last criterion—fifty million dollars—would prove to be the biggest sticking point for most of the applications. The sale of the North Stars to Baldwin and Belzberg was for only $31.5 million. $50 million for an expansion team seemed to be far more than an NHL team was really worth, but for the NHL it was absolutely non-negotiable. Applicants would pay $50 million for their new teams or they simply wouldn't get one.

The NHL sent out an open request for proposals for 1992 expansion franchises with a deadline for initial application set for midnight, August 15, 1990. At that time they received 11 bids from 10 cities:

• Seattle, headed by Bill Ackerley. Ackerley was the son of Seattle SuperSonics owner Barry Ackerley. The Ackerleys planned to build a new arena in Seattle not far from the Kingdome. They proposed that their expansion team would play at the Seattle Center Coliseum, shared with the Sonics, until the new arena was complete. They did not want to front most of the money though and only wanted to retain a minority stake of the NHL team. They wanted a new NHL team to be a tenant in their arena more than anything.
• Two groups from San Diego. One was headed by Harry Cooper, owner of the San Diego Sports Arena, while the other was headed by Jerry Buss, owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers, former owner of the Kings (he sold the team to Bruce McNall in 1988) and owner of the Forum in which the Lakers and Kings played.
• a group from Phoenix
• Milwaukee, headed by Lloyd Pettit, the owner of the IHL's Milwaukee Admirals (and former Blackhawks broadcaster). He and his wife, Jane Bradley Pettit, donated the money to build the Bradley Center arena.
• Houston, headed by Charlie Thomas, owner of the NBA's Houston Rockets and Ray Patterson, former GM of the Rockets. The team would play at The Summit, home of the Rockets, until a new arena was built.
• Hamilton, fronted by promoter Gerry Patterson (who in the past had been a player agent, executive director of the Canadian Football League Player's Association and commissioner of the National Lacrosse League (the one in the 1970s, unrelated to the modern NLL)). The team would play at Copps Coliseum, completed in 1987. Patterson would not name his financial backers at the time.
• Ottawa, headed by Bruce Firestone, Randy Sexton and Cyril Leeder of Terrace Investment Ltd. Terrace, a real estate development company, proposed to build a 22,000 seat arena in Kanata, a suburb of Ottawa.
• St. Petersburg, Florida; headed by Peter Karmanos of Detroit, owner of Compuware, and fronted by former NHL player Jim Rutherford. The team would play in the Florida Suncoast Dome, a then-unfinished baseball stadium, until a hockey-specific arena was built later.
• Tampa, Florida (just across Tampa Bay from St. Petersburg); fronted by former NHL player Phil Esposito. Esposito's financial backers were the Pritzker family, owners of the Hyatt hotel chain. The team would play in a new hockey arena to be built near the existing Tampa Stadium, home of the NFL's Buccaneers.
• Miami, represented by Boston businessman Godfrey Wood. His ownership group comprised several partners, including investment banker John W. Henry (then-owner of the Pacific Coast League's Tucson Toros baseball club). The team would play at Miami Arena.

Each bidder was to submit a $100,000 deposit, refundable in full until September 7 and thereafter only $65,000 refundable.

It didn't take long for one of the groups to drop out entirely. The Phoenix group was composed of a large group of small businessmen who didn't believe that they would be able to fund a team in Phoenix. On August 19, only days after submitting their application, they withdrew. (They didn't even pay the $100,000 deposit in the first place.)

The bid by Lloyd Pettit of Milwaukee seemed to be relatively strong. The new team would play at Bradley Center alongside the Bucks basketball team and Pettit was experienced and well-regarded in operating a hockey team. Despite the apparent strength of Pettit's bid he withdrew it on October 9, about a week before an interim presentation to the NHL Board of Governors. The reason was the money. Pettit's group analyzed the potential revenue of an NHL team in Milwaukee and found that it wasn't feasible, particularly given the non-negotiable $50 million expansion fee.

On November 28, 1990, only eight days before the final presentations, Charlie Thomas's group from Houston did the same, for the same reasons. They were open to being part of another round of expansion bids in 1993 or 1994 but at the time it just didn't make financial sense to them.

In the interim Jerry Buss had shifted the geographic focus of his bid from San Diego to Anaheim, a suburb of Los Angeles best known for being the home of the Disneyland amusement park and the California Angels of baseball's American League. A new arena in Anaheim was in the planning stages and Buss wanted to get his foot in the door there. Buss didn't actually have a tentative lease agreement at any arena; he planned on trying to get the best lease he could and his bid was an open-ended one for somewhere in southern California.

The least likely group to succeed in getting one of the new franchises seemed to be Esposito's Tampa group. The proposed team, already anointed with the moniker "Tampa Bay Lightning", had no home and no owner: the Pritzker family backed out of the deal on October 18 and the preliminary motion to fund the new Tampa Coliseum was voted down by Tampa's city council on December 4, two days before the final presentations. Esposito searched far and wide for new financial backers and had a tentative agreement with a group of Japanese companies led by Fuji Bank going in to the final presentation on December 6. They still had no firm plan for an arena but would continue pushing Tampa to build the new coliseum and would seek a temporary lease with another venue for the team's first couple years.

By contrast Karmanos's bid for St. Petersburg appeared to be the strongest. Funding wasn't a problem and the team secured a four-year lease with the Florida Suncoast Dome, which could have been extended to up to 20 years. The stadium would be modified to suit hockey; in fact a pre-season game between the Kings and Penguins was held there in September of 1990 using a temporary ice plant to create the ice surface, and they set a new record for attendance at an NHL game with 25,581 fans in the stands.

Hamilton's bid was eventually supported by Ron Joyce, owner of the Tim Hortons donut and coffee shop chain. Joyce would own 90% of the team with the rest split among several minority partners.

One by one the candidates presented to the NHL Board of Governors at The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida on December 6, 1990. At the end of the day the news broke: there would be new NHL teams in 1992 in Ottawa and, surprisingly, Tampa.

The San Diego bid wasn't ever in consideration. Harry Cooper attended the meeting and presented anyway, hoping to emphasize that despite having no firm bid package put together in 1990 he was still interested in expansion at some time in the 1990s. Buss's non-committal bid for somewhere in southern California, probably Anaheim, wasn't given any serious consideration either.

The Seattle bidders didn't present at all. In the morning Bill Ackerley and his associate from First Chicago Bank, Bill Lear, withdrew their application. Their (former) partners were left in the lobby, stunned. The Ackerleys never built their arena and the Sonics continued to play at the Seattle Center Coliseum, heavily renovated in the mid-'90s and renamed KeyArena, until the team moved to Oklahoma City in 2008. Ackerley sold the Sonics in 2001.

The Hamilton, Miami and St. Petersburg bids were rejected for one reason: money. They refused to pay the expansion fees in full following the schedule given by the NHL. The Hamilton group wanted to put $5 million down immediately, pay $20 million in 1991, and the remaining $25 million over the course of the following seven years. They anticipated having to pay indemnities to the Maple Leafs and Sabres and felt that the $50 million up front, months before the team would even begin play, was too onerous given the uncertainty around territorial indemnifications.

The Miami bid was rejected because John Henry (who took over the Miami bid from Godfrey Wood) wanted to pay $30 million of the expansion fees by the end of 1991 and the remaining $20 million over the course of many years afterward. He also had no firm lease agreement at Miami Arena, although it was expected that anyone who could put together the financing would get an agreement to play there. Henry would go on to become owner of the Florida Marlins baseball club in 1999 (he sold the team to Jeffrey Loria in 2002), and has since founded Fenway Sports Group. Fenway Sports Group owns Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox, 80% of New England Sports Network (the other 20% is owned by Jeremy Jacobs's Delaware North Companies, owner of the Boston Bruins) and the Liverpool Football Club.

The St. Petersburg bid, the arguable front-runner that day, was rejected because they were only willing to pay the first $5 million immediately if it was refundable and the other $45 million over the course of several years.

The Ottawa bidders, who arrived at the hotel that day with local supporters including a marching band, were willing to pay the $50 million fee in full at the prescribed times. The arena project in Kanata was not yet finalized and approval had to go through the Ontario Municipal Board so the team would play at least its first couple seasons at the Ottawa Civic Centre, which had been the home of the WHA's Ottawa Nationals and briefly the home of the Ottawa Civics née Denver Spurs in 1976. (Trivia: the Ottawa Civic Centre was also home to the Ottawa 67's junior team and was built under the north stands of the much larger football stadium at Lansdowne Park. As of the writing of this post it is closed while renovations to Frank Clair Stadium are carried out.) Phil Esposito's Tampa bid was also willing to accept the expansion fee schedule; Esposito secured funding from the Japanese. Despite having no agreement to play anywhere and having only gotten the funding for the team in a scant few days before the presentation from dubious Japanese sources the NHL accepted the bid. The Tampa and Ottawa proponents were the only ones willing to pay the expansion fees on time and in full so they were the only ones accepted.

The two teams would have almost a year and a half to prepare for their expansion draft, shore up their finances and finalize their agreements to build new arenas. Over the course of 1991 Esposito lobbied to have the Tampa Coliseum plan resurrected but the plans never materialized. Esposito had a tentative agreement to play at the Florida Suncoast Dome, the stadium that the rival Karmanos bid would have used, instead but the deal fell through in January, 1992. He fell back on a two-year lease agreement with the Florida State Fairgrounds to play at their Expo Hall on April 23, 1992.

(Trivia: Ultimately the Lightning would play only one season at the small confines of the Expo Hall. They broke the lease and signed two-year lease at the Florida Suncoast Dome on July 30, 1993. The team would end up playing there for three seasons, finally moving to the new Tampa arena (built in Tampa's Channelside district, not near Tampa Stadium as originally intended) in 1996. The Suncoast Dome was renamed 'ThunderDome' during the Lightning's tenancy and is now known as Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team.)

Esposito also began hiring personnel. He would act as President and General Manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning; he hired his brother Tony to be his chief scout. They hired former Flames coach Terry Crisp as their head coach on April 23, 1992.

Meanwhile the Ottawa group, which named their team the Senators in honour of the former NHL team, hired Mel Bridgman as their GM on August 30, 1991. Former Rangers and Jets GM John Ferguson (Sr.) joined him as Director of Player Personnel on March 22, 1992. They hired Rick Bowness to coach on June 15, 1992.

The stage was set for the 1992 NHL Expansion Draft...