Past and Future Expansion Drafts

By Richard Gonzalez

The NHL Expansion Draft will be held on June 21st, 2017, and it will introduce the Las Vegas Golden Knights into the league. The last expansion draft was 17 years ago and introduced the Minnesota Wild and the Atlanta Thrashers. Since the Avalanche were introduced into the league they have been part of 3 expansion drafts. The lost 4 different players total throughout those drafts. Let’s take a look at the players drafted from the expansion teams and my opinion on who will be next to go. 

1998 Expansion Draft:

The 1998 expansion draft introduced the Nashville Predators. The Predators drafted defenseman Uwe Krupp from the Avalanche. Krupp was part of the package deal that sent him to the Quebec Nordiques. Later his rights would be transferred to Colorado when the Nordiques relocated. Krupp played a total of 4 years with the Nordiques/Avalanche playing 188 games and scoring 78 points (19 goals and 59 assists). Krupp was the first German player to win a Stanley Cup when he won it with the Avalanche in 1996. He scored the clutch goal in the third overtime of game 4 against the Florida Panthers. 

Krupp didn’t extend his contract with the Predators and ultimately signed with the Detroit Redwings as a free agent about a month later.  Due to injuries he only played 26 games in 4 years with the Redwings. He did win his second Cup in 2002 with the Redwings; however, it wasn’t as a player but in a management role with the club. 

On July 19th, 2002, Krupp signed with the Atlanta Thrashers as a free agent. He would only play 4 games with the club due to injuries. Krupp officially retired on April 27th, 2003. Krupp was recently inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame class 2017. Krupp is currently the head coach of Eisbaren Berlin.

1999 Expansion Draft:

The 1999 expansion draft introduced the Atlanta Thrashers. The Thrashers drafted left winger Tomi Kallio from the Avalanche. Kallio was drafted in the 4th round (84th overall) by the Avalanche. Kallio spent his entire playing with Turun Palloserura of the Finnish Elite League. 

Kallio spent 3 years with the Thrashers playing 121 games scoring (22 goals and 51 assists). Krupp was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in a packaged deal. He would only play in 12 games with the Blue Jackets before getting claimed off waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers. After being released from the Flyers, Kallio signed in Sweden with Vastra Frolund. 

Kallio is currently playing with his original club TPS Turku. He played in 59 games scoring 50 points (20 goals 30 assists) for the 2016/2017 season. 

2000 Expansion Draft:

The 2000 expansion draft introduced the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild. The Wild drafted goaltender Rick Tabaracci. On December 8th, 1998, the Avalanche acquired Tabaracci from the Thrashers for Shean Donovan. He played in 2 games with the Avalanche earning 1 win. He had a save percentage of 889 and a GAA of 2.00. This was the last time he spent in the NHL. Tabaracci would play in 41 games with the Utah Grizzlies of the International Hockey League prior to his retirement on August 26th, 2002.  Tabaracci was really difficult to find but I got the best info I could. Tabaracci continued his “Rick Tabaracci Golf Tournament” which ended last summer. Teddy Gear on Twitter (@Teddy_Gear) provided me with a link to his possible current status. It is believed Tabaracci owns Tabco Construction LLC in Utah. A records search showed Tabaracci living in the same city, owner of a construction business, and same contact number for the business. I sent an e-mail to confirm this information but haven’t received a response. 

The Minnesota Wild drafted right winger Jeff Odgers from the Avalanche. Odgers started his career with the San Jose Sharks and played with them during their inaugural season. He served as a caption from 1994 until he was traded to the Boston Bruins in 1996. 

On October 24th, 1997, Odgers and his signature mustache signed with the Avalanche. He spent 3 years in Colorado and played 205 games scoring 21 points (8 goals and 13 assists).  Odgers never played a game with the Wild as he was claimed off waivers from the Atlanta Thrashers. He would play 202 games with Thrashers scoring 27 points (12 goals and 15 assists). 

Odgers is currently playing senior hockey for the Rocanville Tigers of the Triangle Hockey League and manages his family farm. 

The 2017 Expansion Draft:

The Avalanche bought out Francois Beauchemin‘s contract. Beauchemin’s 4.5 million will still count against the Avalanche’s cap due to his age being over 35. The Avalanche will own him 1.5 million for the 2017/2018 season and 1.5 million for the 2018/2019 season. Check out CapFriendly.com‘s link for further explanation of the buyout process.  https://www.capfriendly.com/buyout-faq

With that out of the way, I think the Avalanche will go with protecting 7 forwards and 3 defensemen option. The official protected lists will be available to the public on Sunday, June 18th, 2017, or unless they get leaked out on Saturday. 

I can see the Avalanche protecting Landeskog, MacKinnon, Duchene, Soderberg, Andrighetto, Nieto, Grigorenko, Barrie, Johnson, Zadorov, and Varlamov.

I think the Golden Knights will select Mark Barberio who was claimed off waivers on February 2nd, 2017.  Barberio played in 34 games with the Avalanche scoring 9 points (2 goals and 9 assists). He played pretty well with the Avalanche. He was paired on the top line with Johnson. He chipped in on the rush but never ignored his defensive responsibilities. He has 1 more year left with a 750K cap hit which isn’t bad at all. Especially if he has potential to be a consistent top four defenseman. 

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June 19th, 2017