Washington Capitals: Expansion draft history
1992 Expansion Draft
The 1992 expansion draft were for the Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning. Every team had to participate in it except for the Sharks, who were exempt since they just went through one the year before.
One interesting rule was that each NHL team had to expose a goaltender who played at least one game in the league. This led to some interesting trades and teams deliberately putting goalies in a game just so they could be exposed in the draft. The Capitals were one of these teams, signing former goalie Bernie Wolf in an attempt to protect Don Beaupre and Jim Hrivnak (the NHL didn’t allow it). Teams were allowed to protect two goaltenders and 14 skaters.
In the 1992 draft, the Washington Capitals lost defenseman Shawn Chambers to the Tampa Bay Lightning. He only played in two games with the Caps before taking his talents to Florida. Chambers wound up having a pretty decent NHL career, finishing with 625 games played and 235 points. He won two Stanley Cups, one with the New Jersey Devils and the second with the Dallas Stars.
The Capitals also lost Tim Bergland to the Lightning. He didn’t have much of a career, playing in 78 games with Tampa Bay before eventually getting traded back to the Capitals. Altogether, Bergland played in 182 games with 43 points.