Washington Capitals: Expansion draft history
1998 Expansion Draft
1998 saw the NHL continue to expand to the southern United States, adding the Nashville Predators. The Washington Capitals are eternally tied with them, and it goes much deeper than the Filip Forsberg for Martin Erat and Michael Latta trade. David Poile joined the Predators as their general manager after spending the previous 15 seasons with the Caps. To this day, Poile is the only GM Nashville has ever had.
Washington Capitals
The Washington Capitals lost forward Andrew Brunette to the Predators. While he only played in 62 regular season games for the Capitals, it’s clear Poile knew what he was doing. Brunette wound up being a journeyman, playing for Nashville, the Minnesota Wild, Atlanta Thrashers, Chicago Blackhawks and Colorado Avalanche. However, he’s also a journeyman who played in over 1,000 NHL games, putting up 733 points in the process.
This expansion draft was a bit interesting because of free agent compensation picks. Back in 1998, teams got a compensatory draft pick if they lost a free agent. Being the sly devil that Poile is, he deliberately selected several players who were set to become free agents in days. Once they signed elsewhere, the Predators got draft picks. Not a bad idea. Some of the names selected might ring a bell, such as Washington Capitals alumni Tomas Vokoun and Al Iafrate. Also drafted was Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan.