Washington Capitals: Expansion draft history
1999 Expansion Draft
1999 saw the NHL boldly make its return to Atlanta for the first time since the 1970’s. The Atlanta Thrashers are presently known are the Winnipeg Jets. This experiment obviously didn’t work for the NHL, as the league probably got a bit too eager after seeing success from the Panthers.
The first pick of the draft was Trevor Kidd. He’s best known as the guy who the Calgary Flames traded up to get instead of Martin Brodeur. The Washington Capitals lost Mark Tinordi in the draft, but he refused to play for the Thrashers, choosing to retire instead. In 663 career regular season games, he put up 200 points.
2000 Expansion Draft
In 2000, the NHL added the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets. Of the 28 teams, 26 of them participated. The league made the Predators and Thrashers exempt since they had just gotten teams. This was the first expansion draft to feature options for teams. They could protect a goaltender, five defensemen, and nine forwards. Their second option was to protect two goaltenders, three defensemen, and seven forwards.
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In this draft, the Washington Capitals lost defenseman Oleg Orekhovsky to the Minnesota Wild, though he would never play in the NHL. Forward Barrie Moore got picked by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Much like Orekhovsky, Moore never played in the NHL.