GOALIES, GRINDERS HEAD TO ATLANTA; THRASHERS DEAL AFTER SELECTING IN EXPANSION DRAFT.Byline: Daily News Wire Services The players chosen by the Atlanta Thrashers The Atlanta Thrashers are a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). Their home arena is Philips Arena. in Friday's NHL NHL Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, see there expansion draft don't score many goals. But with a batch of strong goalies, the league's newest team might not give up many either. Atlanta, which traded last week for Damian Rhodes Damian ('Dusty') Rhodes (May 28 1969 in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States) was an NHL goaltender drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 6th round of the 1987 Entry Draft, 112th overall. of Ottawa, added Detroit's Norm Maracle Norm Maracle (born October 2, 1974, in Belleville, Ontario, Canada) is a professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League for the Detroit Red Wings and Atlanta Thrashers. , Tampa Bay's Corey Schwab Corey Schwab (born November 4, 1970) is a former Canadian professional ice hockey goalie. Born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, he was drafted 200th overall in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft by the New Jersey Devils. and Carolina's Trevor Kidd Trevor Kidd (born March 26, 1972 in Dugald, Manitoba, Canada) is a former NHL goaltender who last played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and currently plays in Europe. Throughout his 12-year National Hockey League career, Kidd played for the Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida in the draft. Kidd didn't last long with the Thrashers. He was traded to Florida in a four-player deal, one of eight moves made by Atlanta after the draft. In exchange for Kidd, the Thrashers received defenseman Gord Murphy Gord Murphy (born March 23, 1967, in Willowdale, Ontario) is a former National Hockey League defenceman. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the ninth round, 189th overall, of the 1985 NHL Entry Draft. , who played 51 games for the Panthers, and forward Herbert Vasilyev, who had 28 goals and 76 points for Florida's American Hockey League
The Thrashers also acquired defenseman Ulf Samuelsson Ulf Samuelsson (Born March 26, 1964, in Fagersta, Västmanlands län, Sweden) is a retired Swedish-American professional ice hockey player and currently an assistant coach with the Phoenix Coyotes. from Detroit for future considerations after the expansion draft. From the Kings' unprotected list, the Thrashers picked bruising forward Matt Johnson. From the Ducks, they got defenseman Jamie Pushor. The best goal scorers drafted were Terry Yake of St. Louis and Mike Stapleton of Phoenix, who had nine each last season. ``I feel very good about our goaltending goal·tend·ing n. 1. Sports The act of protecting a goal, as in hockey and other such sports. 2. Basketball as I stand here now with Rhodes and Maracle,'' said Atlanta general manager Don Waddell. ``I feel good about our defense. We got the bangers and the checkers we wanted. Now we have to find some goal scorers.'' Waddell is especially high on Maracle, who had a 2.27 goals-against average in 16 games as backup to Chris Osgood. Atlanta was allowed to choose one player from each team except Nashville. The Predators didn't lose anyone because they were an expansion team last season. The Thrashers had to take at least three goalies, eight defensemen and 13 forwards. Some of the better-known players who will wear the Thrashers logo on their jerseys next season - barring trades - are defenseman Darryl Shannon of Stanley Cup finalist Buffalo, and forwards Kelly Buchberger of Edmonton and Jody Hull of Philadelphia. Choosing Ed Ward from Calgary and Buchberger went along with Waddell's philosophy of ``getting good character players to build around our young players. ``I always said the first area we were going to look at is NHL experience,'' Waddell said. ``But it was smart for us to open it up to'' youngsters with potential. He'll pick up more of them in today's entry draft. And Atlanta has the second pick behind Tampa Bay, unless Waddell yields to inquiries from other teams and trades it. EXPANSION DRAFT PICKS Players selected by the Atlanta Thrashers in the NHL expansion draft: Kelly Buchberger, f, Edmonton Petr Buzek, d, Dallas Brett Clark, d, Montreal Sylvain Cloutier, f, Chicago Phil Crowe, f, Ottawa Kevin Dean, d, New Jersey Peter Ferraro, f, Boston (x) Maxim Galanov, d, Pittsburgh John Garpenlov, f, Florida David Harlock, d, N.Y. Islanders Jody Hull, f, Philadelphia Matt Johnson, f, Kings Tomi Kallio, f, Colorado Trevor Kidd, g, Carolina Norm Maracle, g, Detroit Jamie Pushor, d, Ducks Corey Schwab, g, Tampa Bay Darryl Shannon, d, Buffalo Steve Staios, f, Vancouver Mike Stapleton, f, Phoenix Chris Tamer, d, N.Y. Rangers Mark Tinordi, d, Washington Yannick Tremblay, d, Toronto Ed Ward, f, Calgary Terry Yake, f, St. Louis Alexei Yegorov, f, San Jose (x) traded back to Boston for center Randy Robitaille CAPTION(S): Box BOX: EXPANSION DRAFT PICKS (see text) |
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