CHL - New Format for 2017-18

Starting with the 2017–18 season, a new competitive format will be introduced by the Champions Hockey League. Fewer teams and a qualification system which is based on sporting merits only will improve the quality of the league.
The 33 shareholders of the Champions Hockey League (26 clubs, 6 leagues and the IIHF) voted at the General Assembly meeting in Berlin for the introduction of a new playing format for the 2017–18 season and beyond.

The new format as of 2017–18

• 32 teams from 13 countries, 
• Teams can only qualify on sporting merits, 
• No founding club shall automatically be granted playing rights, 
• A maximum of 5 teams per country, 
• The CHL Champion of the previous season is automatically qualified for the next CHL season. However, this will not grant one extra spot for the league of the CHL winner.

Participating leagues

As things currently stand, the Champions Hockey League is prepared to play the 2017–18 season with the same participating leagues as in the upcoming 2016–17 season. However, one of the CHL’s biggest challenges going forward remains bringing the KHL on board. Should the KHL join the league, the total number of teams will stay at 32 and the numbers from founding and challenge leagues will need to be reduced.

How to qualify for the CHL

As previously pointed out, teams will have to earn their place in the CHL on the ice, starting with the 2017–18 season. Teams must reach one of the following criteria in order to become a CHL contestant:

1. CHL Champion 
2. National / League Champion 
3. Regular season winner 
4. Regular season runner-up 
5. Playoff finalist 
6. Higher-ranked remaining playoff semi-finalist, based on regular-season finish

CHL rankings

As of the inaugural season 2014–15, the CHL is ranking the leagues and teams based on their achievements during each CHL season. These rankings will determine the number of teams per league entitled to play in the CHL. For the 2017–18 season, the rankings will be based on the first three CHL seasons and the results valued as follows:

In the CHL rankings, the six founding leagues will remain ranked 1–6 and all non-founding leagues will follow in accordance. Positions within the rankings may still vary from season to season based on the teams’ respective performances.
Consequently, the upcoming 2016–17 CHL season is very important for the clubs to collect points for the CHL rankings and to help their leagues obtain as many CHL spots for the 2017–18 season as possible.
After two CHL seasons (2014–15 and 2015–16) the CHL ranking looks as follows. Please note that the rankings might change depending on the performance of the clubs during the 2016–17 season.

RANK	COUNTRY	TEAMS
1	SWEDEN	5
2	FINLAND	5
3	CZECH REPUBLIC	4
4	SWITZERLAND	4
5	AUSTRIA	3
6	GERMANY	3
7	NORWAY	1
8	SLOVAKIA	1
9	FRANCE	1
10	BELARUS	1
11	DENMARK	1
12	GREAT BRITAIN	1
13	POLAND	1
14	CONTINENTAL CUP WINNER	1
	TOTAL	32

Competition format

Starting with the 2017–18 season, a total of 125 games will be played over the course of 13 game days. Four teams in each of the eight groups will battle in the Group Stage for playoff spots. The top two teams in each group will advance to the Round of 16.
With the exception of the Final, all match-ups in the Playoff Stage will be two-game, home-and-away series. This aspect stays unchanged from the current format.

Pascal Dupuis

Pascal Dupuis headed home to Montreal last December, threw his hockey gear in the garage and waited for his retirement to become real.
The longtime Pittsburgh Penguins forward knew the pangs of regret would come, even as he understood it was the right choice to step away from the game due to lingering concerns about the blood clots that dogged him during the final stages of his 15-year career. The only choice, really, for a married father of four.
Dupuis just assumed his second thoughts would fade over time. Only they didn’t. If anything, they’ve become more acute while watching his teammates put together a stirring run to the Stanley Cup Final without the player simply known as “Duper,” who for so long served as the emotional touchstone in a dressing room filled with divergent personalities.
“Every day I’m thinking about it,” Dupuis said before the Penguins opened up the franchise’s fifth appearance in the Cup Final with a 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks in Game 1.
So Dupuis searched for a compromise, finding one in becoming a special assistant of sorts, one straddling the line between player and coach. He doesn’t have a term for his job description, though he became perhaps one of the world’s most overqualified equipment managers when he found himself replacing the butt end of forward Eric Fehr‘s stick during Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.
The hockey bag Dupuis ditched in the family garage didn’t stay zipped for long. He brought his skates back to Pittsburgh, though these days he works out alone on the ice well before his friends file onto the rink. It’s strange, really strange, not to be out there with them. He lifted the Cup in triumph when the Penguins beat Detroit for the franchise’s third championship in 2009. Yet there the Cup was on Sunday afternoon, barely 20 feet away as he spoke to reporters during Media Day, and in the most visceral way hopelessly out of reach.
“You still want it,” said Dupuis, who turned 37 in April. “If one thing, it makes it harder. You know what it feels like, you know what it tastes like and you want it again.”
It’s why Dupuis returned last fall even though for the better part of two years it seemed as if there was a voodoo doll somewhere with his No. 9 jersey on it. The torn ACL in December, 2013. The blood clots that surfaced in November, 2014. The long wait for doctors to OK his return as he worked his way off blood thinners only to sustain a lower-body injury during training camp last September.
Yet he pressed on before chest pains forced him to leave a game in San Jose in early December, and the long West Coast road trip gave him time to think about his future, his mortality and hockey’s role in both. Then came the decision to step away on Dec. 8, making the announcement during a practice day in Colorado. He knew it was time to go.
Just not that far, it turned out. General manager Jim Rutherford promised Dupuis the team would pay him through the remainder of the four-year deal he signed in 2013 even as it placed him on the long-term inactive list. The move paid off immediately. The Penguins used the salary cap relief to acquire defenseman Trevor Daley from Chicago, a deal that coincided with head coach Mike Sullivan’s arrival and began the midseason renaissance that brought the Pittsburgh to the cusp of a championship.
“In some ways, our misfortune with Duper became our good fortune as we went along,” Rutherford said.
Dupuis made it a point to earn his money, even if it wasn’t with a stick in his hands. He re-joined the Penguins on the road as soon as doctors gave him clearance and in some ways things haven’t changed. He kept his stall in the locker room and joked “I still put my underwear on before they go on the ice.” Even if it goes under a meticulously tailored suit.
“He still works out hard, he gives us insight,” Penguins forward Chris Kunitz said. “He’s on the plane. He’s on the buses. He’s still loose just like he was when we played.”
Maybe that’s because he isn’t quite ready to turn the page completely. The engine that led the former undrafted free agent to 190 career goals, many of them as the speedy sidekick to Pittsburgh superstar Sidney Crosby, doesn’t idle easily.
“It’s not like I’m going to dinner with the coaches yet,” he said. “I haven’t stepped over that fence yet. I’m still, in my head, a player.”
Even if, in practice, he is not. That part will be hard to shake, particularly as he sees his former peers make their way back from similar problems. Tampa Bay star Steven Stamkos returned to the lineup for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals just eight weeks removed from his own blood clot issues. Seeing Stamkos on the ice – on the same night the Penguins grinded out a 2-1 win to advance to the Cup Final – was both promising but also bittersweet. Medicine is advancing. In the near future, blood clots may not be the career-altering diagnosis they are now.
Those advances, however, won’t come in time for Dupuis. For now, he’s attempting to be content growing his lavishly thick playoff beard and be one of the guys hoping to extend his long goodbye for a couple more weeks.
“It’s hard to come to the rink,” Dupuis said, “but the bigger picture here is me helping this team win.”

NHL - 1991 Expansion Draft - The Birth of the San Jose Sharks

1991 NHL Expansion Draft

Find 'expansion' in a dictionary and it is defined something to the effect of "becoming larger". Broadly speaking any new team in a professional sports league is an "expansion team" if it increases the league membership, but in the context of professional sports the term "expansion team" implies a team created ex novo ("from new").

Whether or not you or I think the WHA's clubs joining the NHL was more a 'merger' than an 'expansion' the facts are that at the end of the 1978-79 NHL season there were 17 member clubs and by the beginning of the 1979-80 season there were 21. The NHL held a draft to provide players to the four new clubs from the existing 17. The NHL went well out of its way to make it look like these clubs were started from scratch in 1979.

The WHA teams elected to join the NHL for a variety of reasons but chief among them was the instability of the WHA itself. The volume of franchise movement in the WHA was enormous, and the four teams that joined the NHL were far and away the healthiest financially speaking (and even then three of the four teams moved in the 1990s). In the late 1970s the NHL was facing financial difficulties of its own. In 1978 the Cleveland Barons and Minnesota North Stars merged. The Barons' owners, George and Gordon Gund, took over the North Stars and the two teams were combined in a messy compromise that kept one of the teams in existence for the then-foreseeable future. It was the first time the NHL had contracted since 1942.

The Gund brothers lost money in Minnesota too and after years of losses the matter came to a head in 1990. The NHL was faced with another problem that would also stretch the common definition of "expansion team".

By the summer of 1990 it was no secret that the Gunds had no desire to keep operating the North Stars in Minnesota and they were intent on moving the team to the San Francisco Bay Area. Ironically they were minority owners in the California Golden Seals and were the architects of their move from the Bay Area to Cleveland in 1976. They blamed the Seals' problems on having been located in Oakland instead of San Francisco, and the failure of the proposed Yerba Buena Center arena project in 1976 (which would have built a new arena in the heart of San Francisco) was the final nail in the Seals' coffin. (It would have been built on what is now the site of the Moscone Center.) In the time that had passed since the Seals left for Cleveland the city of San Jose, at the south end of the bay, had grown rapidly and in the 1980s became known as the centre of Silicon Valley. In 1988 San Jose voters approved a funding for a new pro hockey arena; they broke ground in the spring of 1990.

The Gunds were intent on moving the North Stars to San Jose but the NHL governors wanted to keep a presence in Minnesota, well-known as the state with the largest grass-roots support for hockey. Rather than becoming embroiled in a lawsuit such as the one between the Oakland Raiders and National Football League in the early 1980s the NHL struck a deal with the Gunds which would grant them the right to an expansion franchise located in San Jose, and in turn the Gunds would sell the North Stars to former Whalers owner Howard Baldwin and Morris Belzberg.


In order to reach this compromise the NHL and the Baldwin ownership group made very large, very unusual concessions: the Gunds' new franchise in San Jose would be allowed to take over the contracts of many of the North Stars' players. They would take some of the staff with them as well, including GM Jack Ferreira, Assistant GM Dean Lombardi, and chief scouts Chuck Grillo and Les Jackson. The North Stars would also participate in the expansion draft alongside the San Jose team. Yes, that's right: an existing team would pick players in an expansion draft. Like I said this would stretch the common definition of "expansion team". Some people have called this agreement in effect the 'demerger' of the North Stars/Barons franchise.

Under the terms of the agreement the new San Jose team would take 30 players from the North Stars in a dispersal draft. The North Stars would be able to protect 14 skaters and two goalies with at least 50 games of NHL experience. San Jose would then pick 14 skaters and two goalies with less than 50 games of NHL experience. The two teams would then alternate picking players off the North Stars' reserve list until the San Jose team had picked a total of 30 players.

Unlike previous expansion teams from the '60s and '70s the San Jose club would not get first overall selection in the entry draft. The existing team with the worst record in '90-'91 would select first overall and San Jose would select second. In subsequent rounds the order would be reversed and San Jose would have the first pick in the round. Keep in mind this was the year that Eric Lindros, then the most highly touted prospect since Mario Lemieux, would be eligible for selection. It was assumed that whoever had first overall pick would use it to select Lindros. The NHL governors would allow the Gunds to have their team in California but they stopped short of gifting Lindros to them.

The agreement with the Gunds was announced on May 5, 1990. Ferreira, Lombardi, Grillo and Jackson were to stay on with the North Stars until the end of June however Baldwin hired Bobby Clarke to be the new GM on June 8. It was also around this time that Norm Green entered the picture.

Green, a shopping mall developer from Calgary, was an 18% stakeholder in the Flames. He sold his share of the Flames and bought 51% of the North Stars from Baldwin and Belzberg. Almost immediately after hiring Bobby Clarke Baldwin sold his remaining 24.5% share of the North Stars to Green.

Meanwhile the Gunds announced that the new team in the Bay Area would be known as the San Jose Sharks, and they would temporarily play home games at the Cow Palace in Daly City until the San Jose Arena was finished (trivia: the Cow Palace was home to the WHL's San Francisco Seals in the 1960s, the team that became the NHL's California [Golden] Seals. One of the conditions of the 1967 expansion was that the Bay Area franchise couldn't play at the Cow Palace. It was deemed "unfit for the NHL" by the Board of Governors. The NHL's Seals played all of their home games across the bay at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena, except for five games played at the Cow Palace in the '68-'69 season).

By October of 1990 Green bought out Belzberg and had sole ownership of the team. Green had completely taken over within five months of the sale to Baldwin and Belzberg, and he wanted to change the deal with the Sharks. He felt it was too onerous on the North Stars (arguably true), and sought to revise the terms such that the North Stars would be allowed to keep more of their young players. The Sharks and North Stars would continue to renegotiate the terms of the dispersal throughout the 1990-91 season, well into May of 1991 in fact. It was only in mid-May that they finally came to an agreement as to how to split the players. Originally the dispersal and expansion draft were to be held on June 17 however it was moved ahead to May 30 in order to give the teams time to offer contracts to impending free agents (whose contracts would expire July 1). The draft began at 3 p.m. central time, by conference call.

The details of the final agreement between the North Stars and Sharks were never made public as far as I know. I've never found a source that describes the process in great detail, but I suspect that instead of a complicated draft procedure between the two clubs they simply negotiated and agreed on which players the Sharks would be allowed to take. In the end they took four members of the North Stars active roster, ten from the Kalamazoo Wings (the North Stars' IHL affiliate), and ten unsigned entry draft choices (mostly from the NCAA). The Sharks were also given the North Stars' second round pick in the 1991 Entry Draft (30th overall, used to select Sandis Ozolinsh) and their first round pick in the 1992 Entry Draft (10th overall, used to select Andrei Nazarov), reportedly in exchange for not taking Mike Craig in the "dispersal draft".


The first 24 San Jose Sharks were:

1991 Dispersal Draft
Player	1990-91 team
Shane Churla	Minnesota North Stars
Brian Hayward	Minnesota North Stars
Neil Wilkinson	Minnesota North Stars
Rob Zettler	Minnesota North Stars
Ed Courtenay	Kalamazoo Wings (IHL)
Kevin Evans	Kalamazoo Wings (IHL)
Link Gaetz	Kalamazoo Wings (IHL)
Dan Keczmer	Kalamazoo Wings (IHL)
Dean Kolstad	Kalamazoo Wings (IHL)
Peter Lappin	Kalamazoo Wings (IHL)
Pat MacLeod	Kalamazoo Wings (IHL)
Mike McHugh	Kalamazoo Wings (IHL)
Jarmo Myllys	Kalamazoo Wings (IHL)
J.F. Quentin	Kalamazoo Wings (IHL)
Scott Cashman	Boston University (Hockey East)
Murray Garbutt	Spokane Chiefs (WHL)
Rob Gaudreau	Providence College (Hockey East)
Arturs Irbe	Dinamo Riga (Soviet Championship)
Shaun Kane	Providence College (Hockey East)
Larry Olimb	University of Minnesota (WCHA)
Tom Pederson	University of Minnesota (WCHA)
Bryan Schoen	University of Denver (WCHA)
John Weisbrod	Harvard University (ECAC)
Doug Zmolek	University of Minnesota (WCHA)

The rules of the expansion draft were such that the North Stars and Sharks would pick 10 players each, a total of 20, one from each of the other clubs. The Sharks would pick first and would pick a goalie. The North Stars would then either pick a goalie or a defenceman. If they picked a goalie the following selection by the Sharks would be a defenceman, and they would alternate until a total of six defencemen were chosen. If the North Stars elected to pick a defenceman with their first pick then they would continue alternating until a total of seven defencemen were chosen. The final 12 picks would be reserved for forwards.

Each of the 20 other clubs would lose only one player; once they had lost a player the North Stars and Sharks were not able to pick another from that team. The other 20 clubs were allowed to protect 16 skaters and a pair of goaltenders. All first- and second-year pros were exempt from selection and did not have to be protected. They were also forced to expose at least one goaltender with at least 60 minutes of NHL experience, one defenceman with at least 40 games played in the NHL in the 1990-91 season or 70 games over the course of the '89-'90 and '90-'91 seasons combined, and one forward with at least 40 NHL games in 1990-91 or 70 games over the preceding two seasons. As a result of these rules that forced teams to expose players with a bare minimum amount of NHL experience a few players were pressed into action, e.g. Damian Rhodes of the Toronto Maple Leafs. At the time the only other goalies the Leafs had with NHL experience were Peter Ing and Jeff Reese, so Rhodes saw action in a single game (a 3-1 win over the Red Wings) so that the Maple Leafs could leave him exposed in the expansion draft. Rhodes wouldn't play in the NHL again until the '93-'94 season.

Rather than give the Sharks and North Stars the other clubs' protected lists, as was customary in the expansion drafts of the '70s, they were instead presented with a list of players available for selection. This list also included players who were on the teams' (restricted) free agent lists. The North Stars and Sharks were permitted to claim only one "free agent" player in the course of the draft.

Boston Bruins	Buffalo Sabres	Calgary Flames	Chicago Blackhawks	Detroit Red Wings
Andy Brickley	Brian Curran	Rich Chernomaz	Bruce Cassidy	John Chabot
John Carter	Dale DeGray	Kerry Clark	Martin Desjardins	Alain Chevrier
Lou Crawford	François Guay	Paul Fenton	Paul Gillis	Bengt-Åke Gustafsson#
Peter Douris	Jeff Hamilton#	Steve Guenette	Michel Goulet	Marc Habscheid
Norm Foster	Steve Ludzik	Kevan Guy	Jim Johannson	Glen Hanlon
Nevin Markwart	Mikko Makela	Tim Hunter	Rick Lanz	Randy Hansch
John Mokosak	Don McSween	Rick Lessard	Greg Millen	Brad Marsh
Allen Pedersen	Gates Orlando#	Brian MacLellan	Bob McGill	Chris MacRae
Michael Thelven	Greg Paslawski	Scott McCrady	Brian Noonan	Dean Morton
Jim Wiemer	Dirk Rueter#	Sergei Pryakhin	Darren Pang
	Steve Smith	Richard Zemlak	Jim Playfair
	Hannu Virta#		Warren Rychel
	Steve Weeks		Mike Stapleton
	Jay Wells		Dan Vincelette
			Bill Watson#
			Sean Williams
Edmonton Oilers	Hartford Whalers	Los Angeles Kings	Montreal Canadiens	New Jersey Devils
Mario Barbe	Mikael Andersson	Scott Bjugstad	Frederic Chabot	Craig Billington
Dan Currie	Dave Babych	Mal Davis#	J. J. Daigneault	Doug Brown
John English	Marc Bergevin	Mario Gosselin	Donald Dufresne	Pat Conacher
Greg Hawgood	Brian Chapman	Bob Halkidis	Brent Gilchrist	Jamie Huscroft
Charlie Huddy	Daryl Reaugh	Rick Hayward	Sylvain Lefebvre	Marc Laniel
Tomas Jonsson	John Stevens	Tom Laidlaw	Jayson More	Jeff Madill
Fabian Joseph#	Emanuel Viveiros	John Miner#	Mats Naslund#	David Marcinyshyn
Marc Laforge	Terry Yake	Petr Prajsler	Jim Nesich	Rollie Melanson
Mark Lamb		Ilkka Sinisalo	Ryan Walter	Kent Nilsson#
John Leblanc#		Jim Thomson	Dan Woodley	Lee Norwood
Tommy Lehman		John Tonelli		Janne Ojanen
Ken Linseman		Tim Watters		Walt Poddubny
Norm Maciver				Jeff Sharples
Max Middendorf				Claude Vilgrain
Selmar Odelein#
Pokey Reddick
Reijo Ruotsalainen#
Shaun Van Allen
Mike Ware
New York Islanders	New York Rangers	Philadelphia Flyers	Pittsburgh Penguins	Quebec Nordiques
Bill Berg	Paul Broten	Don Biggs#	Jock Callander	Mario Brunetta#
Brad Dalgarno	Bob Froese	Mike Bullard#	Jay Caulfield	Gerald Bzdel
Rob Dimaio	Lee Giffin#	Rod Dallman	Jeff Daniels	Mario Doyon
Jeff Finley	Stephane Guerard	Brian Dobbin	Gilbert Delorme	Scott Gordon
Rick Green	Mark Hardy	David Fenyves	Gord Dineen	Alan Haworth#
Paul Gagne#	Jody Hull	Mark Freer	Randy Gilhen	Miloslav Horava
Jeff Hackett	Kelly Kisio	Mark Howe	Randy Hillier	Jeff Jackson
Brad Lauer	Mark Laforest	Willie Huber#	Jiri Hrdina	Guy Lafleur
Derek Laxdal	Guy Larose	Chris Jensen	Kim Issel	Brent Severyn
George Maneluk	Joe Paterson	Tim Kerr	Mark Kachowski	Trevor Stienberg
Hubie McDonough	Lindy Ruff	Dale Kushner	Peter Lee#
Chris Pryor	Sam St-Laurent	Normand Lacombe	Dave Michayluk
Mick Vukota		Pete Peeters	Glenn Mulvenna
		Shaun Sabol	Barry Pederson
		Glen Seabrooke	Bruce Racine
			Bryan Trottier
			Wendell Young
St. Louis Blues	Toronto Maple Leafs	Vancouver Canucks	Washington Capitals	Winnipeg Jets
David Bruce	Normand Aubin#	Peter Bakovic	Robin Bawa#	Randy Carlyle
Yves Heroux	Aaron Broten	Brian Blad	Tim Bergland	Tom Draper
Dominic Lavoie	Lucien DeBlois	Jack Capuano	Craig Duncanson	Dallas Eakins
Darrell May	Jerry Dupont#	Craig Coxe	Chris Felix	Bryan Erickson
Alain Raymond	Mike Foligno	Ian Kidd	Mark Ferner	Todd Flichel
Harold Snepsts	Todd Hawkins	Bob Mason	Brent Hughes	Bob Joyce
Tom Tilley	Kent Hulst	Andrew McBain	John Kordic	Mark Kumpel
Steve Tuttle	Greg Johnston	Robert Nordmark	Mike Liut	Tyler Larter
Alain Vigneault#	Kevin Maguire	Risto Siltanen#	Rob Murray	Moe Mantha
Ron Wilson	Mike Millar	Stan Smyl	Mike Richard#	Chris Norton
	Rob Ramage	Carl Valimont	Steve Seftel	Roger Ohman#
	Dave Reid		Neil Sheehy	Kent Paynter
	Damian Rhodes		Dave Tippett	Rudy Poeschek
	Mike Stevens		Alfie Turcotte	Scott Schneider
	Gilles Thibaudeau		Simon Wheeldon	Phil Sykes
				Jim Vesey

Note:
# denotes free agent


The draft proceeded as follows:

Ovr.	Player	From	By
1	Jeff Hackett	New York Islanders	San Jose Sharks
2	Rob Ramage	Toronto Maple Leafs	Minnesota North Stars
3	Jayson More	Montreal Canadiens	San Jose Sharks
4	Dave Babych	Toronto Maple Leafs	Minnesota North Stars
5	Rick Lessard	Calgary Flames	San Jose Sharks
6	Allen Pedersen	Boston Bruins	Minnesota North Stars
7	Bob McGill	Chicago Blackhawks	San Jose Sharks
8	Charlie Huddy	Edmonton Oilers	Minnesota North Stars
9	Tim Kerr	Philadelphia Flyers	San Jose Sharks
10	Kelly Kisio	New York Rangers	Minnesota North Stars
11	Jeff Madill	New Jersey Devils	San Jose Sharks
12	Randy Gilhen	Pittsburgh Penguins	Minnesota North Stars
13	David Bruce	St. Louis Blues	San Jose Sharks
14	Rob Murray	Washington Capitals	Minnesota North Stars
15	Greg Paslawski	Buffalo Sabres	San Jose Sharks
16	Tyler Larter	Winnipeg Jets	Minnesota North Stars
17	Bengt-Åke Gustafsson	Detroit Red Wings	San Jose Sharks
18	Jim Thomson	Los Angeles Kings	Minnesota North Stars
19	Craig Coxe	Vancouver Canucks	San Jose Sharks
20	Guy Lafleur	Quebec Nordiques	Minnesota North Stars

As you can see the North Stars elected to take a defenceman with their first pick, second overall, choosing Maple Leafs' captain Rob Ramage. Ramage, 32, was among five veteran players over the age of 30 selected by the North Stars. The others were: Dave Babych (30), Charlie Huddy (31; he turned 32 three days after the draft), Kelly Kisio (31) and Guy Lafleur (39). It was clear that the Sharks were trying to build a younger team. By contrast they chose only two players older than 30, Tim Kerr (31) and Bengt Gustafsson (33), and the average age of the Sharks' selections was 26.7 years (compared to the North Stars' 28.8).

The youngest players chosen were Jayson More and Jeff Hackett, both 22 years old at the time (although Hackett's birthday is June 1, so he turned 23 only a couple days after the draft).

Conversely the North Stars picked 39-year-old Guy Lafleur with the final pick of the draft. Why would the North Stars waste a pick on a player who had already made his intentions to retire at the end of the 1990-91 season clear? As Bobby Clarke put it, "there was no one left". He didn't want to pick Lafleur at all.

Lafleur was chosen as a last resort due to a quirky culmination of the draft rules. Because each of the other 20 teams could only lose one player and all the other teams except the Nordiques had lost a player the 20th and final pick had to be a player from the Nordiques. The 9th through 20th picks had to be forwards, so the 20th pick had to be a Nordiques forward. Clarke wasn't interested in any of the Nordiques forwards and didn't want to pick up an unnecessary contract so he wanted to make a throwaway pick on a player he wouldn't have to pay. He wanted to take Alan Haworth.

Haworth hadn't played for the Nordiques in a couple years and was plying his trade in Switzerland instead. He was considered a 'defected' player and a restricted free agent and the Nordiques continued to hold his NHL rights. But, as I said before, there was a rule that only one player off the free agent list could be chosen in the draft, and with the 17th overall pick the Sharks chose Bengt Gustafsson. Gustafsson left the Capitals after the 1988-89 season and was playing in Sweden. Like Haworth he was a 'defected' player and a restricted free agent; the Red Wings acquired his rights in the 1990 Waiver Draft.

Clarke tried to claim Haworth but the selection was refused, and he was told he had to make another. Reluctantly he chose Le démon blond instead. Lafleur hadn't yet filed his voluntary retirement papers with the NHL offices so he was still eligible for selection. Clarke reportedly apologized over the conference call to Nordiques general manager Pierre Pagé (who coincidentally had been the North Stars' head coach prior to the deal to sell the team to Baldwin and Belzberg).

To allow Lafleur to retire in a more dignified manner, as a Quebec Nordique as he intended rather than as a North Star by circumstance, Clarke and Pagé made a deal the very next day (May 31): Lafleur was traded by the North Stars back to the Nordiques for Alan Haworth.

It's remarkable how quickly most of the players chosen in this draft were traded away, and how little use the draft was for either team in retrospect. Lafleur was one of several players who were traded away almost immediately. In fact immediately following the conclusion of the draft the Sharks announced their first ever trade: Tim Kerr, the first forward chosen, was traded to the Rangers for Brian Mullen and future considerations. Jack Ferreira candidly admitted that the deal was prearranged and the Sharks never had any intention of keeping Kerr (he would only play parts of the following two seasons before retiring).

On May 31, the same day they traded Lafleur back to the Nordiques, the North Stars traded Rob Murray to the Jets along with future considerations for the Jets' 7th round pick in the 1991 Entry Draft (Geoff Finch) and future considerations in return. Days later (June 3) they made their first trade with the Sharks, sending Kelly Kisio to San Jose in return for Shane Churla, one of their players taken in the player dispersal.

On June 22 the North Stars made two trades at the Entry Draft. In a three-way deal Dave Babych was traded to the Canucks, the North Stars received Craig Ludwig from the Islanders and the Islanders received Tom Kurvers from the Canucks. Randy Gilhen, Charlie Huddy and Jim Thomson were traded to the Kings along with the Rangers' 4th round pick (previously acquired) for Todd Elik. The Kings used the pick to select Alexei Zhitnik.


Less than a month after the expansion draft the North Stars had already traded seven of their ten selections away. The remaining three were gone within a year: Tyler Larter was traded to the Jets for Tony Joseph on October 15, 1991, Allen Pedersen was traded to the Whalers for a 6th round pick in the 1993 Entry Draft (Rick Mrozik) on June 15, 1992 and Rob Ramage was lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 1992 Expansion Draft on June 18.

The Sharks didn't fare much better as far as their selections went. Neither the aforementioned Gustafsson nor former New Jersey Devil Jeff Madill ever played in the NHL again. Greg Paslawski was traded to the Nordiques on May 31, 1991 (the day after the expansion draft, remember) for Tony Hrkac. Craig Coxe played two games for the Sharks in 1991-92 and never played another game in the NHL afterward. Bob McGill played 62 games for the Sharks in their inaugural season and was traded to the Red Wings with the Canucks' 8th round pick in the 1992 Entry Draft (C.J. Denomme) for Johan Garpenlov on trade deadline day, March 10, 1992. Rick Lessard played eight games for the Sharks, and was traded to the Canucks for Robin Bawa on December 15, 1992.

Jeff Hackett was traded to the Blackhawks on July 13, 1993 for a third round pick in the 1994 Entry Draft (Alexei Yegorov) and future considerations. In two seasons with the Sharks he played in 78 games, had a miserable 13-57-2 record, with a 4.51 GAA and .875 save percentage. As bad as his stats were they weren't bad compared to his teammates. Jarmo Myllys played in 27 games in the Sharks' first season, had a 3-18-1 record, 5.02 GAA and .867 save percentage, while Brian Hayward played in 25 games, had the same 3-18-1 record as Myllys, a 5.39 GAA and .849 save percentage. Arturs Irbe had a 9-32-3 record in 49 games over the two seasons, a 4.19 GAA and .882 save percentage (and a shutout). Wade Flaherty saw limited action over the first two seasons: four games played, all of them losses, a 4.54 GAA and .892 save percentage.


After the Sharks' first two seasons the only players chosen in the expansion draft left were David Bruce and Jayson More. Bruce played in 79 games over the Sharks' first three seasons, scoring 24 goals and 19 assists (22 goals in the inaugural season, second most on the team behind Pat Falloon's 25). After the 1993-94 season he spent the rest of his career playing for the IHL's Kansas City Blades, the Sharks' top farm team.

Jayson More was the last of the players taken in the draft to stay with the team that chose him. He played for the Sharks for their first five seasons, 287 games in all. He was traded to the Rangers with Brian Swanson and a conditional draft pick for Marty McSorley on August 20, 1996.

In retrospect the North Stars apparently had nothing to fear from the player dispersal to the Sharks. Their roster and prospect pool weren't decimated as Norm Green, Bobby Clarke and reporters thought they might be. The most notable player taken from the North Stars was goalie Arturs Irbe, who had a long career in the NHL and led the Sharks to their first playoff victories in 1994 and 1995, but Irbe might never have played for the North Stars anyway. One can only wonder what could have happened if the terms of the deal with the Gunds weren't renegotiated. The North Stars weren't any worse than they were before, but they weren't any better. They finished the 1991-92 regular season with two more points than they had had in 1990-91. They made the playoffs once again but didn't go on another Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Sharks were pitiful on the ice, finishing their first season with a meagre 17-58-5 record and their second with an even more pitiful 11-71-2, one of the NHL's all-time greatest marks of regular season futility. Despite the lack of on-ice success the Gunds couldn't have been happier with the team's off-ice fortunes. Sharks merchandise was the most popular in the league and the Sharks were one of the top pro sports brands in North America at the time.

Financially speaking the North Stars carried on under Norm Green as they had under Gordon and George Gund. Attendance improved to over 13,000 per game but that was still one of the lowest figures in the league. On March 10, 1993 Green announced that the North Stars were moving to Dallas, effective the end of the 1992-93 season. The NHL wouldn't return to the Twin Cities and the state of Minnesota until 2000 when the expansion Minnesota Wild began play.

KHL - Results - Sunday, September 04, 2016

Metallurg Magnitogorsk v Amur 4-1
Metallurg snapped a four-game losing streak as it eased to a comfortable home win over Amur thanks to two goals from Alexander Semin. The defending champion was looking for a happy return to home ice after losses on the road and found struggling Amur the ideal guest. Semin opened the scoring in the 16th minute and got his second of the night in the 36th, making the score 3-1 and stifling any thoughts of a fightback from the visitor. In between Vladislav Kaletnik made it 2-0 early in the second before Teemu Ramstedt pulled one back in the 28th minute. Denis Kazionov completed the scoring, getting his first for Magnitka in the third period. Sergei Mozyakin, still one goal short of the All-time Russian goal-scoring record, had an assist on Semin’s first of the night but could not find his 428th career goal in the top division of Russian hockey.
Vityaz v Metallurg Nk 2-1
Vityaz edged a 2-1 verdict over Metallurg Novokuznetsk in the battle of the outsiders. The home team took a 2-0 lead in the first period thanks to goals from Vyacheslav Solodukhin and Mario Kempe. Metallurg got one back in the second through Alexander Komaristy but it wasn’t enough to stave off a fifth successive defeat.

Dynamo v Avangard 2-3 SO
Avangard ended Dynamo’s unbeaten start to the season, snapping the Blue-and-Whites’ five-game winnings streak with a shoot-out triumph in Moscow. Ilya Zubov got the decider, converting the 12th attempt in the shoot-out to give the visitor a 3-2 verdict. Zubov had missed the first penalty shot of the night, seeing Alexander Yeryomenko save that one, but recovered his nerve to win the game after Dominkik Furch denied Juuso Hietenan. That result leaves Dynamo and Avangard tied on 15 points, a mark shared by CSKA after its win over Lada today. Earlier Avangard took a first-period lead through Denis Parshin in the 13th minute, but Dynamo hit back with two goals in the middle session. Power play strikes from Alexei Tereshchenko and Heitanen gave the home team the edge ahead of the third period. But Avangard wasn’t done: Alexander Perezhogin tied it up, assisted by former Dynamo man Maxim Pestushko, to take us into overtime.
SKA v Neftekhimik 5-1
Vadim Shipachyov underlined his star credentials in SKA’s stellar roster with a game-winning performance to see off Neftekhimik. Shipachyov started with a well-worked assist on Nikita Gusev’s opener. Collecting Gusev’s pass in the right-hand circle, he bided his time and – once the defense had been lured toward him – picked out a perfectly weighted return pass for the unmarked Gusev to score from a tight angle. Former Lokomotiv pair Sergei Plotnikov and Yegor Yakovlev combined for SKA’s second, with the latter scoring. Then Shipachyov got a goal of his own, putting a one-timer on the top shelf after Maxim Chudinov’s pass from the goal-line. The third period saw the teams trade goals. Sergei Shirokov made it 4-1 on the power play before Bogdan Yakimov got a consolation marker for Neftekhimik. Pavel Datsyuk had the final word, scoring on the rebound to wrap up a convincing win.
Slovan v Spartak 1-2
Improving Spartak made it three wins on the spin with a 2-1 success at Slovan. The Slovaks had not previously lost at home this season but Milos Riha was undone by one of his former clubs. All the scoring came in the second period with Ryan Stoa putting Spartak ahead only for Jonathan Cheechoo to tie it up on the power play. Viktor Bobrov grabbed the winner on 39:28.
Torpedo v HC Sochi 3-1
Torpedo had too much for HC Sochi, winning 3-1 on home ice. Maxim Osipov and Andre Petersson traded goals either side of the first intermission, but Alexander Frolov and Evgeny Mozer made the difference for Torpedo as the game went on.
CSKA v Lada 6-1

Lada’s bright start seems to be stalling, while CSKA is on the march. A 5-1 win in Moscow made it five out of five for the Army Men, while Lada’s three game winning streak is emphatically ended by two heavy defeats in a row. This game was effectively decided in just 13 minutes as CSKA raced into a 3-0 lead. Semyon Koshelev made the perfect start to his season, scoring in the fifth minute of his first appearance. Then Denis Denisov and Kirill Petrov extended the lead as the home side dominated the first period. Things slowed a little in the middle stanza. Nikita Pivtsakin made it 4-0 – Koshelev’s impressive debut continuing with an assist – before Nikita Filatov scored against one of his former clubs to get Lada on the scoreboard. The final session brought two more landmark goals as Greg Scott and Jonas Enlund both scored their first since joining CSKA in the summer.

KHL - Results - Saturday, September 03, 2016

Ugra v Traktor 2-1 SO
It took penalty shots to separate Ugra and Traktor, with the host eventually claiming the win after a 1-1 tie in regulation. Much of the action came early: Ugra's Yakov Seleznyov was ejected for a high hit after just 45 seconds. Then the teams traded their goals as early as the eighth minute with Alexander Chernikov putting Traktor up only for Andrei Ankudinov to tie it up almost immediately. Subsequently goalies Alexander Sharychenkov and Vasily Demchenko were on top until the shoot-out, where Pavel Varfolomeyev continued his bright start to the season by poaching the winning goal.
Severstal v Ak Bars 2-3 OT
Ak Bars needed the extras to claim victory over Severstal after a Pavel Chernov power play goal tied the game in Cherepovets at 2-2 in the 58th minute. That was enough to give the host one point, but could not stave off defeat - Vladimir Tkachyov grabbed the game winner 45 seconds into overtime, converting a penalty shot after he was fouled by Denis Ezhov. Earlier Igor Skorokhodov gave Severstal a first-period lead, but Ak Bars got ahead through Alexander Svitov in the 23rd minute and Mikhail Sidorov in the 47th.

KHL - Results - Friday, September 02, 2016

Avtomobilist v Salavat Yulaev 4-3 SO
Salavat Yulaev’s inconsistent start continued – and head coach Igor Zakharkin is demanding more disciplined play from his team. Speaking after the game, Zakharkin lamented a combination of poor finishing and unnecessary fouls that cost Salavat the win in the Urals. The visitor was up against it from the start, giving up a power play goal to Alexander Torchenyuk in the second minute. Mikhail Vorobyov tied it up but Artyom Gareyev gave the host a lead to take into the intermission. Teemu Hartikainen leveled the scores early in the second but Torchenyuk put Avto in front for a third time. But after Igor Grigorenko brought his team level for a third time, Zakharkin was frustrated by a series of penalties in the final stanza that squashed Salavat’s momentum at crucial moments.

It all led to a shoot-out where Tommi Kivisto gave Avtomobilist the win after Hartikainen and Linus Omark failed for the visitor.Vityaz v Avangard 2-3
Valery Belov’s first home game back behind the bench at Vityaz ended in a narrow defeat to Avangard. The high-flying visitor made a bright start and opened up a 2-0 lead on goals from Alexander Perezhogin and Anton Burdasov. Alexei Kopeikin got one back thanks to a goaltending error that saw Dominik Furch replace Oleg Shilin for the third period. The final session was scoreless until late on. Ilya Mikheyev made it 3-1 in the 58^th minute; Maxim Afinogenov got one back in the last minute but Vityaz could not force overtime.
Dynamo v Sibir 4-1
Dynamo continued its winning start to the season with a comfortable success at home to Sibir. The Blue-and-Whites are off to a flyer with five wins from five and just one point dropped in the shoot-out win at Admiral to start the campaign. That confidence was apparent in a first period that effectively settled the outcome of this game as Dynamo raced into a 3-0 lead. Summer signing Artyom Podshendyalov opened the scoring with a power play goal in the sixth minute before Alexander Rybakov – another recent recruit – made it 2-0. Ansel Galimov struck in the 19^th minute to leave Sibir reeling. The visitor improved in the second stanza, pulling a goal back through Konstantin Okulov, but a second power play goal of the night saw Alexei Tsvetkov maintain Dynamo’s comfortable lead.

Lokomotiv v Metallurg Nk 1-0
A solitary goal was enough to give Lokomotiv victory over a Metallurg Novokuznetsk team that has now gone 123 minutes without finding the net. Yegor Averin struck in the first period to give Loko its fourth win in five games this season. Goalshy Metallurg managed just 11 shots on Alexei Murygin’s net as it slumped to a fourth successive defeat.
SKA v Lada 5-1
SKA delivered an emphatic victory to snap Lada’s three-game winning streak – and prove that Oleg Znarok’s team is not solely dependent on Datsyuk and Kovalchuk. The star duo did not contribute a single point in SKA’s convincing home win, with Alexander Barabanov leading the scoring with two goals – both assisted by Nikolai Prokhorkin and Sergei Shirokov – while Evgeny Dadonov had 1+2 on the night. Anton Belov opened the scoring in the seventh minute before Barabanov opened his account. But in-form Lada got one back on the power play thanks to Alexei Volgin to keep the game in the balance at the end of the first period. After that, though, it was plain sailing for SKA. Dadonov extended the lead in a middle stanza that should have seen more home goals to reward a spell of almost total domination. The rewards eventually came in the third when markers from Nikita Gusev and Barabanov took the game well beyond the Motormen.
Medvescak v Spartak 0-1
Spartak goalie Markus Svensson recorded his first KHL shut-out in some style, making 32 saves to silence the Dom Sportova in Zagreb and help his team to a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Medvescak. The host had looked impressive in the early stages of the season but is now on a two-game losing streak after Lukas Radil got the only marker in the 50^th minute.

KHL - Results - Thursday, September 01, 2016

Amur v Kunlun 1-2
A last-minute goal from Tuukka Mantyla earned Kunlun Red Star victory in its first ever KHL game. The Finn struck moments after Kristian Kuusela looked to have salvaged a tie for the host, making it 2-1 on 59:04 with a powerful shot from the blue line that ripped through a crowd of players in front of home goalie Juha Metsola to win the game. The Beijing-based team took its bow in the big time on the banks of the Amur, the river the marks the border between Russia and China. The trip to Amur Khabarovsk is one of the shortest of the season for the Chinese representatives – but it was still a hefty 1,760km for Kunlun to travel to the Platinum Arena. A capacity 7,000 crowd, many of them back for the second time in 24 hours after seeing Amur claim its first win of the season against Admiral yesterday, saw a nervous start from both teams. But on 14 minutes, Kunlun’s second power play led to a moment of history. Sean Collins, a Canadian forward once on the books of the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Washington Capitals, got his team’s first ever goal when he forced home Tomas Marcinko’s pass to the slot. Home goalie Juha Metsola protested that Collins had encroached onto the paint, but the video official awarded the goal. Prior to Red Star’s formation there was much debate about how many Chinese-qualified players would actually step on to the ice in a multinational roster that also includes players from Russia, Canada, Finland, Sweden and Slovakia. In the end, four locals – defenseman Zach Yuen and forwards Tiangxiang Xia, Guanhua Wang and Rudi Ying made Vladimir Yurzinov’s line-up for the first game although they were used sparingly once the action got underway. Chances were hard to come by at both ends, although Amur thought it had equalized in the 52nd minute when Vitaly Atyushov launched a solo rush. The puck somehow squeezed into the net as Atyushov, defenseman Tobias Viklund and goalie Andrei Makarov got all tangled up – but the target was off its moorings and the goal was disallowed. The host did tie it up on 58 minutes, pulling the goalie on the power play to create a 6-on-4 situation. Kuusela took advantage of the extra space, finding an unguarded area at the edge of the left-hand circle and firing home his second goal in two days of Teemu Ramstedt’s pass. But parity was short-lived as Mantyla scored the winner just 64 seconds later. Kunlun makes its home debut in Beijing on September 5 against another Far East rival, Admiral Vladivostok.
Ugra v Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2-1
Two goals from young Ugra forward Pavel Varfolomeyev led his team to victory over the defending champion – leaving Sergei Mozyakin still waiting to reach Boris Mikhailov’s All-time scoring record of 428 goals. More worryingly for Magnitka, though, this was the team’s fourth successive defeat since lifting the Opening Cup with a victory over CSKA on August 22. It started off well enough for the visitor with Sergei Tereshchenko giving Metallurg a sixth-minute lead, but Varfolomeyev, 21, tied the game early in the second. Magnitka continued to pepper Alexander Sharychenkov’s net with shots – the final count was 41-17 in the visitor’s favor – but Mozyakin was unable to find the target with any of his four attempts. And midway through the final session Varfolomeyev got the winning goal, although he was aided by an uncharacteristic blunder from goalie Vasily Koshechkin. The forward looped in a hopeful shot from the blue line and could hardly believe his good fortune as it bounced off Koshechkin’s shoulder and spun lazily into the net. That was Varfolomeyev’s fourth goal of the season: two against Magnitka and two against the other Metallurg, from Novokuznetsk.
Magnitka strove for an equalizer but might have ended up losing 3-1: Ugra scored into the empty net but the goal was ruled out because it came after the final hooter. Mozyakin’s next chance to reach Mikhailov’s tally comes on Sunday with a home game against Amur Khabarovsk.


Severstal v Neftekhimik 0-2
Severstal slumped to a fourth loss in five games after going down 2-0 at home to Neftekhimik. Richard Gynge broke the deadlock in the 48^th minute with a goal on the counter attack before Dan Sexton wrapped it up with an empty-netter. Ivan Lisutin made 32 saves for his shut-out.
CSKA v Ak Bars 4-2
CSKA made it three wins in a row after a fightback in the final stanza saw off Ak Bars. Trailing 2-1 after 40 minutes, the Army Men turned it around thanks to an equalizing goal from Kirill Petrov followed soon after by Denis Denisov’s game winner. The defenseman, who had already contributed an assist on Petrov’s goal, scored on the power play in the 48^th minute. He met Igor Ozhiganov’s pass with a powerful one-timer that left goalie Emil Garipov clutching at thin air as Jonas Enlund provided the screen. An empty-net goal from Ivan Telegin wrapped up the game for CSKA while Ak Bars continued its frustrating start to the season. That put smiles back on home faces, but earlier the CSKA fans had to endure some anxious moments. Last time out, Ak Bars set a KHL record by scoring four times off a single power play after giving up an early goal in St. Petersburg. So when Bogdan Kiselevich took a 5+20 penalty for slashing at Anton Glinkin with his team in front on Alexander Popov’s goal, the omens were not great for the host. And Ak Bars delivered once again – albeit not as emphatically as against SKA – as Justin Azevedo tied the game with a one-timer from the face-off spot off Vladimir Tkachyov’s pass. But a penalty on Azevedo soon after removed the bite from Ak Bars’ offense and there was no opportunity to repeat Tuesday’s heavy scoring. But the visitor’s PP did fire again in the second period when Mikhail Zhukov made it 2-1 – a lead that was wiped out by the Army Men in that third period.