Dominik Hašek
Dominik Hašek is a Czech former ice hockey goaltender. In his 16-season National Hockey League career, he played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings and the Ottawa Senators. During his years in Buffalo, he became one of the league's finest goaltenders, earning him the nickname "The Dominator", his strong play has been credited with establishing European goaltenders in a league dominated by North Americans. He is a two-time Stanley Cup champion, both with the Red Wings. Hašek was one of the league's most successful goaltenders of early 2000s. From 1993 to 2001, he won six Vezina Trophies, the most under the award's current system of voting for the best individual goalie. In 1998 he won his second consecutive Hart Memorial Trophy, becoming the first goaltender to win the award multiple times. During the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, he led the Czech national ice hockey team to its first and only Olympic gold medal; the feat made him a popular figure in his home country and prompted hockey legend Wayne Gretzky to call him "the best player in the game".
While with the Red Wings in 2002, Hašek became the first European-trained starting goaltender to win the Stanley Cup. In the process, he set a record for shutouts in a postseason year. Hašek was considered an unorthodox goaltender, with a distinct style that labeled him a "flopper", he was best known for his concentration, foot speed and unconventional saves, such as covering the puck with his blocker rather than his trapper. Hašek holds the highest career save percentage of all time and is seventh in goals against average, the third-highest single-season save percentage; the record was broken by Tim Thomas in the 2010–11 season and again in the 2011–12 season by Brian Elliott, who now holds the record at.940. Hašek is the only goalie to face the most shots per 60 minutes and have the highest save percentage in one season, he did it twice while with the Sabres. At the time of his retirement, he was the oldest active goalie in the NHL at 43, the second-oldest active player in the league after Red Wings teammate Chris Chelios, 46.
Hašek announced his retirement on June 9, 2008, but on April 21, 2009, he announced a comeback to professional hockey and signed a contract with HC Pardubice of the Czech Extraliga. On June 7, 2010, he signed with Spartak Moscow of the KHL and played the last season of his career with this team. Hašek announced his retirement on October 9, 2012. Hašek was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 17, 2014, he is a member of the Czech Ice Hockey Hall of Fame and the IIHF Hall of Fame. His number was retired by the HC Pardubice. Hašek started playing hockey at the age of six in his native Czechoslovakia; as he explains: They held a tryout for 5-year-old boys and my father took me there. I didn't have real skates. I had those blades that you screwed onto the soles of your shoes, but I was tall, the 9-year-olds didn't have a goalie, so they put me in with them and thats where I fell in love with the game of hockey. In 1980, Hašek joined the top hockey league in the country, the Czechoslovak Extraliga, with his hometown team, HC Pardubice.
He became the youngest hockey player in history to play at the professional level at age 16. He helped to win two league titles in 1987 and 1989; the next year, he was drafted by the Czech army to play for Dukla Jihlava. After making his mark and playing for the Czechoslovakian National team, Hašek entered the NHL draft and was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in 1983. At the time, NHL teams were wary of drafting players from behind the Iron Curtain who were unwilling to play in the NHL or barred from doing so by their countries. Hašek was picked in the 10th round and was the seventeenth goalie selected. Hašek did not know he had been drafted until several months later; until 1990, Hašek played in his native Czechoslovakia for HC Jihlava. He won the Golden Hockey Stick, given to the most valuable player in the Extraliga, in 1987, 1989 and 1990, he was named the Extraliga's Goaltender of the Year for four consecutive years from 1986 through 1990. His American career began with the Indianapolis Ice of the International Hockey League, where he played parts of two seasons.
His NHL debut with the Blackhawks came in the 1990–91 season, seven years after the 1983 NHL Entry Draft. In Chicago, Hašek spent time as the backup to Ed Belfour, played only 25 games over two seasons with the Blackhawks, splitting time between the Blackhawks and the Indianapolis Ice of the IHL. On November 6, 1990, wearing the number 34, Hašek made his first NHL start in a 1–1 tie against the Hartford Whalers, his first victory came on March 8, 1991, by a score of 5–3 over the Buffalo Sabres, on January 9, 1992, he recorded his first shutout in a 2–0 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs. During this time with the Blackhawks, his goaltending coach was Vladislav Tretiak, selected in the 1983 draft but was barred from playing in the NHL by the Soviet government. Hašek appeared in game 4 of the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins, after Belfour allowed two goals on four shots in the opening 6:33, had 21 saves. Although the Penguins won to clinch the Stanley Cup, Hašek's performance attracted the attention of the Sabres, who had considered trading for him earlier that season.
After the Stanley Cup finals appearance, Chicago decided to stay with Jimmy Waite. Hašek was traded to the Buffalo Sabres for goalie Stephane Beauregard and future considerations, which
Minnesota Wild
The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League; the Wild are the only Minneapolis–Saint Paul area major professional sports league franchise to play in Saint Paul until Minnesota United FC move to their new home, Allianz Field, in 2019. The other three teams play in Minneapolis; the Wild did not start play until the 2000 -- 01 season. The Wild were the first NHL franchise in Minnesota since the Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas in 1993, they lost their first game, 3–1, to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and recorded their first win against the Tampa Bay Lightning five games later. The Wild play at the Xcel Energy Center. In the 2002–03 season, the team made its first Stanley Cup playoffs appearance, making a surprising run to the Western Conference Finals. Following the departure of the Minnesota North Stars after the 1993 season, the state of Minnesota was without an NHL team for seven seasons.
Saint Paul mayor Norm Coleman began a campaign to either recruit the relocation of an existing franchise to the city or the award of an expansion franchise to a Minnesota-based ownership group. These efforts came close to success in the mid-1990s when Minnesota interests purchased the original Winnipeg Jets with the intention of relocating the franchise to Minnesota. Shortly after the failed attempt to relocate the Jets, the NHL announced its intention to expand from 26 to 30 teams. Businessman and Minnetonka native Bob Naegele, Jr. became the lead investor for an application to the NHL for an expansion franchise and the first majority owner. On June 25, 1997, the National Hockey League announced that Minnesota had been awarded an expansion franchise, to begin play in the 2000–01 season; the six finalist team names for the new NHL franchise, were announced on November 20, 1997. Jac Sperling was named chief executive officer of the Minnesota team, Doug Risebrough was named general manager, Tod Leiweke was named President, Martha Fuller was named chief financial officer.
The team was named the Wild, with the unveiling occurring at Aldrich Arena in the suburb of Maplewood on January 22, 1998. The new name was introduced to everyone with the song "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf playing over the arena's speaker system; the Minnesota Wild announced its first major sponsorship agreement with MasterCard from First USA. It was the earliest that First USA had signed an agreement in advance of a team beginning play; the State of Minnesota adopted legislation in April, 1998 to loan $65 million to the City of Saint Paul to fund 50% of the estimated $130 million project costs for the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul. The legislation provided that only $48 million of the loan needed to be repaid if the team met the requirements to have an agreement in place during the term of the lease with the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission; the City of Saint Paul issued an additional $65 million in bonds, with 90% of the debt service on the bonds and the repayment of the state loan coming from scheduled rent and payment in lieu of taxes from the Minnesota Wild.
Deconstruction of the Saint Paul Civic Center began soon thereafter and the Xcel Energy Center design was announced. A groundbreaking ceremony for the Xcel Energy Center was hosted in Saint Paul; the Minnesota Wild announced a 26-year partnership agreement with the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission. The Minnesota Wild-MASC partnership is the first partnership of its kind between a private professional sports team and a public amateur sports organization. Doug Risebrough was named executive vice president/general manager of Minnesota Wild and the Xcel Energy Center was completed and ready for use; the Wild named Jacques Lemaire their first-ever head coach and the team picked Marian Gaborik third overall in the first round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. Gaborik would go on to score the first goal for the Wild in their franchise debut on October 6 at Anaheim; the Wild played their first home game on October 11 against the Philadelphia Flyers and skated to a 3–3 tie. Minnesota native Darby Hendrickson scored the first-ever home goal for the Wild.
The team was not successful on the ice, but showed promise for future seasons. However, the most notable game of the year was the first visit of the Dallas Stars, who had played in Minnesota as the Minnesota North Stars; the Wild rode an emotional sellout crowd of over 18,000 to a 6–0 shutout in Dallas' first regular season game in Minnesota since a neutral-site game in 1993. The season ended with Scott Pellerin as the leading scorer with 39 points while Wes Walz, Darby Hendrickson and Gaborik paced the team with 18 goals each; the Wild would get off to a strong start in the 2001–02 season by earning at least one point in their first seven games. However, the Wild would finish in last place again with a record of 26–35–12–6. En route, there were signs the Wild were improving, as second-year speedster Gaborik had a solid sophomore season with 30 goals, including an invite to the NHL YoungStars Game, Andrew Brunette led the team in scoring with 69 points. Gaborik spent much of the 2002–03 season vying for the league scoring crown before slumping in the second half, the Wild, in their first playoff appearance, made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals before being swept 4–0 by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
The Wild had beaten the favored and third-seeded Colorado Avalanche in the first round in seven games, coming back from a 3–1 series deficit and w
Mark Recchi
Mark Louis Recchi is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and a current assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League. Recchi played 22 years in the NHL, winning three Stanley Cups: in 1991 with the Pittsburgh Penguins, in 2006 with the Carolina Hurricanes and in 2011 with the Boston Bruins. In Game 2 of the 2011 Finals, at the age of 43, Recchi became the oldest player to score in a Stanley Cup Finals series. On June 26, 2017, in his fourth year of eligibility, Recchi was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Recchi played his junior hockey for the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League, his number 8 was retired by the team shortly after he left for the NHL. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins, first playing in the NHL in 1988, was a key player on their Stanley Cup-winning team in 1991; the following season, Recchi was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers as part of a deal that brought Rick Tocchet and Kjell Samuelsson to Pittsburgh. He played for Philadelphia from 1992 to 1995 as part of the "Crazy Eights" line with Eric Lindros and Brent Fedyk, including a 53-goal, 70-assist and 123-point season in 1992–93, still the Flyers' single-season point-scoring record.
In 1995, he was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in a deal for Éric Desjardins, Gilbert Dionne and John LeClair, but was reacquired by the Flyers for the 1998–99 season and was among their top scorers. During the 1999–2000 season, Recchi was a finalist for the Lester B. Pearson Award as the National Hockey League Players' Association MVP, he finished third in scoring, only five points behind winner Jaromír Jágr and runner-up Pavel Bure. Recchi finished third in voting for the NHL All-Star Team Right Wing position behind Jágr and Bure. In 2000 and 2004, the Flyers would make the Eastern Conference Finals, but they would bow out of each series in seven games. In 2000, Recchi was named "Kamloops Male Athlete of the 20th Century", had a street named "Mark Recchi Way" in his honour. In August 2004, Recchi rejoined the Pittsburgh Penguins as a free agent, signing a two-year contract with a two-way option for a third year; the first year was nullified by the NHL lock-out. Recchi won his second Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes that season re-signed with the Penguins during the summer of 2006 off-season.
On January 20, 2007, he scored his seventh career hat-trick, just under a week Recchi scored his 500th career goal on January 26, 2007, on the power play against the Dallas Stars. During the summer of 2007, Recchi re-signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins on a one-year, $2 million contract, but on December 4, he was placed on waivers and assigned to their American Hockey League affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, on December 6; the Penguins placed Recchi on re-entry waivers the next day, where Recchi was claimed by the Atlanta Thrashers. In his first game against his former team, he scored the game-winning goal in a shootout. On July 7, 2008, Recchi signed a one-year deal as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Lightning. After scoring 45 points in 62 games with the Lightning in the 2008–09 season, with the Lightning out of playoff contention, on March 4, 2009, Recchi was traded at the trade deadline to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Mārtiņš Karsums and Matt Lashoff. Recchi scored his first two goals for the Bruins three days on March 7, as the first and third Bruins goals in a 5–3 home ice defeat of the visiting Chicago Blackhawks.
On July 2, 2009, Recchi re-signed with the Bruins on a one-year contract. At the time, Recchi had stated. With the retirement of Joe Sakic in the summer of 2009, Recchi became the leader in points and assists among active players. Recchi would serve as an alternate captain during the season while Marc Savard was injured and out of the line-up, playing 81 of 82 games in the 2009–10 season. During the 2010 playoffs, Recchi became the third-oldest player to score a playoff goal, behind Chris Chelios and Gordie Howe, became the oldest player to have a multi-goal game in the playoffs when he scored two goals in a 5–4 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 4 of the second round. After suffering defeat in the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Flyers, instead of retiring, Recchi re-signed with the Bruins for a one more year. In the 2010–11 season on November 24, 2010, Recchi scored twice against the Florida Panthers to earn his 1,500th career point. In Game 2 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, Recchi became the oldest player to score a goal in a Stanley Cup Final, doing so at age 43.
In Game 3 of the Finals, he scored the final two goals of his career. On June 15, 2011, Recchi became a three-time winner of the Stanley Cup and joined Jack Marshall, Frank Foyston, Jack Walker, Mike Keane, Claude Lemieux, Hap Holmes, Al Arbour, Gord Pettinger, Larry Hillman and Joe Nieuwendyk in winning three or more Stanley Cups with three teams, as the Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Recchi led the team in scoring during the Finals series. Having announced he would "sail off into the sunset" if Boston were victorious in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, he announced his retirement in an interview with Ron MacLean of Hockey Night in Canada during the post-game Stanley Cup celebration. Recchi was the last player active in professional hockey who had played in the NH
Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League; the club is the third major-professional ice hockey team to represent the city of Calgary, following the Calgary Tigers and Calgary Cowboys. The Flames are one of two NHL franchises in Alberta; the cities' proximity has led to a rivalry known as the "Battle of Alberta". The team was founded in 1972 in Atlanta as the Atlanta Flames until relocating to Calgary in 1980; the Flames played their first three seasons in Calgary at the Stampede Corral before moving into their current home arena, the Scotiabank Saddledome, in 1983. In 1985–86, the Flames became the first Calgary team since the 1923–24 Tigers to compete for the Stanley Cup. In 1988 -- 89, the Flames won their only championship; the Flames' unexpected run to the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals gave rise to the Red Mile, in 2011 the team hosted and won the second Heritage Classic outdoor game.
The Flames have won two Presidents' Trophies as the NHL's top regular season team, have claimed seven division championships. Individually, Jarome Iginla is the franchise leader in games played and points and is a two-time winner of the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the NHL's leading goal scorer. Miikka Kiprusoff has the most wins by a goaltender in a Calgary Flames uniform. Nine people associated with the Flames have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Off the ice, Calgary Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Flames own a Western Hockey League franchise, a National Lacrosse League franchise and a Canadian Football League franchise. Through the Flames Foundation, the team has donated more than CA$32 million to charity throughout southern Alberta since the franchise arrived; the Flames were the result of the NHL's first pre-emptive strike against the upstart World Hockey Association. In December 1971, the NHL hastily granted a team to Long Island—the New York Islanders —to keep the WHA's New York Raiders out of the brand new Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Needing another team to balance the schedule, the NHL awarded a team to an Atlanta-based group that owned the National Basketball Association's Atlanta Hawks, headed by prominent local real estate developer Tom Cousins. Cousins named the team the "Flames" after the fire resulting from the March to the Sea in the American Civil War by General William Tecumseh Sherman, in which Atlanta was nearly destroyed, they played home games in the Omni Coliseum in downtown Atlanta. The Flames were successful early on. Under head coaches Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, Fred Creighton and Al MacNeil, the Flames made the playoffs in six of eight seasons in Atlanta. In marked contrast, their expansion cousins, the Islanders, won only 31 games during their first two years in the league combined. However, this relative success did not carry over to the playoffs, as the Flames won only two post-season games during their time in Atlanta. Despite the on-ice success, the Atlanta ownership was never on sound financial footing.
Longtime general manager Cliff Fletcher said years that Cousins' initial financial projections for an NHL team did not account for the WHA entering the picture. The Flames were a poor draw, never signed a major television contract. In 1980, Cousins was in considerable financial difficulty and was forced to sell the Flames to stave off bankruptcy. With few serious offers from local groups, he was receptive to an offer from Canadian entrepreneur Nelson Skalbania, he was fronting a group of Calgary businessmen that included oil magnates Harley Hotchkiss, Ralph T. Scurfield, Norman Green and Byron Seaman, former Calgary Stampeders great Norman Kwong. A last-ditch effort to keep the team in Atlanta fell short, Cousins sold the team to Skalbania for US$16 million, a record sale price for an NHL team at the time. On May 21, 1980, Skalbania announced, he chose to retain the Flames name, feeling it would be a good fit for an oil town like Calgary, while the flaming "A" logo was replaced by a flaming "C".
Skalbania sold his interest in 1981, the Flames have been locally owned since. Unlike the WHA's Calgary Cowboys, who folded three years earlier, the Flames were embraced by the city of Calgary. While the Cowboys could manage to sell only 2,000 season tickets in their final campaign of 1976–77, the Flames sold 10,000 full- and half-season ticket packages in the 7,000 seat Stampede Corral. Led by Kent Nilsson's 49-goal, 131-point season, the Flames qualified for the playoffs in their first season in Calgary with a 39–27–14 record, good for third in the Patrick Division; the team found much greater playoff success in Calgary than it did in Atlanta, winning their first two playoff series over the Chicago Black Hawks and Philadelphia Flyers before bowing out to the Minnesota North Stars in the semi-finals. This early success was not soon repeated. After a losing record in 1981–82, Fletcher jettisoned several holdovers from the Atlanta days who could not adjust to the higher-pressure hockey environment and rebuilt the roster.
Over the next three seasons, he put together a core of players that would remain together through the early 1990s. Fletcher's efforts to match the Oilers led him to draw talent from areas neglected by the NHL; the Flames were among the earliest teams to sign large numbers of U. S. college players, including Joel Otto, Gary Suter and Colin Patterson. Fletcher stepped up the search for European hockey talent, acquiring Hakan Loob and other key players, he was am
1990 NHL Entry Draft
The 1990 National Hockey League Entry Draft was the 28th NHL Entry Draft. It was hosted by the Vancouver Canucks at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 16, 1990, it is remembered as one of the deeper drafts in NHL history, with 14 of the 21 first round picks going on to careers of at least 500 NHL games. Nine of the twenty-one players drafted in the first round played 1,000 NHL games in their career; the 1990 NHL Entry Draft was scheduled to be held at the Pacific Coliseum, the home arena of the host Vancouver Canucks located on the site of the Pacific National Exhibition. However, the Canadian Union of Public Employees union representing the PNE employees—CUPE Local 1004—threatened to strike June 15, one day before the draft; the NHL and the Canucks decided to move the draft to BC Place in order to avoid the potential strike and issues of public access to the venue. In addition to BC Place, the University of British Columbia, the Vancouver Convention Centre and the Hyatt Regency Vancouver were considered as replacement venues.
The Canucks had estimated. However, holding the venue in a higher capacity venue allowed for that estimate to nearly double, with 19,127 spectators—a record for attendance at an NHL Entry Draft—attending the draft. Heading into the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, Mike Ricci had spent the entire 1989–90 season ranked as the top prospect by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau. Prior to the release of the final rankings of North American skaters and goaltenders, it was speculated Owen Nolan, Keith Primeau and Petr Nedved would surpass Ricci. Jaromir Jagr was considered to be one of the top prospects, but Central Scouting did not rank European players. Petr Nedved was an exception to that, as he played in North America after he defected his native Czechoslovakia. 1990 NHL Supplemental Draft 1990–91 NHL season List of NHL players ^1 Although born in Northern Ireland, Owen Nolan has Canadian citizenship and represented Canada internationally. ^2 Although born in Czechoslovakia, Petr Nedved would obtain Canadian citizenship in 1993 and represented Canada internationally as a professional.
^3 The Calgary Flames traded their first round selection in 1990, Detroit's second round selection in 1990, Minnesota's second round selection in 1990 to the New Jersey Devils for the Devils' first and second round selections in 1990. ^4 The Montreal Canadiens traded Mike Lalor and their first round selection in 1990 to the St. Louis Blues for the Blues' first round selection in 1990 and the Blues' third round selection in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. ^5 The Buffalo Sabres traded Scott Arniel, Phil Housley, Jeff Parker, their first round selection in 1990 to the Winnipeg Jets for Dale Hawerchuk and the Jets' first round selection in 1990. ^6 The St. Louis Blues traded Adrien Plavsic and Montreal's first round selection in 1990 to the Vancouver Canucks for Harold Snepsts, Rich Sutter, St. Louis' second round selection in 1990. ^7 The Calgary Flames traded Brad McCrimmon to the Detroit Red Wings for the Wings' second round selection in 1990. ^8 The Calgary Flames traded Joe Mullen to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Penguins' second round selection in 1990.
^9 The Calgary Flames traded Peter Lappin to the Minnesota North Stars for the North Stars' second round selection in 1990. ^10 The St. Louis Blues traded Robert Nordmark and their second round selection in 1990 to the Vancouver Canucks for Dave Richter. ^11 The Buffalo Sabres traded Kevin Maguire and their second round selection in 1990 to the Philadelphia Flyers for Jay Wells and the Flyers' fourth round selection in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. ^12 The Boston Bruins traded their second round selection in 1990 to the Philadelphia Flyers for Brian Propp. ^13 The Philadelphia Flyers traded Darren Jensen and Daryl Stanley to the Vancouver Canucks for Wendell Young and the Canucks' third round selection in 1990. ^14 The Philadelphia Flyers traded Wendell Young and their seventh round selection in 1990 to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Penguins' third round selection in 1990. ^15 The Philadelphia Flyers traded Kevin Maguire and their eighth round selection in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft to the Toronto Maple Leafs for the Leafs' third round selection in 1990.
^16 New Jersey Devils traded Alain Chevrier and their seventh round selection in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft to the Winnipeg Jets for Steve Rooney and the Jets' third round selection in 1990. ^17 The Chicago Blackhawks traded their third round selection in 1990 to the Montreal Canadiens for Jocelyn Lemieux. ^18 The Buffalo Sabres traded Tom Barrasso and their third round selection in 1990 to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Doug Bodger and Darrin Shannon. ^19 The New Jersey Devils traded Joe Cirella, Claude Loiselle, their eighth round selection in 1990 to the Quebec Nordiques for Walt Poddubny and the Nordiques' fourth round selection in 1990. ^20 The Edmonton Oilers traded Normand Lacombe to the Philadelphia Flyers for the Flyers' fourth round selection in 1990. ^21 The Los Angeles Kings received the New York Islanders' fourth round selection in 1990 as compensation for the Islanders signing Glenn Healy. ^22 The Los Angeles Kings traded the New York Islanders' fourth round selection in 1990 to the New York Rangers for Barry Beck.
^23 The Los Angeles Kings traded their fourth round selection in 1990 to the New York Rangers for Dean Kennedy. ^24 The Minnesota North Stars traded Mike Gartner to the New
NHL Entry Draft
The NHL Entry Draft is an annual meeting in which every franchise of the National Hockey League systematically select the rights to available ice hockey players who meet draft eligibility requirements. The NHL Entry Draft is held once every year within two to three months after the conclusion of the previous season. During the draft, teams take turns selecting amateur players from junior or collegiate leagues and professional players from European leagues; the first draft was held in 1963, has been held every year since. The NHL Entry Draft was known as the NHL Amateur Draft until 1979; the entry draft has only been a public event since 1980, a televised event since 1984. Up to 1994, the order was determined by the standings at the end of the regular season. In 1995, the NHL Draft Lottery was introduced where only teams who had missed the playoffs could participate; the one lottery winner would move up the draft order a maximum of four places, meaning only the top five-placed teams could pick first in the draft, no team in the non-playoff group could move down more than one place.
The chances of winning the lottery were weighted towards the teams at the bottom of the regular season standings. Beginning in 2013, the limit of moving up a maximum of four places in the draft order was eliminated, so the lottery winner would automatically receive the first overall pick, any teams above it in the draft order would still move down one spot; the first NHL Entry Draft was held on June 5, 1963 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Quebec. Any amateur player under the age of 20 was eligible to be drafted. In 1979, the rules were changed allowing players who had played professionally to be drafted; this rule change was made to facilitate the absorption of players from the defunct World Hockey Association. The name of the draft was changed from "NHL Amateur Draft" to "NHL Entry Draft". Beginning in 1980, any player, between the ages of 18 and 20 is eligible to be drafted. In addition, any non-North American player over the age of 20 can be selected. From 1987 through 1991, 18 and 19-year-old players could only be drafted in the first three rounds unless they met another criterion of experience which required them to have played in major junior, U.
S. college and high school, or European hockey. In 1980, the Entry Draft became a public event, was held at the Montreal Forum. Prior to that year the Entry Draft was conducted in Montreal hotels or league offices and was closed to the general public; the first draft outside of Montreal was held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, in 1985. Live television coverage of the draft began in 1984 when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation covered the event in both English and French for Canadian audiences; the 1987 Entry Draft, held at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, was the first NHL Draft to be held in the United States. SportsChannel America began covering the event in the United States in 1989. Prior to the development of the Draft, NHL teams sponsored junior teams, signed prospects in their teens to the junior teams. Players were signed to one of three forms: the "A" form; the "C" form could only be signed by the player at age eighteen or by the player's parents in exchange for some signing bonus.
The first drafts were held to assign players who had not signed with an NHL organization before the sponsorship of junior teams was discontinued after 1968. The selection order in the NHL Entry Draft is determined by a combination of lottery, regular season standing, playoff results. While teams are permitted to trade draft picks both during the draft and prior to it, in all cases, the selection order of the draft picks is based on the original holder of the pick, not a team which may have acquired the pick via a trade or other means; the order of picks discussed in this section always references the original team. The basic order of the NHL Entry Draft is determined based on the standings of the teams in the previous season; as with the other major sports leagues, the basic draft order is intended to favour the teams with the weakest performance who need the most improvement in their roster to compete with the other teams. Subject to the results of the NHL Draft Lottery, the teams pick in the same order each round, with each team getting one pick per round.
The basic order of the picks is determined as follows: The teams that did not qualify for the playoffs the previous season The teams that made the playoffs in the previous season but did not win either their division in the regular season or play in the Conference Finals The teams that won their divisions in the previous season but did not play in the Conference Finals The teams that lose in Conference Finals The team, the runner-up in the Stanley Cup Finals The team that won the Stanley Cup in the previous season The number of teams in the second and third group depends on whether the Conference finalists won their division. The teams in each group are ordered within that group based on their point totals in the preceding regular season. Tie-breakers are governed by the same rule
San Jose Sharks
The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League; the franchise is owned by San Jose Entertainment Enterprises. Beginning play in the 1991–92 season, the Sharks played their home games at the Cow Palace, before they moved to their present home, the SAP Center at San Jose in 1993; the SAP Center is known locally as the Shark Tank. The Sharks were founded in 1991 and were the first NHL franchise based in the San Francisco Bay Area since the California Golden Seals relocated to Cleveland in 1976; the Sharks have advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals once, losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016. They have won the Presidents' Trophy once, as the team with the league's best regular season record in the 2008–09 season, they have won six division titles as a member of the Pacific Division since 1993. The club is affiliated with the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League.
The Oakland Coliseum Arena was home to the California Golden Seals of the NHL from 1967 to 1976, who were never successful either on the ice or at the box office. Gordon and George Gund III became minority owners of the Seals in 1974, were instrumental in their move to Cleveland in 1976 and a 1978 merger with the Minnesota North Stars, which they purchased that year, they had long wanted to bring hockey back to the Bay Area, asked the NHL for permission to move the North Stars there in the late 1980s, but the league vetoed the proposed move. Meanwhile, a group led by former Hartford Whalers owner Howard Baldwin was pushing the NHL to bring a team to San Jose, where a new arena was being built; the League struck a compromise: the Gunds would sell their share of the North Stars to Baldwin's group, with the Gunds receiving an expansion team in the Bay Area to begin play in the 1991–92 season and being allowed to take a certain number of players from the North Stars to their new club. In return, the North Stars would be allowed to participate as an equal partner in an expansion draft with the new Bay Area team.
On May 5, 1990, the Gunds sold their share of the North Stars to Baldwin and were awarded a new team for the Bay Area, based in San Jose. The owners paid to the league an expansion fee of US$45 million. Over 5,000 potential names were submitted by mail for the new team. While the first-place finisher was "Blades", the Gunds were concerned about the name's negative association with weapons, went with the runner-up, "Sharks." The name was said to have been inspired by the large number of sharks living in the Pacific Ocean. Seven varieties live there, one area of water near the Bay Area is known as the "red triangle" because of its shark population; the team's first marketing head, Matt Levine, said of the new name, "Sharks are relentless, swift, agile and fearless. We plan to build an organization that has all those qualities." For their first two seasons, the Sharks played at the Cow Palace in Daly City, just outside San Francisco, a facility the NHL and the Seals had rejected in 1967. Pat Falloon led the team in points during their first season.
The team was placed in the Campbell Conference's Smythe Division. George Kingston was their first head coach during their first two seasons. Though the 1991–92 roster consisted of NHL journeymen, minor leaguers and rookies, the Sharks had at least one notable player when they acquired 14-year veteran and former Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Doug Wilson from the Chicago Blackhawks on September 6, 1991. Wilson was named the team's first captain and All-Star representative in the inaugural season. However, the Sharks' first two seasons saw the typical struggles for an expansion team; the 71 losses in 1992–93 is an NHL record, they suffered a 17-game losing streak, while winning just 11 games and earning a mere 24 points in the standings. Kingston was fired following the end of the 1992–93 season. Despite the Sharks' futility in the standings, the team led the NHL's merchandise sales with $150 million, accounting for 27% of the NHL's total and behind only National Basketball Association champions Chicago Bulls among all North American leagues.
Several team "firsts" happened in the 1992–93 season. On November 17, 1992, San Jose goaltender Arturs Irbe recorded the first shutout in team history, defeating the Los Angeles Kings 6–0. On December 3, against the Hartford Whalers at the Cow Palace, right winger Rob Gaudreau scored the first hat-trick in franchise history; the inaugural year saw the birth of the San Jose Sharks mascot, "S. J. Sharkie". On January 28, 1992, at a game against the New York Rangers, the then-unnamed mascot emerged from a Zamboni during an intermission. A "Name the Mascot" contest began that night, with the winning name of "S. J. Sharkie" being announced on April 15, 1992. For their third season, 1993–94, the Sharks moved to their new home, the San Jose Arena, were placed in the Western Conference's Pacific Division. Under head coach Kevin Constantine, the Sharks pulled off the biggest turnaround in NHL history, finishing with a 33–35–16 record and making the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in team history with 82 points, an NHL record 58-point jump from the previous season.
They were seeded eighth in the Western Conference playoffs and faced the Detroit Red Wings, the top-seeded Western Conference team and a favorite to win the Stanley Cup. In one of the biggest upsets in Stanley Cup playoff history, the underdog Sharks shocked the Red Wings in seven games. In Game 7 at Joe Louis Arena, Jamie Baker scored the game-winning goal i
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