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It's waiver draft time again. A time when NHL
teams offer up their dregs to each other in the hopes that someone will take
some salary off their hands. Ok, so maybe I'm being a bit too cynical, but
look at some of these lists and tell me that there's a lot of quality
available. For each team we have picked a player (and very occasionally
two) who we think could be on the move. However, there are a few teams where
we just couldn't bring ourselves to pick someone. When you get there you'll
see what we mean.
Francis Belanger, F; Travis Brigley, F; Josh
DeWolf, D; Denny Lambert, F; Chris O'Sullivan, D; Samuel Pahlsson, F; Todd
Reirden, D; Nick Smith, F; German Titov, F; Nikolai Tsulygin, D; Rob
Valicevic, F; Jason York, D.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Samuel
Pahlsson. He's developed into a decent defensive forward but his offensive
game just hasn't come around. He's pretty cheap so look for a young team to
take a chance on him.
Dallas Eakins, D; Chris Herperger, F; Andreas
Karlsson, F; Per Svartvadet, F; Jean-Pierre Vigier, F; Norm Maracle, G;
Damian Rhodes, G.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Jean-Pierre
Vigier. Relatively young and most definitely cheap he's the most likely to
go out of this less than stellar bunch.
Bill Bowler, F; Rich Brennan, D; Carl
Corazzini, F; Michal Grosek, F; Jay Henderson, F; Matthew Herr, F; Chris
Kelleher, D; Dimitri Kvartalnov, F; Brantt Myhres, F; Darren Van Oene, F;
Tim Thomas, G.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Michal
Grosek. How the mighty have fallen. His name would be the only reason
someone takes him. It certainly wouldn't be because of his performance over
the past couple of years.
Jeremy Adduono, F; Jason Botterill, F; Rory
Fitzpatrick, D; Denis Hamel, F; Doug Houda, D; Chris Taylor, F; Tom Askey,
G.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Denis
Hamel. Is still relatively young and is almost good enough for a regular job
with the Sabres. There's got to be some team that could use him.
Ryan Christie, F; Robert Dome, F; Dwayne Hay,
F; Dave Huntzicker, D; Ladislav Kohn, F; Dave Lowry, F; Mike Martin, D;
Jason Morgan, F; Rick Mrozik, D; Ronald Petrovicky, F; Martin Sonnenberg, F;
Darcy Verot, F; Brad Werenka, D; Andrei Trefilov, G.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Ronald
Petrovicky. A once heralded prospect in Cowtown, he hasn't developed into
much. But there are always GMs out there who take on young
"projects".
Craig Adams, F; Kaspars Astashenko, D; Ryan
Bast, D; Steven Halko, D; Craig MacDonald, F; Nikos Tselios, D; Mike Watt,
F; Tommy Westlund, F; Jean-Marc Pelletier, G.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Jean-Marc
Pelletier and Nikos Tselios. We're very surprised that these guys are out
there. We realize that the Canes had no choice with Pelletier but it's
surprising nonetheless. Both of these guys could be snapped up and would
easily fit into a young team's plans.
Louie DeBrusk, F; Casey Hankinson, F; Matt
Henderson, F; Josef Marha, F; Mike Peluso, F; Shawn Thornton, F; Dmitri
Tolkunov, D; Peter White, F.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Casey
Hankinson. If you said we had to take someone it would be him.
Eric Bertrand, F; Steve Brule, F; Brett
Clark, D; Bryan Muir, D; Jeff Paul, D; Jeff Shantz, F; Brent Thompson, D;
Brian Willsie, F.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Brian
Willsie. He had a bit of a breakout season, but he'll never be a superstar.
He could be moving come Friday.
Radim Bicanek, D; Mathieu Darche, F; Matt
Davidson, F; David Ling, F; Don MacLean, F; Sean Pronger, F; Darrel Scoville,
D; Derrick Walser, D.
Steve Gainey, F; David Gosselin, F; Greg
Hawgood, D; Jeff MacMillan, D; Jim Montgomery, F; Gavin Morgan, F; David
Oliver, F; Scott Pellerin, F; Jon Sim, F; Mark Wotton, D; Corey Hirsch, G.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Jon Sim.
Teams aren't likely to be swayed by his 4 goal performance earlier in the
pre-season but they may be swayed by the fact that he was buried in a system
that favours vets over prospects.
Patrick Boileau, D; Eddy Campbell, D; Derek
King, F; Mark Mowers, F; Michel Picard, F; Stacy Roest, F; Marc Lamothe, G.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Stacy
Roest. He's good enough to make some team. He just couldn't make it on the
exceptionally deep Red Wings.
Adam Bennett, D; Jozef Cierny, F; Chad Hinz,
F; Ralph Intranuovo, F; Fredrik Lindquist, F; Fernando Pisani, F; Marty
Reasoner, F; Craig Reichert, F; Peter Sarno, F; Sergei Yerkovich, D.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Marty
Reasoner. Again, GMs looking for reclamation projects will look no further
than Marty.
Sven Butenschon, D; Jim Campbell, F; Pierre
Dagenais, F; Andy Lundbohm, F; Joey Tetarenko, F; Rocky Thompson, F; Jeff
Toms, F; Igor Ulanov, D; Wade Flaherty, G; Chris Mason, G.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Pierre
Dagenais. Big with fairly soft hands. I'd be very surprised if he doesn't
get picked up.
Derek Armstrong, F; Derek Bekar, F; Steve
Heinze, F; Jason Holland, D; Steve Kelly, F; Jan Nemecek, D; Pavel Rosa, F;
Chris Schmidt, F; Richard Seeley, D; Travis Scott, G.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Pavel
Rosa. Exceptionally gifted. Exceptionally unpredictable. Worth a
risk.
Sylvain Blouin, F; Mike Crowley, D; Greg
Crozier, F; David Cullen, D; Hnat Domenichelli, F; Cory Larose, F; Curtis
Murphy, D; Rastislav Pavlikovsky, F; Maxim Sushinsky, F; Jean-Guy Trudel, F;
Tony Tuzzolino, F; Tony Virta, F; Dieter Kochan, G.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Hnat
Domenichelli. Perfect example of a guy who just couldn't make the transition
to the NHL. Someone may still give him a chance.
Francis Bouillon, D; Matthieu Descoteaux, D;
Benoit Gratton, F; Miloslav Guren, D; Martti Jarventie, D; Eric Landry, F;
Bill Lindsay, F; Matt O'Dette, D; Gino Odjick, F; Stephane Robidas, D;
Patrick Traverse, D; Jason Ward, F; Eric Fichaud, G.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Stephane
Robidas. A bubble-guy who the Habs would probably like to keep. Too bad they
may not get the chance.
Andy Berenzweig, D; Marian Cisar, F; Greg
Classen, F; Mark Eaton, D; Stu Grimson, F; Jere Karalahti, D; Greg Koehler,
F; Cameron Mann, F; Domenic Pittis, F; Pavel Skrbek, D; Wyatt Smith, F;
Peter Smrek, D; Petr Tenkrat, F.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Marian
Cisar. Lots of choices here but Cisar is the most gifted talent.
Tommy Albelin, D; Jiri Bicek, F; Craig Darby,
F; Ray Giroux, D; Joe Hulbig, F; Mike Matteucci, D; Dave Roche, F; Rob
Skrlac, F; Ken Sutton, D.
Most Likely to Be Selected: No-one.
None of these guys will likely be selected.
Kevin Haller, D; Konstantin Kalmikov, F; Alan
Letang, D; Eric Manlow, F; Alain Nasreddine, D; Ray Schultz, D; Brandon
Smith, D.
Most Likely to Be Selected: No-one The
pickings were slim here too.
Joel Bouchard, D; Vladimir Chebaturkin, D;
Ted Donato, F; Nils Ekman, F; Ken Gernander, F; Boyd Kane, F; Dave Karpa, D;
Sylvain Lefebvre, D; Dixon Ward, F; Scott Meyer, G; Bryce Wandler, G.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Vladimir
Chebaturkin has made the rounds. Wouldn't surprise me if he went somewhere
else
Dennis Bonvie, F; David Hymovitz, F; Steve
Martins, F; Joe Murphy, F; Christer Olsson, D; Andy Schneider, F; Brad
Smyth, F.
Most Likely to Be Selected: No-one.
This is an ugly list.
Tomas Divisek, F; David Harlock, D; Ian
MacNeil, F; Andre Savage, F; John Slaney, D; Brad Tiley, D; Pete Vandermeer,
F.
Most Likely to Be Selected: John
Slaney. Slaney is a great AHLer but only a marginal NHLer. Some team may try
to prove otherwise.
Drake Berehowsky, D; Zac Bierk, G.
Rick Berry, D; Tom Kostopoulos, F; Francois
Leroux, D; Jason MacDonald, F; Eric Meloche, F; Toby Petersen, F; Dick
Tarnstrom, D; Vladimir Vujtek, F; Mike Wilson, D; Robbie Tallas, G.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Toby
Petersen. A very surprising move. Many felt he had a shot to play with
Mario.
Steve Bancroft, D; Eric Boguniecki, F; Aris
Brimanis, D; Marc Brown, F; Jason Dawe, F; Steve Dubinsky, F; Eric Nickulas,
F; Rich Pilon, D; Jame Pollock, D; Stephane Roy, F; Daniel Tkaczuk, F;
Sergei Varlamov, F.
Most Likely to Be Selected:
Serge Varlamov. Another very talented Euro that couldn't make the switch. If
he gets an opportunity to play he may prove his critics wrong.
Tavis Hansen, F; John Jakopin, D; Ryan Kraft,
F; Jeff Nelson, F; Scott Thomas, F.
Most Likely to Be Selected: John
Jakopin. Not likely he'll be selected, but he's the best of the bunch.
Mathieu Biron, D; Gordie Dwyer, F; Matt Elich,
F; Brian Holzinger, F; Darren Rumble, D; Tim Taylor, F.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Matthieu
Biron. Oodles of potential.
Lonny Bohonos, F; Ryan Bonni, D; Doug Doull,
F; Anders Eriksson, D; Jonathan Gagnon, F; Maxim Galanov, D; Aaron Gavey, F;
Mikael Hakanson, F; Paul Healey, F; Josh Holden, F; Brad Leeb, F; Jyrki
Lumme, D; Craig Mills, F; Marc Moro, D; Bob Wren, F; Dmitriy Yakushin, D;
Mike Minard, G.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Marc
Moro. Average potential, low salary. A dream in the waiver draft.
Nolan Baumgartner, D; Johan Davidsson, F;
Jeff Farkas, F; Bryan Helmer, D; Steve Kariya, F; Pat Kavanagh, F; Zenith
Komarniski, D; Jaroslav Obsut, D; Ryan Ready, F; Vadim Sharifijanov, F;
Herbert Vasiljevs, F; Tyler Moss, G.
Most Likely to Be Selected: Jeff
Farkas. Could fit onto a team's 4th line.
Jason Doig, D; Chris Ferraro, F; Peter
Ferraro, F; Colin Forbes, F; Chris Hajt, D; Dean Melanson, D; Mark Murphy,
F; Trent Whitfield, F; Dwayne Zinger, D; Stephane Beauregard, G; Craig
Billington, G.
Most Likely to Be Selected:
Trent Whitfield. Could still be viewed as a prospect.
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