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Fictional Saskatoon Westerns GM Ardal Ekrub has some tough decisions to make in the next few seasons for his club. He knows the roster is aging, and he must keep to his plan to use older players to obtain draft picks, in an effort to avoid overpaying for their production, and to keep the young prospects rolling in. This strategy has worked for him very well thus far, and he sees no reason to abandon it now.
Unfortunately, this entails trading players the fans may love dearly at times, but there's nothing for it. So in the 2000-01 offseason, he deals Mark Recchi, who led the team in GVT the previous season, to the Flyers for their first round (28th overall) and third round (94th overall) picks. This trade brings good draft picks, and also removes Recchi's salary from the books. In a more minor deal, he sends Sergei Brylin and Marko Tuomainen to the Devils for their second round (39th overall) pick.
We can now turn our attention to the 2000 Entry Draft. It's unusual that the actual Number One does not appear on the list of Top 30 prospects as determined by the Project-a-Tron objective drafting system. In 2000, however, actual top pick Rick DiPietro is nowhere near the 30 best, coming in at a PGVT+ of only 3.1, well behind Dany Heatley's 15.4 mark and Marian Gaborik's 15.1 score. With two such prospects as Heatley and Gaborik available, it was a risky move by the Islanders to take DiPietro, given the fact that goaltenders are more difficult to project than skaters.
In this case, the Islanders' choice proved to be a bad one. DiPietro had an actual peak GVT (defined as the GVT per 82 games in the best five of 10 seasons after the draft year) of 16.3, which translates into a PGVT+ of only 6.0, which is still well below the value you expect for a first overall selection. Indeed, DiPietro would have had to compile a peak GVT of 42.1 to translate into a PGVT+ of 15.5, which would have put him ahead of Heatley. Now, DiPietro did post such a number in his best season (2006-07), when his GVT per 82 games was 43.6. However, expecting a goaltender to produce at such a level was hopelessly optimistic given his numbers in 1999-2000. And since Heatley and Gaborik produced actual peak GVTs of 21.1 and 18.9 respectively, the decision seems that much worse.
Top 30 Players Available at 2000 Entry Draft
Rank Player Pos League PGVT+ Drafted
1 Heatley, Dany F WCHA 15.4 2
2 Gaborik, Marian F Svk 15.1 3
3 Novak, Filip D WHL 9.1 64
4 Nedorost, Vaclav F Cze 8.3 14
5 Boyes, Brad F OHL 7.6 24
6 Hartnell, Scott F OHL 7.2 6
7 Schultz, Nick D WHL 7.2 33
8 Klesla, Rostislav D OHL 7.0 4
9 Stoll, Jarrett F WHL 6.9 46
10 Cavosie, Marc F ECAC 6.9 99
11 Lundqvist, Henrik G Swe 6.8 205
12 Mallette, Carl F QMJHL 6.6 107
13 Aulin, Jared F WHL 6.5 47
14 Ouellet, Michel F QMJHL 6.5 124
15 Kolanos, Krys F HE 6.5 19
16 Bendera, Shane G WHL 6.5 169
17 Bell, Thatcher D QMJHL 6.3 71
18 Kaltianen, Matti G Fin 6.2 -
19 Hilbert, Andy F CCHA 6.0 37
20 Bayda, Ryan F WCHA 6.0 80
21 Samuelsson, Martin F Swe 6.0 27
22 Shastin, Igor F Rus 5.8 -
23 Vermette, Antoine F QMJHL 5.7 55
24 Krahn, Brent G WHL 5.7 9
25 Johansson, Eric F WHL 5.6 255
26 Liv, Stefan G Swe 5.5 102
27 Bryzgalov, Ilya G Rus 5.4 44
28 Delisle, Miguel F OHL 5.0 100
29 McRae, Mark D ECAC 5.0 288
30 Kronwall, Niklas D Swe 4.8 29
With all the talk of a goaltender going number one this year, Ekrub figures it's about time he gets around to adapting the Project-a-Tron to rate European goalies, something which he has never done before. It's not a difficult task, involving a combination of factors used to evaluate major junior goaltenders on the one hand, and European skaters on the other. It's apparently a good year to do it, as four European netminders end up in the top 30 players available at the draft, including two from Sweden and one each from Russia and Finland.
Saskatoon Westerns 2000 Draft Picks
Pick Player Pos League PGVT+
28 Novak, Filip D WHL 9.1
29 Schultz, Nick D WHL 7.2
39 Stoll, Jarrett C WHL 6.9
61 Cavosie, Marc L ECAC 6.9
94 Lundqvist, Henrik G Swe 6.8
95 Mallette, Carl C QMJHL 6.6
129 Bendera, Shane G WHL 6.5
166 Kaltianen, Matti G Fin 6.2
196 Shastin, Igor L Rus 5.8
228 Johansson, Eric C WHL 5.6
260 McRae, Mark D ECAC 5.0
292 Thomson, Ben C WHL 4.8
Whoops, looks like we drafted Henrik Lundqvist with the 94th pick just now. You might therefore suspect ulterior motives in the timing of introducing ratings of European goalies, since we put it in just in time to get King Henrik. You'll just have to take my word that that isn't the case. Not having the European goalie ratings before this time only hurt the team's drafting. For example, Ekrub would have selected Miikka Kiprusoff (6.1 PGVT+) with the 56th pick in the 1995 Entry Draft had the ratings been active at that time. So he's certainly missed out in the past.
In the 2000 Expansion Draft, Ekrub uses his surplus of assets to control who he loses to Nashville and Atlanta. He first trades Frederic Henry and Stephane Julien to Atlanta for future considerations, specifically that they take Darren Van Impe in the draft, guaranteeing that the Westerns will not lose one of their NHL netminders. He then trades Roman Lyashenko to Nashville for future considerations, specifically that they select Tommi Miettinen in the draft.
He releases Jarkko Varvio, Herbert Vasiljevs, and Tommi Kallio to clear space on the Reserve List.
Saskatoon Westerns 2000-01 Reserve List
Pos Name Age Acquired
G Bendera, Shane 19 Draft, 2000 (129)
G Bergeron, Remi (k) 19 Draft, 1999 (185)
G Biron, Martin (k) 23 Draft, 1995 (15)
G Block, Brady (k) 19 Draft, 1999 (104)
G Brind'Amour, Frederik (k)20 Draft, 1998 (133)
G Garon, Mathieu (k) 22 Draft, 1996 (36)
G Kalianen, Matti 18 Draft, 2000 (166)
G Lundqvist, Henrik 18 Draft, 2000 (94)
G MacDonald, Joey (k) 19 Draft, 1999 (271)
G Theodore, Jose (k) 24 Draft, 1994 (26)
D Boyle, Dan (k) 24 Draft, 1995 (216)
D Campbell, Brian (k) 21 Draft, 1997 (130)
D Clark, Brett (k) 23 Draft, 1996 (77)
D Connolly, Sean 20 Draft, 1999 (95)
D Corvo, Joe (k) 23 Draft, 1996 (49)
D DuPont, Micki (k) 20 Draft, 1998 (245)
D Ference, Andrew (k) 21 Draft, 1997 (102)
D Guren, Miloslav (k) 23 Draft, 1995 (52)
D Kinch, Matt (k) 20 Draft, 1998 (161)
D Markov, Andrei (k) 21 Draft, 1997 (213)
D McRae, Mark 19 Draft, 2000 (260)
D Mitchell, Kevin (k) 20 Draft, 1998 (106)
D Musial, David 24 Draft, 1995 (56)
D Novak, Filip 18 Draft, 2000 (28)
D Numminen, Teppo (k) 32 Draft, 1986 (15)
D Salo, Sami (k) 26 Draft, 1993 (51)
D Schultz, Nick 18 Draft, 2000 (29)
D Smith, Kenton (k) 19 Draft, 1999 (214)
D Zidlicky, Marek (k) 23 Draft, 1995 (108)
D Zion, Jonathan (k) 19 Draft, 1999 (65)
D Zubov, Sergei (k) 29 Draft, 1990 (81)
C Briere, Daniel (k) 22 Draft, 1996 (23)
C Comrie, Mike (k) 20 Draft, 1999 (27)
C Johansson, Eric 18 Draft, 2000 (228)
C Kapanen, Niko (k) 22 Draft, 1997 (119)
C Kosick, Mark 21 Draft, 1998 (43)
C Lapointe, Claude (k) 31 Draft, 1988 (229)
C Mallette, Carl 18 Draft, 2000 (95)
C Malov, Roman 22 Draft, 1996 (186)
C Marchant, Todd (k) 27 Draft, 1992 (215)
C McLean, Brett (k) 22 Draft, 1996 (159)
C Nieuwendyk, Joe (k) 34 Draft, 1985 (9)
C Norris, Warren (k) 25 Draft, 1994 (104)
C Perreault, Yanic (k) 29 Draft, 1990 (102)
C Perrin, Eric (k) 25 Draft, 1994 (78)
C Peterson, Toby 21 Draft, 1998 (78)
C Ribeiro, Mike (k) 20 Draft, 1998 (26)
C Richards, Brad (k) 20 Draft, 1998 (31)
C Robinson, Todd (k) 22 Draft, 1996 (105)
C Savard, Marc (k) 23 Draft, 1995 (27)
C Stoll, Jarret 18 Draft, 2000 (39)
C Thomson, Ben 18 Draft, 2000 (292)
C York, Mike (k) 22 Draft, 1997 (22)
LW Balastik, Jaroslav 20 Draft, 1999 (242)
LW Bicek, Jiri 21 Draft, 1997 (76)
LW Butsayev, Yuri 21 Draft, 1997 (49)
LW Cavosie, Marc 19 Draft, 2000 (61)
LW Demitra, Pavol (k) 26 Draft, 1993 (77)
LW Hossa, Marian (k) 21 Draft, 1997 (12)
LW Kariya, Steve (k) 22 Draft, 1997 (186)
LW Kratena, Ondrej 23 Draft, 1996 (132)
LW Mikahilov, Egor 22 Draft, 1996 (212)
LW Rybin, Maxim 19 Draft, 1999 (125)
LW Sejna, Peter (k) 20 Draft, 1998 (190)
LW Shastin, Igor 18 Draft, 2000 (196)
LW Whitney, Ray (k) 28 Draft, 1991 (21)
LW Zetterberg, Henrik 19 Draft, 1999 (155)
RW Bednar, Jaroslav 23 Draft, 1995 (80)
RW DeCecco, Bret (k) 20 Draft, 1998 (42)
RW Fleury, Theoren (k) 32 Draft, 1986 (204)
RW Gionta, Brian 21 Draft, 1998 (74)
RW Haydar, Darren 20 Draft, 1999 (76)
RW Lehtinen, Jere (k) 27 Draft, 1991 (131)
RW St. Louis, Martin (k) 25 Draft, 1994 (52)
RW Sidyakin, Andrei 21 Draft, 1997 (157)
RW Zalesak, Miroslav 20 Draft, 1998 (53)
Players on Reserve List (Maximum 80): 76
Players Under Contract (Maximum 50): 47
The departure of Recchi certainly hurts the team's performance on the ice, as the Westerns fall to fifth in the league standings, though they maintain the pace that Ekrub expects to be able to keep on a consistent basis (around 100 points, not including bonus points for losing in overtime). The goaltender is only so-so, and an injury to Sami Salo means that Sergei Zubov is the only blueliner to have a really good season.
Saskatoon Westerns 2000-01 NHL Season Results
GP W L T GF GA Pts Finish
82 47 25 10 288 221 108 2nd, Central; 5th overall
Player No Age Pos GP OGVT DGVT GVT
Hossa, Marian 22 21 LW 81 15.9 2.8 18.7
Zubov, Sergei 46 29 D 79 8.5 7.6 16.1
Fleury, Theoren (A) 14 32 RW 62 15.0 0.7 15.7
Demitra, Pavol 38 26 LW 44 8.5 3.6 12.1
Theodore, Jose 33 24 G 50 0.0 11.3 11.3
Marchant, Todd 39 27 C 71 5.3 4.8 10.1
Nieuwendyk, Joe (C) 25 34 C 69 9.0 0.9 9.9
Perreault, Yanic 49 29 C 76 8.7 0.8 9.5
Lehtinen, Jere 20 27 RW 74 4.0 5.4 9.4
St. Louis, Martin 15 25 RW 78 5.5 2.6 8.1
Briere, Daniel 18 22 RW 61 7.4 0.0 7.4
Zidlicky, Marek 3 23 D 75 5.3 2.0 7.3
Biron, Martin 43 23 G 30 0.0 7.2 7.2
Lapointe, Claude 17 31 C 80 0.8 6.1 6.9
Savard, Marc 9 23 LW 77 5.1 1.7 6.8
Numminen, Teppo (A) 27 32 D 72 2.2 3.6 5.8
Salo, Sami 5 26 D 31 3.1 2.0 5.1
Markov, Andrei 51 21 D 63 3.7 1.0 4.7
Ference, Andrew 27 21 D 36 2.9 1.6 4.5
Kariya, Steve 12 22 LW 60 3.2 0.5 3.7
Perrin, Eric 10 25 LW 71 3.1 0.5 3.6
Whitney, Ray 13 28 RW 46 3.1 -1.0 2.1
Corvo, Joe 7 23 D 26 0.4 0.7 1.1
York, Mike 16 22 C 24 0.1 0.6 0.7
Kapanen, Niko 29 22 C 7 0.2 0.1 0.3
Guren, Miloslav 19 23 D 9 0.2 0.0 0.2
Boyle, Dan 21 24 D 34 0.7 -0.5 0.2
Garon, Mathieu 32 22 G 2 0.0 0.1 0.1
Richards, Brad 59 20 C 3 0.1 0.0 0.1
Campbell, Brian 44 21 D 8 -0.3 -0.2 -0.5
Clark, Brett 2 23 D 28 -0.4 -0.9 -1.3
Total 82 121.9 65.9 187.8
The Westerns continue to be one of the league's best teams at taking draws, winning 55.1% of their faceoffs, which is only 0.1% behind Washington, who paced the circuit. They're led once again by Yanic Perreault and Joe Nieuwendyk, who remain two of the league's dominant centers in this respect.
Saskatoon Westerns 2000-01 Faceoff Stats
Player Pos GP FO FOW FOL FO%
Marchant, Todd C 71 1317 709 608 53.8
Nieuwendyk, Joe C 69 1262 722 540 57.2
Perreault, Yanic C 76 1055 661 394 62.6
Lapointe, Claude C 80 806 406 400 50.4
Savard, Marc LW 77 417 221 196 53.0
Briere, Daniel RW 61 214 107 107 50.0
Fleury, Theoren RW 62 139 66 73 47.5
York, Mike C 24 67 32 35 47.8
Whitney, Ray LW 46 43 17 26 39.5
St. Louis, Martin RW 78 24 10 14 41.7
Hossa, Marian LW 81 14 6 8 42.8
Richards, Brad C 3 12 5 7 41.7
Demitra, Pavol LW 44 8 3 5 37.5
Lehtinen, Jere RW 76 7 2 5 28.6
Kapanen, Niko C 7 5 2 3 40.0
Kariya, Steve LW 60 2 1 1 50.0
Total 82 5392 2970 2422 55.1
Playoffs, First Round
The Westerns encounter their old nemeses in the first round, as they take on the Edmonton Oilers. The series goes back and forth before Saskatoon emerges the victor in seven games (2-6, 1-3, 5-2, 6-2, 1-0, 3-6, 3-1).
Playoffs, Second Round
The Dallas Stars are next, and are very evenly matched with the team from the Canadian Prairies. The Texans emerge victorious after six games (4-5, 2-1, 2-4, 3-1, 3-6, 1-2), making it four seasons without a Stanley Cup win for the Westerns, their longest drought since they won their first championship in 1990.
Saskatoon Westerns Season Results Through 2000-01
Season GP W L T GF GA Pts Pct
1983-84 80 32 39 9 314 324 73 .456
1984-85 80 34 36 10 311 313 78 .488
1985-86 80 40 32 8 321 309 88 .550
1986-87 80 40 32 8 328 297 88 .550
1987-88 80 41 31 8 345 307 90 .563
1988-89 80 45 26 9 365 297 99 .619
1989-90 80 45 27 8 344 277 98 .613
1990-91 80 47 23 10 341 257 104 .650
1991-92 80 45 25 10 339 269 100 .625
1992-93 84 53 23 8 382 268 115 .685
1993-94 84 53 21 10 360 253 116 .690
1994-95 48 34 9 5 185 124 71 .740
1995-96 82 47 26 9 315 250 103 .628
1996-97 82 42 29 11 268 229 95 .579
1997-98 82 51 19 12 278 196 114 .695
1998-99 82 47 23 12 277 205 106 .646
1999-00 82 46 26 10 268 218 106 .622
2000-01 82 47 25 10 288 221 108 .634
Total 1346 747 443 156 5361 4095 1657 .613
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Player Power Rankings (04/03)
1 comment has been left for this article. 
Nashville began play in 1998-99 and Atlanta in 1999-2000, so neither would factored into an expansion draft in 2000. You probably meant Minnesota and Columbus.