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Remember back to those halcyon days of yore, otherwise known as the Sixties? It was in 1967 that the National Hockey League decided to double the number of teams, from six (as in 'The Original') to 12. Ah, I remember those days well: I had just gotten that potty-training thing figured out (well, mostly...). It was a different league back then. The NHL was so deep in talent that the expansion St. Louis Blues, in their very first year of existence, made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. Of course, the rules were set up so that one of the expansion teams was guaranteed a spot in the Final, but I digress. Anyway, my point is that expansion back then wasn't such a bad thing, because there were plenty of good players to fill out those new rosters.

Now fast forward 31 years to the present. We're going through another expansion phase, this time from 26 to 30 teams, and the game's nothing like it was back in the (recent) old days. It's kind of like comparing 'Webster' to 'Diff'rent Strokes'. Both shows featured cute little African-American kids adopted by white guys, but that's where the comparison ended. 'Webster' didn't have any millionaires, no "What you talkin' bout, Willis?", no housekeeper who ended up with her own show. All it had was way too much of the annoyingly sweet Emmanuel Lewis and the acting-challenged Alex Karras. And that's expansion in the Nineties: Emmanuel Lewis.

Of course, it isn't just that the talent level has been diluted, though it unquestionably has. Don't believe it? Then ask yourself this: would stiffs like Francois Leroux and Michel Petit have had a place in, say, the Maple Leaf Gardens of the Sixties? Actually, they probably would have, though it would have involved a tray and repeated cries of "Pretzels! Get yer hot pretzels here!" No, it isn't just that - it's that the whole expansion system sucks. As it stands now, each existing club can protect a combination of five defensemen, nine forwards, and one goalie; or three defensemen, seven forwards, and two goalies (plus one additional skater in either case). This may not look so bad at first blush, but take into account that first and second-year players are automatically exempt, as are most unsigned North American prospects. Then take into account that any unrestricted free agents that are left exposed can leave as of July 1st. Then take into account the 48-hour trading window immediately after the playoffs that allows teams to deal off most any worthwhile player that they can't protect. The result is a whole new definition of the word 'suck'.

Andrew Brunette by Tricia McMillan

The Washington Capitals are a perfect example. Here's a team that made it to the Stanley Cup Final on its goaltending and team depth. However, GM George McPhee has done a real wizard job of covering his butt (such as dealing former Conn Smythe winner Bill Ranford for two draft picks, rather than lose him for sure to Nashville). You can't blame McPhee - that's part of his job. However, when the Expansion Draft came along, the Predators essentially had a choice of Dale Hunter (unrestricted as of July 1st), Phil Housley (big salary, little results, no defense), Pat Peake (talented, hardworking injury magnet who's hardly played in two seasons), ad nauseam. The Predators ultimately decided to take Andrew Brunette, a winger who has scored tons at the minor-league level, but who only has two skating speeds - stop and reverse. And Nashville GM David Poile had to go through this 26 times to pick a team. Like him or not, you have to feel sorry for the man.

To his credit, Poile actually did a pretty decent job at the Expansion Draft. He stayed away from 'talented-but-pain-in-the-butt' types like Edmonton's Andrei Kovalenko and Tampa Bay's Jason Bonsignore, opting instead for perennial minor-leaguers such as Paul Brousseau and Craig Darby. By doing this, he sent a message: that hard work and a good attitude are more important to him than mere skill, tapped or untapped. While it remains to be seen whether this strategy will lead to a team that can score any goals, I give him credit for trying, at any rate.

Paul Brousseau by Tricia McMillan

Anyway, the Nashville Predators, as they've shaped up over the past week, really aren't much worse than Florida or the Rangers or half the teams in the NHL. They've got a solid goaltending tandem in Mike Dunham and Mikhail Shtalenkov. They moved up in the Entry Draft to get center David Legwand. They've expressed a willingness to pursue some big-ticket free agents. And then there are the behind-the-scenes moves that Poile made in conjunction with the Expansion Draft. For not taking Masterson winner Jamie McLennan (from St. Louis) and respected backup Chris Terreri (from Chicago), Poile acquired Darren Turcotte and Sergei Krivokrasov. Neither one's likely to be mistaken for Mario Lemieux, but both are guys who can score goals when the stars are right.

And as for his somewhat questionable selections of goaltenders Tomas Vokoun (from Montreal) and Frederic Chabot (from L.A.), they turned out to be reasonably smart moves. The Habs and Kings now don't have to concern themselves with losing any of their young netminders in next year's Expansion Draft, and Nashville picked up a couple of promising young players in Sebastien Bordeleau, Jan Vopat, and Kimmo Timonen. Of course you could argue that Poile should have been able to get more out of those teams for selecting a career minor-leaguer (Chabot) and a soon-to-be career minor leaguer (Vokoun) with his precious goalie picks. Still, he did okay.

And, really, that just emphasizes my point. For Poile to come up with any kind of decent players, he had to resort to this sort of back-door stuff. If more players and prospects were available for him to choose from, it wouldn't be necessary. Unfortunately, that's not likely to happen anytime soon. These rules are voted upon by the NHL Board of Governors, which consists of - yes - general managers who don't want to give up any of their best players. So the odds of them voting to give the Thrashers, Bluejackets, and Wild better players to choose from are about as good as the odds of Ron Hextall winning the Vezina next season.

Will the Predators finish dead last in 1998-99? Probably not, not as long as Tampa Bay thinks that Craig Janney is the solution to their problems, unless one of them is that morale in the locker room has been too high and they need someone to lower it. They'll probably finish a little bit below the middle of the pack, and stay there until kids like Legwand are ready to contribute. They should be just good enough to keep the fans interested for long enough to convince Gary Bettman that it's time to expand to 34 teams.

And that sucks.

NASHVILLE EXPANSION PICKS

J.J. Daigneault by Meredith Martini

Chris Armstrong, d, Florida
Blair Atcheynum, rw, St. Louis
Joel Bouchard, d, Calgary
Bob Boughner, d, Buffalo
Paul Brousseau, rw, Tampa Bay
Doug Brown, rw, Detroit
Andrew Brunette, lw, Washington
Frederic Chabot, g, Los Angeles
Patrick Cote, lw, Dallas
J.J. Daigneault, d, Islanders
Jeff Daniels, lw, Carolina
Craig Darby, c, Philadelphia
Mike Dunham, g, New Jersey
Doug Friedman, c, Edmonton
Tony Hrkac, c, Pittsburgh
Al Iafrate, d, San Jose
Greg Johnson, c, Chicago
Uwe Krupp, d, Colorado
Denny Lambert, lw, Ottawa
Mike Richter, g, Rangers
Mikhail Shtalenkov, g, Anaheim
John Slaney, d, Phoenix
Mike Sullivan, c, Boston
Tomas Vokoun, g, Montreal
Scott Walker, c, Vancouver
Rob Zettler, d, Toronto

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