Before the 2000 NHL season, both the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets participated in an expansion draft to select their rosters.
Both teams were given a pool of players to choose from, which would make up their inaugural season roster—unless they made changes in the offseason.
For both clubs, it wasn’t the best pool of players, not even close to how it was set up when the Vegas Golden Knights entered the NHL. The available players weren’t overly skilled, which resulted in both teams coming out of the expansion draft with rosters that weren’t very competitive.
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For the Blue Jackets, they selected a total of three goaltenders, eight defensemen, and 15 forwards.
Here was their picks:
Forwards
Kevyn Adams (TOR)
Kevin Dineen (OTT)
Dallas Drake (PHX)
Ted Drury (NYI)
Bruce Gardiner (TBL)
Steve Heinze (BOS)
Robert Kron (CAR)
Sergei Luchinkin (DAL)
Barrie Moore (WSH)
Geoff Sanderson (BUF)
Turner Stevenson (MTL)
Martin Streit (PHI)
Dmitri Subbotin (NYR)
Jeff Williams (NJD)
Tyler Wright (PIT)
Defensemen
Jonas Andersson-Junkka (PIT)
Radim Bicanek (CHI)
Lyle Odelein (PHX)
Jamie Pushor (DAL)
Tommi Rajamaki (TOR)
Bert Robertsson (EDM)
Mathieu Schneider (NYR)
Mattias Timander (BOS)
Goaltenders
Frederic Chabot (MTL)
Dwayne Roloson (BUF)
Rick Tabaracci (COL)
The Blue Jackets took Rick Tabaracci with the first pick in the expansion draft, and then it was the Wild’s turn to pick. The draft was set up for the Blue Jackets to start with one pick, followed by the Wild selecting twice, then Columbus picking twice, and so on.
Revisiting The Columbus Blue Jackets First Trade In Franchise History The Columbus Blue Jackets have been a franchise in the NHL for the last 25 years. In 2000, they formed, and on May 11, 2000, they made their first trade in history.
During the expansion draft, the Blue Jackets made a few deals that later turned out to be questionable.
Here are the trades and the stipulations on each trade:
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San Jose traded Jan Caloun, a ninth-round pick (Martin Paroulek) in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, and a conditional pick in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft to Columbus on June 11, 2000, after the Blue Jackets agreed not to select Evgeni Nabokov.
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Buffalo traded Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, Matt Davidson, and two fifth-round draft picks—one in 2000 (Tyler Kolarik) and one in 2001 (Andreas Jamtin)—to Columbus on June 23, 2000, after the Blue Jackets agreed not to select Dominik Hasek or Martin Biron.
Yes, that’s right—the Blue Jackets could have had Hasek, Biron, or Nabokov, but they made deals agreeing not to take those players.
After the draft ended, the offseason continued with free agency and the NHL Draft. In free agency, the Blue Jackets saw a few of their expansion picks leave:
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Dallas Drake (signed by St. Louis on July 1, 2000)
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Mathieu Schneider (signed by Los Angeles on August 13, 2000)
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Dwayne Roloson (signed with AHL’s Worcester IceCats)
There are some theories that all three of these players refused to play for the Blue Jackets. However, upon further research, I couldn’t find conclusive evidence. All I could find is that they agreed to contracts with other teams and moved on from the organization before playing a game.
Looking ahead to the 2000 NHL Draft, the Blue Jackets had 11 picks to use.
R1 P4: Rostislav Klesla – D
R3 P4: Ben Knopp – RW
R5 P3: Petteri Nummelin – D
R5 P8: Scott Heffernan – D (From BOS)
R5 P20: Tyler Kolarik – C (From SJS)
R6 P2: Shane Bendera – G
R7 P3: Janne Jokila – LW
R8 P2: Peter Zingoni – C
R9 P17: Martin Paroulek – RW (From SJS)
R9 P25: Andrej Nedorost – C (From FLA)
R9 P31: Louis Manderville – D (From DET)
Lastly, the free agent signings, although it was hard to find, there was one that was notable. They signed goaltender Ron Tugnutt, who previously played for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He went on to be their starter for two seasons before being traded to the Dallas Stars.
Revisiting The Columbus Blue Jackets & Dallas Stars Trade History With the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Dallas Stars facing off tonight and the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline only 11 days away, it’s a good time to revisit the trade history between the two clubs.
Overall, the team went 28-39-6 and finished last in their division. They used their first round pick to select goaltender Pascal Leclaire. The next season, they would also do terrible which landed them the first overall pick. They used that pick to select Rick Nash who would quickly become the face of their franchise.
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