Wild, NHL Release Waiver Draft List
by Chris Thompson

Wednesday October 1, 2003

The Minnesota Wild's list of unprotected players for the NHL Waiver Draft was released today. Minnesota was allowed to protect 18 qualifying skaters and two goalies. Exposed in the draft were:

Jason Beckett (D)
Alexandre Daigle (F)
Chris McAlpine (D)
Bill Muckalt (F)
Tony Tuzzolino (F)

McAlpine has already announced his retirement and is certain to not be selected. The same can not be said for Muckalt and Daigle. Daigle was just signed by Minnesota. His career has been a collosal disappointment, but at only 28 there's still time for his talent to finally come through. Teams short on talent may take a shot at him. As for Muckalt, he got off to a fast start last season before suffering an injury that lasted most of the season. His hot start may still ride in the memories of a GM or two around the league. We'll know by Friday night.

The NHL Waiver Draft begins Friday at noon (ET). The first round of the draft is for non-playoff clubs from the 2002-03 season only. In that round, eligible teams cannot claim a player from a team in their own division.

All teams can participate in the second round. The draft order will mirror the basic order for the NHL Entry draft, in reverse order of last season's final standings. Teams cannot lose more than three players unless they volunteer to do so. The three-player loss limit will increase by the number of draft claims it makes against other clubs. Players with limited playing experience were excluded from the draft.

Familiar names exposed on other teams include: Casey Hankinson (F-Anaheim), Bill Lindsay (F-Atlanta), Ted Donato (F-Boston), Steve Shields (G-Boston), Jamie Mclennan (G-Calgary), Arturs Irbe (G-Carolina), Theo Fleury (F-Chicago), Mark Hartigan (F-Columbus), Claude Lemieux (F-Dallas), Curtis Joseph (G-Detroit), Todd Gil (D-Florida), Ivan Novoseltsev (F-Florida), Sylvain Blouin (F-Montreal), Karl Dykhuis (D-Montreal), Mariusz Czerkawski (F-Islanders), Dieter Kochan (G-Islanders), Pavel Bure (F-Rangers), Mike Richter (G-Rangers), Chris Therien (D-Flyers), Todd Simpson (D-Phoenix), Todd Harvey (F-San Jose), Robert Reichel (F-Toronto) and Nolan Baumgartner (D-Vancouver).