Draft day wheeling and dealing
Trade roundup: Coffey heads for Chicago
Posted: Saturday June 27, 1998 08:05 PM
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Coffey scored two goals and added 27 assists in 57 games last season for the Flyers (Craig Melvin/AP Contrib) |
BUFFALO, New York (CNN/SI) -- Paul Coffey is making his way around the NHL.
The Philadelphia Flyers sent the veteran defenseman to the Chicago Blackhawks -- his seventh NHL team -- Saturday for a fifth-round selection in this year's draft.
Coffey immediately agreed to a two-year contract with the Blackhawks. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the Flyers will pick up $1 million over the two years. Coffey, 37, made $2.9 million last season and had one year remaining on his contract with the Flyers.
"Paul can still skate," Blackhawks general manager Bob Murray said. "He can carry the puck out of his own zone. He has proven to be excellent with younger players. It was an opportunity for us to get a guy who can help us immediately."
Coffey, a 14-time All-Star with 1,473 career points, was among the best offensive defensemen in history. He won the Norris Trophy as the league's top defenseman three times and has four Stanley Cup rings.
Coffey was slow coming back from a concussion sustained in 1997 and had two goals and 27 assists in 57 games for the Flyers last
season. He was scratched for all five first-round playoff games against the Buffalo Sabres and did not fit into Philadelphia's 1998-99 plans.
"If a player is not going to play for you, sometimes you have to accept paying part of the contract," Flyers general manager Bob Clarke said.
Nashville was the busiest team on draft day.
The Predators acquired 26 players during the NHL Expansion Draft and picked up nine more through seven trades before making their
first selection in the Entry Draft on Saturday.
Nashville's biggest deal came in the first round when it exchanged two picks with San Jose and moved into the second spot overall to take center David Legwand.
Legwand, 17, had 54 goals and 51 assists in 59 games for the Plymouth Whalers in the Ontario Hockey League last year. He was considered the second best prospect behind Vincent Lecavalier -- who was taken No. 1 overall by Tampa Bay -- by most teams in the league.
"New jersey, new everything," Legwand said when asked about the Predators' sweater. "It's an honor to be here and [be] their first pick ever in their history. It's something that will always
be in the back of my head."
Nashville also acquired goaltender Dominic Roussel and prospect Jeff Staples from Philadelphia for a seventh-round pick and forward
Ville Peltonen from San Jose.
The Predators picked up five players for future considerations: Center Jim Dowd from the Calgary Flames; center Sebastian Bordeleau from the Montreal Canadiens; defensemen Jan Vopat and Kimmo Timonen from the Los Angeles Kings; forward Sergei Krivokrasov from Chicago; and center Darren Turcotte from the St. Louis Blues.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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