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Follow the bouncing pick

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 9, 2001

ST. LOUIS -- The Lightning was the first NHL team to trade the No. 1 pick in the draft. Now, the centerpiece of the 1999 deal, goaltender Dan Cloutier, has been traded to the Canucks for defenseman Adrian Aucoin and a second-round pick in this year's draft.

But Lightning general manager Rick Dudley said Thursday that the trade for Cloutier was still a good one because of the players the permutations of that transaction produced.

"You say we got Cloutier, but it wasn't just Cloutier," Dudley said.

Indeed, if you follow the trail, the Lightning acquired Aucoin, defenseman Andrei Zyuzin, highly regarded junior forward Nikita Alexeev, junior defenseman Brett Scheffelmaier and left wing prospect Jimmie Olvestad.

Goaltender Kevin Weekes and defenseman Kristian Kudroc also are in the mix. The Lightning traded the No. 5 pick in last year's draft to the Islanders to get them because it had the No. 8 pick, acquired from the Rangers in the Cloutier deal, to fall back on.

Dudley was going to choose Daniel Sedin to start the 1999 draft. Instead, he traded the pick to the Canucks for two third-round picks and the No. 4 pick Vancouver acquired from the Blackhawks. That gave Vancouver the draft's first and third picks.

The Canucks then worked a deal with the expansion Thrashers that gave Atlanta the first pick that turned into Patrik Stefan. Vancouver, with the second and third picks, chose Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

The Rangers, who wanted to draft Pavel Brendl, traded Cloutier, Niklas Sundstrom and its first- and third-round picks in the 2000 draft to the Lightning for the No. 4 pick.

Got that? Now the payoff:

The Lightning used Vancouver's third-round picks to draft Scheffelmaier and Olvestad.

It traded Sundstrom and the Rangers' third-round pick in 2000 to the Sharks for Zyuzin, Bill Houlder, Steve Guolla and Shawn Burr.

It used the Rangers' first-round pick in the 2000 draft to choose Alexeev.

Houlder (waived), Burr (retired) and Guolla (waived) are no longer with the team.

"In essence, what happened is we dropped from (the No. 1 draft pick in 1999) to eight (in 2000) in terms of the first round, and got all the rest of that with it," Dudley said.

TIME OUT: Dudley said he doesn't expect any more trades.

"I'll never say never, but we're not actively trying to do something else," he said. "I want to see what we've got."

BUDGET CRUNCH: How much payroll did the Lightning add with trades for Aucoin and Matthew Barnaby? About $1.1-million, which brings its base payroll to $18.1-million. Only the Wild, down to $16-million, is lower.

Salaries lost: Steve Martins (traded) $450,000; Bryan Muir (traded) $75,000 on the minor-league side of his two-way deal; Wayne Primeau (traded) $575,000; and Cloutier $660,000.

Salaries added: Nils Ekman (called up from minors) $175,000, half the $350,000 he would make for a full NHL season; Barnaby $1.1-million and Aucoin $1.6-million.

GOALTENDING CRUNCH: The Lightning will recall Dieter Kochan from the IHL's Detroit Vipers for Saturday's game at Boston. He is expected to be Weekes' backup for the remainder of the season. Kochan has a 2.08 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage in seven games with Tampa Bay.

Evgeny Konstantinov was sent to Detroit after backing up Weekes on Thursday against the Blues.

Dudley said he will likely sign a free-agent goaltender to join Konstantinov in Detroit. That is a priority because if Weekes is hurt (he has missed six games with injuries), Tampa Bay has only Kochan and 19-year-old Konstantinov under contract to hold the fort.

VINNY SITS: Lightning coach John Tortorella said Vinny Lecavalier had enough pain in his fractured left foot after the morning skate to keep him out of the lineup. He is day-to-day.

ODDS AND ENDS: Defenseman Paul Mara played his 100th NHL game. ... Forward Stan Drulia and defenseman Sergey Gusev were healthy scratches.

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