2003–04 Minnesota Wild season

The 2003–04 Minnesota Wild season was the team's fourth season in the National Hockey League (NHL). Despite an incredible playoff run the previous year in 2002–03, the Wild failed to qualify for the 2004 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Division4th Northwest

Conference10th Western

2003–04 record30–29–20–3

Home record19–13–7–2

Quick facts Minnesota Wild, Division ...

2003–04 Minnesota Wild
Division	4th Northwest
Conference	10th Western
2003–04 record	30–29–20–3
Home record	19–13–7–2
Road record	11–16–13–1
Goals for	188
Goals against	183
Team information
General manager	Doug Risebrough
Coach	Jacques Lemaire
Captain	Rotating^[1] Brad Brown (Oct.) Andrew Brunette (Nov.) Richard Park (Dec.) Brad Bombardir (Jan.) Jim Dowd (Feb.) Andrew Brunette (Mar.–Apr.)
Alternate captains	Andrew Brunette (Oct., Dec.–Feb.) Jim Dowd (Oct.–Jan., Mar.) Alex Henry Richard Park (Oct.–Nov., Jan.-Apr.)
Arena	Xcel Energy Center
Average attendance	18,530
Minor league affiliates	Houston Aeros Louisiana IceGators
Team leaders
Goals	Alexandre Daigle (20)
Assists	Andrew Brunette (34)
Points	Alexandre Daigle (51)
Penalty minutes	Matt Johnson (177)
Plus/minus	Nick Schultz (+12) Willie Mitchell (+12)
Wins	Dwayne Roloson (19)
Goals against average	Dwayne Roloson (1.88)
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

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Regular season

All-Star Game

The 2004 NHL All-Star Game was held on February 8, 2004, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, home the Wild. The Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conference 6–4.

Final standings

More information No., CR ...

Northwest Division^[2]
No.	CR		GP	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
1	3	Vancouver Canucks	82	43	24	10	5	235	194	101
2	4	Colorado Avalanche	82	40	22	13	7	235	198	100
3	6	Calgary Flames	82	42	30	7	3	200	176	94
4	9	Edmonton Oilers	82	36	29	12	5	221	208	89
5	10	Minnesota Wild	82	30	29	20	3	188	183	83

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Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime loss; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points
Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.

More information R, Div ...

Western Conference^[3]
R		Div	GP	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	P- Detroit Red Wings	CE	82	48	21	11	2	255	189	109
2	Y- San Jose Sharks	PA	82	43	21	12	6	255	183	104
3	Y- Vancouver Canucks	NW	82	43	24	10	5	235	194	101
4	X- Colorado Avalanche	NW	82	40	22	13	7	236	198	100
5	X- Dallas Stars	PA	82	41	26	13	2	194	175	97
6	X- Calgary Flames	NW	82	42	30	7	3	200	176	94
7	X- St. Louis Blues	CE	82	39	30	11	2	191	198	91
8	X- Nashville Predators	CE	82	38	29	11	4	216	217	91
8.5
9	Edmonton Oilers	NW	82	36	29	12	5	221	208	89
10	Minnesota Wild	NW	82	30	29	20	3	188	183	83
11	Los Angeles Kings	PA	82	28	29	16	9	205	217	81
12	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	PA	82	29	35	10	8	184	213	76
13	Phoenix Coyotes	PA	82	22	36	18	6	188	245	68
14	Columbus Blue Jackets	CE	82	25	45	8	4	177	238	62
15	Chicago Blackhawks	CE	82	20	43	11	8	188	259	59

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Divisions: CE – Central, PA – Pacific, NW – Northwest

P – Clinched Presidents Trophy; Y – Clinched division; X – Clinched playoff spot

Schedule and results

More information Game, Date ...

2003–04 regular season^[4]

October: 4–6–1–0 (home: 2–3–1–0; road: 2–3–0–0)

Game	Date	Score	Opponent	Record	Recap
1	October 8, 2003	0–1	@ Chicago Blackhawks (2003–04)	0–1–0–0	L
2	October 10, 2003	5–3	New York Rangers (2003–04)	1–1–0–0	W
3	October 12, 2003	2–3	San Jose Sharks (2003–04)	1–2–0–0	L
4	October 16, 2003	2–5	Colorado Avalanche (2003–04)	1–3–0–0	L
5	October 18, 2003	2–2 OT	Vancouver Canucks (2003–04)	1–3–1–0	T
6	October 19, 2003	1–3	@ Dallas Stars (2003–04)	1–4–1–0	L
7	October 21, 2003	2–3	Calgary Flames (2003–04)	1–5–1–0	L
8	October 24, 2003	4–3	@ Florida Panthers (2003–04)	2–5–1–0	W
9	October 25, 2003	2–3	@ Tampa Bay Lightning (2003–04)	2–6–1–0	L
10	October 28, 2003	3–1	@ Buffalo Sabres (2003–04)	3–6–1–0	W
11	October 30, 2003	3–2	Atlanta Thrashers (2003–04)	4–6–1–0	W

November: 4–6–3–0 (home: 2–4–2–0; road: 2–2–1–0)

Game	Date	Score	Opponent	Record	Recap
12	November 1, 2003	2–1	Washington Capitals (2003–04)	5–6–1–0	W
13	November 4, 2003	4–4 OT	@ Colorado Avalanche (2003–04)	5–6–2–0	T
14	November 7, 2003	3–0	@ Calgary Flames (2003–04)	6–6–2–0	W
15	November 8, 2003	3–4	@ Vancouver Canucks (2003–04)	6–7–2–0	L
16	November 11, 2003	1–0	Vancouver Canucks (2003–04)	7–7–2–0	W
17	November 13, 2003	0–2	Edmonton Oilers (2003–04)	7–8–2–0	L
18	November 15, 2003	1–1 OT	Detroit Red Wings (2003–04)	7–8–3–0	T
19	November 19, 2003	6–2	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (2003–04)	8–8–3–0	W
20	November 20, 2003	1–3	@ Philadelphia Flyers (2003–04)	8–9–3–0	L
21	November 22, 2003	2–5	Detroit Red Wings (2003–04)	8–10–3–0	L
22	November 26, 2003	1–3	Dallas Stars (2003–04)	8–11–3–0	L
23	November 28, 2003	1–2	San Jose Sharks (2003–04)	8–12–3–0	L
24	November 30, 2003	1–1 OT	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2003–04)	8–12–4–0	T

December: 6–2–6–0 (home: 3–1–1–0; road: 3–1–5–0)

Game	Date	Score	Opponent	Record	Recap
25	December 3, 2003	1–0	@ Edmonton Oilers (2003–04)	9–12–4–0	W
26	December 5, 2003	1–2	@ Calgary Flames (2003–04)	9–13–4–0	L
27	December 6, 2003	1–1 OT	@ Vancouver Canucks (2003–04)	9–13–5–0	T
28	December 9, 2003	2–1	Calgary Flames (2003–04)	10–13–5–0	W
29	December 11, 2003	0–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (2003–04)	10–14–5–0	L
30	December 13, 2003	3–2	Buffalo Sabres (2003–04)	11–14–5–0	W
31	December 15, 2003	5–2	@ Phoenix Coyotes (2003–04)	12–14–5–0	W
32	December 17, 2003	3–2	@ Colorado Avalanche (2003–04)	13–14–5–0	W
33	December 18, 2003	1–1 OT	@ Edmonton Oilers (2003–04)	13–14–6–0	T
34	December 20, 2003	5–2	Columbus Blue Jackets (2003–04)	14–14–6–0	W
35	December 23, 2003	3–3 OT	Nashville Predators (2003–04)	14–14–7–0	T
36	December 26, 2003	2–2 OT	@ Detroit Red Wings (2003–04)	14–14–8–0	T
37	December 29, 2003	2–2 OT	@ Calgary Flames (2003–04)	14–14–9–0	T
38	December 30, 2003	2–2 OT	@ Edmonton Oilers (2003–04)	14–14–10–0	T

January: 3–6–5–2 (home: 3–2–2–1; road: 0–4–3–1)

Game	Date	Score	Opponent	Record	Recap
39	January 2, 2004	1–2	Edmonton Oilers (2003–04)	14–15–10–0	L
40	January 4, 2004	1–3	@ Colorado Avalanche (2003–04)	14–16–10–0	L
41	January 5, 2004	1–1 OT	@ St. Louis Blues (2003–04)	14–16–11–0	T
42	January 7, 2004	7–4	Chicago Blackhawks (2003–04)	15–16–11–0	W
43	January 9, 2004	0–2	Phoenix Coyotes (2003–04)	15–17–11–0	L
44	January 12, 2004	3–3 OT	Nashville Predators (2003–04)	15–17–12–0	T
45	January 14, 2004	2–2 OT	Los Angeles Kings (2003–04)	15–17–13–0	T
46	January 16, 2004	4–2	Pittsburgh Penguins (2003–04)	16–17–13–0	W
47	January 17, 2004	2–2 OT	@ St. Louis Blues (2003–04)	16–17–14–0	T
48	January 19, 2004	0–2	@ Nashville Predators (2003–04)	16–18–14–0	L
49	January 21, 2004	4–2	Chicago Blackhawks (2003–04)	17–18–14–0	W
50	January 23, 2004	2–6	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2003–04)	17–19–14–0	L
51	January 24, 2004	0–4	@ San Jose Sharks (2003–04)	17–20–14–0	L
52	January 26, 2004	2–2 OT	@ Los Angeles Kings (2003–04)	17–20–15–0	T
53	January 29, 2004	2–3 OT	Montreal Canadiens (2003–04)	17–20–15–1	OTL
54	January 31, 2004	1–2 OT	@ Columbus Blue Jackets (2003–04)	17–20–15–2	OTL

February: 4–5–2–0 (home: 3–3–1–0; road: 1–2–1–0)

Game	Date	Score	Opponent	Record	Recap
55	February 2, 2004	4–0	St. Louis Blues (2003–04)	18–20–15–2	W
56	February 4, 2004	4–3	@ New York Rangers (2003–04)	19–20–15–2	W
57	February 10, 2004	1–3	Los Angeles Kings (2003–04)	19–21–15–2	L
58	February 13, 2004	3–0	Edmonton Oilers (2003–04)	20–21–15–2	W
59	February 15, 2004	1–2	Calgary Flames (2003–04)	20–22–15–2	L
60	February 17, 2004	4–4 OT	@ New Jersey Devils (2003–04)	20–22–16–2	T
61	February 19, 2004	6–2	Vancouver Canucks (2003–04)	21–22–16–2	W
62	February 22, 2004	1–3	Colorado Avalanche (2003–04)	21–23–16–2	L
63	February 26, 2004	0–4	@ Nashville Predators (2003–04)	21–24–16–2	L
64	February 27, 2004	1–3	@ Dallas Stars (2003–04)	21–25–16–2	L
65	February 29, 2004	3–3 OT	Carolina Hurricanes (2003–04)	21–25–17–2	T

March: 7–4–3–1 (home: 4–0–0–1; road: 3–4–3–0)

Game	Date	Score	Opponent	Record	Recap
66	March 3, 2004	0–2	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2003–04)	21–26–17–2	L
67	March 4, 2004	1–1 OT	@ Los Angeles Kings (2003–04)	21–26–18–2	T
68	March 7, 2004	1–1 OT	@ Phoenix Coyotes (2003–04)	21–26–19–2	T
69	March 9, 2004	4–3	@ San Jose Sharks (2003–04)	22–26–19–2	W
70	March 10, 2004	1–1 OT	@ Vancouver Canucks (2003–04)	22–26–20–2	T
71	March 14, 2004	3–2	Columbus Blue Jackets (2003–04)	23–26–20–2	W
72	March 16, 2004	5–2	Ottawa Senators (2003–04)	24–26–20–2	W
73	March 18, 2004	2–0	@ Boston Bruins (2003–04)	25–26–20–2	W
74	March 19, 2004	1–3	@ New York Islanders (2003–04)	25–27–20–2	L
75	March 22, 2004	2–3 OT	Phoenix Coyotes (2003–04)	25–27–20–3	OTL
76	March 24, 2004	0–2	@ Columbus Blue Jackets (2003–04)	25–28–20–3	L
77	March 25, 2004	8–2	@ Chicago Blackhawks (2003–04)	26–28–20–3	W
78	March 28, 2004	2–1	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2003–04)	27–28–20–3	W
79	March 29, 2004	3–5	@ Detroit Red Wings (2003–04)	27–29–20–3	L
80	March 31, 2004	5–4 OT	Colorado Avalanche (2003–04)	28–29–20–3	W

April: 2–0–0–0 (home: 2–0–0–0; road: 0–0–0–0)

Game	Date	Score	Opponent	Record	Recap
81	April 2, 2004	4–2	Dallas Stars (2003–04)	29–29–20–3	W
82	April 4, 2004	3–0	St. Louis Blues (2003–04)	30–29–20–3	W

Legend: W Win (2 points) L Loss (0 points) T Tie (1 point) OTL Overtime loss (1 point)

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Player statistics

Scoring

Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
† = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Wild only.
‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Wild only.

More information No., Player ...

No.	Player	Pos	Regular season
No.	Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM
9	Alexandre Daigle	LW	78	20	31	51	−4	14
15	Andrew Brunette	RW	82	15	34	49	3	12
10	Marian Gaborik	RW	65	18	22	40	10	20
33	Sergei Zholtok‡	C	59	13	16	29	4	19
24	Antti Laaksonen	LW	77	12	14	26	0	20
11	Pascal Dupuis	LW	59	11	15	26	5	20
18	Richard Park	RW	73	13	12	25	0	28
37	Wes Walz	C	57	12	13	25	5	32
17	Filip Kuba	D	77	5	19	24	−7	28
34	Jim Dowd‡	C	55	4	20	24	6	38
96	Pierre-Marc Bouchard	LW	61	4	18	22	−7	22
32	Marc Chouinard	C	45	11	10	21	4	17
20	Andrei Zyuzin	D	65	8	13	21	4	48
28	Jason Wiemer†	C	62	7	11	18	−6	106
55	Nick Schultz	D	79	6	10	16	12	16
2	Willie Mitchell	D	70	1	13	14	12	83
19	Stephane Veilleux	LW	19	2	8	10	0	20
25	Rickard Wallin	C	15	5	4	9	1	14
26	Christoph Brandner	RW	35	4	5	9	−2	8
12	Matt Johnson	LW	57	7	1	8	4	177
21	Eric Chouinard†	RW	31	3	4	7	−7	6
36	Alex Henry†	LW	71	2	4	6	4	106
8	Brent Burns	RW	36	1	5	6	−10	12
23	Jason Marshall‡	D	12	1	4	5	−1	18
5	Brad Bombardir‡	D	56	1	2	3	−10	21
6	Zbynek Michalek	D	22	1	1	2	−7	4
14	Darby Hendrickson‡	C	14	1	0	1	−7	6
4	Brad Brown‡	D	30	0	1	1	−1	54
71^[a]	Travis Roche	D	5	0	1	1	−3	0
30	Dwayne Roloson	G	48	0	1	1		8
27	Kyle Wanvig	RW	6	0	1	1	−2	10
35	Manny Fernandez	G	37	0	0	0		2
28	Jeremy Stevenson‡	RW	3	0	0	0	−1	2

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Goaltending

More information No., Player ...

No.	Player	Regular season
No.	Player	GP	W	L	T	SA	GA	GAA	SV%	SO	TOI
30	Dwayne Roloson	48	19	18	11	1323	89	1.88	.933	5	2847
35	Manny Fernandez	37	11	14	9	1056	90	2.49	.915	2	2166

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Awards and records

Awards

More information Type, Award/honor ...

Type	Award/honor	Recipient	Ref
League (annual)	Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award	Dwayne Roloson	^[5]
League (in-season)	NHL All-Star Game selection	Filip Kuba	^[6]
	NHL All-Star Game selection	Dwayne Roloson	^[6]
	NHL Defensive Player of the Week	Dwayne Roloson (December 22)	^[7]
	NHL YoungStars Game selection	Pierre-Marc Bouchard	^[8]
Team	Three Star Award	Dwayne Roloson	^[9]

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Milestones

More information Milestone, Player ...

Milestone	Player	Date	Ref
First game	Christoph Brandner	October 8, 2003	^[10]
	Brent Burns	October 8, 2003
	Zbynek Michalek	January 16, 2004
750th game coached	Jacques Lemaire	December 11, 2003	^[11]

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Transactions

The Wild were involved in the following transactions from June 10, 2003, the day after the deciding game of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, through June 7, 2004, the day of the deciding game of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals.^[12]

Trades

More information Date, Details ...

Date	Details		Ref
June 21, 2003 (2003-06-21)	To Toronto Maple Leafs 3rd-round pick in 2003 4th-round pick in 2003	To Minnesota Wild 3rd-round pick in 2003	^[13]
June 26, 2003 (2003-06-26)	To Nashville Predators Curtis Murphy	To Minnesota Wild Peter Smrek	^[14]
June 26, 2003 (2003-06-26)	To Ottawa Senators Peter Smrek	To Minnesota Wild Chris Bala	^[15]
December 9, 2003 (2003-12-09)	To Phoenix Coyotes Chris Dyment	To Minnesota Wild Michael Schutte	^[16]
December 17, 2003 (2003-12-17)	To Philadelphia Flyers 5th-round pick in 2004	To Minnesota Wild Eric Chouinard	^[17]
February 25, 2004 (2004-02-25)	To Colorado Avalanche Darby Hendrickson 8th-round pick in 2004	To Minnesota Wild 4th-round pick in 2005	^[18]
March 3, 2004 (2004-03-03)	To San Jose Sharks Jason Marshall	To Minnesota Wild 5th-round pick in 2004	^[19]
March 4, 2004 (2004-03-04)	To Montreal Canadiens Jim Dowd	To Minnesota Wild 4th-round pick in 2004	^[20]
March 5, 2004 (2004-03-05)	To Nashville Predators Brad Bombardir Sergei Zholtok	To Minnesota Wild Buffalo’s 3rd-round pick in 2004 4th-round pick in 2004	^[21]
March 8, 2004 (2004-03-08)	To Buffalo Sabres Brad Brown 6th-round pick in 2005	To Minnesota Wild 4th-round pick in 2005	^[22]
March 9, 2004 (2004-03-09)	To Colorado Avalanche Chris Bala	To Minnesota Wild Jordan Krestanovich	^[23]

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Players acquired

More information Date, Player ...

Date	Player	Former team	Term	Via	Ref
July 28, 2003 (2003-07-28)	Marc Chouinard	Anaheim Mighty Ducks		Free agency	^[24]
August 6, 2003 (2003-08-06)	Jason Beckett	Nashville Predators	1-year	Free agency	^[25]
September 11, 2003 (2003-09-11)	Chris McAlpine	Los Angeles Kings	1-year	Free agency	^[26]
September 30, 2003 (2003-09-30)	Alexandre Daigle	Pittsburgh Penguins	1-year	Free agency	^[27]
October 9, 2003 (2003-10-09)	Alex Henry	Washington Capitals		Waivers	^[28]
November 13, 2003 (2003-11-13)	Jason Wiemer	New York Islanders		Waivers	^[29]
May 25, 2004 (2004-05-25)	Ryan Stokes	Mississauga IceDogs (OHL)		Free agency	^[30]
June 3, 2004 (2004-06-03)	Mark Rooneem	Calgary Hitmen (WHL)		Free agency	^[31]

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Players lost

More information Date, Player ...

Date	Player	New team	Via^[b]	Ref
July 15, 2003 (2003-07-15)	David Cullen	Buffalo Sabres	Free agency (VI)	^[33]
July 23, 2003 (2003-07-23)	Ladislav Benysek	HIFK (Liiga)	Free agency (UFA)	^[34]
August 7, 2003 (2003-08-07)	Dieter Kochan	New York Islanders	Free agency (VI)	^[35]
September 3, 2003 (2003-09-03)	Jay Henderson	Milwaukee Admirals (AHL)	Free agency (UFA)	^[36]
September 9, 2003 (2003-09-09)	Greg Crozier	New Jersey Devils	Free agency	^[37]
September 16, 2003 (2003-09-16)	Lubomir Sekeras	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (RSL)	Free agency (UFA)	^[38]
September 23, 2003 (2003-09-23)	Chris McAlpine		Retirement	^[39]
October 1, 2003 (2003-10-01)	Derek Gustafson	Louisiana IceGators (ECHL)	Free agency (UFA)	^[40]
October 8, 2003 (2003-10-08)	Tony Tuzzolino	Binghamton Senators (AHL)	Free agency	^[41]
October 16, 2003 (2003-10-16)	Rastislav Pavlikovsky	Leksands IF (SHL)	Free agency (VI)	^[42]
October 22, 2003 (2003-10-22)	Jeremy Stevenson	Nashville Predators	Waivers	^[43]
January 9, 2004 (2004-01-09)	Cliff Ronning	New York Islanders	Free agency (III)	^[44]

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Signings

More information Date, Player ...

Date	Player	Term	Contract type	Ref
July 2, 2003 (2003-07-02)	Mika Hannula		Entry-level	^[45]
July 8, 2003 (2003-07-08)	Johan Holmqvist	multi-year	Re-signing	^[46]
July 15, 2003 (2003-07-15)	Christoph Brandner	multi-year	Entry-level	^[47]
July 17, 2003 (2003-07-17)	Mikko Koivu	multi-year	Entry-level	^[48]
July 23, 2003 (2003-07-23)	Antti Laaksonen	1-year	Re-signing	^[49]
July 30, 2003 (2003-07-30)	Manny Fernandez	1-year	Re-signing	^[50]
July 31, 2003 (2003-07-31)	Andrei Zyuzin	multi-year	Re-signing	^[51]
August 11, 2003 (2003-08-11)	Willie Mitchell	1-year	Re-signing	^[52]
September 15, 2003 (2003-09-15)	Matt Johnson	1-year	Re-signing	^[53]
September 19, 2003 (2003-09-19)	Matt Foy	multi-year	Entry-level	^[54]
October 1, 2003 (2003-10-01)	Brent Burns		Entry-level	^[55]
October 26, 2003 (2003-10-26)	Pascal Dupuis	3-year	Re-signing	^[56]
October 31, 2003 (2003-10-31)	Marian Gaborik	multi-year	Re-signing	^[57]
February 28, 2004 (2004-02-28)	Wes Walz	multi-year	Extension	^[58]
March 1, 2004 (2004-03-01)	Matt Johnson	multi-year	Extension	^[59]

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Draft picks

The 2003 NHL entry draft was held at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee. After finishing the 2002–03 season with a 42–29–10–1 record, the Wild were awarded the 20th pick in the draft. Despite figuring fourth in the NHL for the previous season with only 178 goals allowed, and scoring only 198 goals, general manager Doug Risebrough selected defenseman Brent Burns in the first round.^[60]

More information Rnd, Pick ...

Rnd	Pick	Player	Nationality	Pos	Team (league)
1	20	Brent Burns	Canada	D	Brampton Battalion (OHL)
2	56	Patrick O'Sullivan	United States	C	Mississauga IceDogs (OHL)
3	78	Danny Irmen	United States	C	Lincoln Stars (USHL)
5	157	Marcin Kolusz	Poland	F	Podhale Nowy Targ (Poland)
6	187	Miroslav Kopriva	Czech Republic	G	Rabat Kladno (Czech Extraliga)
7	207	Georgi Misharin	Russia	D	Dinamo-Energija Yekaterinburg (Russia)
7	219	Adam Courchaine	Canada	C	Vancouver Giants (WHL)
8	251	Mathieu Melanson	Canada	C	Chicoutimi Saguenéens (QMJHL)
9	281	Jean-Michel Bolduc	United States	D	Quebec Remparts (QMJHL)