Since 1993, the Panthers have managed to select 18 players in the sixth round of the NHL draft. The best of them? The first one they picked. Selected in ’93, defenseman Alain Nasreddine managed to play in 74 NHL contests, and not one of them with the Cats. It would be more interesting to select someone who actually suited up for Florida, such as Scott Timmins or Josh Olson, but Nasreddine was the only one of this bunch to see significant NHL action at all.
Selected 135th overall, Nasreddine spent seven seasons in the minor leagues until the Chicago Blackhawks gave him a taste of some NHL play in the 1998-1999 season. The Panthers held on to Nasreddine for three years until dealing him to Chicago on December 18, 1996. The same season he first saw NHL action was also his second trade event, as he was part of a big package deal between the Blackhawks and the Montreal Canadiens, who dealt Brad Brown, Dave Manson and Jocelyn Thibault to Chicago in exchange for Nasreddine, Jeff Hackett, Eric Weinrich, and a 4th round pick in the ’99 draft. Nasreddine would see time on the Montreal blue line to finish out that season, playing in eight more games before being demoted back to the AHL.
Two years later, Nasreddine was again on the move, this time heading to the New York Islanders in a trade. He would play in only three games with New York before being dealt yet again in 2004 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. That franchise would give Nasreddine the most NHL work he’d see in his career, as he would play in 56 games for the club before retiring from the NHL in 2008. He proceeded to play overseas in Germany for two more seasons before hanging up the skates for good. Nasreddine is now serving as an assistant coach of the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, the AHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins.