"Los Angeles traded Kimmo Timonen and Jan Vopat to Nashville after the Predators agreed not to select Garry Galley."
In hindsight, what a blunder by LAK.
Yup, big blunder. Although the other caveat that wasn't mentioned was that Nashville agreed to draft LA's #3 goalie Frederic Chabot. At the time, LA had an issue with protecting goalies. Incumbent starter Stephane Fiset was 28 and presumed goalie of the future Jamie Storr was 22.
There would be expansion drafts in 1999 and 2000, so LA figured they'd have a problem protecting both goalies. Back then, teams had the option of protecting 9 forwards-5 defensemen-1 goalie or 7 forwards-3 defensemen-2 goalies.
There was also a little known rule that said that a team couldn't lose a goaltender in consecutive expansion drafts. Since the Kings lost a goalie in 1998, they could protect 9-5-1 and not worry about losing another goalie in 1999.