Mocking Up Some of Vegas’s Expansion Selections

Wednesday will be the unveiling of Vegas’s initial team roster, as comprised of the 30 selections they make, one from each team. Though the trade freeze went into effect on Saturday, it only applied to the existing 30 teams making deals with each other. The Golden Knights were allowed to make and field offers with each of the 30 teams to specifically take or not take specific players, as well as lining up future deals for another team to acquire a player they selected in expansion.

As of the latest offering from everyone’s favorite, Bob McKenzie, it is understood that at least eight teams have deals in place with Vegas — the Ducks, Blue Jackets, Blackhawks, Panthers, Wild, Islanders, Penguins, and Lightning. Some of the deals’ terms have been reported, though official terms of deals will not be released until the actual draft. Between these reports and NHL teams’ released protection lists, I took it upon myself to select a halfway decent team out in the desert.

Now, this will probably not be the team that Vegas actually picks — GM George McPhee has announced that they will try to pick younger players, and I have selected quite a few veterans. I also did not select any players that are set to be unrestricted free agents this offseason, but perhaps McPhee likes his chances enough to negotiate a deal with some well-known UFAs, such as T.J. Oshie or Justin Williams from the Capitals. Still, of the players I selected, only one is signed beyond 2019, giving the expansion franchise plenty of future flexibility.

So, without further ado, here is my rendering of the Vegas Golden Knights (thank you to the excellent capfriendly.com for their expansion tool).

Anaheim Ducks: Logan Shaw. One of the teams all but confirmed to have a protection deal in place, they are reportedly paying a price for the Golden Knights not to select Sami Vatanen and/or Josh Manson. I erred on the side of caution and opted to assume the deal protects them both. Shaw is a gritty forward and fourth liner, and Anaheim doesn’t have much talent exposed beyond their two defenseman.

Arizona Coyotes: Josh Jooris. A godawful team unsurprisingly doesn’t have a whole lot to offer in the way of talent, but Jooris is a decent enough player to have in your bottom-six and hasn’t been able to get a consistent shot at the NHL. What better way to finally break in than with a brand new team?

Boston Bruins: Colin Miller. A young defenseman, acquired in the Milan Lucic trade, that has been very effective in his time with the Bruins, when he gets a shot. The Bruins final protection spot probably came down to either of the Millers they have on defense — they chose Kevan (poorly).

Buffalo Sabres: Matt Moulson. He scored 30 goals three separate times on the wing of John Tavares and parlayed that into a five-year, $25 million contract with the Sabres, but he hasn’t been the same player away from Tavares and into his 30s. Still, the Sabres are quite bad and there isn’t a lot to choose from here. Veteran presence, or something like that.

Calgary Flames: Hunter Shinkaruk. A former first-round pick acquired from the Canucks, Shinkaruk hasn’t really been much to write home about, but the Flames don’t have much to offer in terms of cheap talent either. Someone’s gotta play in the AHL!

Carolina Hurricanes: Andrej Nestrasil. He was acquired for cheap from the Red Wings but hasn’t gotten a shot with the big club, and actually torched the organization back in March for not giving him a better chance at making the NHL, so I’m sure he’d welcome the change of scenery.

Chicago Blackhawks: Trevor van Riemsdyk. This deal has reportedly been in the works for weeks, but the Blackhawks have agreed to leave TvR unprotected in exchange for Vegas taking Marcus Kruger’s contract off their hands in a trade. The Knights really love van Riemsdyk, but I gotta say, I don’t really see the appeal. Seems pretty meh.

Colorado Avalanche: Mikhail Grigorenko. Back when he was drafted, he was considered one of the top talents available, but his attitude was questioned because of the “Russian Factor.” The Sabres took a chance on him and then he was included in the Ryan O’Reilly trade, and things haven’t worked out greatly for him since. However, the Avalanche seem to be a cesspool right now, so it’s hard to judge anyone in that organization without a clean slate. Worth taking a chance on.

Columbus Blue Jackets: William Karlsson. The Blue Jackets reportedly have a deal in place with the Golden Knights wherein the Knights receive a first-round pick and a prospect in exchange for taking one of Matt Calvert or William Karlsson. Calvert is 27 and winger, vs. Karlsson, who is 24 and a center. Don’t know much about them other than that.

Dallas Stars: Greg Pateryn. I originally had Dan Hamhuis, but Pateryn is younger and cheaper, and a solid bottom-pair defenseman. The Stars, despite their wealth of talent, are actually well-positioned for the expansion draft, unless you like Cody Eakin like this maroon.

Detroit Red Wings: Petr Mrazek. This one is fairly obvious. And also bizarre. Why would the Red Wings protect older, worse, and more expensive Jimmy Howard over Mrazek, who had one bad season and is only 25 and owed $4 million next season? Absolutely insane, unless the Wings have some sort of problem with Mrazek that they don’t care about losing him for nothing. Which is still piss-poor asset management.

Edmonton Oilers: Benoit Pouliot. A player much reviled in the media and fanbase of Edmonton, he’s actually quite an effective-play driver and definitely a good player to have in your forward corps. He’s expensive and older, and many feel that Griffin Reinhart is the player most likely to be selected by Vegas, but the Knights would be wise to take Benoit (Balls).

Florida Panthers: Jason Demers. So many options here. They reportedly secured a deal with Vegas today, but the terms are unknown. Still, they left 30-goal scorer Jonathan Marchessault, top six winger Reilly Smith, and top four (arguably higher) defenseman Demers available. It’s tempting to select the first two, but Marchessault may be a flash in the pan, and Smith is good but more expensive than Demers. And, given Demers’s style of play and ability to play top minutes, he may have a stronger impact on the game than Smith. There’s new speculation that the Panthers are looking to offload either of or both of Marchessault and Smith.

Los Angeles Kings: Nick Shore. I don’t know much about the Kings. They play too late at night for me. I had Marian Gaborik originally, but he’s old and broken and expensive. Young center it is.

Minnesota Wild: Eric Staal. The Wild are a team that was seen early on as at risk of losing a valuable player. I know they have a deal in place to protect some players they left exposed, like Mat Dumba and Marco Scandella. That may also include Staal, but if it doesn’t, he’s their new first line center. New reports indicate that Erik Haula may be Vegas’s guy.

Montreal Canadiens: Brandon Davidson. A young, solid defender with a cheap cap hit going into next season. This seems like a no-brainer to me, as the only big names exposed by the Habs are older and not worth picking if Davidson’s available.

Nashville Predators: James Neal. As of right now, I don’t believe there’s a deal in place with Vegas to protect a player, but the Preds left a few options for the Knights, especially on forward. In the end, I went with Neal because he’s a scoring threat. In their quest to go young, wouldn’t shock me if VGK takes Colin Wilson instead.

New Jersey Devils: Beau Bennett. I like Mike Cammalleri, but not at $5 million for the next two seasons at his age. Bennett has always struck me as an effective player to have in your middle six forwards. He just has a tough time staying healthy. But the Devils don’t have a lot of talent exposed (or don’t have a lot of talent at all) so I’d take the chance on Bennett.

New York Islanders: Jaroslav Halak. The Islanders left quite a few big names on the table for a team that opted to go the eight-skater route in protection. Names like Brock Nelson, Ryan Strome, Calvin de Haan, and Thomas Hickey were all left exposed (while they curiously protected Adam Pelech). They reportedly have a deal in place with the Knights protecting at least the first of the three I listed, so the Knights may take Hickey, but I figured if they don’t keep Halak, they could flip him.

New York Rangers: Michael Grabner. This was kinda tough, because it was hard to not pick Antti Raanta. He’s been as solid a back-up as I can remember for Hank. But Grabner is a dynamic player and is effective everywhere he goes, even if it isn’t always in the boxcars. He’s especially an excellent penalty-killer.

Ottawa Senators: Fredrik Claesson. A bit off the board, for sure, especially with Bobby Ryan and Clarke MacArthur available. But Ryan is expensive and not all that good, and MacArthur is extremely concussion prone. Claesson is a solid young defenseman signed at under $1 million and is under RFA control after this season.

Philadelphia Flyers: Michael Raffl. Steve Mason is good enough to warrant selection even as an impending UFA, but the Knights probably already have their starting goalie lined up (see below) and Raffl is a good play-driving winger that can play on any line and make it a little better. Surprised he’s exposed, to be honest.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury backstopped the Penguins through the first two and a half rounds of the postseason, before Matt Murray took over to finish the job. It seemed likely the Knights were going to take whichever goalie the Penguins left exposed. Fleury agreed to waive his NMC, and reportedly the Penguins are giving a pick to the Knights to ensure they select Fleury.

San Jose Sharks: Paul Martin. He’s not what he used to be, but he is still a solid top four defenseman in the NHL and will bring some Veteran Presence (trademarked) to the new squad on the Strip. Do I sound like I’m from Las Vegas? Do people in Vegas even have a specific sound?

St. Louis Blues: Nail Yakupov. It came down to him or David Perron, but Yak is cheaper and younger. Don’t know if he’ll ever live up to the hype of being №1 overall, but an expansion team should be willing to take a free flyer on him.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Jason Garrison. The latest report is that the Lightning have a deal in place to clear Garrison’s salary, though it is unclear what the terms are. Still, they avoid losing players like Jake Dotchin and Slater Koekkoek and gain much needed cap space.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Martin Marincin. He’s an under-appreciated shot suppressor, who can drive play or at least break even largely due to the shots he limits. Of course, that means he doesn’t generate many on his own, but a solid bottom four defenseman to be sure.

Vancouver Canucks: Luca Sbisa. Ugh, I really gotta pick one of these guys? I think VGK would be better served taking none of them — addition by subtraction, or something like that.

Washington Capitals: Philipp Grubauer. The latest report indicates that VGK is going to hoard defensemen, which means that the likelihood they take Nate Schmidt is very high. Schmidt is a good defenseman, and VGK wouldn’t miss with that pick, but Grubauer would be my pick.

Winnipeg Jets: Tobias Enstrom. The latest report from Darren Dreger indicates that Enstrom may be on his way to Vegas. He did the Jets a large favor by waiving his NMC for this, and it may bite him on the ass. Gonna be a stark climate change from Winnipeg to Las Vegas.