Viva…Troy Brouwer?
Jacob Messih zeros in on the errors made by the seven Canadian teams on their protected lists. He also projects a realistic Golden Knights roster going forward.
Last weekend, hockey fans were treated to Christmas in June.
The NHL announced the Expansion Draft protection lists for all 30 teams on Saturday morning and the internet went into a frenzy. Fans, hockey insiders, and journalists were all discussing and dissecting the lists released, trying to predict the makeup of the 31st NHL team.
From a Canadian perspective (and lets be honest — it’s the fans of the Canadian teams who really care about the NHL Expansion Draft) this piece will look at the protection lists of the seven Canadian teams and make changes where I would have protected different players. I also draft a complete Vegas Golden Knights roster.
Calgary
The Flames were smart enough to do exactly what I would have done (two points there for Brad Treliving). Their core group can easily be protected without much worry, and they were able to make the “tough” calls on the rest of their roster, such as exposing Troy Brouwer. Brouwer is a serviceable guy, don’t get me wrong, but he is overpaid. Vegas probably won’t take him, so Calgary exposed him to protect guys like Lazar, Bennett and Ferland — younger, cheaper, players with more upside.
Edmonton
Next stop, McDavid Nation. Oil Country is also in a decent spot heading into the draft. McDavid is automatically protected. That’s basically the whole team right there, so does anything else really matter? The only place I’d really look to make a change is leaving Sekera unprotected for Reinhart. However, Sekera has a no-movement clause, and he declined to waive it, so the Oilers’ hands are tied. Not a horrible loss for Edmonton, but it would have been nice to protect Reinhart.
Montreal
Like most in the hockey world, I have absolutely no idea what Marc Bergevin is doing. Sure, the Drouin trade is fine and all, but you needed a centre and got a winger. You were weak and aging on defence, and traded away your best young defenseman.
Bien fait Marc, bien fait.
I won’t bring up the Subban — Weber trade, so as to not send the Habs fans into a frenzy (oh wait, oops!) so back to the subject at hand. Why are you protecting Paul Byron over Charles Hudon? Yes, Byron had a good year, but his career high in points before last year was 21. Vegas might have the toughest call here, with a few decent guys left unprotected by Montréal, (like Hudon, De Le Rose, Davidson, Nesterov and UFA Radulov — though he is likely to re-sign on July 1st). Who will they pick? You’ll see my answer below.
Ottawa
Sens Army got a little lucky with the Bobby Ryan no-trade loophole. However, that luck didn’t last long. They asked Dion Phaneuf to waive his no-trade, and like the former captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs that he is, he declined. Ottawa wanted to protect Erik Karlsson, Marc Methot and Cody Ceci on the back end yet had to switch Methot for Dion. This has worried Sens fans, leading many to believe Methot is as good as gone.
But let’s step back here for a second. Methot is a 30-something stay at home defenseman in a league which is trending toward speed and skill. Methot has slowed recently and carries an expensive $4.9 Million cap hit for two more years. Losing him is the least of your worries. I wouldn’t be surprised if Vegas looked elsewhere.
Toronto
This expansion draft comes at a perfect time for the Leafs. Their best players (Matthews, Marner and Nylander) are all automatically exempt, so all the hard work is done for them. But you can always leave it up to the Leafs to mess something this simple up. The leafs protected Matt Martin. Yes, the team Dad got one of those elusive spots. And while they will not lose a superstar, they will lose someone of greater value than Martin. Vegas now gets a shot at either Kerby Rychel or Brendan Leipsic. I would have protected either of those players over Martin in a heartbeat. Come on guys!
Vancouver
The Vancouver Canucks’ protection list looks worse than most team’s exposure lists.
This team flat-out sucks, and under current management has refused to show any form of positive sustained direction. They often make head scratching decisions. For example, protecting Brandon Sutter and his $4.3 Million cap hit while exposing someone like a remotely promising Brendan Gaunce. If I am Vegas, I am skipping this pick.
Winnipeg
If it wasn’t for relocation, the Jets might have been doing this a few years ago. Alas, we are here, and the former Thrashers need some protecting. Firstly, props to Toby Enstrom for waving his no-trade clause and helping the Jets keep their defence together (take notes Dion). That allowed the Jets to keep the strength of their team and hand pick which forwards they wanted to keep. Overall, I thought that they made the right calls. You don’t want to lose a guy like Marko Dano, but the Jets kept their most proven players. Now they need to work their way up the standings, but that is a story for another time.
With that all settled, let’s take a look at my Las Vegas Golden Knights.
I created my team with the same rules General Manager George Mcphee will be required to use, which can be found here. Furthermore, I created my team not by selecting the best possible expansions team, but by selecting the team most realistic to what I think the Vegas Golden Knights will look like. The Knights have deals in place to stay away from certain players, and I used those while constructing my team. The toughest call may have been the Nashville Predators pick, because I am not sure if the Preds will have a deal in place to steer the Knights away from James Neal or not. If that is the case I’d have selected our favourite name in the NHL — Pontus Aberg. Alas, I wasn’t sure, so the best name on my team goes to Tampa Bay’s Slatter Koekkoek.
My team needed to be over the minimum $45 Million base and punches in at a cap hit of $59,012,500.00
View my expansion team in your browser here.
Happy NHL Expansion Draft!
Jacob is a hockey contributor for The Ocho. He is a Toronto Maple Leafs fan to a career debilitating level and likes talking sports and all else on Twitter. Follow along at @JacobMessih.
