Expansion draft dealing has just begun
Mike Smith went from Arizona to Calgary and a couple of defencemen traded places as NHL teams made last-minute moves before the Vegas expansion draft roster freeze.
None of those defencemen came from the Minnesota Wild, Ottawa Senators or Anaheim Ducks, leaving big questions with the Vegas Golden Knights poised to acquire some serious talent in their expansion draft window from Sunday through Wednesday. General manager George McPhee’s phone was already ringing Saturday afternoon as his 30 colleagues did their best to shuffle the deck and protect themselves.
“With the expansion process upcoming, it forces you to make some decisions,” Coyotes GM John Chayka said.
From Saturday afternoon through Thursday morning, after Vegas makes its picks, the rest of the teams can’t make trades with each other. The freeze and submission of protected lists, to be released Sunday at 10 a.m., created something of a tradedeadline feel as GMs looked to make the pieces work.
“It had all the feelings of a trade deadline, but there were conditions,” Flames GM Brad Treliving said by phone.
The Flames solidified their goaltending situation by getting the 35year-old Smith from the Coyotes for a conditional pick and a prospect, taking advantage of their ability to protect a goalie.
The Montreal Canadiens recouped a third-round pick from the Buffalo Sabres for 24-year-old defenceman Nathan Beaulieu, who has a connection to Vegas coach Gerard Gallant from their junior days and would’ve been left exposed in the expansion draft. The San Jose Sharks got second- and fourth-round picks for Mirco Mueller and a fifth-rounder, a safeguard against losing a 22-yearold defenceman for nothing.
But trades that didn’t happen stood out more, most notably the Wild not dealing Matt Dumba, Marco Scandella or Jonas Brodin, and the Senators not moving Marc Methot or Dion Phaneuf. That puts those teams and the Anaheim Ducks in position to work out a deal with Ve- gas, which could prove costly.
The Winnipeg Jets solved an expansion issue even as they didn’t make a trade as Enstrom agreed to waive his no-movement clause before the deadline Friday, allowing them to protect their other three top defencemen: Dustin Byfuglien, Jacob Trouba and Tyler Myers. Enstrom’s Sweden-based agent, Kalle Boden, said in an email that his client waived his no-move as a favour to the Jets and “wants to stay” in Winnipeg.
The Golden Knights said Saturday night in a statement that they have “indicated that they will give all 30 clubs every opportunity to keep their rosters intact if they’d like.”