Trade freeze goes into effect ahead of Vegas expansion draft
The anticipated wild flurry of trades leading up to Saturday’s 5 p.m. ET deadline to submit protected lists for Wednesday’s expansion draft didn’t happen.
Calgary’s acquisition of goalie Mike Smith, Buffalo’s trade for defenseman Nathan Beaulieu and New Jersey’s deal for defenseman Mirco Mueller were the only deals completed before the 3 p.m. trade freeze. Teams can now only trade with Vegas, and rosters are frozen until 8 a.m. Thursday.
The Vegas Golden Knights’ expansion picks will be made public during the NHL awards ceremony Wednesday night in Las Vegas.
Here are important questions still be answered:
Where is Marc-Andre Fleury going to play next season?
The Flames had interest in Fleury, and the fact they didn’t wait to see if they could work out a deal with Vegas might suggest the Golden Knights will draft Fleury and make him their No. 1 goalie.
Perhaps the Golden Knights have already made a deal with another team. The Philadelphia Flyers? How about the Buffalo Sabres? New general manager Jason Botterill knows Fleury well from his days in Pittsburgh.
Are the Minnesota Wild going to lose Marco Sandella or Jonas Brodin?
Not necessarily. They may already have a deal in place with Vegas to select a forward. The Wild can still make a deal with Vegas general manager George McPhee.
The Golden Knights are the only team that can make deals during the freeze.
Any other team receive help Saturday?
The Winnipeg Jets because defenseman Toby Enstrom waived his no-move clause as a favor to the team. He will be exposed in the draft to allow the Jets to protect defensemen Jacob Trouba, Dustin Byfuglien and Tyler Myers and five other forwards.
In a statement issued by his agent, Kalle Boden Enstrom said he didn’t want to leave Winnipeg, but wanted to help his team.
Because Enstrom will be 33 in November, he’s unlikely to be selected by Vegas. What happens now? Protected lists will be verified by the league, and teams were to receive them at 10 a.m. Sunday.
McPhee’s phone likely started ringing at 10:01 as teams called to see if they can make a deal to prevent Vegas from taking desired assets or pay a price to get him to draft a player whose contract is causing issues.
The best guess is that some of McPhee’s time over the next 72 hours will be spent talking to teams that want players left unprotected by other teams.
For example, the Montreal Canadiens may want Scandella and may be willing to pay a higher price for Vegas to draft him and ship him to the Canadiens than Minnesota would pay to have the Golden Knights leave him in Minnesota. Who are teams to watch? The Anaheim Ducks, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Nashville Predators and Ottawa Senators are among the teams that could lose a significant player if they haven’t already made a deal with Vegas.
Because the Ducks didn’t ask Kevin Bieksa to waive his no-move clause, it’s presumed that the Ducks have made a deal. The Columbus Dispatch reported that the Blue Jackets may be sending a first-round pick to Vegas in order to protect certain players.