Vegas on mind in Buffalo
Bruins, rest of league deal with McPhee
BUFFALO — The fact that George McPhee is the general manager of the new hockey franchise in Las Vegas presents the perfect metaphor for his current situation.
McPhee right now holds all the cards against his fellow GMs.
You want to keep a player but you can’t protect him in the expansion draft? McPhee’s your man, but it’ll cost you. Want to unload a bad contract? Get McPhee on the line — but be prepared to give up something to his Golden Knights.
McPhee was at the home of the Buffalo Sabres this week for the NHL scouting combine, where he renewed ongoing conversations with the 30 other general managers. He said things are percolating enough that he should be able to announce some deals, maybe even within the next couple of days.
“It’s been amazing, actually, since the start of this whole thing,” McPhee said. “The attention this franchise has garnered is certainly special for all of us, it’s stimulating and a positive experience all year long. But we’re that point now where we’ve planned and a prepared a lot, and now we have to deliver.”
The Bruins won’t be able to protect every player that want to in the expansion draft, but they’re in pretty good shape. The guess here is that defenseman Kevan Miller will be protected, while Adam McQuaid, one of a handful of Stanley Cup winners still on the team, or Colin Miller, who was part of the Milan Lucic deal, will be left unprotected. But even if the B’s lose one of those two players, they’ll still be pretty wellstocked on the right side on defense with Brandon Carlo, Charlie McAvoy and Kevan Miller.
What might be more pertinent to the Bruins is getting rid of a hefty contract. Matt Beleskey is bound to have a better year than the injury-plagued campaign of 2016-17, but it’s hard to imagine the left winger playing up to his contract, which is scheduled to pay him $3.8 million for the next three years. The B’s also have a bevy of prospects on the left side — Jake DeBrusk, Peter Cehlarik, Danton Heinen, Anders Bjork and Frank Vatrano — for whom Beleskey could represent a road block to their development.
Would Beleskey’s contract be tempting to McPhee if it came with a third-round draft pick? Would Bruins general manager Don Sweeney, if he in fact does want to move Beleskey’s contract, go as high as a second-rounder?
We’ll find out the answer to those and other questions between now and June 17, when teams have to have their protected lists into the league. But those are the kinds of conversations McPhee is having with his fellow GMs. Building the Golden Knights from the ground up, McPhee would like to have a surplus of draft picks in the club’s first couple of years.
“We’re willing to take a couple of contracts that people would like to move,” said McPhee, who could also be the middle man for teams looking to get at others’ unprotected players. “We have a lot of teams that are offering us some big contracts. And I know what it’s like to be on the other side and tight on the (salary) cap. It’s hard to move contracts, so they’re looking at us to move a contract. And we’ll take a few of those. For the right price.”
By the nature of the expansion beast, McPhee will be getting at least a few players who’ll be unhappy to be leaving their teams. McQuaid, for instance, expressed on breakup day that he’d very much like to remain a Bruin. But McPhee said he is not worried about those possible sentiments.
“We’re not concerned about that, because players can be traded at any time — though players do seem to be worked up about expansion and where they fit with their clubs,” McPhee said. “But we’re pretty comfortable in feeling that whoever comes to Vegas is going to enjoy it. . . . With all that we have and if we do this right, we have a chance to win. And for most players, that’s all they want.”
It should be an interesting couple of weeks.