PICKS NOW COULD AID TEAM DOWN THE ROAD
picks until the end of the expansion draft on Wednesday morning. That is, if he even goes to sleep.
Mcphee is in the midst of the busiest transaction period in NHL history, and he is the center of it all.
“There was a certain intensity to the last two or three days because we were trying to keep an eye on all the other clubs, and it certainly changed today,” Mcphee said Sunday morning, only three hours into the expansion draft period. “It’s a different phase. We have some control over what’s happening now, but now we’re on the clock.”
There are already reports of trades being finalized by teams to keep players they were unable to fit into the protected lists. The Columbus Blue Jackets are reportedly sending a first round pick (24th overall) to the Golden Knights to protect young players. The Islanders may be giving the Golden Knights yet another first round pick (15th overall if it’s this year’s) to protect their forwards after putting five defensemen on the protection list.
“Every team in this league has a chance to protect their roster,” Mcphee said. “We will not make a claim with any club before we talk to the club.”
The Golden Knights also can make three-way trades during this period if teams want players that have been made available by other teams.
There appears to be an overabundance of young, talented goaltenders available, and Mcphee can use it to his advantage. Marc-andre Fleury of the Penguins has made most of the headlines, but the Detroit Red Wings exposed Petr Mrazek, 25, the Washington Capitals left Philipp Grubauer, 25, and the New York Rangers Antti Raanta, 28.
Mcphee must take at least three goalies but there is no maximum limit, meaning he could draft all four of these (plus more) and trade them for assets.
“Yeah, we expect that that will happen,” Mcphee said. “In fact, it’s already started to happen. People have identified people on other clubs that they’d like to have, and we have to establish the value for that and whatever you want to give us has to be better than what we can claim from that club.”
He makes it sound so simple — just give him a call and you’ll work it out. But Mcphee isn’t nearly as compensating as he makes himself out to be. This is all about building a winning hockey team in Las Vegas, and Mcphee will do whatever it takes to make that happen.
“We’re going to go to that club and say, ‘We have interest in this player. There’s another club that has interest in this player. How do we want to do this? How can we protect your roster? You can negotiate your way out of this if you wish.’”
You can negotiate your way out of this if you wish? If that doesn’t sound like something Don Corleone would say, what does?
Until the draft’s end Wednesday morning, expect Mcphee will pull the trigger at a machine gun rate.
“We’re really pleased with what’s available and this, as I’ve said, has worked out very well for the Vegas Golden Knights,” Mcphee said. “We expect to put a good, competitive, entertaining club on the ice. We really like what we’re looking at right now and then, again, we thought it was important to get those picks to help us draft our way to a championship.” jesse.granger@lasvegassun. com / 702-259-8814 / @ Jessegranger_