Vegas Golden Knights now hold all the cards at NHL table
Vegas Golden Knights general manager George McPhee had difficulty containing his excitement in anticipation of the NHL’s expansion draft list being released. “The most fun I’ve ever had in hockey,” he said.
That was before McPhee learned of the high-profile players he’ll have to choose from — limited to one from each of the 30 teams — in stocking the Golden Knights roster by Wednesday.
There’s a three-time Stanley Cup champion goalie in the Penguins’ Marc-Andre Fleury available and several 20-plusgoal-scorers in Nashville’s James Neal and Minnesota’s Eric Staal.
As there’s a number of top defensemen exposed such as Anaheim’s Sami Vatanen and Ottawa’s Marc Methot.
“The issue for us isn’t going to be, ‘Can we fill out the roster?’” McPhee said. “It would be, ‘Do we have too many players?’”
Vegas is holding all the cards while the rest of the NHL comes to a full stop in awaiting McPhee to determine his selections over a three-day stretch in which the Golden Knights are the only team allowed to make trades and sign pending free agents.
McPhee wasn’t prepared to discuss individual players, but noted there were few surprises based on mock drafts his team conducted the past few months.
The one thing that didn’t materialize was a large number of trades happening involving players teams didn’t want to expose.
That benefits the Golden Knights because it maintained a deeper pool of talent available. “We really like what we’re looking at right now,” McPhee said.
Other forwards left unprotected were Los Angeles’ Dustin Brown and Montreal’s Tomas Plekanec.
As for defensemen, Minnesota exposed Matt Dumba and Marco Scandella, while Buffalo’s Zach Bogosian and Dallas’ Dan Hamhuis also are available.
There’s also a wealth of proven goaltenders available given that teams were required to expose at least one. Available are Florida’s Roberto Luongo, Detroit’s Petr Mrazek and Philadelphia’s Michal Neuvirth.
What’s uncertain is how many trades the Golden Knights will make to influence which player Vegas selects or avoids in exchange for draft picks, something McPhee hopes to stockpile.