Sharks leave Marleau, Thornton unprotected
Sharks forwards Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau were two of 16 players San Jose left unprotected Sunday ahead of the NHL expansion draft for the Vegas Golden Knights.
However, Thornton and Marleau are both unrestricted free agents, meaning they cannot be selected in the draft. Vegas has a 72-hour window to negotiate deals with free agents, but it is unlikely either player would choose to sign with an expansion team.
In more danger of heading to Vegas are forwards Mikkel Boedker and Joel Ward, and defenseman Paul Martin and David Schlemko, who were among the other 14 players left unprotected. The Sharks can lose only one player to the draft.
NHL teams were allowed to protect 11 players. San Jose protected key players such as forwards Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl and Joe Pavelski, defensemen Brent Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic and goaltender Martin Jones.
“We are excited to welcome the Vegas Golden Knights to the National Hockey League and the Pacific Division,” Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said in a statement. “Per the guidelines that were set forth under the expansion draft rules, we have submitted our protected list to the National Hockey League. The reality is that we will be losing a player and quality person from our organization but whatever the outcome, we feel fortunate that we have a strong prospect pool with the San Jose Barracuda to help fill that loss.”
Elsewhere, three-time Stanley Cup champion goalie MarcAndre Fleury of Pittsburgh, Nashville forward James Neal and Anaheim defenseman Sami Vatanen were among the high-profile players made available for the Golden Knights to select.
Vegas general manager George McPhee will pore over the unprotected list and select one player from each of the NHL’s 30 teams by Wednesday.
Fleury was left unprotected by the Penguins after he agreed to waive the no-movement clause in his contract. The Penguins instead protected Matt Murray a week after the second-year goalie led them to their second straight championship.
The Predators were put in a bind by exposing Neal, a 10time 20-goal-scorer, because they protected a fourth defenseman.
Vatanen was the odd man out in being left unprotected from a deep group of Anaheim defensemen. The fifth-year player, however, won’t be ready for the start of the season after having surgery to repair a shoulder injury.
Neal wasn’t the only highprofile player left exposed by the Predators, who are coming off their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance. Other notable Nashville players unprotected were forwards Pontus Aberg and Colton Sissons.
Other notable forwards left unprotected were: Minnesota center Eric Staal, a nine-time 20-goal-scorer, Los Angeles forward Dustin Brown and Montreal’s Tomas Plekanec. As for defensemen, Buffalo’s Zach Bogosian and Dallas’ Dan Hamhuis are available.
There’s also a wealth of proven goaltenders available, given that teams were required to expose at least one. Aside from Fleury, other goalies exposed are Florida’s Roberto Luongo, Detroit’s Peter Mrazek and Philadelphia’s Michal Neuvirth.
What’s uncertain is how many trades the Golden Knights have negotiated with teams to influence which player Vegas selects or avoids.
McPhee has said he has had contact with all teams and was expected to have several trades in place. In exchange, McPhee was intent on stockpiling draft picks to help spur the franchise’s growth through youth.
Those deals won’t be formally revealed until Wednesday.
Salary cap set: The NHL salary cap has been set at $75 million for this season in a slight increase over last season, with a salary floor of $55.4 million. It’s an increase of $2 million from the $73 million cap last season, as players elected to use their escalator clause to raise it.