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Expansion Draft Question


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27 minutes ago, Jeff Price (no relation) said:

I'm eagerly anticipating Alexei Emelin becoming a Golden Knight.

Most experts are saying it'll be Tomas Plekanec. Far better choices at defence for the Knights. Not a lot of offensive choices. They will probably go Plekanec/Soderberg down the middle.

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Unless Pleks has a great playoffs, I doubt they take him. 

 

Hudon or De La Rose seem to be the most logical. If Benn isn't protected it could be him as well. 

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2 hours ago, TheDriveFor25 said:

Unless Pleks has a great playoffs, I doubt they take him. 

 

Hudon or De La Rose seem to be the most logical. If Benn isn't protected it could be him as well. 

 

Why are Hudon or De La Rose more logical.

 

What would Hudon fetch if you traded him for draft picks?  A third rounder? Maybe a 2nd?  

 

Now look at what Arizona got for Hanzal as a rental player in the final year of his contract. 

 

Plekanec could do the same.  Draft him if you are Vegas.  Stick him on the first line and give him a ton of powerplay time, and then trade him as an expiring contract at the deadline for multiple picks and prospects.   Much better option than just getting one prospect.

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Keep in mind, George McPhee has said that once he gets the unprotected lists it is open season for trade offers from other teams on those players. 

 

If a GM covets Beaulieu (for example) but Bergevin balked at the trade offer, that GM can make the same offer to GMGM who might pick Beaulieu to trade him away.

 

Vegas might not really be building their team with the draft, just stockpiling assets to trade away. 

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Sure, thats how McPhee will run it. 

 

But He also has minimums for how many of each position he can draft.  He can't draft 20 defencemen and trade 12 of them for forwards.... He's got a minimum number of forwards that must be drafted. He must take 14 forwards 9 defencemen and 3 goalies MINIMUM.
 

So he still will need to take those 14 forwards, and Plekanec will be amongst the best centres available. 

 

Now if someone really wants Beaulieu (I think Montreal will protect him, but I digress and will go with your example).. yes he could draft him and flip him.  But that also means one more forward he's gonna have to draft elsewhere. 

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Just my opinion.. but the return on Pleks at the deadline will be closer to what Ott brought this year. Hanzal is young, Pleks is on the decline. Add another year and it'll only be worse.

 

I would be shocked if they took Pleks. 

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7 minutes ago, TheDriveFor25 said:

Just my opinion.. but the return on Pleks at the deadline will be closer to what Ott brought this year. Hanzal is young, Pleks is on the decline. Add another year and it'll only be worse.

 

I would be shocked if they took Pleks. 

 

Both are UFAs. 

 

Age doesn't really matter so much with rentals, its what they are producing that season. 

 

Vegas will give Pleks so much quality ice time that he will produce, just because someone will need to score goals and points on that team. 

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McPhee isn't going to try to add unnecessary salary through the expansion draft. He's going to take the best players available, then add salary through free agency and trades. Why pick Plekanec for free when Bergevin might offer Pleks and a 3rd round pick to George at the entry draft as a salary dump? Why take the 3rd rounder in an advance in an expansion draft deal when you can add another asset first and do the Pleks deal later? 

 

Even if he gets hot in the next 5 games, Plekanec is finishing the season with his lowest points total since his rookie season. It's more than likely he will finish with a career low... heck, it's already a career low based on points-per-game. He is a salary cap anchor. Is George McPhee really going to waste his pick on a $6 000 000 forward with stats that ugly because he might make a good rental 8 or 9 months later?

 

If George HAS to take one of the Habs forwards instead of one of Davidson, Nesterov, or Benn/Beaulieu, I bet GMGM rolls the dice on De La Rose (or Hudon if Radulov signs pre-draft) before he just gives the Habs some salary cap help.

 

McPhee should be misquoting Kendrick Lamar every time Bergevin begs him to take Plekanec: "This pick ain't free."

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9 hours ago, Commandant said:

Pierre Lebrun (and 2 other ESPN commentators) is predicting it will be Plekanec.   3 out of the 4 predict Plekanec. 

 

http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/19015985/nhl-vegas-golden-knights-mock-draft-based-players-left-unprotected-their-teams

 

The guy who picked Davidson is hilarious. He basically read HFBoards when Oilers fans were certain he would be the guy Vegas would take and just decided he'd still be taken now in Montreal.

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5 hours ago, Trizzak said:

McPhee isn't going to try to add unnecessary salary through the expansion draft. He's going to take the best players available, then add salary through free agency and trades. Why pick Plekanec for free when Bergevin might offer Pleks and a 3rd round pick to George at the entry draft as a salary dump? Why take the 3rd rounder in an advance in an expansion draft deal when you can add another asset first and do the Pleks deal later? 

 

Even if he gets hot in the next 5 games, Plekanec is finishing the season with his lowest points total since his rookie season. It's more than likely he will finish with a career low... heck, it's already a career low based on points-per-game. He is a salary cap anchor. Is George McPhee really going to waste his pick on a $6 000 000 forward with stats that ugly because he might make a good rental 8 or 9 months later?

 

If George HAS to take one of the Habs forwards instead of one of Davidson, Nesterov, or Benn/Beaulieu, I bet GMGM rolls the dice on De La Rose (or Hudon if Radulov signs pre-draft) before he just gives the Habs some salary cap help.

 

McPhee should be misquoting Kendrick Lamar every time Bergevin begs him to take Plekanec: "This pick ain't free."

 

There are also minimums of how much salary must be taken in the expansion draft.  He can't take all million dollar guys like De La Rose or Hudon and save his space for free agency.  He has to draft a certain amount of salary.  Most teams wouldn't take a $6 million salary to trade as a rental.  Vegas isn't most teams, they are a brand new team, that has to spend a minimum amount of money (and has to reach certain minimums via the draft) so that money has to be spent.  They aren't paying $6 million for a future draft pick.  They are paying money they already have to pay, and then drafting a player who is highly likely to be in demand next deadline (veteran centre with good defensive game, yeah, those are pretty much always in demand come the deadline). 

 

And yes, "He's going to take the best players available"... look at capfriendly, look at what centres are going to be available, likely.  With most teams protecting 7 forwards (aka their top 3 centres), plus all the 1st and 2nd year pros ineligible, there are not going to be many good centres available.  When you talk about best centre available, Plekanec is probably 1st or 2nd, even given his season. 

 

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Don't forget guys that Las Vegas will have a window prior to  July 1st where they'll be able to sign pending UFA's from every team.


If they do so, it will count as their pick for this team.

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1 hour ago, Commandant said:

 

There are also minimums of how much salary must be taken in the expansion draft.  He can't take all million dollar guys like De La Rose or Hudon and save his space for free agency.  He has to draft a certain amount of salary.  Most teams wouldn't take a $6 million salary to trade as a rental.  Vegas isn't most teams, they are a brand new team, that has to spend a minimum amount of money (and has to reach certain minimums via the draft) so that money has to be spent.  They aren't paying $6 million for a future draft pick.  They are paying money they already have to pay, and then drafting a player who is highly likely to be in demand next deadline (veteran centre with good defensive game, yeah, those are pretty much always in demand come the deadline). 

 

And yes, "He's going to take the best players available"... look at capfriendly, look at what centres are going to be available, likely.  With most teams protecting 7 forwards (aka their top 3 centres), plus all the 1st and 2nd year pros ineligible, there are not going to be many good centres available.  When you talk about best centre available, Plekanec is probably 1st or 2nd, even given his season. 

 

 

Pleks might be the 1st or 2nd best center available... which tells me GMGM will be interested in trading for or signing his centermen instead of drafting them. 

 

I'm pretty sure McPhee will easily hit salary requirements from taking players with salary that provide more value for their contract, and I just don't see him willingly taking on a salary anchor like Pleks at the expansion draft. 

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48 minutes ago, Trizzak said:

 

Pleks might be the 1st or 2nd best center available... which tells me GMGM will be interested in trading for or signing his centermen instead of drafting them. 

 

I'm pretty sure McPhee will easily hit salary requirements from taking players with salary that provide more value for their contract, and I just don't see him willingly taking on a salary anchor like Pleks at the expansion draft. 

 

The best centres in free agency are a 38 year old Joe Thornton who is likely looking for a cup contender, not an expansion franchise... and Martin Hanzal. 

 

That is part of the problem for McPhee in filling his centres, and for Marc Bergevin in finding a top 6 centre for Montreal.

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