Over the following week or so I am going to try and create protection lists for each NHL team based on what we know about the upcoming expansion draft. I am going to go alphabetically and hammer out a handful of teams per blog.
At the end of this I will attempt to draft the Las Vegas expansion team based on the players who are unprotected from this series of blogs.
I will be using General Fanager's expansion tool in order to be as accurate as possible with my selections. You can find that tool here . It is an incredibly clean interface and makes this process very easy to execute.
I am going to select protected players based on the current roster and will not assume future trades IE: Pittsburgh moving Marc-Andre Fleury to protect Matt Murray or Anaheim trading Fowler to free up an extra protection slot. I don't have a crystal ball so I will just use what is in front of me right now. Doing it this way is also a good way to see what teams have some work ahead of them in advance of the expansion draft.
You can find part one of this series that focused on Anaheim, Arizona, Boston, Buffalo, and Calgary here
You can find part two of this series that focused on Carolina, Chicago, Colorado, Columbus, and Dallas here
You can find part three of this series that focused on Detroit, Edmonton, Florida, Los Angeles and Minnesota here
You can find part four of this series that focused on Montreal, Nashville, New Jersey, New York Islanders, and New York Rangers here
You can find part five of this series that focused on Ottawa, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Jose and St. Louis here
You can find part six of this series that focused on Tampa Bay, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington, and Winnipeg here
Today is where I will look at all the players that are not protected and start to make selections for the new Las Vegas team. The players that are available to be drafted are all based on the protection lists that I created in the six part series which is linked above. Part one of the draft will consist of ten teams starting in alphabetical order. For each team/player I will give the rationale and reason for taking the player. Not every team is going to be losing a good player to Las Vegas.
Here are the rules for Las Vegas selecting players courtesy of General Fanager
• he Las Vegas franchise must select one player from each presently existing club for a total of 30 players (not including additional players who may be acquired as the result of violations of the Expansion Draft rules).
• The Las Vegas franchise must select the following number of players at each position: 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goaltenders.
• The Las Vegas franchise must select a minimum of 20 players who are under contract for the 2017-18 season.
• The Las Vegas franchise must select players with an aggregate Expansion Draft value that is between 60-100% of the prior season's upper limit for the salary cap. With a 2016-17 salary cap of $73M, this means the Expansion Draft selections must amount to a aggregate salary cap value of at least $43.8M.
• The Las Vegas franchise may not buy out any of the players selected in the Expansion Draft earlier than the summer following its first season.
So without further adieu let's draft an expansion team.
Anaheim
Rickard Rakell - Anaheim wasn't in a great spot. They were either going to lose a decent defenseman or somebody like a Rickard Rackell. I think it is easier to find quality wingers than it is to find quality defensemen and over the course of protecting players from each team I leaned on the 4F/4D as a result of that perception. Trading Cam Fowler before the expansion draft is likely and could avoid the situation altogether. Even if Anaheim figures that situation out you still have guys like Cogliano and Despres available. Anaheim is certain to lose a decent NHL player.
Available to Las Vegas: Rickard Rackell, Andrew Cogliano, Simon Despres, Jonathan Bernier
Arizona
Luke Schenn - As I said above not every team is going to lose somebody of significance. Considering how little there was to be had with Arizona Las Vegas can take Schenn who has NHL experience. Schenn was wildly overrated as the product of being a Toronto draft pick but put in some OK years in Philadelphia before moving out to Los Angeles. Mike Smith is available but as you are going to find out Las Vegas doesn't need to take on bad goalie contracts to fill out that position.
Available to Las Vegas: Mike Smith, Brad Richardson, Luke Schenn
Boston
Malcolm Subban - As stated above Las Vegas doesn't need to jump head first into bad goalie contracts to find value at the position. Perhaps Malcolm Subban never turns into an everyday NHL goalie but the risk reward for this selection makes sense considering there isn't much else to take from Boston.
Available to Las Vegas: Malcolm Subban, Jimmy Hayes, Adam McQuaid, Anton Khudobin, Riley Nash
Buffalo
Josh Gorges - The Sabres are in a great spot. All the Sabres young talent isn't eligible and the veteran players that have any value are protected. I took Gorges over Moulson because his contract isn't as long and it will help Las Vegas reach the cap limit they need to hit. Given that Las Vegas needs to draft nine defensemen it is likely Gorges finds himself as the #9 guy
Available to Las Vegas: Matt Moulson, Josh Gorges
Calgary
Jyrki Jokipakka - He doesn't have a large sample size to draw from but he has shown at least some ability to generate offense at even-strength. His 5v5 points per 60 from the past two years is 0.80 and is slightly better than the *best defenseman on the planet* Drew Doughty who is at 0.78. Possession wise Jokipakka is a sliver under 50% but is a negative relative player on that front.
Available to Las Vegas: Matt Stajan, Emile Poirier, Linden Vey, Alex Chiasson, Jyrki Jokipakka
Carolina
Lee Stempniak - Here is a player who has consistently changed teams the past few years but has been a consistent performer. His ceiling isn't tremendously high but his floor isn't all that low either. With a 1.69 5v5 points per 60 over the last four years he is a top end offensive option for a team's bottom six. He's older but Las Vegas needs good players and Stempniak is a good player. Carolina would probably love it if Las Vegas took Cam Ward but I'm not doing them the favor.
Available to Las Vegas: Joakim Nordstrom, Cam Ward, Lee Stempniak
Chicago
EDIT 8/15/16 12:37 PM
After looking through my final roster for Las Vegas I noticed that I was breaking the rule that Las Vegas needs to draft at least 20 players with a valid 2017-18 contract. I had 18. As a result I am retracting the following selection:
Mark McNeill - Given how many NMC's Chicago has you'd think they would be in more trouble but they aren't. Marcus Kruger is a fourth line player making about 3M a year and that is a non starter for me. Panik is a pending RFA and will cost much less with not much of a drop off but you know there isn't much room for growth there. I'll take the 23 year old that is waiting for his chance to make it at the NHL level. He isn't quite a point per game player at the AHL level but he is at the .72 range that last two years. The .7 range is where you want to be at the 19-21 year old range but you'd like to see it closer to 1.0 once that player hits 22 years old. I'll take the risk. Conor Sheary was in a similar boat for Pittsburgh and when given a chance to play did a nice job.
Instead I will take Ryan Hartman who does have a valid 2017-18 contract and will help me stay within the guidelines. Hartman will be 22 years old and I will take him for the same reason I took McNeill. Rules are rules and I can't break them.
Available to Las Vegas: Marcus Kruger, Richard Panik, Ryan Hartman, Mark McNeill, Trevor van Riemsdyk
Colorado
Mikhail Grigorenko - I gave some serious thought to Carl Soderberg but his age and contract didn't make it all that appealing. Mikhail Grigorenko has underachieved to this point in his career and is no sure thing but if he's there free for the taking I suppose it is worth the risk of him showing some signs of improvement. Both Colorado and Buffalo were less than ideal situations for a prospect to try and grow as a player. Las Vegas won't be great either but it shouldn't be as bad as those situations were. I again passed on picking up an expensive goalie contract with Varlamov.
Available to Las Vegas: Semyon Varlamov, Mikhail Grigorenko, Carl Soderberg, Blake Comeau
Columbus
Boone Jenner - This is one of the better selections of this draft. Unless Columbus trades Scott Hartnell or buys him out they are going to lose either Jenner or Atkinson (take your pick). Las Vegas greatly appreciates the NMC's to David Clarkson, Nick Foligno, Brandon Dubinsky and Scott Hartnell.
Available to Las Vegas: Boone Jenner (no need to list anybody else)
Dallas
Dan Hamhuis - As a result of Dallas protecting some of their better defense prospects it led to a situation where Dan Hamhuis was available. He's older and has a lot of miles on him but to this point he has been a productive player. There is certainly a risk with his age but the other benefit of taking Hamhuis is that his deal expires after the 2017-18 season. Even if he falls off a cliff it was worth the risk. Sorry Dallas not helping you out of your terrible goaltending situaiton.
Available to Las Vegas: Dan Hamhuis, Kari Lehtonen, Antoine Roussel, Jordie Benn, Patrik Nemeth
So there are the first 10 players selected by the new Las Vegas franchise. It has been decidedly mediocre, but that is kind of what this is going to be.
Here is what Las Vegas has so far.
Forwards: Mikhail Grigorenko, Boone Jenner, Mark McNeill, , Rickard Rakell, and Lee Stempniak.
That makes up five of the 14 minimum forwards Las Vegas will have to draft.
Defense: Josh Gorges, Dan Hamhuis, Jyrki Jokipakka, and Luke Schenn
That makes up four of the nine minimum defensemen that Las Vegas will have to draft
Goalie: Malcolm Subban
He is one of the three goalies Las Vegas will have to select.
So far it doesn't look too great but we still have 20 more teams to go.
Part two will include Detroit, Edmonton, Florida, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Montreal, Nashville, New Jersey, New York Islanders, and New York Rangers.
Thanks for reading!
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
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