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
In part one of drafting Las Vegas I selected players from Anaheim, Arizona, Boston, Buffalo, Calgary, Carolina, Chicago, Colorado, Columbus, and Dallas. You can find that
here
Here are the players that were selected from those teams:
Forwards: Mikhail Grigorenko, Ryan Hartman, Boone Jenner, Rickard Rakell, and Lee Stempniak..
Defense: Josh Gorges, Dan Hamhuis, Jyrki Jokipakka, and Luke Schenn
Goalie: Malcolm Subban
Here are the next ten selections in the Las Vegas expansion draft:
Detroit
Mike Green - He may not be what he once was but he is still an effective NHL player. He had the second best possession metrics on the Detroit blue line last year. His offense isn't as dynamic as it once was and his 6M cap hit is more than his actual value but Las Vegas isn't in any kind of cap crunch and his contract will only have one year left on it. I'm certainly not selecting one of those other terrible contracts that Detroit has tied themselves to recently
Available to Las Vegas: Jimmy Howard, Justin Abdelkader, Mike Green, Niklas Kronwall, Darren Helm, Tomas Jurco
Edmonton
Griffin Reinhart - Edmonton really didn't have anything else available. They also really didn't have much of a choice in how they lined up their protections. Griffin Reinhart is a defense prospect who has come along slower than initially anticipated considering he was the 4th overall pick in 2012 of the New York Islanders. The name carries more pizzazz than the production at this point. He is a pending RFA.
Available to Las Vegas: Griffin Reinhart
Florida
Mark Pysyk - The fancy cats just made a good trade to acquire the underappreciated Pysyk, but they have so much else going on with who to protect they can't justify using a spot on Pysyk. So far in his young career Pysyk has shown the ability to drive play in both the AHL with the Rochester Americans as well as with the Buffalo Sabres. Perhaps Buffalo thought they had too many right handed defensemen but he is a promising young player at this point. Las Vegas would do well to grab him here.
I did give the idea of drafting Jaromir Jagr as a pending UFA some serious thought. Las Vegas seems right up his alley.
Available to Las Vegas: Roberto Luongo, Mark Pysyk
Los Angeles
Kyle Clifford - Truth be told there was nothing to be had with Los Angeles. You have Dustin Brown's awful contract and then a bunch of "middle 6" forwards who generate no offense. I thought about Alec Martinez but he is 29 years old and will be making 4M per year for another 4 years after the expansion draft. Clifford is the youngest and cheapest of those middle six forwards who don't generate any offense. He also isn't a pending RFA which is something I have to keep in mind while drafting players. I will be tight to the limit of players I can take that aren't under contract yet for 2017-18 (10 total).
Available to Las Vegas: Dustin Brown, Kyle Clifford, Trevor Lewis, Dwight King, Alec Martinez
Minnesota
Mikael Granlund - This came down to taking Granlund or Charlie Coyle. Both are decent players to acquire for free but I like Granlund better.
In almost all cases I am going to prefer the guy that can generate shot volume and show more tangible offense even if he bleeds shots in his own end. Granlund fits the bill here. He is a pending RFA.
Available to Las Vegas: Mikael Granlund, Charlie Coyle, Jonas Brodin
Montreal
Tomas Plekanec - There aren't a ton of forwards available in this draft so if somebody like Plekanec is sitting there I will take him. Montreal has clearly gone with a youth movement and Plekanec is already 33 years old. He will have one year left on his deal at 6M and that is fine for a Las Vegas team just looking to get on its feet in season one.
Available to Las Vegas: Tomas Plekanec, Alexei Emelin, David Desharnais, Mark Barberio
Nashville
Colin Wilson - Nashville gets hammered here. They have too many good defensemen to protect and as a result they are going to lose a good forward. Colin Wilson is a great get for Las Vegas. Not much else to say about the pick than that.
Available to Las Vegas: Colin Wilson, Viktor Arvidsson
New Jersey
Ben Lovejoy - Lovejoy played really well during Pittsburgh's run to the Stanley Cup. He is older and perhaps by the time 2017-18 rolls around he won't be as fortunate to play at that level, but there isn't much else here. I thought about taking Beau Bennett but he is a pending RFA and I don't have enough spots left to take another player not under contract in 2017-18.
Available to Las Vegas: Beau Bennett, Ben Lovejoy
New York Islanders
Brock Nelson - I thought long and hard about taking either Ryan Pulock or Shane Prince, but I ended up taking a forward who has shown offensive growth in each of his first three seasons in the league. There were concerns. His shooting percentage of 15% isn't going to stay there and he is coming off his worst possession year, but Las Vegas needs forwards and needs offense and his 1.80 5v5 points per 60 was enough to justify the selection here.
Available to Las Vegas: Brock Nelson, Ryan Pulock, Shane Prince, Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolay Kulemin
New York Rangers
Michael Grabner - One of my more underwhelming picks of this expansion draft. I had my sights set on Dylan McIlrath however he currently does not have a contract for the 2017-18 season and I don't have any extra spots for players that fall under that parameter. Grabner showed some decent goal scoring ability earlier in his career with seasons of 34 and 20 goals. Since then it hasn't been all that great with only 29 goals in his last three seasons. Again, this is an underwhelming selection but I have better players I want to take who don't currently have 2017-18 contracts . I had to play a little chess here.
Here are the selections made in the draft so far:
Forwards: Kyle Clifford, Michael Grabner, Mikhail Grigorenko, Mikael Granlund, Ryan Hartman, Boone Jenner, Brock Nelson, Tomas Plekanec, Rickard Rakell, Lee Stempniak Colin Wilson
Defense: Josh Gorges, Mike Green, Dan Hamhuis, Jyrki Jokipakka, Ben Lovejoy, Mark Pysyk, Griffin Reinhart, Luke Schenn
Goalie: Malcolm Subban
Decidedly mediocre to this point with ten more teams to select players from.
Thanks for reading!
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
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