The NHL is about to *officially* become a 31-team league.
For the first time in 17 years, hockey will be adding an expansion team. The last time this happened, the Columbus Blue Jackets were born alongside the Minnesota Wild and both began play in the 2000-01 season. This fall, the Vegas Golden Knights are the latest club to join the NHL, and will play in the Western Conference's Pacific Division.
Veteran NHL general manager George McPhee, who spent parts of two decades building the Washington Capitals, is the man tasked with assembling the first roster in Golden Knights history. He got started earlier this year with free agent signings of WHLer Reid Duke and Russian import Vadim Shipachyov, but the real stuff is about to begin.
NHL teams must submit their "protected lists" in a 7-3-1 (forwards-defensemen-goaltender) or 8-1 (forwards/defensemen-goaltender) format. More on how those lists are assembled can be found below.
THE BACK STORY
The NHL hasn't seen an expansion draft for a long, long time.
What the Vegas Golden Knights are preparing for will end up as one of the more interesting sports moments in recent memory. So much is on the line for the franchise, the city and the league. As many Blue Jackets and Wild fans know, what happens during the expansion draft will set the franchise on a path for better or for worse.
Social media has been a prevalent tool in the modern era of sports but it will also bring a completely different experience to the expansion draft. It is going to allow fans, who otherwise wouldn't be interested, to participate within a community.
Bill Foley was the first person to bring a "Big Four" sport to the city of Las Vegas and the innovation it took for him to do so has to be applauded. The process, while it seems like it took only months to get approved, was much longer than anyone could've known. As early as 2009 in the salary cap era, the league had an interest in bringing a hockey team to Las Vegas.
In 2014, Foley and the Maloof brothers (former owners of the Sacramento Kings) were reportedly interested in building an arena and bringing hockey to Vegas. Foley, as the majority owner, held a ticket drive in December of 2014 to gauge interest. By April 2015, the deposits on season tickets reached 13,000 people. In August 2015, Vegas along with Quebec were invited to the first round of expansion and eventually moved on to Phase II of the expansion process. As the process moved forward, it became abundantly clear that Vegas was going to be the sole franchise picked to join the league. In June 2016, the NHL Board of Governors approved the addition of Vegas for a whopping $500 million expansion fee. Late last year, Vegas brought on its first general manager in McPhee and, in November, formally unveiled its "Golden Knights" identity.
Their first head coach is Gerard Gallant, a former bench boss of the Blue Jackets, and their first player signed to a contract was Duke, who had just finished his time with the Brandon Wheat Kings. The process has already moved quickly and the next step for their franchise is going to be historic.
Expansion Timeline
June 17: All teams have to submit their finalized protected lists to the league by 5 p.m.
June 18: The protected lists will be made known to the Golden Knights and the NHLPA as well as the public at 10 a.m. Simultaneously, Vegas will have a window to talk with unrestricted free agents and restricted free agents.
June 20: Vegas will have until 5 p.m. to inform the NHL of its list of selections.
June 21: The expansion draft picks are to be made public in conjunction with the NHL Awards.
June 22: The expansion draft freeze ends.
The Basics
Vegas will select exactly one (1) player from each of the current 30 franchises. There are two options clubs can choose between when deciding which players to protect, and which players will be available for selection by the Golden Knights.
Teams may protect:
Seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender OR
Eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goaltender
Complicating matters, any player that has a “no-movement” clause in his contract at the time of the expansion draft must be protected and will be automatically counted toward their club’s list of players.
Also, all first- and second-year professionals, as well as any remaining unsigned draft selections, will be exempt from selection and won't count toward their club's selected protected list.
The NHL has ruled a specific group of players to be exempt from selection by the Golden Knights; in all cases, the player has missed (or will miss) an extended period of time because of a serious injury or other medical condition but has not yet officially retired.
Those players are as follows: Dave Bolland (ARZ), Craig Cunningham (ARZ), Chris Pronger (ARZ), Cody McCormick (BUF), David Clarkson (CBJ), Johan Franzen (DET), Joe Vitale (DET), Ryane Clowe (NJD), Mikhail Grabovski (NYI), Pascal Dupuis (PIT), Nathan Horton (TOR) and Stephane Robidas (TOR).
The Fine Print
In addition, all 30 clubs must meet the following minimum requirements regarding players exposed for selection in the expansion draft:
One defenseman who is: under contract in 2017-18 AND played in 40 or more NHL games this prior season OR played in 70 or more NHL games in the prior two seasons combined.
Two forwards who are: under contract in 2017-18 AND played in 40 or more NHL games this prior season OR played in 70 or more NHL games in the prior two seasons combined.
One goaltender who is: under contract in 2017-18 or will be a restricted free agent (RFA) at the expiration of his current contract immediately prior to 2017-18.
If a team chooses to make a RFA goaltender available in order to meet this requirement, he must have received his qualifying offer prior to the submission of the club's protected list.
Vegas Must:
Select the following number of players (minimum) at each position among the 30 players chosen:
- 14 forwards
- 9 defensemen
- 3 goaltenders
Select at least 20 players who are under contract for the 2017-18 season.
Select players with an aggregate expansion draft value that is between 60-100% of the prior season's upper limit for the salary cap.
Vegas may not buy out the contract of any player selected in the expansion draft earlier than the summer succeeding its inaugural season.
How Will This Impact the Blue Jackets?
Well, there aren't many GMs who face the decisions that Jarmo Kekalainen does to prepare for this expansion draft. Hell, even Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland has said he's not making any side deals; he will submit his 7-3-1 list and wait to see who Vegas picks.
Ken must be a blast at parties.
In some cases, Kekalainen is between a rock and a hard place: he knows that in order to protect the player(s) he wants to retain (hello, Josh Anderson!), he will need to pony up future assets to McPhee and crew.
Could you live with William Karlsson being selected by the Golden Knights? Of course, especially if it means holding on to Anderson, Joonas Korpisalo, and defensemen like Ryan Murray, Jack Johnson and David Savard – the latter three in particular, given how important the defense was to the Blue Jackets' 108-point season in 2016-17.
Matt Calvert is another name that could be of interest to the Golden Knights. He's under 30, plays a hard-nosed game and can provide offense, and is a no-maintenance player that would undoubtedly embrace the challenge of helping Vegas get off the ground in its inaugural season. His loss would be felt inside the Blue Jackets dressing room, as he's both the longest-tenured player on the club and one of its most beloved teammates.
Truly, the decision comes down to the cost of doing business with McPhee. In all likelihood, the Blue Jackets will need to make a "side deal" with the Golden Knights to avoid having a core player being selected – at this point, it's a matter of what makes sense to send the other way (their 2017 first-round pick, No. 24 overall, has been reported to be in play) to get the agreement in place.
Should Kekalainen strike a deal with McPhee and minimize the damage, i.e. keep the players he wants to keep, the steep cost will sting a bit less at the end of the day.
