June 21 will be a momentous day in the NHL as its newest franchise, the Vegas Golden Knights, will announce their selections in the 2017 expansion draft and round out their roster.
For those of you who don’t know how expansion drafts work, the Golden Knights will be allowed to choose one player from each of the other 30 franchises. The pre-existing clubs will have to submit a list of players—seven forwards, three defensemen, one goalie OR eight skaters and a goalie—they wish to protect from Vegas.
The rest, as long as they aren’t first or second-year players and unsigned draft choices can be snapped up.
With 30 selections, Vegas must pick at least 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goalies while also keeping their team salary under a combined $73 million.
Here is how I think their roster could shape up come draft day:
Vegas Golden Knights projected expansion draft selections
PLAYER |
POSITION |
FORMER TEAM |
‘16-17 SALARY |
Boone Jenner |
Center |
Columbus Blue Jackets |
$2.9 million |
Cody Eakin |
Center |
Dallas Stars |
$3.85 million |
Trevor Lewis |
Center |
Los Angeles Kings |
$2 million |
Tomas Plekanec |
Center |
Montreal Canadiens |
$6 million |
Calle Jarnkrok |
Center |
Nashville Predators |
$2 million |
Alex Killorn |
Center |
Tampa Bay Lightning |
$4.45 million |
Mathieu Perreault |
Center |
Winnipeg Jets |
$3 million |
Matt Moulson |
Left Wing |
Buffalo Sabres |
$5 million |
Matt Nieto |
Left Wing |
Colorado Avalanche |
$735,000 |
Jason Zucker |
Left Wing |
Minnesota Wild |
$2 million |
Magnus Paajarvi |
Left Wing |
St. Louis Blues |
$700,000 |
Kerby Rychel |
Left Wing |
Toronto Maple Leafs |
$863,333 |
Brad Richardson |
Right Wing |
Arizona Coyotes |
$2.083 million |
Alex Chiasson |
Right Wing |
Calgary Flames |
$800,000 |
Lee Stempniak |
Right Wing |
Carolina Hurricanes |
$2.5 million |
Devante Smith-Pelly |
Right Wing |
New Jersey Devils |
$1.3 million |
Matt Read |
Right Wing |
Philadelphia Flyers |
$3.625 million |
Sami Vatanen |
Defense |
Anaheim Ducks |
$4.875 million |
Calvin de Haan |
Defense |
New York Islanders |
$1.96 million |
Trevor van Riemsdyk |
Defense |
Chicago Blackhawks |
$825,000 |
Ryan Sproul |
Defense |
Detroit Red Wings |
$625,000 |
Griffin Reinhart |
Defense |
Edmonton Oilers |
$863,333 |
Alex Petrovic |
Defense |
Florida Panthers |
$1.05 million |
Fredrik Claesson |
Defense |
Ottawa Senators |
$700,000 |
Brenden Dillon |
Defense |
San Jose Sharks |
$3.27 million |
Luca Sbisa |
Defense |
Vancouver Canucks |
$3.6 million |
Nate Schmidt |
Defense |
Washington Capitals |
$812,500 |
Marc-Andre Fleury |
Goalie |
Pittsburgh Penguins |
$5.75 million |
Malcolm Subban |
Goalie |
Boston Bruins |
$863,333 |
Antti Raanta |
Goalie |
New York Rangers |
$1 million |
This roster contains 17 forwards, 10 defensemen, three goalies and would come in at a total of $70,007,499, which would give the Golden Knights an additional $2,992,501 in cap space.