NHL Las Vegas: Expansion Draft Protection List Decisions Roundtable

NHL Las Vegas: Most Teams Are Facing Difficult Decisions Regarding Their Protection List for Next June’s Expansion Draft. In This Week’s Group Roundtable, the Puck Prose Team Highlights Some of the Most Complicated Situations and Players Who Could Become Targets for the NHL’s 31st Franchise

NHL Las Vegas is still without a name – that announcement has been pushed back until November. Owner Bill Foley and GM George McPhee do however continue to build their front office behind the scenes.

While it might be too early for most in the hockey world, Vegas is already preparing for next June’s expansion draft. In fact, George McPhee announced they would hold monthly mock drafts to give their management team some practice before the real thing. This should also help NHL Las Vegas figure out which players they need to focus on for evaluation purposes.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to know with certainty (or near certainty) which players will be available until the final shake-up of roster movement. We should continue to see trades throughout the season leading up to the deadline, then, the NHL will hold a special roster movement period following the playoffs (before protection lists are due).

Expansion rules have been tweaked slightly with intentions of making NHL Las Vegas a more competitive franchise from the get-go. This means that virtually every franchise stands to lose a quality player/prospect.

So, which teams are facing the toughest decisions? Who could be a potential premium target for George McPhee and company? We turn to our team of writers to see what they think.