Vegas Golden Knights Mock Expansion Draft Roundtable
Anaheim Ducks
| Available | Age | 17/18 | Automatically Exempt |
| F Corey Perry (NMC) | 31 | $8.625M | F Nick Ritchie |
| F Ryan Getzlaf (NMC) | 31 | $8.25M | F Kalle Kossila |
| F Ryan Kesler (NMC) | 32 | $6.875M | F Kevin Roy |
| F Rickard Rakell | 23 | $3.8M | F Max Jones |
| F Jakob Silfverberg | 26 | $3.75M | F Julius Nattinen |
| F Andrew Cogliano | 29 | $3.0M | F Deven Sideroff |
| F Antoine Vermette | 34 | $1.75M | F Ondrej Kase |
| F Nate Thompson | 32 | UFA | F Kenton Helgesen |
| F Ryan Garbutt | 31 | UFA | |
| F Jared Boll | 30 | $900K | D Jacob Larsson |
| F Nick Sorensen | 22 | RFA | D Andy Welinski |
| F Emerson Etem | 24 | RFA | D Shea Theodore |
| F Chris Wagner | 25 | $637.5K | D Keaton Thompson |
| F Nic Kerdiles | 22 | RFA | D Marcus Pettersson |
| F Joseph Cramarossa | 23 | RFA | D Brandon Montour |
| F Corey Tropp | 27 | $625K | |
| F Logan Shaw | 24 | RFA | G Kevin Boyle |
| F Max Gortz | 23 | RFA | |
| D Sami Vatanen | 25 | $4.875M | |
| D Cam Fowler | 24 | $4.0M | |
| D Kevin Bieksa (NMC) | 35 | $4.0M | |
| D Simon Despres | 25 | $3.7M | |
| D Clayton Stoner | 31 | $3.25M | |
| D Josh Manson | 25 | $825K | |
| D Hampus Lindholm | 22 | $5.25M | |
| D Korbinian Holzer | 28 | UFA | |
| D Nate Guenin | 33 | UFA | |
| D Jeff Schultz | 30 | UFA | |
| D Jaycob Megna | 23 | RFA | |
| G John Gibson | 23 | $2.3M | |
| G Jonathan Bernier | 28 | UFA | |
| G Dustin Tokarski | 27 | $650K | |
| G Jhonas Enroth | 28 | UFA | |
| G Matt Hackett | 26 | UFA |
| Ryan | Matt | Suraj |
| 4 – 4 – 1 | 4 – 4 – 1 | 4 – 4 – 1 |
| F Corey Perry (NMC) | F Corey Perry (NMC) | F Corey Perry (NMC) |
| F Ryan Getzlaf (NMC) | F Ryan Getzlaf (NMC) | F Ryan Getzlaf (NMC) |
| F Ryan Kesler (NMC) | F Ryan Kesler (NMC) | F Ryan Kesler (NMC) |
| F Rickard Rakell | F Rickard Rakell | F Rickard Rakell |
| D Hampus Lindholm | D Kevin Bieksa (NMC) | D Hampus Lindholm |
| D Sami Vatanen | D Hampus Lindholm | D Sami Vatanen |
| D Cam Fowler | D Cam Fowler | D Cam Fowler |
| D Josh Manson | D Sami Vatanen | D Josh Manson |
| G John Gibson | G John Gibson | G John Gibson |
| *Bieksa asked to waive NMC | *Bieksa asked to waive NMC | |
Sadly, the Anaheim Ducks are one of the teams in tough with the expansion draft. One way or another, this organization is bound to lose a quality player. If they choose to save an extra defenseman (the likely choice), it will result in exposed top-six forwards. However, if Anaheim wants to save those forwards, it would cost them a quality top-four d-man. Now, don’t be surprised if GM Bob Murray uses draft picks/or players in order to protect an extra body, but his insistence to go for it in 2016-17 will ultimately cost him.
Protection Lists:
As you can see, the Ducks don’t have a lot of options. They can ask Kevin Bieksa to waive his no-move in hopes of protecting Josh Manson, but that leaves one of Jakob Silfverberg or Rickard Rakell available. If they want to use a 7-3-1 scheme, they can certainly save the necessary forwards, but it leaves a defender available capable of logging 20-plus minutes/night.
If GM Bob Murray still has a job following the 2016-17 season, expect him to very busy leading up to the expansion draft.
– Ryan Ritchie
Q: Does Anaheim need to move a defenseman ahead of the expansion draft?
Well with a 4-4-1 protection scheme the only quality defenseman available would be Josh Manson and Simon Despres. Now given Despres’ injury history, he won’t be that hot of a commodity for Vegas, Manson on the other would be. So instead of losing him for nothing, they may as well get something for him before the March 1st deadline is over.
– Matt Duscharme