NHL Expansion Draft Strategy: Atlantic Division

Now that the trade deadline has passed, many will be turning their attention to the upcoming expansion draft. There will be various mock drafts completed and the speculation about what each of the NHL’s current 30 teams will be a large discussion point.

The Vegas Golden Knights management will now be looking at the realistic possibilities about which player they will be able to select from each NHL team. We know the Golden Knights will be able to take compensation from teams in exchange for NOT selecting a particular player.

Another thing to keep an eye on are what I called “expansion draft make up transactions,” where a team will do one of two things. The first being, signing a player to an extension for the sole purpose of meeting the exposure requirements. The second thing we may see is players being placed on the big club’s roster to meet exposure requirements.

Each team will be able to protect either seven forward, three defensemen and a goaltender or eight different skaters and one goaltender. Each team will need to expose at least two forwards and one defenseman who are under contract for next season and played in 40 or more NHL games this current year, or a combination of 70 NHL games in the previous two seasons. Each team must also expose one goaltender who is under contract next year or one who is a restricted free agent at the end of the season. For more information, Cap Friendly has the rundown.

Without further ado, I will be taking a look at each NHL Division over the next couple of days and give my take on each team’s strategy going in. This time we take a look at the Atlantic Division including the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs.