Vegas Golden Knights: Mock Draft and Roster Projection

Vegas Golden Knights: With the Playoffs Underway, We Re-Assess Who the Vegas Golden Knights May Take in the Expansion as well as Full Team Decisions!

Welcome back to a brand new Vegas Golden Knights mock draft, the season has almost ended meaning a new perspective on exposed players is now available. So who would the following 30 teams protect and leave exposed? Well, you’ll have to look to find out.

In this mock I’m going to be using two protection plans, the 7-3-1 scheme which covers seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie. And a 4-4-1 scheme which covers four forwards, four defensemen and one goalie. I also have a few players waiving their NMC’s (no movement clause) in order for teams to protect someone younger and more influential on the team. At the bottom, I’m going to post the full roster and possible depth chart.

I’ll be doing another mock draft right after the second round of the playoffs and then a lot more afterward so be sure to stay tuned on the latest outlook of the Vegas Golden Knights!

Anaheim Ducks:
Protection Plan: 4-4-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Jakob Silfverberg

Protected Players:
Corey Perry (NMC), Ryan Getzlaf (NMC), Ryan Kesler (NMC), Rickard Rakell, Hampus Lindholm, Sami Vatanen, Cam Fowler, Josh Manson, John Gibson.

Best Exposed Players:
Jakob Silfverberg, Andrew Cogliano, Antoine Vermette, Patrick Eaves, Kevin Bieksa (NMC Waived), Simon Despres, Jonathan Bernier.

With Anaheim not having a lot of youth needing to be protected up front or on the backend, a 4-4-1 decision is rather easy. I have Kevin Bieksa waiving his NMC so the Ducks can protect Josh Manson, but using a conditional pick, Bieksa can be protected.

Arizona Coyotes:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Jamie McGinn

Protected Players:
Tobias Rieder, Alexander Burmistrov, Peter Holland, Teemu Pulkkinen, Anthony Duclair, Jordan Martinook, Josh Jooris, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Alex Goligoski (NMC), Connor Murphy, Mike Smith.

Best Exposed Players:
Shane Doan, Jamie McGinn, Radim Vrbata, Tyler Gaudet, Jeremy Morin, Luke Schenn, Jarred Tinordi, Jamie McBain, Louis Domingue.

With Arizona going the way of the youth movement, they have a lot of players that need to be protected. I used a 7-3-1 plan in order to do so, and as you can see a lot of vets are left exposed. If the Coyotes still want Domingue, a pick can be used to keep him.

Boston Bruins:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Malcolm Subban

Protected Players:
David Krejci (NMC), Patrice Bergeron, (NMC), David Backes (NMC), Brad Marchand, Jimmy Hayes, Ryan Spooner, David Pastrnak, Torey Krug, Kevan Miller, Colin Miller, Tuukka Rask.

Best Exposed Players:
Drew Stafford, Matt Beleskey, Zdeno Chara (NMC Waived), Adam McQuaid, Joe Morrow, Linus Arnesson, Malcolm Subban.
Boston has a lot of key players that are left exposed, in this mock I had to do a 7-3-1 in order to keep them protected. I also waived Zdeno Chara’s NMC in order to protect Colin Miller. But if the Bruins want to keep Chara, a conditional pick can be used.

Buffalo Sabres:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Marcus Foligno

Protected Players:
Ryan O’Reilly, Kyle Okposo (NMC), Evander Kane, Tyler Ennis, Zemgus Girgensons, Johan Larsson, William Carrier, Rasmus Ristolainen, Dmitry Kulikov, Jake McCabe, Robin Lehner.

Best Exposed Players:
Matt Moulson, Brian Gionta, Marcus Foligno, Nicolas Deslauriers, Zach Bogosian, Josh Gorges, Cody Franson, Anders Nilsson, Linus Ullmark.

Luckily for the Sabres, they don’t have a lot of prospects or youth players that need protection, all of their current stars do and in this mock, I used a 7-3-1 plan in order to keep them. This ultimately left some solid guys exposed but if wanted the Sabres could use a pick on someone like Moulson or Bogosian.

Calgary Flames:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Michael Frolik

Protected Players:
Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Mikael Backlund, Sam Bennett, Curtis Lazar, Michael Ferland, Alex Chiasson, Mark Giordano, Dougie Hamilton, T.J. Brodie, Brian Elliott.

Best Exposed Players:
Troy Brouwer, Michael Frolik, Matt Stajan, Lance Bouma, Kris Versteeg, Emile Poirier, Hunter Shinkaruk, Dennis Wideman, Deryk Engelland, Michael Stone, Tyler Wotherspoon, Matt Bartkowski, Chad Johnson.

Calgary’s major offensive players are exposed meaning the only thing they can do is use a 7-3-1 plan in order to protect them. This plan though leaves a few solid d-men exposed but one of them can also be saved with a conditional pick.

Carolina Hurricanes:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Eddie Lack

Protected Players:
Jordan Staal (NMC), Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask, Elias Lindholm, Joakim Nordstrom, Teuvo Teravainen, Phillip Di Giuseppe, Justin Faulk, Ryan Murphy, Klas Dahlbeck, Cam Ward.

Best Exposed Players:
Lee Stempniak, Jay McClement, Andrej Nestrasil, Brock McGinn, Matt Tennyson, Eddie Lack, Connor Brickley.

Like Calgary, Carolina’s main guys are now safe with a 7-3-1 plan. And what’s even better is the fact that the guys left exposed aren’t that hot of commodities. The only player(s) that put up any sort of risk are Eddie Lack or Connor Brickley, but the Canes can always be saved with a pick.

Chicago Blackhawks:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Tomas Jurco

Protected Players:
Patrick Kane (NMC), Jonathan Toews (NMC), Marian Hossa (NMC), Artem Anisimov (NMC), Marcus Kruger, Richard Panik, Ryan Hartman, Brent Seabrook (NMC), Duncan Keith (NCM), Niklas Hjalmarsson (NMC), Corey Crawford (NMC).

Best Exposed Players:
Tomas Jurco, Michael Latta, Dennis Rasmussen, Johnny Oduya, Brian Campbell, Trevor Van Riemsdyk, Viktor Svedberg, Scott Darling.

With Chicago having so many players with NMC’s and not having a lot of defense to protect, they are safe with a 7-3-1 plan. This way they can keep their main three d-men and go fill the voids via free agency.

Colorado Avalanche:
Protection Plan: 4-4-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Carl Soderberg

Protected Players:
Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog, Mikhail Grigorenko, Erik Johnson (NMC), Tyson Barrie, Eric Gelinas, Nikita Zadorov, Semyon Varlamov.

Best Exposed Players:
Carl Soderberg, Blake Comeau, Rocco Grimaldi, Matthew Nieto, Sven Adrighetto, Francois Beauchemin (NMC Waived), Duncan Siemens, Patrick Wiercioch, Mark Barberio, Calvin Pickard.

Colorado has quite a few players that in my opinion would be on the way out anyways, so with four important d-men in need of protection, this leaves the team using a 4-4-1 plan. And in this mock I had them waving Beauchemin’s NMC in order to protect Nikita Zadorov.

Columbus Blue Jackets:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Sam Gagner

Protected Players:
Brandon Saad, Brandon Dubinsky (NMC), Nick Foligno (NMC), Cam Atkinson, Boone Jenner, William Karlsson, Alexander Wennberg, Seth Jones, Jack Johnson, David Savard, Sergei Bobrovsky.

Best Exposed Players:
Scott Hartnell (NMC Waived), Matt Calvert, Lauri Korpikoski, Josh Anderson, Daniel Zaar, Sam Gagner, Lukas Sedlak, Ryan Murray, Kyle Quincey, Scott Harrington, Oscar Dansk, Joonas Korpisalo, Anton Forsberg.

Columbus had a lot of success this year with their youth, now the problem is they have a lot of talent exposed no matter what plan is done. But with a 7-3-1 plan, they can atleast keep every offensive piece that helped them along with three solid d-men. Now the tricky part is who to save with draft picks, Matt Calvert, Josh Anderson, Lukas Sedlak, Sam Gagner, Ryan Murray, Joonas Korpisalo or Anton Forsberg?

Dallas Stars:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Greg Pateryn

Protected Players:
Jason Spezza (NMC), Patrick Sharp, Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn (NMC), Cody Eakin, Brett Ritchie, Radek Faksa, John Klingberg, Jamie Oleksiak, Esa Lindell, Kari Lehtonen.

Best Exposed Players:
Ales Hemsky, Antoine Roussel, Jiri Hudler, Curtis McKenzie, Dan Hamhuis, Greg Pateryn, Stephen Johns, Antti Niemi, Mark McNeill, Valeri Nichushkin.

The great thing for the Stars is the fact they don’t have a lot left to protect in terms of forwards after I have covered their top players. Now Roussel, McKenzie, Johns, McNeill, and Nichushkin are some solid players. So now it comes down to who would be the best to protect, and with three d-men only being protected, they could use a pick to protect Johns.

Detroit Red Wings:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Dylan McIlrath

Protected Players:
Henrik Zetterberg, Frans Nielsen (NMC), Gustav Nyquist, Justin Abdelkader, Tomas Tatar, Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou, Mike Green, Danny DeKeyser, Jonathan Ericsson, Petr Mrazek.

Best Exposed Players:
Darren Helm, Riley Sheahan, Drew Miller, Martin Frk, Niklas Kronwall, Dylan McIlrath, Xavier Ouellet, Ryan Sproul, Nick Jensen, Jimmy Howard, Jared Coreau.

The hardest part of this expansion is when teams have a plethora of top tier talent left exposed no matter the protection scheme. But a 7-3-1 plan seems to fit Detroit the best even though some solid guys are still left exposed. So now it comes down to who they want to protect via conditional pick, that’s going to be the toughest decision.

Edmonton Oilers:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Benoit Pouliot

Protected Players:
Jordan Eberle, Milan Lucic (NMC), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, David Desharnais, Patrick Maroon, Leon Draisaitl, Tyler Pitlick, Andrej Sekera (NMC), Oscar Klefbom, Adam Larsson, Cam Talbot (NMC).

Best Exposed Players:
Benoit Pouliot, Matt Hendricks, Mark Letestu, Zack Kassian, Anton Lander, Mark Fayne, Kris Russell, Griffin Reinhart, Dillon Simpson, David Musil, Laurent Brossoit.

Thankfully Edmonton doesn’t have a lot of defensemen that needs coverage, this leaves the team with a 7-3-1 plan in order to protect their top forwards while holding onto three important d-men. Laurent Brossoit is the biggest available player and since Edmonton needs a solid backup, they’ll use a pick to protect him.

Florida Panthers:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Mark Pysyk

Protected Players:
Aleksander Barkov, Vincent Trocheck, Nick Bjugstad, Jonathan Huberdeau, Jussi Jokinen, Reilly Smith, Jonathan Marchessault, Keith Yandle (NMC), Alex Petrovic, Aaron Ekblad, Roberto Luongo.

Best Exposed Players:
Jaromir Jagr, Thomas Vanek, Colton Sceviour, Jason Demers, Jakub Kindl, Mark Pysyk, James Reimer, Reto Berra, Tim Bozon, Michael Sgarbossa.

Thank god for Panthers fans that their defensive players left exposed are only a few, this leaves the team with a perfect 7-3-1 plan. Now the question is, who do you save with a pick, James Reimer or Jaromir Jagr?

Los Angeles Kings:
Protection Plan: 4-4-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Brayden McNabb

Protected Players:
Anze Kopitar (NMC), Jeff Carter, Tyler Toffoli, Tanner Pearson, Drew Doughty, Alex Martinez, Jake Muzzin, Derek Forbort, Jonathan Quick.

Best Exposed Players:
Dustin Brown, Marian Gaborik, Jarome Iginla, Trevor Lewis, Teddy Purcell, Kyle Clifford, Jordan Nolan, Nic Dowd, Brayden McNabb, Ben Bishop, Jeff Zatkoff, Jack Campbell, Nick Shore, Andy Andreoff.

Like a few other teams, the Kings left over forwards are aging vets that will be leaving some way or another in the off-season, and with four big d-men needing protection their only plan is to go 4-4-1. And with a conditional pick, someone like Nick Shore or Andy Andreoff can be saved.

Minnesota Wild:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Marco Scandella

Protected Players:
Zach Parise (NMC), Mikko Koivu (NMC), Jason Pominville (NMC), Eric Staal, Charlie Coyle, Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter, Ryan Suter (NMC), Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, Devan Dubnyk.

Best Exposed Players:
Jason Zucker, Martin Hanzal, Chris Stewart, Erik Haula, Marco Scandella, Matt Dumba, Gustav Olofsson, Darcy Kuemper, Jordan Schroeder, Tyler Graovac.

Minnesota had a breakout season this year in terms of players who put up some career numbers. Now the only plan that would have worked in my opinion is a 7-3-1 plan. However, this still leaves some very solid guys left exposed. So no matter which way you look at things, Minnesota is going to lose someone very important.

Ottawa Senators:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Jean-Gabriel Pageau

Protected Players:
Bobby Ryan, Mike Hoffman, Derick Brassard, Clarke MacArthur, Alexandre Burrows, Mark Stone, Kyle Turris, Dion Phaneuf (NMC), Erik Karlsson, Cody Ceci, Craig Anderson.

Best Exposed Players:
Zack Smith, Tommy Wingels, Viktor Stalberg, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Marc Methot, Mark Borowiecki, Jyrki Jokipakka, Chris Wideman‘>Chris Wideman, Fredrik Claesson, Andrew Hammond, Chris Driedger, Mike Condon, Ryan Dzingel.

No matter what plan the Sens use someone important is going to be leaving. And with three solid goaltenders, one will be protected via pick and my choice is Mike Condon. Jean-Gabriel Pageau would be the best pick for the Knights.

Philadelphia Flyers:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Scott Laughton

Protected Players:
Claude Giroux (NMC), Jakub Voracek, Brayden Schenn, Valtteri Filppula (NMC), Sean Couturier, Wayne Simmonds, Nick Cousins, Michael Del Zotto, Brandon Manning, Shayne Gostisbehere, Steve Mason.

Best Exposed Players:
Matt Read, Michael Raffl, Dale Weise, Scott Laughton, Andrew MacDonald, Radko Gudas, Michal Neuvirth, Anthony Stolarz, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Jordan Weal.

A 7-3-1 plan works perfect for Philly, this lets them hold onto three important d-men and their main forwards. The only bad thing is Stolarz, Laughton, and Weal are still exposed but one can be saved with a pick and my guess would be Stolarz to help Mason.

Pittsburgh Penguins:
Protection Plan: 4-4-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Marc-Andre Fleury

Protected Players:
Evgeni Malkin (NMC), Sidney Crosby (NMC), Phil Kessel (NMC), Carl Hagelin, Kris Letang (NMC), Olli Maatta, Justin Schultz, Derrick Pouliot, Matthew Murray.

Best Exposed Players:
Patric Hornqvist, Chris Kunitz, Nick Bonino, Matt Cullen, Oskar Sundqvist, Bryan Rust, Tom Kuhnhackl, Trevor Daley, Ian Cole, Mark Streit, Ron Hainsey, Brian Dumoulin, Frank Corrado, Marc-Andre Fleury (NMC Waived).

Another team victim of too many NMC’s is Pittsburgh, the good thing they don’t have anyone really important exposed besides Patric Hornqvist and Chris Kunitz. They can save one with a pick but one’s gotta go, which is fine cause they have enough in their system to replace either one. I have Fleury waiving his NMC so the team can protect Murray. If Vegas wanted a solid starter, their best choice is going after Fleury instead.

San Jose Sharks:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Justin Braun

Protected Players:
Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski, Tomas Hertl, Melker Karlsson, Chris Tierney, Brent Burns, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Brenden Dillon, Martin Jones.

Best Exposed Players:
Mikkel Boedker, Joel Ward, Jannik Hansen, Micheal Haley, Paul Martin, Justin Braun, David Schlemko, Aaron Dell.

A 7-3-1 plan is great for San Jose since as you can see they don’t really have anyone influential left, whoever leaves can easily be replaced. And if they saved one with a pick my best guess is someone like Aaron Dell.

St. Louis Blues:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Ty Rattie

Protected Players:
Vladimir Tarasenko, Paul Stastny, Alex Steen, Jaden Schwartz, Jori Lehtera, David Perron, Patrik Berglund, Alex Pietrangelo, Jay Bouwmeester, Joel Edmundson, Jake Allen.

Best Exposed Players:
Nail Yakupov, Ryan Reaves, Dmitrij Jaskin, Carl Gunnarsson, Robert Bortuzzo, Carter Hutton, Kyle Brodziak, Scottie Upshall, Magnus Paajarvi, Ty Rattie, Jordan Caron.

Luckily for the Blues, they don’t have a lot of d-men who are worth protecting, so it comes down to a 7-3-1 plan to protect the best three defensemen they got. Also with this plan, they can cover seven very important forwards. Carter Hutton is likely to be saved with a pick, this leaves Vegas with a depth selection.

Tampa Bay Lightning:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Braydon Coburn

Protected Players:
Steven Stamkos (NMC), Ryan Callahan (NMC), Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Johnson, Vladislav Namestnikov, Jonathan Drouin, Cedric Paquette, Anton Stralman, Victor Hedman (NMC), Andrej Sustr, Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Best Exposed Players:
Alex Killorn, Ondrej Palat, Erik Condra, J.T. Brown, Jason Garrison, Braydon Coburn, Slater Koekkoek, Peter Budaj, Kristers Gudlevskis, Gabriel Dumont, Tye McGinn, Michael Bournival.

With a 7-3-1 plan the Lightning can hold onto some very key guys without losing too much, Ondrej Palat is the biggest target left exposed but he can be saved with a pick. This leaves Vegas taking someone like Alex Killorn or Braydon Coburn.

Toronto Maple Leafs:
Protection Plan: 4-4-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Leo Komarov

Protected Players:
Nazem Kadri, James Van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak, Connor Brown, Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner, Alexey Marchenko, Connor Carrick, Frederik Andersen.

Best Exposed Players:
Joffrey Lupul, Brooks Laich, Leo Komarov, Colin Greening, Matt Martin, Brian Boyle, Eric Fehr, Kerby Rychel, Ben Smith, Brendan Leipsic, Roman Polak, Martin Marincin, Matt Hunwick, Curtis McElhinney, Antoine Bibeau, Garret Sparks, Seth Griffith, Josh Leivo.

The vast majority of exposed players Toronto has are nothing but fourth liners, the important ones are only a few this is why a 4-4-1 plan is perfect. But either Bibeau, Sparks, Leivo, or Polak is going to go. If I was Toronto I would use a pick on Leivo since this kid can score goals, Vegas will most likely go after a depth defenseman or a backup goaltender, preferably Bibeau.

Vancouver Canucks:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Richard Bachman

Protected Players:
Daniel Sedin (NMC), Henrik Sedin (NMC), Loui Eriksson (NMC), Brandon Sutter, Sven Baertschi, Markus Granlund, Bo Horvat, Alexander Edler, Chris Tanev, Erik Gudbranson, Ryan Miller.

Best Exposed Players:
Derek Dorsett, Anton Rodin, Luca Sbisa, Philip Larsen, Jacob Markstrom, Richard Bachman, Jack Skille, Michael Chaput.

A 7-3-1 plan is perfect for Vancouver cause in all reality, who is there to protect besides the guys I already chose? Not much of anyone. Their biggest attraction is either Markstrom or Bachman but with a pick, one can at least be protected.

Washington Capitals:
Protection Plan: 7-3-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Taylor Chorney

Protected Players:
Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Marcus Johansson, T.J. Oshie, Lars Eller, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Andre Burakovsky, Matt Niskanen, John Carlson, Karl Alzner, Braden Holtby.

Best Exposed Players:
Justin Williams, Daniel Winnik, Tom Wilson, Jay Beagle, Brett Connolly, Brooks Orpik, Kevin Shattenkirk, Dmitry Orlov, Taylor Chorney, Philipp Grubauer, Zach Sill, Christian Thomas.

Either way, you look at things, or whatever plan is chosen, Washington is primed to lose someone important. So a 7-3-1 plan is their best bet this way they can keep the vast majority of their offense intact. Orlov and Grubauer will be the highest targets and one can be saved with a pick, and my guess is Grubauer.

Winnipeg Jets:
Protection Plan: 4-4-1
Vegas Draft Pick: Shawn Matthias

Protected Players:
Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler, Bryan Little, Mathieu Perreault, Dustin Byfuglien (NMC), Toby Enstrom (NMC), Tyler Myers, Jacob Trouba, Connor Hellebuyck.

Best Exposed Players:
Shawn Matthias, Adam Lowry, Marko Dano, Andrew Copp, Mark Stuart, Paul Postma, Ondrej Pavelec, Michael Hutchinson.

Good thing the Jets main guys are automatically exempt, this way their top forwards who are exposed can be saved with a 4-4-1 plan which also allows the team to keep four very important guys. And with who is left over, Adam Lowry would be the best selection for the Knights, that’s not if he’s saved with a pick leaving their second best pick in Andrew Copp or Shawn Matthias.

Projected Cap Hit: $55,320,833
Projected Cap Space: $17,679,167
Players Under Contract: 20/20

Roster:
Forwards:
Carl Soderberg, Michael Frolik, Benoit Pouliot, Jakob Silfverberg, Jamie McGinn, Josh Bailey, Leo Komarov, Marcus Foligno, Shawn Matthias, Jesper Fast, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Tomas Jurco, Scott Laughton, Sam Gagner, Ty Rattie, Colton Sissons.

Defenseman:
Marco Scandella, Justin Braun, Braydon Coburn, Brayden McNabb, Jon Merrill, Mark Pysyk, Jordie Benn, Taylor Chorney, Greg Pateryn, Dylan McIlrath.

Goaltenders:
Marc-Andre Fleury, Eddie Lack, Malcolm Subban, Richard Bachman.

                                                                            Depth Chart:
Jakob Silfverberg – Carl Soderberg – Michael Frolik
Benoit Pouliot – Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Jamie McGinn
Josh Bailey – Sam Gagner – Leo Komarov
Marcus Foligno – Colton Sissons – Scott Laughton
Tomas Jurco                                         Shawn Matthias
Jesper Fast                                                Ty Rattie

Brayden McNabb – Justin Braun
Marco Scandella – Braydon Coburn
Jon Merrill – Jordie Benn
Mark Pysyk – Dylan McIlrath
Taylor Chorney – Greg Pateryn

Marc-Andre Fleury
Eddie Lack
Malcolm Subban
Richard Bachman

Next: NHL Entry Draft: First Round Mock and Analysis

The Golden Knights are going to be competitive right out of the gate which is good because they won’t be getting thrashed game in and game out. But on the opposite side of that coin, isn’t better to build a team through hard work rather than picking players off other teams? Either way, next season is going to be a good one for the Knights.