NHL Expansion Draft: Vegas Golden Knights Selection Strategy

Metropolitan Division

Carolina Hurricanes

Hurricanes Protect: Jordan Staal, Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask, Teuvo Teravainen, Elias Lindholm, Phillip Di Giuseppe, Brock McGinn, Justin Faulk, Ryan Murphy, Trevor Carrick, Scott Darling.

Best available Hurricanes: Lee Stempniak, Joakim Nordstrom, Klas Dahlbeck, Cam Ward.

So this becomes a competition between Lee Stempniak and Klas Dahlbeck. An older winger versus a young defenseman. Both a year away from free agency.

This time, though, I’m going with the old winger. Lee Stempniak, at 34, is still able to put up a good amount of points. In a full 82 game season in Carolina, Stempniak put up 40 points and 16 goals.

That type of play is going to be necessary for Vegas. Stempniak is a good pick in the NHL Expansion Draft.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Blue Jackets Protect: Brandon Saad, Brandon Dubinsky, Nick Foligno, Scott Hartnell, Cam Atkinson, Boone Jenner, Alexander Wennberg, Seth Jones, David Savard, Ryan Murray, Sergei Bobrovsky.

Best available Blue Jackets: Matt Calvert, William Karlsson, Lukas Sedlak, Josh Anderson, Jack Johnson, Joonas Korpisalo.

William Karlsson, Josh Anderson, Jack Johnson. Those are the three guys Vegas should consider most in the NHL Expansion Draft. Of course, it’s rumored CBJ has dealt a first for the protection of Josh Anderson.

Although this is a test of the best possible team regardless of outside influences. That first should tell you everything you need to know about Anderson.

At just 23, in his official rookie season, Anderson posted 29 points, including 17 goals. Surround him with better linemates and he should be good for more.

That’s why Vegas should/would take him. But as a better predictor, outside of Anderson, Johnson is one to watch. Capable of playing top pairing minutes, another defensive defenseman, and relatively young.

Johnson would make a good pairing for Marc Methot.

New Jersey Devils

Devils Protect: Taylor Hall, Travis Zajac, Adam Henrique, Kyle Palmieri, Andy Greene, John Moore, Damon Severson, Mirco Mueller, Cory Schneider.

Best available Devils: Mike Cammalleri, Devante Smith-Pelly, Beau Bennett, Ben Lovejoy, Jon Merrill, Scott Wedgewood.

Alright, here’s the thing about Beau Bennett. Yeah, I think Vegas should take Beau Bennett. 25 year old restricted free agent who should be cheap because of games played.

I know he’s injury plagued. But outside of that, Beau Bennett is a truly good player. In 65 games this season, Bennett had 19 points, 8 goals, and ridiculous possession stats.

I’m talking 53.4 Corsi despite a 53.9 defensive zone start percentage. That’s with Adam Henrique and Joseph Blandisi as his most played with line. Neither of them come close to Bennett’s numbers.

Gotta take Beau Bennett here based off of potential.

New York Islanders

Islanders Protect: Andrew Ladd, John Tavares, Anders Lee, Johnny Boychuk, Nick Leddy, Travis Hamonic, Ryan Pulock, Adam Pelech, Thomas Greiss.

Best available Islanders: Nikolai Kulemin, Casey Cizikas, Josh Bailey, Brock Nelson, Ryan Strome, Thomas Hickey, Calvin De Haan.

The finalists from the Islanders are Ryan Strome and Calvin De Haan. I know everybody thinks the Golden Knights should draft Josh Bailey, but he only put up 13 goals.

Put him with anybody besides John Tavares and I don’t know how he does. Plus, Bailey is 27 and overpaid for those 13 goals.

Strome is a 23-year-old center who two years ago put up 50 points. He scored 13 goals and 17 assists this year, as he saw his minutes decrease.

But out of all Islanders, I believe that Ryan Strome is the one with the most potential. Again, he’s just 23 and he’s proved himself capable of big seasons.

He’ll play with better linemates than he currently has in New York. Vegas has to think about the future as well as the present, and Strome makes a good trade bait in addition.

Calvin De Haan isn’t a bad option either. He’s a defensive defenseman, something the Golden Knights will see a lot of, but he’s good at his job. And he posted 25 points.

New York Rangers

Rangers Protect: Rick Nash, Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello, J.T. Miller, Kevin Hayes, Mika Zibanejad, Marc Staal, Ryan McDonagh, Nick Holden, Henrik Lundqvist.

Best available Rangers: Michael Grabner, Oscar Lindberg, Jesper Fast, Antti Raanta.

It’s Raanta. The Golden Knights must take 3 goaltenders in this draft. If Raanta isn’t one of the best 3 goaltenders in this NHL expansion draft (he is) he’s on one of the best three contracts. And he’s just 28.

The Knights, once again, must plan for their future. While Marc-Andre Fleury is (very) likely their current goaltender, they’ll need one for the future. Raanta could be that future goaltender.

At the very least, Raanta is a great backup.

Philadelphia Flyers

Flyers Protect: Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, Brayden Schenn, Valtteri Filppula, Sean Couturier, Wayne Simmonds, Scott Laughton, Shayne Gostisbehere, Radko Gudas, Brandon Manning, Anthony Stolarz.

Best available Flyers: Michael Raffl, Andrew MacDonald, Michal Neuvirth.

Michael Raffl. The Knights have to draft 14 forwards, and they’ve got a jump start on defensemen. Besides, there isn’t much left on this Flyers team.

But if we’re picking the meat off a bone, then it could be worse than Raffl. Yes, he had very few points – 11 in 52 games. But 8 of those were goals.

Raffl is another example of a player in need of better linemates. And he’s younger and cheaper than Matt Read, and his contract goes one more year.

In the necessity that is picking from Philadelphia in the NHL expansion draft, Raffl makes sense.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Penguins Protect: Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel, Patric Hornqvist, Kris Letang, Olli Maatta, Justin Schultz, Brian Dumoulin, Matt Murray.

Best available Penguins: Carl Hagelin, Bryan Rust, Ian Cole, Derrick Pouliot, Marc-Andre Fleury.

Starting goaltender. That’s what Vegas needs, and it’s right there in the form of Fleury. When he waived his NMC, he knew he was Vegas bound.

And he’ll get a chance to play. A fresh start, hopefully, somewhere where a new Matt Murray won’t take his spot again.

Fleury’s a great starting goaltender. And he’s the best pick for Vegas in the NHL Expansion Draft.

Washington Capitals

Capitals Protect: Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Marcus Johansson, Lars Eller, Tom Wilson, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Andre Burakovsky, Matt Niskanen, John Carlson, Dmitry Orlov, Braden Holtby.

Best available Capitals: Nate Schmidt, Philipp Grubauer.

Nate Schmidt is a solid young defenseman. Grubauer is a solid young goaltender. Both are currently restricted free agents, both are 25.

I personally would take Grubauer. There’s a lot of noise out there about Nate Schmidt, though. But there are younger defensemen in the NHL Expansion Draft. There are no better younger goaltenders in the NHL Expansion Draft.

If Raanta isn’t the goaltender of the future for the Golden Knights, then Grubauer is. In my opinion, Vegas has to draft Grubauer.