NHL Draft: Ranking each team’s expansion decision
Tier 1: The Winners
These teams did the best, losing no one of consequence. In fact, a few of them improved.
Arizona Coyotes
The best thing about having a bad team with most of your players being young is you don’t have much to lose in an expansion draft. They lost forward Teemu Pulkkinen, who put up 65 points in 78 AHL games for the Chicago Wolves.
Colorado Avalanche
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Losing Calvin Pickard worked out great for the Colorado Avalanche. He wasn’t in the Golden Knights organization after the first week of the season. Also, Jonathan Bernier took his roster spot and did a mighty fine job. Then again, when you set a record for fewest points in the salary cap era, it’s safe to say you’re not going to lose a good player in an expansion draft.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes gave up a fifth-round pick to entice the Golden Knights to pick Connor Brickley, yet another pending free agent. Looking at how they left unprotected, there wasn’t anyone worth losing. Hard to hate what they did.
They also got Marcus Kruger and Trevor van Riemsdyk from the Golden Knights in separate trades. But we didn’t include them because they were not directly related to the expansion draft.
San Jose Sharks
Overall, the San Jose Sharks made some very smart expansion draft moves. Maybe they should have pushed for Vegas to take on Mikkel Boedker’s contract. Instead, they lost defenseman David Schlemko instead. The Golden Knights would later trade him to the Montreal Canadiens. San Jose had guys ready to replace Schlemko, so losing him wasn’t a big deal.
Montreal Canadiens
Without giving up any picks, the Golden Knights took defenseman Alexei Emelin from the Montreal Canadiens. That was a blessing in disguise, opening up a roster spot for some young defensemen. Also, the Canadiens left Tomas Plekanec (who later netted them a second-round pick at the trade deadline) and promising young forward Charles Hudon unprotected. So Emelin getting picked was one of the best possible outcomes for Montreal.
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers lost Griffin Reinhart. It’s funny to think they once gave up the draft pick used to get Mathew Barzal for him. But Edmonton didn’t miss the depth defenseman one bit.