THE EXPANSION LIST
Earlier today, the NHL’s trade freeze arrived and now the entire league waits for the expansion draft and the first blush Vegas Golden Knights. There was a lot of speculation on Friday night surrounding Jordan Eberle but dawn Saturday arrived and the cooling had begun. I remain uncertain the open market value for No. 14 is enough to get a second pairing RHD. In today’s NHL, even a righty center like Derek Stepan might not get you that asset. We wait for the freeze to be over and look forward to the expansion draft.
ASSUMED PROTECTED LIST
- Goal: Cam Talbot
- Defense: Andrej Sekera, Adam Larsson, Oscar Klefbom
- Forwards: Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Milan Lucic, Jordan Eberle, Patrick Maroon, Zack Kassian, Mark Letestu
This is the universally accepted list, I would put Jujhar Khaira on it but we should expect this to be the published list tomorrow. Mark Spector mentioned today that he could see Jordan Eberle not making this list, but that seems a distant bell.
INELIGIBLE LIST
- Not Available: Connor McDavid, Darnell Nurse, Matt Benning, Jesse Puljujarvi, Anton Slepyshev, Drake Caggiula, Nick Ellis.
Edmonton got very lucky with the timing of the expansion draft, their list and Toronto’s will easily be the most valuable in the NHL. Two years from now? Edmonton would be reeling at the thought of an expansion draft.
NOTABLE ELIGIBLES
- G Laurent Brossoit, D Mark Fayne, D Kris Russell (ufa), D Griffin Reinhart (rfa), D Jordan Oesterle (ufa), D Dillon Simpson (rfa), D David Musil (rfa), C Jujhar Khaira, C David Desharnais (ufa), L Benoit Pouliot, R Tyler Pitlick (ufa), R Iiro Pakarinen.
My bet is Griffin Reinhart, but the Golden Knights may end up with a plethora of LHD and could choose Benoit Pouliot, Laurent Brossoit or Jujhar Khaira instead.
Lots of conversations about trade options and tomorrow morning when we see the final lists there may be an opportunity to make a trade that includes LV taking on a big contract. That aside, Edmonton is in pretty good position heading into this expansion draft. The trade prices for sellers today were severe and that’s putting it lightly, best to keep your powder dry and maybe tomorrow brings a change in the weather.
Note: The protected lists are leaking (WSH, LAK) and if the Oilers list comes out tonight I’ll update this post.
I have not gone thru all the scenarios but isn’t it likely that Vegas winds up with 23 players better than Reinhart and Khaira?
Seems likely both would be late cuts come training camp from Vegas?
No. There are four or five teams that have no one worth drafting. Seriously.Khaira or Reinhart might not make the 23-man roster, but they should be in contention for a job in training camp at least.
This whole thing is a chess match for Vegas. Hard to predict 3 moves ahead. They may take the players most think; but they may also opt to just take the players with the most perceived value and flip a lot of them out.
Should become more interesting once Wednesday is here. From Wed to Friday, that is when the action comes.
The question might not be what deals will Chia make with Vegas? It might actually be what deals did Chia make today with Vegas?
Teams with valuable D they could not protect did not move them on the open market. The alternative to those open deals today was to do a trade call with Vegas.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/gms-meet-ensure-vegas-expansion-passes-smell-test/
“They would be complete with a trade call and the same kind of documentation that accompanies every exchange of players between teams. In the past, some of those transactions with expansion franchises were agreed to on the side.”
I think if they were grabbing players honestly, perhaps.
But they are taking on bad contracts right now for picks, so I think either would have the ability to make that team imo
The problem with Reinhart from LV’s perspective is that he’s not waiver exempt anymore. There’s a good chance that they’ll pick 7 veteran D who are better than he is (given that most teams will only be protecting 3 D), so they’ll risk losing him for nothing if he doesn’t make the team out of training camp. His trade value is limited for the same reason.
Khaira isn’t exempt either, but it’s far more likely that he’ll be one of the 14 best LV forwards out of camp than it would be that Reinhart is one of their best 7 D.
If Edmonton isn’t in LT’s list of teams that have no one worth drafting, they probably should be…
We had a trip there but are back to normal, if I deleted one of your posts sincere apologies just want to make sure it’s a normal Saturday night.
Purported to be a release from the Vags:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DCjuJvpWsAAZFIZ.jpg
Paraphrasing, it says that The Summer of George is willing to listen to any request from other teams to not take roster players. Crazy.
Adam VinganVerified account @AdamVingan 54m54 minutes ago
Calle Jarnkrok was among the Predators players protected by the team on its list submitted today.
Stick that in your krok and smoke it.
Of the reasonablely likely picks that Vegas could make from the Oilers, I’m hoping for:
1. Poo (with or without an inducement)
2. Khaira
3. Reinhart
I wouldn’t be too upset if they took Brossoit, but I don’t think that’s a reasonable possibility if Fleury, Raanta, Grubauer, Neuvirth are available.
I thought deleting posts was a normal Saturday night?
I should also add that I’d be happy to see Vegas sign Russell (who’s probably the BPA from the Oilers available list) to save us from ourselves giving him 4 x $4mln.
Scungilli Slushy,
Piseed is a word, that I invented, not my phone.
Perhaps they shoot them a McPhee as a sweetener.
Scungilli Slushy,
Always blame your phone. It’s what Woodguy would want.
I’m the antiWoodguy. Dumb, broke, and a lover of Gritensity. And plastic.
Scungilli Slushy,
So you go against the grain?
Ba doom doom tshhh
Available at Rexall over the counter. 😉
You take Pouliot and we’ll trade you Fayne for Petrovic… then we’ll give McPhee 10 games on Connor’s wing. Okay, 15. Okay stop. 20 is our final offer. Next season.
ArboriteGuy?
Reinhart may not be one of the 7 best defensemen the GDs select, but he could very likely be one of the 7 best they start the season with. There are a lot more quality D expected to be available than forwards, and I fully expect them to use some of them as trade chips.
If ai were Vegas, I’d take the minimum number of forwards and goalies allowable and make the rest of my selections defensemen.
Al Arborite?
Looks great on my kitchen Islander.
Or they can take firsts straight up to avoid certain D
I never understood why people expected him to be left unprotected. Nashville can leave the older higher paid forwards and/or with contracts that expire soon unprotected without much worry.
If Maroon were earning $5 million, like Neal, he could be safely left unprotected also.
“I think what we’ve done is make Edmonton more of an attractive landing spot for players to come to, especially with the building and the team and Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl,” said Lucic.
Yeah, that sounds like a situation that McDavid wants to leave for a ‘bigger market’. /s
The Sharks expansion draft:
https://www.nhl.com/sharks/news/expansion-like-its-1991/c-289947420
The most amazing thing about this article, is how old it makes me feel.
Ok now I have to change my handle! Maybe tomorrow if something nice happens.
Beauty!
Okay, I know this is probably blasphemous, but would anyone consider trading Maroon for Evander Kane a good deal for Edmonton. Hear me out.
Evander Kane LW – 6’2″, 211 lbs – turns 26 years old this summer, 28 goals, 15 assists in 70 games last season. 12.13 ES shots/60. 1 year left at a $5.25M cap hit.
Patrick Maroon LW – 6’3″, 230lbs – 29 years old, 27 goals, 15 assists in 81 games last season. 7.37 ES shots/60. 1 year left at a $1.5M cap hit.
Both will get paid big time on their next contract. I could see Maroon opting for free agency to sign with St Louis to be close with family. His 27 goals will get him paid well on the open market. While Kane had a great season there are still always questions about him and that may affect his value on the open market so he may not command the $6M or more he hopes too.
Maroon may have peaked and was a benefactor of everything coming together at the right time to have a career year. We may not see this level again from him. If he doesn’t play with McDavid his value on the market will only go down. And if he wants to test the market, the Oilers may lose him for nothing. He can be re-signed July 1st, but if he holds off I think you have to consider getting value for him now.
While Maroon has performed well alongside McDavid, the Oilers haven’t tried anyone who has the potential to keep up and score in bunches on his line. Kane has a lot of speed, he’s physical, he shoots a lot and he is young enough to both improve his hockey skills and mature as a professional athlete.
Kane was #1 winger in even strength shots/60 last season with 12.13. Maroon was 52nd with 7.37 shots/60. That is a huge difference. Brendan Gallagher was #2 with 12.05. I would love to see them play with McDavid. They’re both fast, physical and shoot a lot. The savings in Gallagher’s contract would make up for the possible expense of Kane’s.
The Oilers need a shooter to really take advantage of the gift of McDavid, and Kane may be the very best available.
– Great post LT!
– Honestly: would you rather Davidson or Griff? There are 5+ Griffs. I’ll eat my hat if they pick Griff
– Also, what a lack of dept we have, save the kids which of course is who we are: McD, Drai, Nurse, Benning etc, they are what are going to win us cups. I don’t think anyone has pointed out: Patrick Maroon, Zack Kassian, Mark Letestu, they were free/others’ team’s give away.
– So Kudos for finding them, yet they are who we are protecting: we were so bad 18 months ago.
– Man we sucked, thinking RNH and Ebs were going to take us to the promise land, yet they were mediocre batting further down the betting order this year: think about how far we were away..
Jaxon,
The only thing you haven’t stated, is their avg games played per season.
TSN HockeyVerified account @TSNHockey 3m3 minutes ago
TRADE VERDICT: @CraigJButton on why getting Mike Smith is a big win for the Flames http://fw.to/SLDFQUa #TSNHockey
Ha… hahahahahahahahaha!
Jaxon,
– I agree: Maroon done if he was traded to say Arizona rather than McD’s winger: he was done
-So many guys score with McD: I’m not hating on Maroon: he took advantage of the situation and achieved: props: but so many wingers could and would do the same: quick who’s Crosby LW?
– Answer: whoever is available. I hope they find McD’s Kurri: if not in this cap era, it’s anyone who steps up (unless pool-party, please!)
True.
But I wouldn’t be overly concerned. Maroon has averaged 71.5 games per season over the last 4 seasons. Kane has averaged 58.75 over the same period. Looking back at Kane’s history, he played through a bad shoulder for most of 2014-15 and had surgery in February which ended his season. Last season he only missed 12 games after he was dumped in a very similar play to the play that put McDavid out for most of his rookie year. He had 3 cracked ribs and came back after missing only 12 games. That’s impressive and you can’t call a guy fragile if you see how fast he hit the boards. I think he’s had a few games off for personal healthy scratch reasons, which isn’t great but hopefully he has matured since being traded to Buffalo.
Ouch:
https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/kane-out-with-cracked-ribs/c-282665726
JDI,
I was laughing about Smith with you until I checked his record against the Oilers.
Maybe he summons some of that Oiler killer magic in the playoffs this coming season? Wouldn’t that be such an Oilers thing to happen. A goalie known for owning the Oilers souls (we did light him up finally last season, but that was only one out of almost half a decade of dominance) suddenly traded to our provincial rival? You can’t make this shit up.
I bet he’s rather mediocre in the reg season but all it takes is that one hot run in the playoffs to be a serious threat for the conference. (example:Anderson this year) and shutting down the McDavid Oilers in a 1st or 2nd round match up would probably give him them the momentum to make a run.
Pretty much, don’t sleep on Mike Smith.
Cats On The Prowl
@Cats0ntheprowl
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No moves were made on D today, so #FlaPanthers opted to protect Yandle (NMC), Ekblad, Pysyk and Petrovic…Jason Demers exposed.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Maroon, but we could see him bolt next July, possibly for his hometown St Louis where his son lives. It would be hard to blame him for doing that. And I’m sure they’d pay him quite well. Crosby may not have an established sniper on his wing, but they did win 2 cups after they got Kessel, who is also fast, had ‘personality’ issues in the media, and provided Pittsburgh with firepower throughout the lineup. Actually, the Kane situation seems quite similar and the Penguins took advantage of it.
EDIT: from Maple Leaf Hot Stove on the day of the Kesssel trade:
Kessel “is only 28, but he was a lightning rod of negativity, feuding with media constantly and getting blamed for the team’s struggles.”
Kessel also led the NHL in shots in last year’s playoffs and almost won the Conn Smythe playing with Bonino and Hagelin and leading the playoffs in scoring. Maybe that’s what Kane’s potential could be on the Oilers.
Jaxon,
There’s no question Kane is the better player. The only issue is Kane’s head space. I love Maroon and his character so you would be rolling the dice. But I would because Kanes upside cant be ignored.
But that started to turn midway through last season, and I think it will continue to turn.
I think we’ll see more of the Tampa/Dallas Smith than the Arizona Smith when he’s in Cowtown. And if that doesn’t summon Cameroon, I don’t know what will.
…360 degree’s around and bite us in the ass.
🙂
Jaxon,
Still, we’re talking about an average of almost 14 games per season less than Maroon. He was injured more than Hall over that span, and there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight. At least Hall played all 82 before his trade.
Sure Kane could play 164 in the next two seasons and prove me wrong, but I’m not betting the farm on it. And then we have the history of attitude issues.
My new crazy trade roster
https://capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/edit/360131
Roster Players:
IN: Gallagher, Hamonic, Jenner, E Kane
OUT: Nugent-Hopkins, Eberle, Pouliot, Maroon, and Letestu
1 Year Rentals and Salary Dumps:
IN: Johnson, Halak, Plekanec
OUT: Fayne
Prospects and Picks:
IN: 2nd, 3rd & 6th Round picks
OUT: Caleb Jones, Nick Ellis, 2nd & 3rd Round picks.
Free Agency:
IN: Spencer Foo
So we trade pouliot and this years 1st for Demers at a lower contract then the oil could sign him for last year and Woodguy starts posting again.
Sounds like a win-win to me.
I’m willing to bet not, although I doubt we see a sweep in the season battle again.
Think Kane is driven by money and Buffalo probably sees the writing on the wall. He already makes 5.25m and what does he want for an extension? 6×6.5? For a guy who is a handful to deal with off the ice and is often injured on it.
Talented but flawed player. Oilers should pass due to the potential extension cost. Maroon will sign for a lot less. No team is going to offer him much more than 4 per. They know the McDavid effect. And he doesn’t have the foot speed.
Oilers can find a replacement on the free agent market for a lot cheaper if Maroon wants too much to stay.
No need to trade for Kane. Just strikes me as a bad idea.
Sure. The cracked ribs were crazy though, and he came back in 12 games. Have you ever had cracked ribs? That is amazing. I think that is a freak accident, that you can’t really claim is an injury history type thing. Was McDavid’s broken collar bone an injury prone type play? It was almost identical. If we can agree the cracked ribs don’t fall into the injury prone category, then you’re looking at a 62 game per season average. That is now within 9 games of Maroon. Now, if you consider he has matured and there won’t be as many off-ice issues that cause healthy scratches then most of the other games he missed come up too. I think a maturing Kane is creeping towards Maroon’s average. He’s 3 1/2 years younger and has way more skill. He scored 30 goals with Blake Wheeler and Andrew Ladd. While they are solid players, they have never been elite superstars. I do hear you, though. You’d have to have concerns pulling the trigger on a trade like that. But with Maroon’s great season being possibly an anomaly, a very real chance that he could bolt to St Louis next summer, his value most likely going down, now may be the time to cash in and Kane may be a good fit for a trading partner.
Crazy is the correct term.
So all the people who railed against Chia for not signing Demers last year – how’s that hat taste?
So sick of hearing how “we could have just signed Demers and kept Hall … and then Ka-zaam! Stanley Cup!” from all the all-chair GMs.
Jason Demers is expansion fodder… for a team that decided to protect 4 D-men.
This is my list of teams where it would make sense to trade a significant draft choice or choices to avoid a loss:
Columbus (who has apparently traded a first rounder)
Anaheim (who seem likely to lose Sami Vatanen
Washington where Nate Schmidt is exposed
Florida where Jason Demers is exposed and so is Jonathon Marchessault supposedly.
Boston Bruins who will likely lose Malcolm Subban – I guess it depends how they fell about his progress
Nashville Predators – where we know they have been trying to do a deal with Vegas with no success so far
New York Islanders – where they are looking at losing Strome and one of their starting D
Ottawa Senators – who seem to really value Marc Methot but couldn’t protect him
Minnesota Wild who would be trading picks from 2018 but have a wealth of talent they could lose – the most screwed team in the expansion process in my opinion
I would think there is an excellent chance Florida, Minnesota, the Islanders, and Anaheim along with Columbus all pony up firsts. The math of course makes it an easier decision for Anaheim, Columbus, and Minnesota where the pick is a late first rounder. Florida and the Islanders are really between a rock and a hard place. Still part of it would come down to how much control they get of who is picked (rather than just who isn’t).
Anybody have any other ideas on who might be prepared to give up a first to control their expansion destiny?
The last time the guy played a full year, was the shortened ’12/’13 48 game season. Yes, for Gord’s sake yes, that screams ‘injury prone’. He’s missed 93 games in 4 seasons.
Yes I’ve had a cracked rib, and I didn’t get much time off work for it.
Also, I don’t like the guy’s attitude. http://assets3.sportsnet.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/kane-money.jpg
Eric Francis @EricFrancis 7m7 minutes ago
Confirming Calgary’s protected list: Gaudreau, Monahan, Ferland, Backlund, Frolik, Bennett, Lazar, Giordano, Brodie, Hamilton, Smith.
Ferland over Brower. Spurtznet told me otherwise.
Jaxon,
Your trade doesn’t work on many levels. One of them is that Buffalo probably can get more for Kane than an older UFA to be who had a career year playing on the best offensive C in hockey’s wing.
Eric Francis
@EricFrancis
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Confirming Calgary’s protected list: Gaudreau, Monahan, Ferland, Backlund, Frolik, Bennett, Lazar, Giordano, Brodie, Hamilton, Smith.
—
Maybe we get Edmonton’s tonight.
Actually, the people who wanted him signed (this was before we knew of the Hall trade, mind you) wanted him signed so long as there was NO NMC.
They did NOT want to protect him.In fact, the opposite. If Vegas took him at whatever the cap hit (5 per or whatever) that was going to be fine.
I could equally say that I am so sick of hearing people make up untrue, revisionist claims just to slag one section of the fanbase. And that goes for both “sides.”
So your point isn’t really proof of anything ar all.
This is correct. We had chats about this and the idea was a spot carrier.
The former heralded UFA has fallen to expansion fodder status. Circumstances aside, it’s a fair assessment.
Along with Sami Vatanen. Chew your fodder carefully. Fair?
N64,
I put the ass in assessment.
Looks like Ben Bishop and MA Fleury had the Flames on their No Trade list.
Smith makes a little more sense. But the timing doesn’t or the amount given up
The temptation lists are building.
I would definitely approve of the Oilers giving up this years 1st round pick for a #4 RHD from the Vegas available list.
Oilers are now in a Win Now window which means role players that get too expensive can be sent off in future years for extra picks and replaced with vets chasing the cup.
A very different place from years past where Oilers role players left to careers outside of hockey.
By how slow the oilers protected list is coming out should give everybody a pretty good idea how much insider information Chiarelli gives out.
After the mactavish debecal this makes me happy!!!!
If Oiler fans wanted him signed in order to add to the D corps while also having him be the one placed out there as expansion fodder so Klef, Davidson, Reimhart etc would be less likely to be snagged, how is one to know that Florida was not thinking exactly the same? Perhaps this was their plan, too, rather than assuming he is a fallen angel of sorts.
Either is possible and no one on either side should be eating any headgear. Instead, we should just crack open a Balvenie double cask and sing kumbaya 😉
This just in. The Oil will expose multiple players tomorrow. APG.
Do you have any posts or posts of others that reference leaving Demers exposed in the expansion draft on hand?
I’m not very good at looking these sort of things up.
NYCOIL “Gentleman Backpacker”,
Well I’m drinking cooking sherry and maintaining that Demers’ fall from exalted UFA to expansion fodder speaks volumes. I just can’t tell what that says because of the cooking sherry.
Let’s use the current best team in the league as an example of the Oilers’ future, which is a decent comparable given two high paid top players.
16 players signed and just under 13M in cap at 73M.
Those to sign who have contributed:
Forward: Kunitz, Bonino, Sheary,
Defense: Daley, Hainsey, Dumoulin, Schultz, Ruhwedel
Goal: A backup
This won’t work unless players sign for far under market value, a cap increase will be modest at best this year.
As it relates to the Oilers, they have just under 18.5M in cap, but Neon and Kassian will eat a big piece of that. Next year they have needing contracts Connor, Nurse, Benning, Maroon, Slep, Broissoit, Ellis.
The smart play would be to take on no contracts longer than one season of any consequence or refuse to give movement clauses, and grow from within which is the least costly.
The one true insider.
She did knock it out of the park that one draft though!!!
https://lowetide.ca/2016/06/03/long-way-to-happy/comment-page-1/#comment-534712
Looking at the exposed goalie list we look silly for worrying about Brossoit haha.
Demers is fine. Florida had a bad year and I can’t tell you what the helll was going on during 125 minutes with Jakub Kindl, but he’s fine. The problem is money and term of course.
Ever watch The Sting?
I think they cut this stuff with industrial floor wax. Either that, or they cut industrial floor wax with cooking sherry.
Sami Vatanen says pass the cooking Sherry.
He still looks very shiny from where I sit. Oh wait…
Florida also protected Bjugstad over Marchessault.
Maybe they left Demers exposed thinking Marchessault would get picked over him anyway.
Or they are crazy…size aside Bjugstad over a 30 goal guy making 750k a year.
Lots of plausible theories other than Demers sucks, eat your hats.
🙂
Guys, Marchessault is turning 27, is 5’9″ and 174 lbs according to hockey DB, has 38 NHL goals in 124 NHL games, 30 last year. He’ll also need a UFA contract after next season. Maybe our GM kids is learning. Screams bad contract coming. Not us please.
EDIT: 15.5% SH% too boot
This tinfoil is really bothering my fillings.
I think this proves you drink floor wax
Mussch cheeper then reel sharry! HA!
~ Watch out for those grubby little fingers ~
I don’t follow, JDI got me shmammed on cooking liquors.
Based on Florida’s protection list, I’m assuming they hope Demers is picked by Vegas.
They can then use the money saved to acquire a Left Shot D so the fans in South Florida never have to see Jakub Kindl play ever again.
And if Marchesseault is picked they can then trade Demers themselves.
Randy Newman reference
Nice
Just don’t smoke near the sherry.
I don’t know if the term and money are that difficult to take on. Demers has 4 years left at 4.5m per, so you’re getting his age 29-33 years, not the most ideal time frame but he should be able to be productive for at least 2 years, likely 3.
There’s talk about giving KR 4×4, and Demers is a much much better bet, and provides an actual RH shot.
Thank you
I guess we could have protected ourself by carrying Demers at a 5.6 mil contract for years to come.
treevojo,
What is more palatable?
Demers 5 x 5.6
Or
Russel 5 x 3.82
?
I tend to agree-the money is fine, the term is not ideal
I’m not sure if Demers is the guy you wager on to get this team to the next level (I’m asking, not stating unequivocally)…I just don’t know
Justin Faulk at 3 x $4.9 million
Or licking urinals clean?
If it costs eberle. Yes.
If it costs nuge. Maybe.
Go to bed now so that you can make the protection list presser tomorrow at 8.
I can see one of the 1sts being an edm one if the right C or D is available to Vegas.
I wouldn’t want to do any of the 3 options but I have a year of hindsight.
I would be ok with Russel for 3 more years at 10 mil total.
I’d do Nuge for Faulk but this is the problem I’m having this evening(and our host has been stating for the last 12 hours)
I don’t think Ebs even gets you in the conversation, and I think Nuge is the starting point if you’re asking about Faulk-Car is going to want Nuge + and maybe ++
I don’t think Chia needs to force a trade-I’m prepared to look at plan B(insert plan B here)
*edit-and that’s assuming that Faulk is even available
Huh?
Seriously nothing of what you wrote there made sense in the least – who was talking about NMCs – I wasn’t. And last summer absolutely no one here was talking about expansion drafts – because we had no idea at the time that there would be one – so who’s making up revisionist BS now?
What I was alluding to was the events of last summer, when Lucic and Demers came in for an interview with the brass, after which there were two possible roads available …
A) Sign Demers, keep Hall
B) Trade Hall for Larsson, sign Lucic
Our GM took road B.
After which all damn year, the smug wanna-be GMs here have said that the Oilers made the wrong choice – first off, acting as if signing Demers was fait accompli – completely ignoring the very real possibility that he preferred to live in the tax-free sunshine of Florida.
AND positing that Demers would have been just as good an option as Larsson. And to that I said in the above post that no, he’s not. He’s a decent 2nd pairing D-man who, if he had signed with the Oilers, would have been playing way over his head on the first pairing with Klefbom.
I’m sorry LT, but with or without Kindl, this year Demers got caved in playing BEHIND Ekblad on their 2nd pairing. And now he’s expansion fodder, for one of the few teams that decided to protect 4D.
I know its a very unpopular position around here, but I still feel Chia made the right choice last summer to pass on Demers and acquire Larsson, in spite of the cost.
Click on the link
It’s a popular position with me. I have maintained all along that Larsson is a big upgrade over Demers.
Diablo: No need to be sorry on my account, we can have differences of opinion and still come out fine. The problem for me in adding Demers (as opposed to Petrovic) is the cap hit and term. Going back to last season, while interesting, doesn’t really address the current situation. I have Demers on my list of target defense, but had the other two higher due to cap and term (and age).
Diablo:
No issues with this summary of your second comment here:
“I know its a very unpopular position around here, but I still feel Chia made the right choice last summer to pass on Demers and acquire Larsson, in spite of the cost.”
I think your position isn’t that unpopular and lots of people agree with you. It’s hard to prove either way since we don’t have parallel universes we can access, but the standings improvement is in your favour despite various caveats (healthy Klefbom, healthy McDavid).
My only issue was with the comment that people thought Demers should be signed and NOT exposed and therefore they should essentially eat crow. Mine was not the only opinion. Others also said sign him if you don’t need to give out the NMC, meaning specifically leaving him exposed in the draft.
Your opinion that Larsson > Demers + Hall is certainly a valid opinion to have and my comment was not directed at that. My objection was your suggestion that Demers not being on the protected list somehow is proof of this and those with other opinions should eat their hats, when those people mostly never intended to put Demers on the expansion draft protection list anyway.
That’s where I said you were being revisionist. I apologize if that offended you, but you did come off rather aggressively in your first post where you decided to rub this in people’s faces.
Your rebuttal is fair and well-written, and I thank you for that.
If Florida would take even $750k on Demers contract, I would be fine paying $3.75 for 4 years as a 29 year old. Everyone seems to think that would be an okay cap for resigning Russel and Demers is a better fit at that same price.
And yet if you had clicked on the link provided for Trovojo an hour earlier there was NYCOil discussing exactly that here in early June even before expansion and the main draft parameters were officially announced on the 3rd day of summer.
Well here’s one guy who seemed to know on June 22. At least 30 cities wanted to know how a draft would impact new free agent contracts.
https://www.nhl.com/news/c-281010682?tid=281011650
“The team coming into the most competitive league in sports will have a roster that will be competitive more quickly than prior expansions,” Commissioner Bettman said.
To get there, Las Vegas must select one player from each of the existing 30 teams, including at least 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goalies. It must select a minimum of 20 players who have existing contracts that carry through the 2017-18 season and the average annual value of the total contracts it takes on must be at least 60 percent of the 2016-17 season salary-cap limit, which is $73 million.
I wonder who 😉
2 revisionist double negatives and a belly flop. Daring dive.
You’re right and I stand corrected … though I don’t think the moves GMs were making last summer were predicated too heavily on what they would have to expose this summer (look at Florida for example). Certainly it wouldn’t have changed the math with Demers and the Oilers – if we’d signed him instead of trading for Larsson, then we (probably) would have protected Demers, Sekera and Klefbom.
LT – I think the idea of trying to get Demers this summer, and playing him behind Larsson on the 2nd pairing is an option Chia should aggressively pursue now – sorry if I made it sound otherwise (though my first preference is to get Pulock – cheaper, and younger with a better RH point shot).
The only thing is cost – from all reports it appears that Columbus has set the bar for what a first round pick in the 20’s is worth this year … essentially LV has agreed to take on Clarkson’s contract (big cap dump), in exchanged for a 1st, a waivers exempt prospect (likely) and they’ll still get to select Murray …. too me it seems like they’ve set the bar pretty low.
Earlier I had thought that we could trade #22 to LV, and they would take Pouliot off our hands AND they would send back a centre or RHD …. seems that I was being what I often accuse others of …. overly optimistic.
And Clarkson is on the IR.Very low bar.
Jim Matheson @NHLbyMatty
Barring late curve, Edm protected list will be Draisaitl, Lucic, RNH, Eberle, Maroon, Kassian, Letestu, Larsson, Klefbom, Sekera, Talbot
9:09 AM – 18 Jun 2017
So Matty did not know 16 hours after the list was submitted. Access. to Chia is limited. Late curve indeed.
Chia: Hey George. Last minute curve. But that list I submitted yesterday isn’t the final one.
Elliotte FriedmanVerified account @FriedgeHNIC 2m2 minutes ago
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Jordan Eberle was protected by EDM.
Darren DregerVerified account @DarrenDreger 26s26 seconds ago
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Available Oilers: Pouliot, Pakarinen, Fayle and Brossoit.
Pierre LeBrunVerified account @PierreVLeBrun 2m2 minutes ago
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Both Vatanen and Manson were left unprotected by the Ducks (Bieksa had to be protected). But again, belief is that Ducks have deal with VG
Shocking news. Spector will survive the disappoinment.
NYI protected Pelech over Nelson. Snow has lost it lmao. They’re HAS to be some sort of deal worked out there.
Darren Dreger @DarrenDreger
Available Oilers: Pouliot, Pakarinen, Fayle and Brossoit
#EpicFayle
Rhineheart and Korea are available too.
It seemed as though coming up to this there were going to be lots of D available and few good forwards. Reading through the lists I get the opposite impression.
They went 5D like NYCOil and others thought. But left de Haan
.
Arthur Staple @StapeNewsday
#Isles leave Nelson, Strome, de Haan unprotected. Would indicate there’s a deal in place to keep Vegas away from those three
TSN is saying that NYI gave up a first to have Vegas lay off their F.
Guess that makes sense. Isles don’t really need more prospects.
Petrovic and Pysyk were protected, we’ll need to look elsewhere for our D trade with Vegas
No thanks on Demers, contract too weighty and poor performance most of the year outside of shot metrics,
Hope Chia can make a deal to get Pouliot selected.
Standard caveat in looking at the list.
Pierre LeBrun @PierreVLeBrun
A reminder: some of the players you will see exposed today may already be protected in another fashion by a side deal with Vegas
The Knights can a announce trades right. So today they may give us something, I’m hankering for some action!
Add Dumba. He fell from Chia trade target last summer to the useless fodder pile this year.
No. League edict.
New post is up.