The Vegas Golden Knights and general manager George McPhee are getting ready to assemble the first roster in franchise history. Ahead of the team’s inaugural season, the Golden Knights are able to make up their roster from players that have been left unprotected by the rest of the league. But as Vegas looks to build for the future, the team has reportedly been involved in a number of trade talks that would involve them not taking players that have been left exposed, opting instead for draft picks and other pieces from those teams.
“We’ve got lots of things lined up, but until we see everything, we don’t have anything,” McPhee said. “We’re going to make all of our final decisions late, because we don’t know what kind of calls we’re going to get today. They may be different. The same manager might have different things to say now that we’re in the expansion window.”
The Golden Knights already have the No. 6 overall pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, which begins on Friday. But reportedly, the team could have more picks coming their way, from the Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Islanders, and Anaheim Ducks, just to not select the players the teams left unprotected.
As one example, the Blue Jackets are expected to send their first-round pick (24th overall) to Vegas in order for the team to not select players Columbus hopes to keep.
“This has worked out very well for the Vegas Golden Knights and we expect to put a good, entertaining club on the ice,” McPhee said.
Below is a list of all of the Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft selections. All selections were confirmed during the NHL Awards show Wednesday evening, and the list was updated as they were announced. The only trades announced during the show were directly attached to the selections, however it’s expected that there will be several more trades involving the Golden Knights leading up to the NHL Draft on Friday.
Anaheim Ducks – Clayton Stoner* (D)
*Vegas recieves Shea Theodore for the selection
Arizona Coyotes – Teemu Pulkkinen (F)
Boston Bruins – Colin Miller (D)
Buffalo Sabres – William Carrier (F)*
*Vegas also recieves a 6th round pick for taking Carrier
Calgary Flames – Deryk Engelland (D)
Carolina Hurricanes – Connor Brickley (F)*
*Vegas also recieves a 2017 5th round pick
Chicago Blackhawks – Trevor van Reimsdyk* (D)
Colorado Avalanche – Calvin Pickard (G)
Columbus Blue Jackets – William Karlsson* (F)
*Vegas also acquires David Clarkson, 2017 1st round pick and 2019 2nd round pick
Dallas Stars – Cody Eakin (F)
Detroit Red Wings – Tomas Nosek (F)
Edmonton Oilers – Griffin Reinhart (D)
Florida Panthers – Jonathan Marchessault (F)*
*Acquired Reilly Smith
*Florida recieves a 2018 4th Round pick
Los Angeles Kings – Brayden McNabb (D)
Minnesota Wild – Erik Haula (F)*
*Vegas acquires Alex Tuch
*Minnesota acquires a 2017 or 2018 3rd round pick
Montreal Canadiens – Alexei Emelin (D)
Nashville Predators – James Neal (F)
New Jersey Devils – Jon Merrill (D)
New York Islanders – JF Berube (G)*
*acquired 2017 15th overall pick, 2019 2nd round pick, Mikhail Grabovski and Bischoff for selection
New York Rangers – Oscar Lindberg (F)
Ottawa Senators – Marc Methot (D) – Confirmed
Philadelphia Flyers – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (F)
Pittsburgh Penguins – Marc-Andre Fleury (G)*
*Vegas also acquires a 2020 2nd round pick