The first NHL expansion draft in the salary cap era is coming up this week and teams will need to submit their protected players list tomorrow on Saturday. The Vegas Golden Knights will then have three days to pick and submit their roster to be announced on Wednesday night during the NHL awards ceremony. I will make predictions for the NHL team I am most familiar with, the Calgary Flames. I think the Flames will take the 7/3/1 route instead of the 8/1 route because they have more than four forwards to protect and only three defenseman signed worth protecting. The Flames have no trade clauses that will get in the way and future stars such as Matthew Tkachuk will not need protection.
Forwards:
The Flames have some forward locks who will be protected for sure and some question marks for who the last forwards will be. Johnny Gaudreau is coming off an off year but he is still the Flames best player and has the upside to get point per game seasons and be among the league's top scorers. Having only played one year out of his six-year contract he will remain a Flame for a long time to come. Another guarantee will be their number one centre Sean Monahan who started the year off weak but was their best player in their four game series vs the Ducks scoring a goal in every game. Monahan could be a 40 goal scorer in the near future with Johnny Hockey on his line. Mikael Backlund was probably the Flames best forward all season and was even considered to possibly be nominated for the Selke trophy. With a very reasonable $3.575-million cap hit will definitely mean protection for this underrated two-way centre. Backlund's right-wing Michael Frolik will also be a no brainer due to his two-way game and the possibility of 20-goal, 40-point campaigns. Gritty Micheal Ferland looked great on the top line in the final stretch and his physical get-in-your-face game makes it a easy decision to keep him. He is still a young player who will continue to improve. Trade rumors have swirled around former fourth overall pick Sam Bennett but he will be protected because of his potential and young age or even just for the possibility of a trade. Bennett has been a disappointment since being drafted except for the playoffs vs the Canucks but to remain on this team much longer he will need to step up his underachieving play. The last forward spot could be any one of Troy Brouwer, Alex Chiasson, Matt Stajan, Lance Bouma, Curtis Lazar, Hunter Shinkaruk, or Emile Poirier. I think because of Stajan's and Bouma's contract/age they will go unprotected. Brouwer was brought in for leadership but underachieved.With three years left on this contract, he might be the one Treliving wants to get picked for Las Vegas. Shinkaruk and Poirier spent last year in the AHL so it most likely won't be them which would leave Lazar or Chiasson. Chiasson is a better player now but may have reached his full potential. Lazar was just traded for at the deadline and is much younger so I think he may be the chosen player. Kris Versteeg played well in his first season with the Flames but is a UFA and will remain that until after the draft.
Defenseman:
This is the easiest decision for the Flames as they have three very good defenseman who are locks to be protected. Their captain and one of the best defenceman in the NHL, Mark Giordano is up there in age but still plays exceptional so he will be back to anchor the defence for another year. Dougie Hamilton broke out last season after a disappointing first year in Calgary and along side Giordano posted some of the best stats ever by a defence pairing. The last one will be TJ Brodie who is a great skater and passer but lacks some of the offensive flair the other two have. That leaves UFA's Michael Stone, Dennis Wideman and enforcer Deryk Engelland as well as late season addition Matt Bartkowski unprotected.
Goalies:
The Flames don't want either Brian Elliott or Chad Johnson to return but they will have to sign one tomorrow or trade for a goalie to meet the expansion requirements. They signed Tom McCollum to a contract to meet the requirements but will need to choose one of the other two to protect. I think it will be Johnson because he is a decent backup and they won't need to pay him over $2 million to stay in his hometown. The Flames will explore other options over Brian Elliott such as Marc-Andre Fleury or Mike Smith. The Flames might just go with goalie-of-the-future Jon Gillies as the starter next year after a great first game vs the Kings this year.
Who Will Vegas Pick?
Michael Stone is the best unprotected player but is a UFA so most likely it won't be him unless they know he will sign with them. Troy Brouwer has connections to GM George McPhee but he carries a large cap. I think the most likely options will either be Shinkaruk or Chiasson but I would bet on Chiasson. He brings size, is only 26 years old and could possibly play anywhere on the depth chart. Shinkaruk and Poirier are young but have yet to prove themselves enough to make a NHL roster. Watch for Engelland to be a free agent target of Vegas as in 2004 he played for Vegas's ECHL team and his wife currently lives there. Either way Calgary is likely not to lose a big part of their team.
Photo credit goes to https://www.nhl.com/flames/ for both photos
No comments:
Post a Comment