Soon we'll find out which players the Vegas Golden Knights will select in the much anticipated 2017 expansion draft. On Wednesday, at the 2017 NHL Awards Show, the team will be revealed and the speculation and rumors that have overshadowed the NHL world will be put to bed.
But before we get to that, let's have some fun.
At 11 - @Matt_Bove & I discuss what's next for Zach Bogosian and Vegas ahead of the expansion draft on Wed #Sabres #GoldenKnights #VGK pic.twitter.com/bxkmNGnAmD
— Nick Filipowski (@NICK_WKBW) June 19, 2017
There are so many variables that come into play when looking at the expansion draft, but with this mock draft I tried to do three things:
1) Build a young core that can make the Golden Knights a competitor in a few years
2) Give George McPhee and his new team flexibility, especially financially
3) Draft a team with some players that are fun to watch. As obvious as that may sound, the Knights will need to put a fun product on the ice right away. They may not be great, but they'll be entertaining (at least I hope)
*Insert Joke GIF*
And here we go...
Bove's Mock Expansion Draft
Anaheim Ducks - D - Same Vatanen - $4.9M
Arizona Coyotes - C - Alexander Burmistrov - RFA
Boston Bruins - D - Colin Miller - $1M
Buffalo Sabres - LW - William Carrier - $690K
The closer we get to Wednesday's expansion draft the more likely it appears that Carrier will be heading to Vegas. He's young, cheap and still has plenty of potential. He's a nice player, but losing Carrier shouldn't be viewed as a catastrophy.
Calgary Flames - D - Brett Kulak - RFA
Carolina Hurricanes - RW - Lee Stempniak - $2.5M
Chicago Blackhawks - D - Trevor Van Riemsdyk - $825K
Colorado Avalanche - C/W - Mikhail Grigorenko - RFA
Columbus Blue Jackets - G- Joonas Korpisalo - $900K
Dallas Stars - C/W - Cody Eakin - $3.9M
Detroit Red Wings - D - Xavier Ouellet - RFA
Edmonton Oilers - D - Griffin Reinhart - RFA
Florida Panthers - C - Jonathan Marchessault - $750K
Los Angeles Kings - D - Brayden McNabb - $1.7M
Minnesota Wild - D - Matt Dumba - $2.6M
Montreal Canadiens - D - Brandon Davidson - $1.4M
Nashville Predators - RW- James Neal - $5M
New Jersey Devils - RW - Beau Bennett - RFA
New York Islanders - LW - Nikolay Kulemin - $4.2M
New York Rangers - RW - Michael Grabner - $2.5M
Ottawa Senators - D- Marc Methot - $4.9M
Philadelphia Flyers - G - Michael Neuvirth - $2.5M
Pittsburgh Penguins - G - Marc-Andre Fleury - $5.8M
San Jose Sharks - D - David Schlemko - $2.1M
St. Louis Blues - LW - David Perron - $3.8M
Tampa Bay Lightning - RW - J.T. Brown - $1.3M
Toronto Maple Leafs - LW - Kerby Rychel - $863K
Vancouver Canucks - C - Brandon Gaunce - RFA
Washington Capitals - D - Nate Schmidt - RFA
Winnipeg Jets - C - Marko Dano - $2.1M
SALARY (without RFA's) -- $54 MILLION
Forwards - 17
Defensemen - 10
Goalies - 3
In hindsight, the Golden Knights will likely end up drafting even more defensemen, but this is where I settled.
On Monday, I joined some of the team at WGR 550 and did a live expansion mock draft. Here are their picks, along with mine:
