Almost all of the draft picks and prospects accumulated in the expansion draft were from transactions with eight teams that were stacked on the blue-line, and could’ve traded a d-man to go from 4-4-1 protected to 7-3-1 protected.
I only see a 5th-rounder from Carolina and a 6th-rounder from Buffalo acquired outside of those eight teams.
If you made a chart of the assets acquired from the blue-line rich teams of Anaheim, Columbus, Florida, Minnesota, the Islanders, Ottawa, Tampa and Winnipeg, it would be impressive:
- A group of centers that would be passable as 2-3-4-5, lacking only the guy in the #1 slot
- A quality RW in Reilly Smith, signed long-term
- A cornerstone young-blue-liner in Theodore plus a high-quality vet in Methot
- Three 1st-round picks for the 2017 draft plus three 2nd round picks in future drafts
- A high-quality forward prospect already playing in the AHL and is waiver-exempt
-Gusev
The accumulation of quality futures was already well under way and of course there would be more. Van Riemsdyk has already banked another 2nd-rounder and there would be the inevitable selection of a few more players that were on expiring contracts and would be moved at the trade deadline to playoff-bound teams for 2nd, -3rd, or 4th round picks. There were plenty of “futures” being banked.
What McPhee did with the more straight-forward selections from the other 22 teams was very, very unimpressive.