OT: Expansion Discussion

[Mosby]

Some early expansion notes. Some of this is still speculation:

- Teams will lose max 1 player if NHL expands by 1 team. Max 2 if 2 teams.

- Expectation is players with NMC will not be eligible for selection.

- First- and second-year players will not be eligible for selection.

- Potentially, each team protects 3D 7F 1G or 1G and any combo of 8 skaters

- List of exposed players must combine for at least 25% of previous season's payroll

Click to read more...

 

[SpaceCoyote]

Given that teams can only protect 3 D men, I wonder if there is a solid #4 Dman we could acquire via trade for cheap prior to the expansion draft. Obviously they would need to be more promising than Stone/Murphy to justify leaving them unprotected.

 

[SniperHF]

So early expansion notes. Some of this is still speculation:

- Teams will lose max 1 player if NHL expands by 1 team. Max 2 if 2 teams.

- Expectation is players with NMC will not be eligible for selection.

- First- and second-year players will not be eligible for selection.

- Potentially, each team protects 3D 7F 1G or 1G and any combo of 8 skaters

- List of exposed players must combine for at least 25% of previous season's payroll

Is it even possible to reach 25% when we exclude our players with NMCs? Those are all our highest paid players unless we expose OEL.

Also is that 25% the post-ufa salary number? So it doesn't include our total salary with Doan, Pronger, Gordon, Tik, Grossmann, etc. Cause we have a ton of money coming off the books.

 

[Bonsai Tree]

So, IIRC Lindbackup would need to be exposed so we could offer 1 goalie. Dominique gets protected due to his rookie status. Domi, Duclair, Martinook, all get protected as well.

I wonder if Smith would waive his NMC to be eligible in the expansion draft. I sure hope that Quebec gets a team just to shut up all those MF's who still clamor for our team.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

So, IIRC Lindbackup would need to be exposed so we could offer 1 goalie. Dominique gets protected due to his rookie status. Domi, Duclair, Martinook, all get protected as well.

I wonder if Smith would waive his NMC to be eligible in the expansion draft. I sure hope that Quebec gets a team just to shut up all those MF's who still clamor for our team.

This is an interesting situation for Arizona if they do hold an expansion draft before free agency. This is how I understand our situation to be:

Players automatically protected (less than 3 years' service time):

Max Domi
Anthony Duclair
Jordan Martinook
Sergei Plotnikov (Expiring RFA)
Tobias Rieder (Expiring RFA)
Jiri Sekac (Expiring RFA)
Viktor Tikhonov (Expiring UFA)
Klas Dahlbeck (Expiring RFA)
Connor Murphy (Expiring RFA) **
Louis Domingue (Expiring RFA)

** Still on ELC but with 3 years' service time, so not sure?

Players protected by contract clauses

Shane Doan (Expiring UFA)
Alex Tanguay (Expiring UFA)
Antoine Vermette
Nicklas Grossmann (Expiring UFA)
Chris Pronger (LTIR)
Mike Smith

Players eligible to be exposed

Steve Downie (Expiring UFA)
Boyd Gordon (Expiring UFA)
Brad Richardson
Joe Vitale
Kyle Chipchura (Expiring UFA)
Zbynek Michalek
Michael Stone (Expiring RFA)
Jarred Tinordi (Expiring RFA, in SAP and suspended)
Kevin Connauton (Expiring RFA)
Anders Lindback (Expiring UFA)

Gordon, Richardson, and Michalek are the ones with the highest salaries in that group.

 

[SniperHF]

So, IIRC Lindbackup would need to be exposed so we could offer 1 goalie. Dominique gets protected due to his rookie status. Domi, Duclair, Martinook, all get protected as well.

Also a UFA. Unless a potential expansion draft is held after UFA (which doesn't make sense) I don't see how we can actually match that potential criteria Mosby listed.

Players eligible to be exposed

Steve Downie (Expiring UFA)
Boyd Gordon (Expiring UFA)
Brad Richardson
Joe Vitale
Kyle Chipchura (Expiring UFA)
Zbynek Michalek
Michael Stone (Expiring RFA)
Jarred Tinordi (Expiring RFA, in SAP and suspended)
Kevin Connauton (Expiring RFA)
Anders Lindback (Expiring UFA)

Am I missing something here, why should you be able to expose pending UFAs? Some expansion team is gonna pick a pending UFA and lose them in a week?

 

[Mosby]

Is it even possible to reach 25% when we exclude our players with NMCs? Those are all our highest paid players unless we expose OEL.

Also is that 25% the post-ufa salary number? So it doesn't include our total salary with Doan, Pronger, Gordon, Tik, Grossmann, etc. Cause we have a ton of money coming off the books.

I imagine that the expansion draft won't occur until Summer 2017, at which time we will have no NMCs, aside from a potential Doan extension. By Summer 2017, Vermette will be a UFA and Mike Smith's NMC will have transformed into a NTC.

Based on Friedman's column, it sounds like players with NMCs could be automatically protected.

As far as the 25%, it says the season's payroll, so I think the 25% would be from your payroll including pending UFA salaries.

 

[Mosby]

As for claiming UFAs, from the 1998 expansion:

This draft was interesting in that some of the players the Predators chose (e.g. Mike Richter and Uwe Krupp) were set to become unrestricted free agents on July 1, just days after the draft. The Predators knew they would have little chance to sign these players; however, they received a compensatory pick in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft for each player they "lost".

 

[The Feckless Puck]

Am I missing something here, why should you be able to expose pending UFAs? Some expansion team is gonna pick a pending UFA and lose them in a week?

As for claiming UFAs, from the 1998 expansion:

This draft was interesting in that some of the players the Predators chose (e.g. Mike Richter and Uwe Krupp) were set to become unrestricted free agents on July 1, just days after the draft. The Predators knew they would have little chance to sign these players; however, they received a compensatory pick in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft for each player they "lost".

That's what I assumed too, but I don't think the NHL has figured out how to manage that yet. From what I've seen they still have a lot to work out before June.

 

[Grimes]

Anyway we could get an expansion thread going?

 

[Mosby]

If we're looking at this as next summer, then:

Automatically protected:
Domi, Strome, Duclair, Dvorak, Martinook, H. Samuelsson, Gaudet, Dahlbeck, Tinordi, Domingue

Let say we've re-signed Doan and Tanguay. Also signed Keith Yandle

Protect 3D, 7F, 1G: OEL Murphy Yandle, Reider Hanzal Doan Vermette Richardson Tanguay ___, Smith. *Need to protect 1 more forward.
Exposed: Stone, Michalek, KConn

Protect 8 Skaters + 1G: OEL Murphy Stone Yandle, Reider Hanzal Doan Vermette, Smith
Exposed: Tanguay, Richardson, Michalek, KConn

 

[SniperHF]

Anyway we could get an expansion thread going?

Okay. Might be a bit early yet but what the heck.

 

[Matias Maccete]

If we're looking at this as next summer, then:

Automatically protected:
Domi, Strome, Duclair, Dvorak, Martinook, H. Samuelsson, Gaudet, Dahlbeck, Tinordi, Domingue

Let say we've re-signed Doan and Tanguay. Also signed Keith Yandle

Protect 3D, 7F, 1G: OEL Murphy Yandle, Reider Hanzal Doan Vermette Richardson Tanguay ___, Smith. *Need to protect 1 more forward.
Exposed: Stone, Michalek, KConn

Protect 8 Skaters + 1G: OEL Murphy Stone Yandle, Reider Hanzal Doan Vermette, Smith
Exposed: Tanguay, Richardson, Michalek, KConn

I'd prefer the latter there, I don't want to lose stone for nothing.

 

[Kaizen]

If we're looking at this as next summer, then:

Automatically protected:
Domi, Strome, Duclair, Dvorak, Martinook, H. Samuelsson, Gaudet, Dahlbeck, Tinordi, Domingue

Let say we've re-signed Doan and Tanguay. Also signed Keith Yandle

Protect 3D, 7F, 1G: OEL Murphy Yandle, Reider Hanzal Doan Vermette Richardson Tanguay ___, Smith. *Need to protect 1 more forward.
Exposed: Stone, Michalek, KConn

Protect 8 Skaters + 1G: OEL Murphy Stone Yandle, Reider Hanzal Doan Vermette, Smith
Exposed: Tanguay, Richardson, Michalek, KConn

Is Duclair protected or did he burn a year with the few games he played with NYR?

 

[rt]

If we're looking at this as next summer, then:

Automatically protected:
Domi, Strome, Duclair, Dvorak, Martinook, H. Samuelsson, Gaudet, Dahlbeck, Tinordi, Domingue

Let say we've re-signed Doan and Tanguay. Also signed Keith Yandle

Protect 3D, 7F, 1G: OEL Murphy Yandle, Reider Hanzal Doan Vermette Richardson Tanguay ___, Smith. *Need to protect 1 more forward.
Exposed: Stone, Michalek, KConn

Protect 8 Skaters + 1G: OEL Murphy Stone Yandle, Reider Hanzal Doan Vermette, Smith
Exposed: Tanguay, Richardson, Michalek, KConn

Yandle?!?!?

 

[Mosby]

If we're looking at any one year deals this summer (Tanguay or Vrbata for example), it may make sense to staple on a second year. Not only does this, generally, lower the AAV, but it makes the player more attractive if exposed in an expansion draft. Basically we only want the player for a year, with the full intent of the expansion team worrying about the second year.

 

[Mosby]

Is Duclair protected or did he burn a year with the few games he played with NYR?

If he's not protected, add him as the missing forward in Scenario 1, and swap him for Vermette in Scenario 2.

 

[strizzy16]

It would not be the worst thing in the world if we lost Michalek, Gordon, or Connauton.Connauton was on waivers in the past few years if i remember correctly, he's been pretty decent for us but probably does not figure in to the long term plans. Michalek or Gordon are guys Tipp likes but i could see an expansion team looking for that hard working style of player

Personally i'd be thrilled to have vermette / richardson stick around for the next couple of years, but they could be candidates for being unprotected in the expansion draft. Vermette more likely to be protected.

This subject fascinates me because living in Atlanta, it was obviously something that happened with the Thrashers and i remember that original 99-00 roster well, although i didnt follow hockey enough to truly understand what an expansion draft meant. However, I do know that the Thrashers didnt get anyone good that year. Other than Patrik Stefan in the draft, of course

 

[Fyreman]

Is Duclair protected or did he burn a year with the few games he played with NYR?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fyreman View Post
Hmm, you still consider Duclair a rookie after 18gp, 1g, 6a in the NHL w/ the NYR. I guess my definition of a rookie is a little different.

Per NHL.com:

Rookie Qualifications
To be considered a rookie, a player must not have played in more than 25 NHL games in any preceding seasons, nor in six or more NHL games in each of any two preceding seasons. Any player at least 26 years of age (by September 15th of that season) is not considered a rookie.

 

[Mosby]

This is incredibly premature but if the NHL expands to Vegas (just Vegas, not QC), and then in a few years Seattle gets their act together... That's two Pacific zone teams. I wonder if we then get booted to the Central.

 

[GiveAFlyingPuck]

This is incredibly premature but if the NHL expands to Vegas (just Vegas, not QC), and then in a few years Seattle gets their act together... That's two Pacific zone teams. I wonder if we then get booted to the Central.

You'd hope in that situation they'd send Calgary or Edmonton to give the Jets a Canadian rival in the division.

 

[CC96]

You'd hope in that situation they'd send Calgary or Edmonton to give the Jets a Canadian rival in the division.

I doubt they would want to split up the Alberta rivalry though.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

This is incredibly premature but if the NHL expands to Vegas (just Vegas, not QC), and then in a few years Seattle gets their act together... That's two Pacific zone teams. I wonder if we then get booted to the Central.

Assuming we're not the jokers moving to Seattle then I think by mere fact of geography we'd be considered; but I'd prefer Calgary/Edmonton because our rivalry with Vegas if we stay here is too good to mess up just for alignment's sake.

 

[AZviaNJ]

Assuming we're not the jokers moving to Seattle then I think by mere fact of geography we'd be considered; but I'd prefer Calgary/Edmonton because our rivalry with Vegas if we stay here is too good to mess up just for alignment's sake.

Interesting. LA, SJ and Ana are all in win now mode. They figure to fall off (maybe not Ana) in 2 years. At that point, AZ, Edm and Calgary would figure to have the strongest rosters. Staying in the PAC is preferable.

 

[XX]

Don is sitting pretty with so many exempt ELC players. Easy to protect the stuff you want to keep.

Smith will be exposed. The only thing to be mindful of is the 25% rule.