Speculation: Expansion Draft Discussion
- Thread starter JayKing
- Start date
- Status
Habs Halifax
Loyal Habs Fan
Pleky for another season at $6M next year will not push the Habs closer to winning the Cup. I was a big Pleky fan and still am but the Habs are close to winning and they need the 2nd line center and that $6M to work for them.
The off season has many options. UFA's are not the greatest but trades can happen too. Plus Shipachev may be a factor. Trading Pleky may work if you can find a team to take him on and the returning player is an upgrade at center in a package deal? Sounds like a good idea but easier said than done.
I could be completely wrong but I feel LV will target 20-30 year old guys that are RFA or have term on their contract.
Both Emelin and Pleky have 1 year left after this year then UFA. If I was LV, I would not pick a guy that is UFA in a year or two. Waste of a pick and you can simply sign guys like this during free agent period. If the Habs want LV to select Pleky to remove the $6M contract, they probably have to send a draft pick to LV (3rd or 4th rounder maybe)
Last edited by a moderator:
Sorinth
Registered User
- Jan 18, 2013
- 11,048
- 5,543
Why would LV want two of those guys? They are picking 30 players, have a 1st overall pick, and likely will be active in the UFA market. They will end up cutting a bunch of guys they draft who then have to pass through waivers. So getting players that are good enough to get claimed but won't make the NHL club is useless for them.
The only reason to send a pick to ensure they draft a specific player is to get an expensive contract off the book like Plekanec or Emelin. Though I don't think we are that desperate.
Habs Halifax
Loyal Habs Fan
After this season, we will see where the Habs are up the middle. If they want to be serious contenders for the Cup, they need an upgrade at 2nd line center! That $6M salary helps them but getting an upgrade is easier said than done.
Sorinth
Registered User
- Jan 18, 2013
- 11,048
- 5,543
There aren't many good centers who are UFA this year, and I think the expansion draft happens before the normal draft which is the most likely time you could find that #2 center. It would be a big gamble to let Plekanec go before we actually have a replacement.
I would also point out Chicago won the cup with Michael Handzus as their 2nd line center. You can still win despite having weak center depth if you can make up for it somewhere else.
- Jun 24, 2012
- 83,873
- 151,072
Habs' protection list is rather thin.
And Plekanec doesn't need protection -- his salary and his declining performance will be enough to keep interest away.
I wonder what they'll do for that third D spot, between Emelin and Beaulieu.
Just a few weeks ago, I believe I was hearing from posters who wanted Emelin waived, bought out or traded for a bag of pucks.
Those voices are not so loud lately.
montreal
Go Habs Go
still a lot of time left before they have to make that decision, plus who knows what moves will be made between now and then. But if no moves and everything stays the same, even though Emelin is playing better, they may gamble that his contract vs Beaulieu's might be more favorable to protect Beaulieu as we are going to need cheap contracts and right now he's not shown enough to get much of a big raise over his 1M imo.
I've heard Bettman say they expect the cap to either stay the same or go up 1/2M. At the end of this month we are at the half way point in terms of the cap, I know the loonie hasn't done much at all but I don't know what impact having a new NHL team will have on the cap. If the cap stays the same, Galchenyuk gets a big payday (say 6M cap hit, Rads at 7M, we are going to be up against the cap hard again. We are going to need some cheap contracts and while I would rather have Emelin vs Beaulieu it could come down to what makes more sense in terms of cap space.
The problem of course is that we lack depth on defense, yes we could have Sergachev turn pro next year, Juulsen will turn pro, Bourque will turn pro. We will most likely lose the rights to Nygren in June (only 2 defensemen in the SHL have more points, one has 1 more pt and the other is a FA that is in a similar situation to Nygren, left the Nucks to go back to Sweden but as far as I know if a FA now)
But in terms of NHL depth we have next to nothing. Barberio, Hanley, Lernout, Johnston. Yikes that's just brutal. So they will need to address that and it could just be worse if we lose one of Emelin/Beaulieu.
That said though, you need someone for Weber, right now Emelin is getting the job done but without the production. I know Markov is killing it and Weber has cooled off a bit but imo we need more then just Markov/Weber producing from the blueline especially since we have a number of forwards struggling to score consistently. Now that Pac is heating up and Galchenyuk should only get better, hopefully Rads is locked up for several years and I would think Gallagher gets back on tract at some point. Still though at some point we will need someone to play with Weber, Markov will only get slower, Petry I assume stays at RD. Sergachev who knows if he can make the NHL next year or not and if so if it will be RD or LD (i've seen him twice this year and he was most often at RD).
In an idea world, if Sergachev was ready to play with Weber next year, it would make losing Emelin actually work out. We would save just under 3.2M and would likely have,
Sergachev Weber
Markov Petry
Beaulieu Redmond
Pateryn
they would just need to add some minor league depth to go with Juulsen, Bourque, Lernout, etc...
But that's still a big if and it not then we are back to square one. Now if they lost Beaulieu and kept Emelin, it would be easier to find a bottom pairing D to go with Redmond but likely not at the 1.5/1.75M that Beaulieu might cost next year. Going to be very interesting to see how this plays out.
The Habs should be refreshing their roster and losing one expensive veteran would actually be beneficial.
AHShadow
Registered User
- Apr 9, 2015
- 749
- 663
Interested to see what we will do with Nygren. Since he's doing super good back in the SHL, wouldn't it be better if we bring him in and play him vs Pateryn? He'd be good on the PP as well and seems to be a definite upgrade over Pateryn as well. Would he cost a lot to bring him back here? It'd be pretty sad if we just lose his rights for nothing. I'm sure he'll be able to find another team and do remotely well.
montreal
Go Habs Go
he's a RD though. He would be good with someone like Emelin if we had someone to take his spot with Weber. Nygren has the big point shot but can also move the puck. He's not great in his own end, but not terrible although I haven't seen him since last year. I don't know what it would cost to bring him here, I would think a one way deal for sure as he likely makes good money in the SHL and is under contract for a couple years so he would need to buy out his contract there. They could always sign him and loan him back to the SHL like they did with Engqvist and were going to do if Lehkonen didn't make the team. It would take up a spot on the 50 but that shouldn't be an issue vs losing him for nothing. My fear is that management has washed their hands of him after he left for Sweden.
AHShadow
Registered User
- Apr 9, 2015
- 749
- 663
Hopefully MB does his homework and at least if he doesn't sign him then trades him off for something in return. I'd try and bring him up as our RD for next year.
We'd have
Beaulieu/Emelin - Weber
Markov - Petry
Sergachev - Nygren
Pateryn
Assuming Emelin or Beaulieu are taken from the expansion draft. I actually haven't seen him play, but if he's able to move the puck and is good on the PP, can't see how we would be worst than Pateryn (and not saying that Pateryn is bad either).
Team_Spirit
95% Elliotte
- Jul 3, 2002
- 37,736
- 17,619
TheAntiPrice
Registered User
Do the likes of Hudon, Carr and McCarron if he plays the remainder of the season have to be protected?
montreal
Go Habs Go
playing NHL games this year vs AHL games doesn't have any impact on the expansion draft. Hudon and Carr need to be protected because they are 3rd year pros. McCarron does not because he is a 2nd year pro.
Byron is an easy protect, no question imo. Emelin would be an easy decision if not for his contract which could make it more of a decision.
TheAntiPrice
Registered User
So they could pick anyone from the AHL teams who have been there for 3 years? Do we have any other prospects there who could get picked up? Scherbak is on his second year correct?
LastWordArmy
Registered User
This is a good tool for showing who is and who isn't eligible.
https://www.capfriendly.com/expansion-draft
AHShadow
Registered User
- Apr 9, 2015
- 749
- 663
If I had to choose players right now it'd be
Galchernyuk, Pacioretty, Radulov, Gallagher, Shaw, Danault, Byron
Weber, Petry, Beaulieu
Price
Emelin is playing super well, but maybe because of his contract LV won't take him. I think the hardest decision right now is to either keep Beaulieu vs Emelin. Beau has potential, but he's our 3rd pairing D right now, where as Emelin is playing on our top pairing and is probably playing his best season, but contract is not that great. I doubt they claim Plekanec since he's too old and wouldn't stay for long anyways.
Galchernyuk, Pacioretty, Radulov, Gallagher, Shaw, Danault, Byron
Weber, Petry, Beaulieu
Price
Emelin is playing super well, but maybe because of his contract LV won't take him. I think the hardest decision right now is to either keep Beaulieu vs Emelin. Beau has potential, but he's our 3rd pairing D right now, where as Emelin is playing on our top pairing and is probably playing his best season, but contract is not that great. I doubt they claim Plekanec since he's too old and wouldn't stay for long anyways.
Emelin contract is only for next year, so his contract shouldn't be a concern for them as they will be far from the cap.
I'm 90% sure they pick one of Emelin, Beaulieu or Plekanec. 7% for Hudon and 3% for anyone else.
c3z4r
Registered User
Las Vegas will most definitely pick up Beaulieu if we leave him open, but I don't know if they'll pick up Emelin if we do the same.
Beaulieu is a RFA and even in the worst case scenario they'll sign him to a 2-3 year bridge contract, whereas Emelin is essentially a 1 year rental. So they'd have a cost-controlled 3rd pairing D at worst and at best somebody who can grow into a second pairing D.
I think Vegas is building towards the future, and I don't see a reason, other than to flip him at the deadline, for them to pick Emelin off of us. They'll most likely grab Hudon than Emelin imo. Although, ultimately it all depends on Emelin's performance. If he keeps putting in top pairing showings for the rest of the reason and shows up big in the playoffs, there's no way the Habs leave him exposed to the expansion draft.
Beaulieu is a RFA and even in the worst case scenario they'll sign him to a 2-3 year bridge contract, whereas Emelin is essentially a 1 year rental. So they'd have a cost-controlled 3rd pairing D at worst and at best somebody who can grow into a second pairing D.
I think Vegas is building towards the future, and I don't see a reason, other than to flip him at the deadline, for them to pick Emelin off of us. They'll most likely grab Hudon than Emelin imo. Although, ultimately it all depends on Emelin's performance. If he keeps putting in top pairing showings for the rest of the reason and shows up big in the playoffs, there's no way the Habs leave him exposed to the expansion draft.
- Status
