Speculation: Expansion: who would you protect?

[Scoresberg]

It looks like players with NMC's can't get selected. We could save one spot by giving Forsberg a NMC next summer.

E: Rinne has a NMC so we wouldn't have to protect him!

 

[Legionnaire11]

An expansion team can't just grab all of the prospects around the league due to having to hit the cap floor.

I also don't think they'd want to be Oilers 2.0 with a bunch of kids who don't know how to compete as professionals.

 

[PredsV82]

The expansion draft wouldn't likely happen until next summer, so Kamenev and Saros should be okay as exempted first\second year pros. Fiala may not, so you protect him.

I don't see it being an issue, but I would also protect Saros and leave Rinne exposed because 1) I think his contract is that bad and 2) I'd rather figure out a goaltending solution than suffer through the last years of a very expensive and already diminishing asset.

unless of course Rinne returns to Vezina quality play next year.

 

[PredsV82]

It looks like players with NMC's can't get selected. We could save one spot by giving Forsberg a NMC next summer.

E: Rinne has a NMC so we wouldn't have to protect him!

I dont think thats going to fly. That would reward GMs for handing out NMCs and would likely result in every new contract given this summer including an NMC.

Either the players association will agree that NMCs dont apply to expansion teams or else the NHL will have to force teams to protect players on an NMC

 

[Scoresberg]

Just did some research and as it turns out we don't have to protect Saros or Kamenev. If the draft is next summer we don't have to protect Fiala, either. If the draft is in summer of 2017 we still don't have to protect Kamenev or Saros but we would have to protect Fiala.

I would also try that Ellis as a forward thing and protect 7F/3D/1G.

Ellis
Joey
FF
Neal
Smith
Wilson
Jarnkrok

Webs
Josi
Ek

Rinne

 

[PeterLax]

There's no way they are going to let players switch positions, at the end of the season, that's a joke.

If you wanted a case for that, they'd have to play either half a season/full season of it.

Best case scenario, we offer a 2nd not to take Ellis, and they take a forward instead.

Provided there's only one team, we can only lose one player, and most teams would select one of our defenseman, so maybe we could offer a pick and someone like Wilson over taking Ellis.

 

[Armourboy]

Why would you protect Wilson and Jarnkrok, especially if you've got to protect Fiala.

 

[Scoresberg]

If you can offer a 2nd to protect Ellis, it's a no-brainer.

Armour, I assumed the draft will take place next summer.

 

[PredsV82]

There's no way they are going to let players switch positions, at the end of the season, that's a joke.

If you wanted a case for that, they'd have to play either half a season/full season of it.

Best case scenario, we offer a 2nd not to take Ellis, and they take a forward instead.

Provided there's only one team, we can only lose one player, and most teams would select one of our defenseman, so maybe we could offer a pick and someone like Wilson over taking Ellis.

so what do you do with players like Byfulgin(?sp) who truly play both positions?

I just think youd be better off saying protect a set number of skaters and a goalie

 

[Armourboy]

If you can offer a 2nd to protect Ellis, it's a no-brainer.

Armour, I assumed the draft will take place next summer.

You would still need to protect Fiala in that case. Next season will be his 3rd year unless the first year we brought him over didn't count.

 

[PeterLax]

so what do you do with players like Byfulgin(?sp) who truly play both positions?

I just think youd be better off saying protect a set number of skaters and a goalie

Whatever position he played at for more games in the year, have him be assigned as that. There's really only two players who you can make that argument for, Burns and Byfuglien. I'm pretty sure Byfuglien has played defense this entire season, has he not? I believe Burns has been the same this year. This isn't fantasy hockey, where you can assign people to 1 of 3 positions.

 

[adsfan]

Despite his resurgence, I'm not sure I'd protect Rinne.

I usually agree with you.

Do you remember when the Preds #1 goalie went down a few years ago?
Rinne with the hip infection? We discovered that the backups weren't NHL quality.

I don't want Hutton (6-7-4 this season, 26-19-8 overall), or Maz. Saros probably needs one more year in Milwaukee with a few games in Nashville for NHL experience. I do think that Saros is as good as Maz already and he is only an AHL rookie.

 

[adsfan]

Why would you protect Wilson and Jarnkrok, especially if you've got to protect Fiala.

I agree 100%! I thought that both of those guys would do more in the NHL.
They are experienced and young enough to be attractive to an expansion team.

 

[Drake744]

What were the rules on this when we were an expansion team because our players sucked

 

[Roman Yoshi]

I see no reason to protect Wilson. Just my opinion.

 

[Filip Forceberg]

What were the rules on this when we were an expansion team because our players sucked

From Wikipedia:

The Predators were to select 26 players, one from each of the 26 existing franchises at the time of the draft.

First- and second-year pros were exempt from being selected in the draft. Each of the 26 franchises in the league were allowed to protect either one goaltender, five defensemen and nine forwards or two goaltenders, three defensemen and seven forwards.

Of the unprotected players, each franchise had to include at least one forward and one defenseman who appeared in 40 games in the 1997–98 season. Each franchise also had to include at least one goaltender who appeared in 10 games in the 1997–98 season, and a minimum of 25 games since the 1995–96 season.

 

[TitansVolsPreds615]

What were the rules on this when we were an expansion team because our players sucked

From Wiki

The Predators were to select 26 players, one from each of the 26 existing franchises at the time of the draft.

First- and second-year pros were exempt from being selected in the draft. Each of the 26 franchises in the league were allowed to protect either one goaltender, five defensemen and nine forwards or two goaltenders, three defensemen and seven forwards.

Of the unprotected players, each franchise had to include at least one forward and one defenseman who appeared in 40 games in the 1997–98 season. Each franchise also had to include at least one goaltender who appeared in 10 games in the 1997–98 season, and a minimum of 25 games since the 1995–96 season. These minimums for goaltenders were put into place in order to avoid manipulation of rosters, such as what occurred before the 1992 NHL Expansion Draft, which weakened the talent pool available in the draft.

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".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_NHL_Expansion_Draft

 

[Armourboy]

No wonder we stunk, you could practically keep a full roster.

 

[triggrman]

I think protecting 8 forwards, 4 defensemen and 1 goalie would be the most fair.

 

[deanwormer]

If you want the teams to be able to be competitive quickly - I don't see how letting them keep more than 3Dmen or 4Fs is gonna' work, particularly if you're exempting the younger kids. Sure, they'll be better than we were with the dregs and trash we collected from everyone's 4th line and 3rd pairs, but they still would be several years away from finding anything remotely qualified to make one line of a top 6 or first pair.

They gotta' be able to take a few top 4 Dmen from somewhere (obviously us, which none of us want to see) and a few 2nd liners to go with the depth guy and few kids they'll scrape up. Gonna' be particularly hard if there are 2 expansion teams. Outta' the dregs, what did we get - two players (walker and Johnson) & Dunham? and from the kids Poile grabbed, a couple (kimmo - as comp for not taking whoever, Vokoun, and.....Daigneault and Brunette who never suited up for us.)? The rest - in the league cause there were more teams, not cause they would have been on someone else's roster, like the one-season wonder that was sergei krivakrasov - also a comp trade for not taking somebody. Mike Sullivan was the 3rd best F we got - how long is it taking you to be competitive when all you got to start with is Dunham, Kimmo, and those 4 Fs?

 

[glenngineer]

If you want the teams to be able to be competitive quickly - I don't see how letting them keep more than 3Dmen or 4Fs is gonna' work, particularly if you're exempting the younger kids. Sure, they'll be better than we were with the dregs and trash we collected from everyone's 4th line and 3rd pairs, but they still would be several years away from finding anything remotely qualified to make one line of a top 6 or first pair.

They gotta' be able to take a few top 4 Dmen from somewhere (obviously us, which none of us want to see) and a few 2nd liners to go with the depth guy and few kids they'll scrape up. Gonna' be particularly hard if there are 2 expansion teams. Outta' the dregs, what did we get - two players (walker and Johnson) & Dunham? and from the kids Poile grabbed, a couple (kimmo - as comp for not taking whoever, Vokoun, and.....Daigneault and Brunette who never suited up for us.)? The rest - in the league cause there were more teams, not cause they would have been on someone else's roster, like the one-season wonder that was sergei krivakrasov - also a comp trade for not taking somebody. Mike Sullivan was the 3rd best F we got - how long is it taking you to be competitive when all you got to start with is Dunham, Kimmo, and those 4 Fs?

Any player who has played more than 2 years in the pros, which includes Milwaukee, will be open for the draft. So after next season, Fiala, Kamenev and Saros are available. Poole has to make a decision if he wants to protect any or all of them.

To me it's:
Johansen
Forsberg
Weber
Josi
Ekholm
Fiala
Kamenev
Neal
Smith
Take your pic between Arvy, Jarnkrok, Salomaki, Wilson
Take your pic between Rinne and Saros

If you keep Ellis you can protect 4 forwards and I think we're better off protecting 7 forwards even if the 7th forward isn't better than Ellis because our 5 and 6 forwards are better than Ellis .

We have to remember if Vesey signs here he should be exempt as he wouldn't have enough games to be considered a 2 year pro. Now if Fiala and Kamenev are borderline because they need a certain amount of games and are exempt as well then you can go keep the 8 skater route and hang on to Ellis.

Fiala is a top 6 forward and Kamenev is probably our number 2 center moving forward. Neal is still too valuable at this point as is Smith.

I think this team would have an easier time finding a replacement for Ellis than some of the forwards listed above.

And the 7th forward keeper I'd seriously consider keeping Salomaki over Arvy and Jarnkrok, especially if Fiala and Vesey pan out.

 

[Armourboy]

If you want the teams to be able to be competitive quickly - I don't see how letting them keep more than 3Dmen or 4Fs is gonna' work, particularly if you're exempting the younger kids. Sure, they'll be better than we were with the dregs and trash we collected from everyone's 4th line and 3rd pairs, but they still would be several years away from finding anything remotely qualified to make one line of a top 6 or first pair.

They gotta' be able to take a few top 4 Dmen from somewhere (obviously us, which none of us want to see) and a few 2nd liners to go with the depth guy and few kids they'll scrape up. Gonna' be particularly hard if there are 2 expansion teams. Outta' the dregs, what did we get - two players (walker and Johnson) & Dunham? and from the kids Poile grabbed, a couple (kimmo - as comp for not taking whoever, Vokoun, and.....Daigneault and Brunette who never suited up for us.)? The rest - in the league cause there were more teams, not cause they would have been on someone else's roster, like the one-season wonder that was sergei krivakrasov - also a comp trade for not taking somebody. Mike Sullivan was the 3rd best F we got - how long is it taking you to be competitive when all you got to start with is Dunham, Kimmo, and those 4 Fs?

I think they will have another slight advantage in that some teams could let some decent players be available to try and free up cap space. This is a consideration teams didn't have back when we did it.