The starting prospect pool or the lack of...

Nalens Oga

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Jan 5, 2010
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This team can't draft prospects or even rookies or sophomores from what I understand so their entire prospect pool is going to come from the 7 draft picks in 2017? That's messed up. Obviously they'll trade for some but they're gonna need forwards more than prospects.

I think with more foresight, the NHL should've had the announcement earlier and worked it so that the team could have picked in this draft as well but I can see how that wasn't feasible. Still, how exactly is this team gonna fill its prospect pool because 7 guys is basically nothing considering only 2-4 at best becomer NHLers from a given draft.

Also if Foley is smart, he arranges for a scouting department right away because the summer tournaments for the 2017 draft class are gonna come up fast.
 

sabresfan65

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Actually there may be a number of third year pros who will need to be protected and will be in the expansion draft. Remember we will draft 30 players and a roster is only 24. We will also have the opportunity to sign free agents as well so I figure 10 or more of the expansion draft picks will probably head to the AHL.

Plus I'm sure there will be a few take this guy and not this guy and we will give you this prospect/draft pick types of deals to start the process of filling an AHL club.
 

SniperHF

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Undrafted NCAA free agents would also probably like to sign with LV since the opportunity to make the team is much greater.
 

The Feckless Puck

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I'm fairly certain Vegas' scouting department is going to focus heavily on college free agents and undrafted overagers in the CHL from now until they get underway. If I were in charge I'd also have a scout head to the SHL, DEL, and Liiga to see who might be poachable.
 

onlyalad

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The they will have an over flow of 3rd liners. They will have space to sign A couple of UFAs
Then trade people for picks. Also there are also UFA AHL guys.
Yes it will be tough for a few years but I think they can get there
 

Big McLargehuge

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This is standard for an expansion team outside of baseball (the Devil Rays & Diamondbacks had 2 draft classes before their team started to play...but then again it generally takes players 4+ years to go through the minors in baseball so...yeah). All teams start from nothing.

They'll have a weak prospect pool at first, which is to be expected, but they'll have a very real advantage in signing overage CHLers and collegiate players.
 

sabresfan65

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Realistically it'll take time, even with all the options noted above. You have to start at zero and build from there.

We don't even have an AHL team yet (although I would have someone on that ASAP if I was Foley). I'm not a fan of sharing an affiliate. We won't have a deep prospect pool for a few years. Hopefully we don't rush guys up to the NHL before they are ready. Let them develop.
 

jdmcrae

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We don't even have an AHL team yet (although I would have someone on that ASAP if I was Foley). I'm not a fan of sharing an affiliate. We won't have a deep prospect pool for a few years. Hopefully we don't rush guys up to the NHL before they are ready. Let them develop.

Are they able to sign players then immediately? Seems like they should have at minimum shared affiliates in the AHL and ECHL for the 2016/17 season and start signing players to get guys into the system.
 

LadyStanley

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There may also be a handful of "young" players acquired for future considerations (to NOT draft a few of the players that have to be exposed).

(For instance, I've been going through the Sharks players that are currently under contract and not exempt for the expansion draft. There are four pretty good D that will be made available, and I can see the Sharks trading someone to protect a couple of those players from being selected. Haven't counted the F yet, but know there will be a few key guys there too.)
 

LadyStanley

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Are they able to sign players then immediately? Seems like they should have at minimum shared affiliates in the AHL and ECHL for the 2016/17 season and start signing players to get guys into the system.

Don't think so as their NHL paperwork is for 2017-18 season.

(But I don't know "for sure")

Guessing they'll be able to start signing players starting next spring (IOW the graduating collegians, CHL 20/OAers).
 

jdmcrae

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Don't think so as their NHL paperwork is for 2017-18 season.

(But I don't know "for sure")

Guessing they'll be able to start signing players starting next spring (IOW the graduating collegians, CHL 20/OAers).

I guess that makes sense...
But the team will be an official NHL team for 2017/18. They should have a crack at signing an overage CHL guy who will play one more season in the CHL before going pro or a guy who will play in Europe
 

FlareKnight

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In the end....they are an expansion team. Kind of a given they are going to need time to build up their prospect pool and system. They can help that along with college free agents or undrafted prospects.

Such is how it goes. They'll get there in time.
 

BertCorbeau

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LV could benefit from other teams cap issues by taking on a bad contract to get a decent prospect as well.

This is the first expansion team in the cap era, where building through the draft, players on ELCs, and development is king .. It will be really interesting to see how Vegas approaches building from the ground up as such.
 

airbus220

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Feb 19, 2012
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We will have enough cap room which also allows us to offer sheet many RFA for 1.3M which won't take compensational picks. We could have a nice prospect pool, just little bit more expensive than on other teams.
 

Empoleon8771

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Aug 25, 2015
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LV could benefit from other teams cap issues by taking on a bad contract to get a decent prospect as well.

This is the first expansion team in the cap era, where building through the draft, players on ELCs, and development is king .. It will be really interesting to see how Vegas approaches building from the ground up as such.

Undrafted NCAA free agents would also probably like to sign with LV since the opportunity to make the team is much greater.

Along with these two, the Vegas team will be getting pretty high round picks in their first few years of existence and they'll also be getting "bribes" from teams, as in they'll be getting picks and prospects in exchange for not taking certain players in the expansion draft. I think the Vegas prospect pool after the 2017 draft could be very good immediately.
 

TaLoN

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Actually there may be a number of third year pros who will need to be protected and will be in the expansion draft. Remember we will draft 30 players and a roster is only 24. We will also have the opportunity to sign free agents as well so I figure 10 or more of the expansion draft picks will probably head to the AHL.

Plus I'm sure there will be a few take this guy and not this guy and we will give you this prospect/draft pick types of deals to start the process of filling an AHL club.

Actually an NHL roster is 23 players, not 24. ;)
 

boredmale

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They get to draft 30 players, trade 10-15 of them for picks and prospects. They can turn around and try sign some UFAs to fill those lost spots.

I am also certain they probably can do a few I will draft player X from you but you have to give us something not to take player Y
 

Murf

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I wouldn't sweat the lack of organizational depth at launch. The team is going to start with a NHL caliber team, so they will have a promotion logjam from day one. By the time the expansion draft contracts run their course, the entry draft picks will have caught up and the team will be cycling normally.
 

BattleBorn

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For whatever it's worth, I've heard that the Las Vegas organization (such as it was) has been scouting Europe (for sure) and NA (likely) for over a year using "outside" scouts brought to the team through Murray Craven.

When the GM and Director of Scouting sit down at their desk for the first day, they won't be starting from ground zero. I've got no clue how much they'll have, but they'll have a pretty decent amount of data.
 

derriko

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Mar 7, 2009
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There are a lot of third year pro's and young NHL'ers out there on deep teams too.

Teams like Pittsburgh, Washington, Tampa, etc. are going to have a hell of a time deciding which forwards to protect.
 

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