The starting prospect pool or the lack of...

[DL44]

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.

Exactly...
There will be a handful of these 3rd yr pros that Vegas can acquire and trade back for younger prospects to fill the age gaps..

I would say they select 18-20ish NHL caliber players, then 10-12 developing prospects, and then handful of those would get traded back for younger prospects or picks...

Players like Lazar, Pouliot, Gaunce, Madison Bowey, Dano, Tierney, Pokka could be available..

So much strategy for the GM to consider and so much is dependent for what's available at the end of the day....
i.e. for Vancouver.. Do they need NHL caliber youth potential - Etem
do they need a vet 4th liner - Dorsett
Or
Do they need NHL depth D - Larsen, Sbisa
Or
To fill a prospect spot - Gaunce

They'll be such options from EVERY team essentially.

 

[Sea Eagles]

Will Las Vegas have an affiliation with an AHL / CHL etc farm team? Could that help?

 

[BattleBorn]

Will Las Vegas have an affiliation with an AHL / CHL etc farm team? Could that help?

I was worried about it, but Sabresfan65 put me at ease. I'm confident now that filling up the farm isn't going to be the issue I thought.

 

[Sea Eagles]

I was worried about it, but Sabresfan65 put me at ease. I'm confident now that filling up the farm isn't going to be the issue I thought.

SuweEeeeet. Man, how cool would it be to start with a blank canvas. I wonder if Las Vegas HAVE to take a player from each team? Jeez there is going to be some quality players available.

 

[BattleBorn]

SuweEeeeet. Man, how cool would it be to start with a blank canvas. I wonder if Las Vegas HAVE to take a player from each team? Jeez there is going to be some quality players available.

Got to take one from each team so there's going to be 30 players from the expansion draft. Plus we'll have at least 6-7 picks from the entry draft.

7 of the players from the expansion draft are going to have to go places other than the NHL roster and some of them might now want to and become trade bait. Once we're all said and done we'll likely have 40 or so players with expansion draft, entry draft, and trades. Sign some unsigned guys and free agents and I think we'll be fine.

 

[48g90a138pts]

The Las Vegas team won't have to worry about having NHL quality players because they'll have 30 of them. If they don't do any deals that is.

Only thing lacking will be some elite players. Signing a couple free agents will help a bit. So they'll be fine for NHL quality depth. Actually probably better than most teams in the NHL.

As for prospects it will take time. If they choose, an option could be to trade their first round pick for a few extra picks. Not that I'd do that.

Hopefully for any Las Vegas fans sake your management puts a high priority on Dmen. In the NHL at the moment top pairing dmen are the hardest to acquire by a far margin. It's tempting to grab the BPA with your top pick, (just ask Oilers fans) but the smart thing is to get your top 4 dmen drafted in your first few years. Cementing your back end will ensure better success down the road to building a good competing team. Doesn't matter how great your forwards are at scoring.

 

[sbkbghockey]

The Las Vegas team won't have to worry about having NHL quality players because they'll have 30 of them. If they don't do any deals that is.

Only thing lacking will be some elite players. Signing a couple free agents will help a bit. So they'll be fine for NHL quality depth. Actually probably better than most teams in the NHL.

As for prospects it will take time. If they choose, an option could be to trade their first round pick for a few extra picks. Not that I'd do that.

Hopefully for any Las Vegas fans sake your management puts a high priority on Dmen. In the NHL at the moment top pairing dmen are the hardest to acquire by a far margin. It's tempting to grab the BPA with your top pick, (just ask Oilers fans) but the smart thing is to get your top 4 dmen drafted in your first few years. Cementing your back end will ensure better success down the road to building a good competing team. Doesn't matter how great your forwards are at scoring.

Although early, it appears that the 2017 Draft is weaker than the past few drafts in elite forward talent but does look deep in defensemen. There's still going to be solid NHL forwards but likely no McDavids, Eichels, Matthews...

 

[get25]

Got to take one from each team so there's going to be 30 players from the expansion draft. Plus we'll have at least 6-7 picks from the entry draft.

7 of the players from the expansion draft are going to have to go places other than the NHL roster and some of them might now want to and become trade bait. Once we're all said and done we'll likely have 40 or so players with expansion draft, entry draft, and trades. Sign some unsigned guys and free agents and I think we'll be fine.

Well most of the entry draft picks will go back to their original team to further develop.
Your first round pick might be able to do the team as LV will have a guaranteed a lottery spot for four years.
But the others will go back to their teams.
In 2018 or 2019 you will start to see these picks of 2017 make the team.

So you have 30 coming from the teams.
To have a full NHL and AHL roster you need 46 players + maybe some extra in ECHL.
A minimum of 15 players extra from unsigned players, other leagues (KHL, SHL, etc), UFA.

Should be easy to get at least two average-good goalies for NHL and two others for AHL. Perfectly possible to get a very good backup and a potential top-10 goalie.

Bottom-6 should not be a problem or even bottom-9.
Bottom-4 d-men should be fine too: most team will protect top-3 d-men.
Actually LV bottom-9 and bottom-4 should be one of the best in the league.
And this will be a young team with players who are ready for NHL.

To get top-3 forwards or top-2 d-men will be more difficult.
But you could find a few over 30 teams.
Add from the UFA pool.

Some teams are stuck with NMC (Columbus with Dubinsky, Hartnell, Clarkson and Foligno for example) add Jones, Murray and Savard in Defense. Leaves three spot for Saad, Boone Jenner, Alexander Wennberg, Cam Atkinson, William Karlsson, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Sonny Milano and Kerby Rychel.
You can get a top-3 right there or one that will be in a year or two.

EDM will protect seven forwards and Sekera (NMC). So after Larsson and Klefborn, you have Reinhart and Davidson available (and a few others LHD).

WAS: Orpik, Schmidt and Orlov in defense. Connelly could be interesting.

TBL can only protect four out of Kucherov, Drouin, Palat, Johnson, Killorn and Namestnikov. Defense is less interesting except Koekkoek: Coburn, Sustr and Nesterov. In the goal: Gudlevskis (assuming Bishop is gone).

STL Pareyko would be available or one of the top-3 (Boom, Pietro, Shatty): his 17 games in AHL at 21-22 years old means they have to protect him. So either Shattenkirk is traded or he goes UFA.

ANA has plenty of D-men: Bieksa, Vatanen and Lindholm leaving (for now) Fowler available. Also Montour, Theodore, etc.

PHI Gotisbehere and Stolarz (if not protected) could be availalble. Hagg also.

CHI: top-3 d-men are protected so every young d-men is fair game.

WIN will have to deal with one of Trouba or Morrissey.

Plenty of choices.

Hoping your management will build a good scouting staff.
Washington could be a great target for McPhee to get scouts.

 

[nobody important]

WIN will have to deal with one of Trouba or Morrissey.

Trouba or Myers. Morrissey is exempt. And many expect the Jets will go 4+4 to protect both, leaving a decent young forward like Dano, Armia or Lowry exposed.

And we prefer WPG. WIN is not something I associate with this city.

 

[pit]

PHI Gotisbehere and Stolarz (if not protected) could be availalble. Hagg also.

Absolutely no chance Gostisbehere is available. He is the first D the Flyers protect, if they even have to protect him at all due to his injury in his first pro season.

 

[Rick Deckard]

Absolutely no chance Gostisbehere is available. He is the first D the Flyers protect, if they even have to protect him at all due to his injury in his first pro season.

That.

Your choices from the Flyers will be between Stolarz (if one of Mason/Neuvirth re-signs), Hägg (if DelZotto re-signs), one of Cousins or Laughton (if Raffl or Weise are protected) and vets like MacDonald or Read.

We are lucky, we won't lose anything special.