Teams were allowed to protect either seven forwards, three defenceman and a goaltender, or eight skaters (mixed) and one goaltender.
The Vegas Golden Knights selected, at best, the ninth best forwards available on each team, some of whom just didn't receive enough ice time but had the potential to do great things. They were savvy enough to select some young prospects who went unprotected. They also made a few trades so that certain unprotected players would not be taken, but in exchange the Knights received good value for leaving some of the other teams' unprotected players alone.
In theory, the Knights have a team comprised of four fast, skilled, gritty middle-six lines; some of those previously-underutilized "middle-six" players are blossoming with the extra ice time and offensive style of play, shining throughout the lineup. It's the epitome of a deep roster with talent throughout.
The Golden Knights aren't bogged down by overpaid free agents; many teams have overpaid players on the roster who take up too much cap space and force teams to dress a weaker bottom six. They Knights are extremely well-rounded in terms of cap spending.
None of the players they took at the expansion draft make more than $5 million -- their highest-paid forward is now Tomas Tatar at $5.3 million. None of their defencemen make more than $4 million. Marc-Andre Fleury is their highest-paid player at $5.75 million.
The Golden Knights could have gone awry at the expansion draft had they pursued overpaid veterans. Instead, they built a roster around underappreciated, young middle-six players, some of whom have had breakout years in an expanded role.
The traditional model is to overspend on the most talented players, and then have tiers of players: elite first line, good second line, mediocre bottom six. It's a figurative pyramid.
The Golden Knights' roster is built around four very good second lines. Their expenses are spread more evenly throughout the roster. It's a different model that teams should have adopted a long time ago -- difficult to maintain because once players young start to perform like first-line players, they become expensive in free agency; to maintain this model, the team would constantly need to trade their high-end veterans for on-the-cusp, younger players, or convince their top scorers to take a pay cut. However, it is a stronger model for a team than the traditional pyramid model. When too much money is tied up in three or four players, the team's success hinges on those players' performances; everyone on the Vegas team, meanwhile, has the skill to score goals and create offense. They attack in waves. Every line can put the puck in the net.
Vegas: four second lines.
Everybody else: one first line, one second line, one third line, one fourth line.
