NHL Thread: Roy is War

Discussion in 'The Mainboard' started by CF3234, Sep 14, 2017.

  1. devine

    devine hi, i am user devine
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    Yeah that guy sounds ridiculous but we have a similar friend in our group too. Just always so negative but always giving props to the caps. Strange
     
  2. teel

    teel Schiano Man
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    Carter Hart vs Mackenzie Blackwood today the Metro is so fucked lol
     
  3. IHHH

    IHHH Well-Known Member
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    Carter Hart might actually be good teelsy
     
  4. teel

    teel Schiano Man
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    All Mac Black needed were some American d men in front of him lol!
     
  5. theregionsitter

    theregionsitter Well-Known Member
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    Panarin back up the Brinks truck
     
  6. hudson

    hudson Oh, you know...stuff.
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    thought it was funny when some jackets were mocking kuznetsov.
     
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  7. RavenNole

    RavenNole Well-Known Member
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  8. IHHH

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    Lemieux is the best player ever
     
  9. IHHH

    IHHH Well-Known Member
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    That year lemieux finished with 161 points, jagr finished with 149

    The next one was sakic with 120.

    So many memories
     
  10. IHHH

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  11. MJH

    MJH Well-Known Member
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    Nice goal total.
     
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  12. MJH

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  13. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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  14. Gunners

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    cute little celebration
     
  15. CF3234

    CF3234 Fan of: Bandwagons
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  16. theregionsitter

    theregionsitter Well-Known Member
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    Panarin +4 tonight :dennard:

    #Columbus Blue Jackets bout to win 4/5 of @ FLA , @ TB, Nash, @ Was , NYR in 8 days. Nice stretch there
     
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  17. nexus

    nexus TMB’s TSO
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    Anyone care to share the Athletic article about Seattle's draft?
     
  18. Gunners

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    Give me a link and I'll post it
     
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  19. nexus

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  20. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    Mock expansion draft: What the Seattle NHL team might look like in 2021

    [​IMG]
    By Eric Duhatschek Dec 11, 2018[​IMG] 158 [​IMG]
    First things first.

    The assignment was to undertake a next-to-impossible task and project what a Seattle expansion team, selected in June of 2021, would look like today, if every NHL team had filed its protected list this week for a 2021 selection.

    But then we went for advice to George McPhee, architect of the Vegas Golden Knights, and suddenly, we didn’t feel nearly as intimidated.

    The primary reason: McPhee revealed that the Golden Knights began doing their own mock drafts in October 2016 and did the exercise monthly. From the time they began the process, through eight months of spirited dress rehearsals, their list changed constantly — until they got to June 2017, and actually made their 30 selections.

    How many of those 30 players were on the list originally the previous October?

    “About four,” McPhee estimated.

    So there, a necessary – and freeing — disclaimer, as we look into that faraway crystal ball and try to help Seattle, the NHL’s 32nd team, select its expansion draft roster.

    One thing you can be sure of — whoever assumes the helm in Seattle will study the Vegas model closely, given that the Golden Knights became the single most successful expansion franchise in the history of modern professional sport. And according to McPhee, mock drafts were a critical element in their preparation for the real thing.

    “The value early on was twofold,” McPhee said. “One is, you got familiar with the rules, because every time you went through the process, you had questions about how the rules would apply. After each mock draft, we had a list of questions that we took to the league to get some clarity. The other benefit was getting to know your staff – because we’d come together quickly and I didn’t know some as well as others; I hadn’t worked with many of them before. So that helped initially.

    “Then, as we got further along the process, into January, February and March, it was then we had further clarity on which players we had actual interest in – because our scouts had been watching them for a while, and we just had a better idea of where players were going to land, and who would be protected and who wouldn’t be.”

    Because Vegas was required to take a minimum number of players at each position (three in goal, nine on defence, and 14 up front), plus meet a minimum dollar value for the contracts, the selections were all interdependent upon one another.

    “We did our mock drafts as if we were actually on the clock,” said McPhee. “We tried to make it as realistic as possible – being mindful of the rules that were in place… There was just so much interplay in all of that, and that’s what we were dealing with every time through — to make sure we were completely comfortable with how the process worked.”

    As Vegas conducted more and more mock drafts, it soon became clear to McPhee that some teams had greater protection issues than others, which helped him identify potential trading partners for all the pre-draft deals he made. McPhee ultimately landed extra assets in exchange for laying off certain players that teams didn’t want to lose. A handful of those trades – primarily the ones made with Minnesota, Columbus, the Islanders and Florida – helped Vegas lay its strong initial foundation.

    If McPhee were doing it all over again, would he do it the same way?

    “Probably,” he said. “I mean, you don’t know for sure. We worked at it and worked at and worked at it and we felt like we were ready. But you don’t know until you get in there and then you get 72 hours to pull it off. When it was all done, there’s not a lot of time to look back and reflect in this business, because we had to go right from submitting our list to the television show to flying to Chicago, amateur draft meetings, and then we were drafting players the next day.

    “But I think we executed well.”

    McPhee, incidentally, expressed some sympathy for the exercise — of trying to pick a Seattle team 30 months out. He also reiterated a point that is often overlooked in published mock drafts: That Vegas had to absorb a minimum dollar value in contracts when making their choices, meaning you can’t just pluck 30 players on entry-level contracts that might have an NHL upside because you wouldn’t meet the contract spending threshold.

    Two further ground rules and one observation before we get underway.

    One, I follow the expansion draft criteria established by the NHL for Seattle, which is identical to the terms set for Vegas.

    Two, selections were made below from the protected lists filed by colleagues in every NHL city, who crunched the roster numbers and came up with their best guesses as to what the teams they cover may end up doing. Separately, I’d done my own protected lists for each team and they didn’t necessarily correspond – which is what you’d probably expect at this early stage in a hypothetical exercise. But hey, if Brent Burns and PK Subban and Brandon Montour are available, who am I to say no – even though I may say no to Burns because I’d rather take Evander Kane.

    Three, Vegas selected three players they had zero interest in actually retaining – Connor Brickley from Carolina, Chris Thorburn from Winnipeg and JF Berube from the Islanders. All were gone nine days after the expansion draft selections were announced. We’re guessing that for some teams – Ottawa notably comes to mind here – Seattle’s selection will be someone they don’t necessarily intend to keep, a pending UFA that they can simply walk away from.

    So, having issued the necessary disclaimers, here is how Seattle might look, starting with my projected roster and three more from my colleagues at The Athletic:

    [​IMG]

    If Seattle is trying to mimic Vegas’s success out of the gate the decisions they make in terms of selecting their goaltenders will be pivotal to a quick start. They need their own Marc-André Fleury. Luckily for Seattle, they may have a number of goaltending options – though a lot will depend upon how the next generation of hot goalie prospects develops and evolves.

    For example, if Ilya Samsonov has shown enough promise by then, chances are Washington will protect him ahead of Braden Holtby. Holtby might be the most attractive option among a number of expensive experienced goalies and would be just 31 at the time of the expansion draft (Fleury was 32). Jonathan Quick, by contrast, would be 35.

    Ultimately, what you hope for in your goaltending on an expansion team is someone that can come in, play two-thirds of your games, and do so with the same sunny disposition that Fleury always demonstrated. A tall task to be sure, but goaltending is the one position where Seattle figures to have a number of intriguing, experienced options.

    Three teams – Anaheim, Carolina and Calgary – figure to have legitimate protection problems in terms of the quality of the youth on their back end.

    In fact, Anaheim is in exactly the same spot as before the Vegas expansion draft – trying to determine if they protect four (Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, Josh Manson and Montour) and go with just four forwards – or protect seven forwards, three defencemen, lose Montour, but then retain 2015 Jacob Larsson, a first-round pick.

    It’s a similar situation in Carolina. Even if Justin Faulk has moved on by then, there’s also Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce and Dougie Hamilton to protect, not to mention Fleury or Jake Bean. So, whoever falls through the cracks in Carolina will likely end up in Seattle. Calgary too will have four defencemen 25 or under playing for them by then.

    Vegas also did well by landing a handful of quality journeymen defencemen (the likes of Colin Miller, Brayden McNabb, Nate Schmidt) and that’s what Murray, Maatta and others would represent to Seattle.

    Montreal will protect Shea Weber under our team-by-team model, but for argument’s sake, let’s explore the option of leaving him exposed as a means of moving out a contract a team may want to shed for salary-cap reasons, which was a prominent factor in the Vegas expansion success story.

    Weber will turn 36 two months after the expansion draft. His contract is a monster – 14 years, $110 million in total, and it will have five years to run from June 2021 on. And while the salary-cap hit won’t change — $7.857 million per season — the actual dollars in the contract do drop precipitously. Weber will earn $6 million for the 2021-22 season, and then it drops to $3 million for 2022-23 and then to $1 million for the final three years of the contract.

    Chances are, Weber might play through to 2023 and then look at retirement as an option at some point after that. But he’s from Sicamous, B.C., and depending upon where Montreal ranks as a playoff contender in 2021, maybe there’s a pull to play closer to home in the final years of his career

    It’ll be a factor in what happens with Subban and Burns and maybe Mark Giordano of Calgary, too. At some point, it becomes a poker game, or a game of chicken – teams will potentially leave big-name players on big-dollar contracts exposed and then see what Seattle ultimately decides to do. They can grab a couple of those players – but not all of them.

    Up front, the Seattle challenge will be to find the same sort of successful mix that Vegas managed – getting speed throughout the lineup, in order to play the up-tempo, push-push style, and enough scoring spread over two lines to create the sort of balance Vegas had. Is there a William Karlsson in the mix? Or a Jonathan Marchessault? It doesn’t look like it right now.

    Historically that’s always been a challenge for expansion teams. Goaltending is usually available, along with reliable rearguards, and quality defensive forwards. Finding someone to put the puck in the net can be the greater challenge. So maybe, if you are Seattle and the choice in San Jose comes down to Burns or Evander Kane, maybe you opt for Kane. He’d still be two months shy of his 30thbirthday in June 2021, and maybe Kane could do for Seattle what James Neal did for Vegas – score some goals in the first year of the team and then potentially become a trade chip moving forward.

    Remember, that’s what Neal and David Perron were supposed to be in the beginning for Vegas, players that could eventually be flipped for younger assets to teams looking for help in the short term. It didn’t turn out that way because Vegas was an instant Stanley Cup contender. Instead of being traded at the deadline, they stayed around for the Stanley Cup push and then both left as unrestricted free agents.

    Vegas improvised on the fly in its first season and that may be necessary in Seattle as well. Lots can – and presumably will – change in the 30 months before they are officially on the clock.

    Now, here’s a look at the three Seattle lineups drafted by colleagues here at The Athletic.

    Scott Burnside
    [​IMG]

    BURNSIDE: Guess what? There’s a chance not one single player listed here ends up a Seattle Thingamabob. Don’t care. Loved this process and given what happened in Vegas, love that we’ll take another crack or 10 at it before the official list is actually submitted in June 2021. But as a first run through, how exciting to contemplate a chance to nab Norris Trophy winner P.K. Subban? Could happen. Nashville is going to have their hands full with all of their talent and exposing Subban and keeping Mattias Ekholm long-term may make more sense economically for the Predators.

    Columbus (Markus Nutivaara or Ryan Murray?) may also have difficult defensive decisions, and a concentration of young defensive talent in Philadelphia may free up an experienced sniper like James van Riemsdyk. Anaheim, likewise, has lots of terrific youngsters coming and Seattle may end up with a cornerstone defender like Brandon Montour in the same way Vegas landed Shea Theodore.

    Our friend Kevin Kurz in San Jose hypothesizes that another Norris winner, Brent Burns, could be exposed. Not room on our squad for both Subban and Burns at this stage so we’ll stick with Subban but Burns, who will be 36 at the time of the expansion draft, would be a nice Plan B. And how about the possibility that, not unlike Vegas which ended up with franchise netminder Marc-André Fleury, the Washington Capitals are in a position to move away from Vezina Trophy winner Braden Holtby in favor of goaltender of the future Ilya Samsonov? Lots of folks will be pining for Holtby’s teammate T.J. Oshie to end up in Seattle given his long connection to the community, but even though he may end up exposed his durability or lack thereof might be an issue.

    So we acknowledge there might be one or two critics of our selection and specifically with our lack of obvious depth down the middle and up front in general. Don’t care. That’s exactly how we felt about Vegas. Turned out not to be a problem. And, along with a guy like van Riemsdyk and an aging Jeff Carter who we acknowledge may well get dealt out of L.A. before the expansion draft, somewhere among the Denis Malgins, Mark Jankowskis and Rasmus Asplunds there is our very own William Karlsson. Book it.

    Craig Custance
    [​IMG]

    CUSTANCE: In examining the way-too-early protected lists, there’s going to be plenty of overpriced veterans on bad contracts for Seattle to choose from but my preference was to try and hit on as many younger players as possible in these selections. My hope is that big money in the form of Evander Kane, Jonathan Quick, PK Subban and Braden Holtby will help me hit the minimum salary requirements. There are probably a few AHL players on here but if a couple of these players flourish with new opportunity, it justifies the strategy. A player like Florida’s Jayce Hawryluk fits that description. He’s small (5-foot-11) but he has some pedigree as a second-round pick in 2014 and is lighting things up in Springfield this season, with 28 points in 24 games.

    Gustav Lindstrom, on defense, also falls into that category. He’s another second-round pick who some scouts compared to Anton Stralman when he was drafted. I’d take a young Anton Stralman on my team anytime. I’d look to spin Jonathan Quick in a trade if possible and would definitely be monitoring his health at that point in his career before selecting him. In general, the pool on defense was deeper than at forward, so that’s how I’d built this team, with as many youngish defensemen as possible. And also Subban.

    Jonathan Willis
    [​IMG]

    WILLIS: The final roster won’t look much like this, even in this imaginary scenario, because Seattle doesn’t need 30 players but will certainly need prospects and draft picks for its long-term building plan. At least three of these forwards and three more defensemen are expendable in this process, and it makes sense for Seattle to be willing to take on some futures instead.

    Primarily the goal here was to acquire players in their mid-20s in 2021. Twenty-five is usually regarded as prime age for a forward, with defencemen somewhere in that range as well, so ideally players would be 23-or-younger today. Eight forwards on the list above meet that description (four more are 24 or 25) and 11 of the 12 defencemen do as well.

    The big exceptions are Phil Kessel and P.K. Subban, because they are Phil Kessel and P.K. Subban and sometimes talent trumps. Kessel owns a no-move clause and the expectation in Rob Rossi’s piece is that he’ll be traded prior to 2021, but since he was protected by no team in our exercise I felt he was fair game. Those two join a roster rich with good young players across all positions, with the possible exception of centre and in net.

    Goal being a mess is ironic, because when Vegas made its picks, it had a ton of quality goalies to grab. However, goal is a hard position to project, and contracts tend to be shorter, so a lot of the expansion lists created by The Athletic’s writing staff protected goalies of the future, rather than the current starter on those teams. I’d fully expect that Seattle has a richer field to choose from and makes better picks than I did above as a result.

    The bottom line here is that this roster is a little light on current NHL talent (though it is better than I expected) but loaded with productive 20-, 21- and 22-year-olds who should be well-positioned to contribute both in their Seattle debuts and in the years that follow.
     
  21. Gunners

    Gunners Nicking a living
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    It is LONG
    Mock expansion draft: What the Seattle NHL team might look like in 2021


    [​IMG]
    By Eric Duhatschek Dec 11, 2018 [​IMG] 158 [​IMG]
    First things first.

    The assignment was to undertake a next-to-impossible task and project what a Seattle expansion team, selected in June of 2021, would look like today, if every NHL team had filed its protected list this week for a 2021 selection.

    But then we went for advice to George McPhee, architect of the Vegas Golden Knights, and suddenly, we didn’t feel nearly as intimidated.

    The primary reason: McPhee revealed that the Golden Knights began doing their own mock drafts in October 2016 and did the exercise monthly. From the time they began the process, through eight months of spirited dress rehearsals, their list changed constantly — until they got to June 2017, and actually made their 30 selections.

    How many of those 30 players were on the list originally the previous October?

    “About four,” McPhee estimated.

    So there, a necessary – and freeing — disclaimer, as we look into that faraway crystal ball and try to help Seattle, the NHL’s 32nd team, select its expansion draft roster.

    One thing you can be sure of — whoever assumes the helm in Seattle will study the Vegas model closely, given that the Golden Knights became the single most successful expansion franchise in the history of modern professional sport. And according to McPhee, mock drafts were a critical element in their preparation for the real thing.

    “The value early on was twofold,” McPhee said. “One is, you got familiar with the rules, because every time you went through the process, you had questions about how the rules would apply. After each mock draft, we had a list of questions that we took to the league to get some clarity. The other benefit was getting to know your staff – because we’d come together quickly and I didn’t know some as well as others; I hadn’t worked with many of them before. So that helped initially.

    “Then, as we got further along the process, into January, February and March, it was then we had further clarity on which players we had actual interest in – because our scouts had been watching them for a while, and we just had a better idea of where players were going to land, and who would be protected and who wouldn’t be.”

    Because Vegas was required to take a minimum number of players at each position (three in goal, nine on defence, and 14 up front), plus meet a minimum dollar value for the contracts, the selections were all interdependent upon one another.

    “We did our mock drafts as if we were actually on the clock,” said McPhee. “We tried to make it as realistic as possible – being mindful of the rules that were in place… There was just so much interplay in all of that, and that’s what we were dealing with every time through — to make sure we were completely comfortable with how the process worked.”

    As Vegas conducted more and more mock drafts, it soon became clear to McPhee that some teams had greater protection issues than others, which helped him identify potential trading partners for all the pre-draft deals he made. McPhee ultimately landed extra assets in exchange for laying off certain players that teams didn’t want to lose. A handful of those trades – primarily the ones made with Minnesota, Columbus, the Islanders and Florida – helped Vegas lay its strong initial foundation.

    If McPhee were doing it all over again, would he do it the same way?

    “Probably,” he said. “I mean, you don’t know for sure. We worked at it and worked at and worked at it and we felt like we were ready. But you don’t know until you get in there and then you get 72 hours to pull it off. When it was all done, there’s not a lot of time to look back and reflect in this business, because we had to go right from submitting our list to the television show to flying to Chicago, amateur draft meetings, and then we were drafting players the next day.

    “But I think we executed well.”

    McPhee, incidentally, expressed some sympathy for the exercise — of trying to pick a Seattle team 30 months out. He also reiterated a point that is often overlooked in published mock drafts: That Vegas had to absorb a minimum dollar value in contracts when making their choices, meaning you can’t just pluck 30 players on entry-level contracts that might have an NHL upside because you wouldn’t meet the contract spending threshold.

    Two further ground rules and one observation before we get underway.

    One, I follow the expansion draft criteria established by the NHL for Seattle, which is identical to the terms set for Vegas.

    Two, selections were made below from the protected lists filed by colleagues in every NHL city, who crunched the roster numbers and came up with their best guesses as to what the teams they cover may end up doing. Separately, I’d done my own protected lists for each team and they didn’t necessarily correspond – which is what you’d probably expect at this early stage in a hypothetical exercise. But hey, if Brent Burns and PK Subban and Brandon Montour are available, who am I to say no – even though I may say no to Burns because I’d rather take Evander Kane.

    Three, Vegas selected three players they had zero interest in actually retaining – Connor Brickley from Carolina, Chris Thorburn from Winnipeg and JF Berube from the Islanders. All were gone nine days after the expansion draft selections were announced. We’re guessing that for some teams – Ottawa notably comes to mind here – Seattle’s selection will be someone they don’t necessarily intend to keep, a pending UFA that they can simply walk away from.

    So, having issued the necessary disclaimers, here is how Seattle might look, starting with my projected roster and three more from my colleagues at The Athletic:

    [​IMG]

    If Seattle is trying to mimic Vegas’s success out of the gate the decisions they make in terms of selecting their goaltenders will be pivotal to a quick start. They need their own Marc-André Fleury. Luckily for Seattle, they may have a number of goaltending options – though a lot will depend upon how the next generation of hot goalie prospects develops and evolves.

    For example, if Ilya Samsonov has shown enough promise by then, chances are Washington will protect him ahead of Braden Holtby. Holtby might be the most attractive option among a number of expensive experienced goalies and would be just 31 at the time of the expansion draft (Fleury was 32). Jonathan Quick, by contrast, would be 35.

    Ultimately, what you hope for in your goaltending on an expansion team is someone that can come in, play two-thirds of your games, and do so with the same sunny disposition that Fleury always demonstrated. A tall task to be sure, but goaltending is the one position where Seattle figures to have a number of intriguing, experienced options.

    Three teams – Anaheim, Carolina and Calgary – figure to have legitimate protection problems in terms of the quality of the youth on their back end.

    In fact, Anaheim is in exactly the same spot as before the Vegas expansion draft – trying to determine if they protect four (Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, Josh Manson and Montour) and go with just four forwards – or protect seven forwards, three defencemen, lose Montour, but then retain 2015 Jacob Larsson, a first-round pick.

    It’s a similar situation in Carolina. Even if Justin Faulk has moved on by then, there’s also Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce and Dougie Hamilton to protect, not to mention Fleury or Jake Bean. So, whoever falls through the cracks in Carolina will likely end up in Seattle. Calgary too will have four defencemen 25 or under playing for them by then.

    Vegas also did well by landing a handful of quality journeymen defencemen (the likes of Colin Miller, Brayden McNabb, Nate Schmidt) and that’s what Murray, Maatta and others would represent to Seattle.

    Montreal will protect Shea Weber under our team-by-team model, but for argument’s sake, let’s explore the option of leaving him exposed as a means of moving out a contract a team may want to shed for salary-cap reasons, which was a prominent factor in the Vegas expansion success story.

    Weber will turn 36 two months after the expansion draft. His contract is a monster – 14 years, $110 million in total, and it will have five years to run from June 2021 on. And while the salary-cap hit won’t change — $7.857 million per season — the actual dollars in the contract do drop precipitously. Weber will earn $6 million for the 2021-22 season, and then it drops to $3 million for 2022-23 and then to $1 million for the final three years of the contract.

    Chances are, Weber might play through to 2023 and then look at retirement as an option at some point after that. But he’s from Sicamous, B.C., and depending upon where Montreal ranks as a playoff contender in 2021, maybe there’s a pull to play closer to home in the final years of his career

    It’ll be a factor in what happens with Subban and Burns and maybe Mark Giordano of Calgary, too. At some point, it becomes a poker game, or a game of chicken – teams will potentially leave big-name players on big-dollar contracts exposed and then see what Seattle ultimately decides to do. They can grab a couple of those players – but not all of them.

    Up front, the Seattle challenge will be to find the same sort of successful mix that Vegas managed – getting speed throughout the lineup, in order to play the up-tempo, push-push style, and enough scoring spread over two lines to create the sort of balance Vegas had. Is there a William Karlsson in the mix? Or a Jonathan Marchessault? It doesn’t look like it right now.

    Historically that’s always been a challenge for expansion teams. Goaltending is usually available, along with reliable rearguards, and quality defensive forwards. Finding someone to put the puck in the net can be the greater challenge. So maybe, if you are Seattle and the choice in San Jose comes down to Burns or Evander Kane, maybe you opt for Kane. He’d still be two months shy of his 30th birthday in June 2021, and maybe Kane could do for Seattle what James Neal did for Vegas – score some goals in the first year of the team and then potentially become a trade chip moving forward.

    Remember, that’s what Neal and David Perron were supposed to be in the beginning for Vegas, players that could eventually be flipped for younger assets to teams looking for help in the short term. It didn’t turn out that way because Vegas was an instant Stanley Cup contender. Instead of being traded at the deadline, they stayed around for the Stanley Cup push and then both left as unrestricted free agents.

    Vegas improvised on the fly in its first season and that may be necessary in Seattle as well. Lots can – and presumably will – change in the 30 months before they are officially on the clock.

    Now, here’s a look at the three Seattle lineups drafted by colleagues here at The Athletic.

    Scott Burnside
    [​IMG]

    BURNSIDE: Guess what? There’s a chance not one single player listed here ends up a Seattle Thingamabob. Don’t care. Loved this process and given what happened in Vegas, love that we’ll take another crack or 10 at it before the official list is actually submitted in June 2021. But as a first run through, how exciting to contemplate a chance to nab Norris Trophy winner P.K. Subban? Could happen. Nashville is going to have their hands full with all of their talent and exposing Subban and keeping Mattias Ekholm long-term may make more sense economically for the Predators.

    Columbus (Markus Nutivaara or Ryan Murray?) may also have difficult defensive decisions, and a concentration of young defensive talent in Philadelphia may free up an experienced sniper like James van Riemsdyk. Anaheim, likewise, has lots of terrific youngsters coming and Seattle may end up with a cornerstone defender like Brandon Montour in the same way Vegas landed Shea Theodore.

    Our friend Kevin Kurz in San Jose hypothesizes that another Norris winner, Brent Burns, could be exposed. Not room on our squad for both Subban and Burns at this stage so we’ll stick with Subban but Burns, who will be 36 at the time of the expansion draft, would be a nice Plan B. And how about the possibility that, not unlike Vegas which ended up with franchise netminder Marc-André Fleury, the Washington Capitals are in a position to move away from Vezina Trophy winner Braden Holtby in favor of goaltender of the future Ilya Samsonov? Lots of folks will be pining for Holtby’s teammate T.J. Oshie to end up in Seattle given his long connection to the community, but even though he may end up exposed his durability or lack thereof might be an issue.

    So we acknowledge there might be one or two critics of our selection and specifically with our lack of obvious depth down the middle and up front in general. Don’t care. That’s exactly how we felt about Vegas. Turned out not to be a problem. And, along with a guy like van Riemsdyk and an aging Jeff Carter who we acknowledge may well get dealt out of L.A. before the expansion draft, somewhere among the Denis Malgins, Mark Jankowskis and Rasmus Asplunds there is our very own William Karlsson. Book it.

    Craig Custance
    [​IMG]

    CUSTANCE: In examining the way-too-early protected lists, there’s going to be plenty of overpriced veterans on bad contracts for Seattle to choose from but my preference was to try and hit on as many younger players as possible in these selections. My hope is that big money in the form of Evander Kane, Jonathan Quick, PK Subban and Braden Holtby will help me hit the minimum salary requirements. There are probably a few AHL players on here but if a couple of these players flourish with new opportunity, it justifies the strategy. A player like Florida’s Jayce Hawryluk fits that description. He’s small (5-foot-11) but he has some pedigree as a second-round pick in 2014 and is lighting things up in Springfield this season, with 28 points in 24 games.

    Gustav Lindstrom, on defense, also falls into that category. He’s another second-round pick who some scouts compared to Anton Stralman when he was drafted. I’d take a young Anton Stralman on my team anytime. I’d look to spin Jonathan Quick in a trade if possible and would definitely be monitoring his health at that point in his career before selecting him. In general, the pool on defense was deeper than at forward, so that’s how I’d built this team, with as many youngish defensemen as possible. And also Subban.

    Jonathan Willis
    [​IMG]

    WILLIS: The final roster won’t look much like this, even in this imaginary scenario, because Seattle doesn’t need 30 players but will certainly need prospects and draft picks for its long-term building plan. At least three of these forwards and three more defensemen are expendable in this process, and it makes sense for Seattle to be willing to take on some futures instead.

    Primarily the goal here was to acquire players in their mid-20s in 2021. Twenty-five is usually regarded as prime age for a forward, with defencemen somewhere in that range as well, so ideally players would be 23-or-younger today. Eight forwards on the list above meet that description (four more are 24 or 25) and 11 of the 12 defencemen do as well.

    The big exceptions are Phil Kessel and P.K. Subban, because they are Phil Kessel and P.K. Subban and sometimes talent trumps. Kessel owns a no-move clause and the expectation in Rob Rossi’s piece is that he’ll be traded prior to 2021, but since he was protected by no team in our exercise I felt he was fair game. Those two join a roster rich with good young players across all positions, with the possible exception of centre and in net.

    Goal being a mess is ironic, because when Vegas made its picks, it had a ton of quality goalies to grab. However, goal is a hard position to project, and contracts tend to be shorter, so a lot of the expansion lists created by The Athletic’s writing staff protected goalies of the future, rather than the current starter on those teams. I’d fully expect that Seattle has a richer field to choose from and makes better picks than I did above as a result.

    The bottom line here is that this roster is a little light on current NHL talent (though it is better than I expected) but loaded with productive 20-, 21- and 22-year-olds who should be well-positioned to contribute both in their Seattle debuts and in the years that follow.
     
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  22. theregionsitter

    theregionsitter Well-Known Member
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    Spoke way too soon damnit
     
  23. DeToxRox

    DeToxRox Uncle T
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  24. theregionsitter

    theregionsitter Well-Known Member
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    Ok that’s a wrap 7-5

    Lol Bob
     
  25. miles

    miles All I know is my gut says, maybe
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    I feel like there's 9 or 10 teams this year where I wouldn't be surprised at all if they won the cup
     
  26. hudson

    hudson Oh, you know...stuff.
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    What’s your list?
     
  27. RavenNole

    RavenNole Well-Known Member
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    Likely a concussion caused by the fucking ref. Ref was where he should have been and hedman was watching the play and it looked like a shoulder or elbow to the face from the ref. Unbelievable.
     
  28. zeberdee

    zeberdee wheel snipe celly boys
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    how much did Paul Holmgren hate Carter & Richards. he put his two young stars in a 55-and-older community to keep them away from them.

     
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  29. zeberdee

    zeberdee wheel snipe celly boys
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  30. Poe Dameron

    Poe Dameron The best fucking pilot in the galaxy
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    It was nice to see the Canucks stick up for a teammate last night.

    Horvat & Roussel tried to fight Matheson, but he wouldn't go last night.
     
  31. DeToxRox

    DeToxRox Uncle T
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  32. miles

    miles All I know is my gut says, maybe
    Donor

    Lightning, leafs, bruins, jets, penguins, caps, flames, sharks, Vegas.
     
  33. miles

    miles All I know is my gut says, maybe
    Donor

    Apparently the oilers are looking to make moves again.

    Someone a while back tweeted a great analogy for chiarelli. “You know those craigslist stories where someone basically starts out with a paper clip and then trades up over and over until they somehow end up with a car? Chiarelli is basically that, but the opposite.”
     
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  34. RockHardJawn39

    RockHardJawn39 #FranklinOUT
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    #Edmonton Oilers take whatever you want off the #Philadelphia Flyers. Wayne and Jake would be great
     
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  35. Poe Dameron

    Poe Dameron The best fucking pilot in the galaxy
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    Probably off to Michigan then. Going to Europe rather than the Canadian Junior Leagues would've helped him, but don't think he was eligible age wise and not either to play with Quinn at Michigan.
     
  36. Poe Dameron

    Poe Dameron The best fucking pilot in the galaxy
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    Edmonton has only $51K left in cap space to make moves, good luck Chia. :laugh:

    https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/oilers
     
  37. RockHardJawn39

    RockHardJawn39 #FranklinOUT
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    Luka, miles and Truman like this.
  38. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    Oilers seemed pretty fucked. They're in cap hell, they need to upgrade, but giving up young cheap pieces arguably hurts more than bringing in some players that are ready now.

    It sucks because we all deserve to see 97 in the playoffs regularly.
     
  39. CF3234

    CF3234 Fan of: Bandwagons
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    assuming an 84 million cap. they will have 14 million of cap space with only 13 players signed. So unbelievably fucked.
     
  40. Poe Dameron

    Poe Dameron The best fucking pilot in the galaxy
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    Their roster has terrible contracts.
     
  41. The Banks

    The Banks TMB's Alaskan
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    They had their window and blew it by not getting better D and goalies and making stupid trades/acquisitions. They had incredible lottery luck. They get no sympathy from me.
     
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  42. CF3234

    CF3234 Fan of: Bandwagons
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    Chiarelli badly loses every trade he makes.
     
  43. miles

    miles All I know is my gut says, maybe
    Donor

    Even after the Lucic albatross, what makes things worse is that there’s basically no “team friendly” deals on their roster. Even their mediocre bottom 9 players are almost all over-paid.

    They don’t have any financially enticing pieces other teams would want to try to accelerate a rebuild. They have no choice but to wait out these bad contracts and try to slowly rebuild through the draft, and with prime McDavid, that fucking sucks.
     
  44. Poe Dameron

    Poe Dameron The best fucking pilot in the galaxy
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    That's where they have to get creative to make deals like RNH & Lucic ($15m retained) for 2 1st Rd picks, 1st Rd pick & near to top prospect, or prospects. Don't know if teams would even go for those trades, but they need to dump contracts to free up money even if it means taking less back in trades. McDavid, Nurse, Draisaitl, and Klefbom should be their untouchables, possibly everyone except McDavid should be in play..
     
  45. Poe Dameron

    Poe Dameron The best fucking pilot in the galaxy
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  46. Poe Dameron

    Poe Dameron The best fucking pilot in the galaxy
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  47. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    Copley's pads look pretty dope w the home sweaters.
     
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  48. mp_22

    mp_22 Well-Known Member
    Duke Blue DevilsPhiladelphia PhilliesLos Angeles RamsPhiladelphia FlyersSouthern California Trojans

  49. Poe Dameron

    Poe Dameron The best fucking pilot in the galaxy
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  50. IHHH

    IHHH Well-Known Member
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    How could this go wrong? Hope mtl is calling