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Expansion Draft Issues: Post-Trade Deadline

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Last month, we looked at several teams facing some tough situations in regards to the upcoming NHL Expansion Draft and offered potential solutions to how they could address their needs for forwards, defensemen and goalies at the NHL Trade Deadline. With March 1st over and done with, many of those squads have solved their problems with signings or acquisitions.

Calgary Flames

Problem: Defense

Status: Solved

The Flames solved their problem of otherwise having to expose Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie, or Dougie Hamilton with the ingenious signing of Matt Bartkowski, the only defenseman on the planet who was both free to acquire and automatically eligible for exposure in the draft. It’s a good thing they signed him too, since they ended up trading away their best fall-back option, young defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka.

Carolina Hurricanes

Problem: Defense

Status: Unsolved

It was a pretty quiet deadline in Raleigh, as the ’Canes shipped out Ron Hainsey and Viktor Stalberg and then called it a day. What they didn’t do was acquire another body on the blue line to help solve their lack of a defenseman to expose. Carolina is still facing the problem of All-Star Justin Faulk being the only defenseman on the roster currently meeting the criteria for mandated exposure, due to the majority of their defensemen being too young to be eligible altogether. There is no way that Faulk is there for the taking by Vegas, but GM Ron Francis is left with only two choices: extend impending RFA Klas Dahlbeck or extend impending UFA Matt Tennyson and make sure he plays in seven more games this season, as he’s currently short of the 40-game mark.

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Alexander Radulov Out With Lower Body Injury

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As the Montreal Canadiens prepare to face the New York Rangers tonight in what very well could be a preview of a first-round playoff series, they do so without star forward Alexander Radulov. Radulov is considered day-to-day with a lower body injury and is out of the lineup tonight. The big winger blocked a P.K. Subban shot in the Canadiens’ last game, and while it was likely much appreciated by new coach Claude Julien, it also is likely the cause of his current absence.

Radulov has had a remarkable comeback season in 2016-17, his first full NHL season since 2007-08, after coming over from the KHL this summer. Criticized at first for giving the Russian enigma a $5.75MM contract, the deal has paid off for Montreal as Radulov has scored 15 goals and added 31 assists for 46 points, just 12 points off his NHL career-high 58 set almost a decade ago with the Nashville Predators. Radulov trails only captain Max Pacioretty in scoring on the Atlantic-leading Canadiens. Offensive depth has been an issue all season for the Habs, but they would have been in even deeper trouble without Radulov. The two sides are rumored to have already agreed upon an extension, but don’t expect an announcement until after the Expansion Draft.

While Radulov rests for the next few games in all likelihood, the Canadiens will get to see what their newly-acquired muscle can do. With a right wing spot opened up, former Colorado Avalanche bruiser Andreas Martinsen will draw into the lineup tonight. Also making his debut is Steve Ott, as he replaces rookie Michael McCarron in the lineup. The latter move may not go over as well as the former, but the new-look Habs will be interesting to watch regardless.

Devils-Bruins Notes: Lappin, Prout, Stafford, McPhee

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Ahead of tonight’s road match-up with the Boston Bruins, the New Jersey Devils have recalled rookie winger Nick Lappin on an emergency basis from the AHL’s Albany Devils. Lappin is expected to get the call tonight, as the 24-year-old forward has worked his way back into the lineup. Lappin has four goals and three assists in 35 games with New Jersey this season, but was sent down to the minors on January 12th and had yet to return to the lineup. While in Albany, Lappin was nearly a point-per-game player, with nine goals and eleven assists in 24 contests. Lappin is in just his second pro season since leaving Brown University, and no matter how many games he plays for the Devils down the stretch, he will not be eligible for exposure in the Expansion Draft. GM Ray Shero will have to look elsewhere on the roster for the solution to his coverage problem.

  • A pair of deadline day acquisitions will make their debuts tonight. With Andy Greene out of the lineup for personal reasons, Dalton Prout will get a chance to show the Devils what he brings to the table. The 26-year-old tough guy had only played in 15 games for the Columbus Blue Jackets this season before being traded for Kyle Quincey at the deadline, but brings a physical game and hard-nosed presence to any game that he is a part of. With another year left on his contract, Prout is looking to impress his new team and carve out a role for himself in the future. In the short-term, he is likely trying to play well enough tonight to get into the Devils’ lineup tomorrow, against his former Blue Jackets team.
  • On the other side of the ice, Drew Stafford will get into his first game with the Bruins since being acquired on Wednesday. It has been a tough season for Stafford with the Winnipeg Jets, as injuries have limited him to just 40 games, and he has managed to score just 13 points in that sample size. However, Boston knows all too well how dangerous Stafford can be when he’s on his game. As a member of the Buffalo Sabres, Stafford was a consistent goal-scoring threat and tended to have some of his best games against the Bruins. Coach Bruce Cassidy hopes that Stafford can get back to his productive ways skating on a line with Ryan Spooner and Frank Vatrano, who have both been on fire since the coaching change.
  • With the trade deadline over with, Vegas Golden Knights GM George McPhee is out scouting with a clearer picture of who might be available to his team on June 21st when the new expansion team will be picked. Tonight, he’ll be taking in the Devils vs. Bruins in Boston, likely with an eye on defenseman. Although Boston and New Jersey are not exactly known for their blue line depth, neither team looks to have many attractive options up front to be exposed in the Expansion Draft. Instead, the Devils will have to pick four of Greene, Prout, Damon Severson, John Moore, Ben Lovejoy, and Jon Merrill to expose, while the Bruins can only protect one of Adam McQuaid, Colin Miller, and Kevan Miller to go along with Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug.  

Post-Trade Deadline Draft Pick Update

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It was a strange NHL Trade Deadline this year. There were few – if any – deals that could be defined as a “hockey trade”, or one roster player being exchanged for another roster player or a package of roster players. Instead, most teams opted to exchange futures for impending free agents. In fact, between February 4th and March 1st, 34 draft picks changed hands. That has caused quite the shakeup in the composition of the upcoming NHL Draft, as well as future drafts. Here is a look at the current post-deadline status of the 2017 draft:

Superlatives

Most picks: Philadelphia Flyers – 12. The Flyers have loaded up on picks for this draft over the years. They own all seven of their own picks, plus five additional picks. They own the Boston Bruins’ third-round pick as part of the Zac Rinaldo trade in 2015 (yikes), the fourth-round and seventh-round selections of the Tampa Bay Lightning as part of the recent Mark Streit – Valtteri Filppula deal, the New York Islander’s fourth-rounder as part of a draft day swap for their own fourth-rounder last year, and a seventh-round selection of the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Petr Straka. 

Fewest picks: Washington Capitals/Ottawa Senators/Anaheim Ducks – 4. The Capitals could potentially have only three picks in 2017, if they have to give up their fifth round pick to the Los Angeles Kings, but that is conditional on Washington winning two playoff series (reasonable) and Tom Gilbert playing in at least half of those games (not so reasonable). Otherwise, the Caps will have their own, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh-round selections this year. Yeah, that’s it. Meanwhile, Ottawa also has just four picks: their own first, fourth, and sixth-round selections and the Calgary Flames’ second-round choice as the return for Curtis Lazar. The Senators’ second-round pick went to Toronto as part of the return for Dion Phaneuf last year, and their third, fifth, and seventh-rounders have been moved to the Carolina Hurricanes, Pittsburgh Penguins, and San Jose Sharks respectively this season in exchange for Viktor Stalberg, Mike Condon, and Tommy Wingels. The Ducks owe the Dallas Stars a first or second, depending on their own postseasonperformance, and could potentially owe the Toronto Maple Leafs a second or third based on Jonathan Bernier’s postseason performance, but it is very unlikely. Anaheim traded away their sixth and seventh-round picks in minor deals for Colby Robak and Corey Tropp.

Strongest group of picks: Carolina Hurricanes. There have been two 2017 first-round selections traded away this year, the Washington Capitals’ pick to the St. Louis Blues in the Kevin Shattenkirk deal and the Minnesota Wild’s pick to the Arizona Coyotes in the Martin Hanzal deal. Both picks may as well be high second-rounders for the two teams leading their respective conferences and most likely to meet in the Stanley Cup, but Arizona obviously has the edge in the value of their own choice, a guaranteed top five pick, versus St. Louis, who is still likely to make the playoffs. However, neither of those teams can hold a candle to the Hurricanes when it comes to the deep 2017 draft class. Carolina also has a lottery pick of their own, as well as their own second and third-round selections, but GM Ron Francis has also collected four more picks in the second and third rounds. The ’Canes still hold another New York Rangers second-round pick from last year’s Eric Staal trade and then recently added the Pittsburgh Penguins second-round pick for Ron Hainsey. They also own the New Jersey Devils’ third-rounder from – get this – the 2014 trade of Tuomo Ruutu, as well as the aforementioned Ottawa Senators’ selection in exchange for Viktor Stalberg.

Weakest group of picks: Washington Capitals. You probably saw this coming. There are a few teams with only a handful of picks and missing a few mid-rounders. However, there are just two teams missing their first-round pick, the Capitals and the Wild, but the Caps are also missing picks two and three and could potentially lose five. Washington traded this year’s and next year’s second-rounder to the Montreal Canadiens for Lars Eller this summer and moved their third-rounder to the Buffalo Sabres for Mike Weber ahead of the 2016 trade deadline. If, as many expect, this is finally the year that Washington takes home their first ever Stanley Cup title, they won’t have a pick until the 31st choice of the fourth round, pick #124. Of course, if they do win the Cup they won’t mind picking late as much.

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Vegas Allowed To Not Disclose Expansion Side Deals

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Cue the rampant speculation. When the Vegas Golden Knights were announced as an official NHL team on Wednesday, many expressed a belief that they already had several side deals completed. However, we may not know until after the Expansion Draft on June 21st.

In issuing the rules regarding transactions for the NHL’s newest squad, the league made note that Vegas and the teams with which they are doing business are not required to publicly disclose any moves. The Knights are free to agree to “bona fide transactions” with other clubs regarding compensation for selecting or not selecting players in the Expansion Draft. They’re welcome to make agreements to acquire picks, prospects, or players for their actions on June 21st. As always, they must report such transactions to the league, but they don’t owe the same information to the fans, the media, and most importantly, other teams. Vegas and it’s trade partners will be allowed to keep these deals private and reveal any information at their discretion.

No trades with the Knights can be official any time soon, since the team cannot acquire players until the end of their 2016-17 season, whether that be the end of the regular season or when their current team is eliminated from the playoffs. However, that won’t stop GM George McPhee from striking deals with several teams well before that point. By not having to disclose these moves, McPhee and the Knights’ front office will hold all of the cards. The team can make agreements with teams not to select players that they may have no intention of taking. They can negotiate with impending free agents with the knowledge that they’ve already agreed to acquire a different player from that team. There is a multitude of advantages to being able to keep their moves private, yet another loophole that the NHL has provided to it’s newest venture.

What it means for fans is that expansion news may not be as free-flowing as expected. While information leaks are still sure to occur, don’t expect many major press releases during April and May announcing agreements with Vegas. This is likely to make the Expansion Draft a much more exciting event, but it also means that a lot of guesswork and speculation is coming down the pipeline. Stay tuned for our coverage of the Expansion Draft process and previews of team protection plans coming soon.

Trade Deadline Summary: Winners & Losers Of The Pacific Division

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The NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone, and while it wasn’t the most exciting deadline day in recent memory, there were quite a few notable moves. Here are the winners and losers of the upstart Pacific Division:

Winners

Anaheim Ducks:

The Ducks had one real need at the deadline and that was another top six winger. By getting ahead of the market and making the deal for Eaves earlier this week, Anaheim was already a winner at the deadline. The conditional second-rounder, which can become a first, is a steep price. However, given that Eaves is having a career year, the market value had yet to be set, and the Ducks desperation had grown due to the Antoine Vermette suspension, they were right to swing a deal when they had the chance. It was a quiet deadline day in Anaheim, but this is still a team that could make a lot of noise down the stretch.

Arizona Coyotes:

The Coyotes messed up by not trading Radim Vrbata (and might have been able to get more for Stone), but put that aside and what they were able to get from the Minnesota Wild is pretty extraordinary. The team wanted to re-sign Hanzal, but when talks fell apart, it became a foregone conclusion that he would be moved. Yet, that inevitability never drove the prices down and the Wild ended up offering an amazing deal for the career Coyote. The Avalanche should take note because this is how you work the trade deadline as one the league’s worst teams. In exchange for impending free agents who were not coming back in Hanzal and Stone, Arizona ends up with five picks and two prospects (assuming, as it often does, that “future considerations” means nothing) and the team has suffered almost no loss. If GM John Chayka has decided to deal Vrbata, he likely would have added another pair of good picks to that mix, but as it stands, the Coyotes still did pretty well.

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Trade Deadline Summary: Winners & Losers Of The Central Division

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The NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone, and while it wasn’t the most exciting deadline day in recent memory, there were quite a few notable moves. Here are the winners and losers of the “wild” Central Division:

Winners

Chicago Blackhawks:

Of course the Blackhawks are winners on deadline day. Did you expect any less? Although they didn’t make any major moves, Chicago brought in two players via trade that can help them immediately. Oduya, a former Blackhawk, is still familiar with the system and has played with many of the current players. Oduya should be able to step in right away, play major minutes, and form a shutdown pair with Niklas Hjalmarsson (when he’s healthy). Just like the good ’ol days. Meanwhile, like nearly any forward, Jurco has a skill set that will fit in well with Chicago’s star forwards and for just the cost of a third-rounder, could represent a long-term fit with the Blackhawks.

Dallas Stars:

The Stars are a tough team to place at the 2017 deadline. They are in the midst of an unforeseen epic collapse of a season and have done well to trade their impending free agents. If Patrick Sharp, Ales Hemsky, and Adam Cracknell weren’t all hurt, Dallas would be a deadline loser for not moving them. As it stands, they did hold on to Jiri Hudler, but traded their three other healthy upcoming UFAs. Eaves earned them great value in return and Korpikoski, a late off-season addition, nets a promising young defenseman in Heatherington. Even McNeill and a fourth-rounder for Oduya is a pretty good deal. So for those three moves anyway, GM Jim Nill did well. With that said, the Benn trade was ill-timed and doesn’t make your team better. Benn still had term on his contract and was the team’s best defensive defenseman and, of course, captain Jamie Benn’s older brother. Dallas will likely regret that move. The Stars are teetering on the edge of winner and loser, but they’ve been through enough this season, so we’ll call them winners.

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Trade Deadline Summary: Winners & Losers Of The Metropolitan Division

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The NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone, and while it wasn’t the most exciting deadline day in recent memory, there were quite a few notable moves. Here are the winners and losers of the dominant Metropolitan Division:

Winners

Carolina Hurricanes:

Not all that much happening in Raleigh, but what GM Ron Francis did do, he did well. Both Hainsey and Stalberg brought back returns that were greater than their market value. It was also nice of Francis to send Hainsey to a team where his career-long playoff drought would definitely be snapped. Not sure why Jay McClement wasn’t moved, but there simply may not have been interest. The Hurricanes have a ton of salary cap space and have to dip into their depth on defense sooner or later, but this year’s deadline was definitely not the time for big moves. Expect Carolina to be a major player in the off-season trade market.

New Jersey Devils:

The Devils didn’t really have any trade capital today other than Quincey and Parenteau, so good on GM Ray Shero for doing what he could with what he had. It’s strange that New Jersey was able to get a higher pick from the Predators for Vernon Fiddler earlier this season than they did for Parenteau, but injuries may have played into that. A full season of production and a draft pick in compensation isn’t that bad a return for an early-season waiver claim. The Quincey deal was the real star of the show though. The Devils went from taking a risk on an older, washed-up defenseman this off-season to trading him for a young, strong defensive defenseman who can be a starter for years with the team. Shero played the long con on the league this year, and it paid off.

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Trade Deadline Summary: Winners & Losers Of The Atlantic Division

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The NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone, and while it wasn’t the most exciting deadline day in recent memory, there were quite a few notable moves. Here are the winners and losers of the neck-and-neck Atlantic Division:

Winners

Boston Bruins:

GM Don Sweeney did not want a repeat of 2016, when he gave up second, third, fourth, and fifth-round picks for Lee Stempniak and John-Michael Liles, only for the team to miss the playoffs. In 2017, he succeeded in bringing in a reliable depth player and goal-scorer, Stafford, without having to pay the price of a top pick or any of Boston’s numerous high-end prospects. Sweeney deserves credit for not panicking when his divisional rivals all began making multiple moves, holding to his word of not overpaying and eventually getting a last-minute deal done at a bargain price for a good player.

Detroit Red Wings:

As hard as it is to imagine, the Red Wings are going to miss the playoffs and were in a complete fire sale at the deadline. For as long as it has been since they were in such a position, the team did pretty well. GM Ken Holland may have been able to get a better deal for Vanek earlier in the season, but getting two high picks for Smith and anything at all for Ott was nice maneuvering. The Red Wings in essence added five picks for four players that were unlikely to be on the team in 2017-18 anyway. Could they have dealt Riley Sheahan and Drew Miller too? Possibly, but they did enough as is.

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Devils, Panthers Swap Minor Leaguers

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The second-to-last deal announced on deadline day was a minor deal between the New Jersey Devils and Florida Panthers. The Devils will receive forward Shane Harper, while going the other way to the Panthers is defenseman Reece Scarlett.

Though 28 years old, Harper is in his rookie season in the NHL and had three points in 14 games with Florida this season. An undrafted free agent out of the WHL’s Everett Silvertips, Harper worked his way through the minors to finally get his NHL shot and now will get to show that he should stay at the highest level when he joins the Devils.

After trading away Dylan McIlrath earlier in the day, the Panthers have filled his spot in the organization with Scarlett. A 2011 sixth-round pick, the 23-year-old blue liner was never given an NHL shot in New Jersey, despite years of decent offense in the AHL, and is likely happy to get a change of scenery.

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