Rumored Vegas Golden Knights Expansion Selections
The Vegas Golden Knights will reveal their expansion selections at tonight’s NHL Awards show, but details have started to come in on who each team will lose. There are many rumors floating around, but these are the most reputable. As with anything, nothing is final until the actual selections are announced tonight. This page will be updated with new information as it comes in.
Here are the latest rumored selections along with their source:
Anaheim Ducks: Clayton Stoner — Bob McKenzie of TSN
Arizona Coyotes:
Boston Bruins: Colin Miller — Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet
Buffalo Sabres: William Carrier — Frank Seravalli of TSN
Calgary Flames: Deryk Engelland — John Shannon of Sportsnet
Carolina Hurricanes:
Chicago Blackhawks: Trevor van Riemsdyk — Frank Seravalli of TSN
Colorado Avalanche:
Columbus Blue Jackets: William Karlsson — Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch
Dallas Stars: Cody Eakin — Jim Toth of TSN
Detroit Red Wings: Tomas Nosek — Craig Custance of The Athletic.
Edmonton Oilers: Griffin Reinhart — John Shannon of Sportsnet
Florida Panthers: Jon Marchessault — Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet
Los Angeles Kings: Brayden McNabb — John Shannon of Sportsnet
Minnesota Wild: Erik Haula — Michael Russo of the Star Tribune
Montreal Canadiens: Alexei Emelin — Eric Engels of Sportsnet
Nashville Predators: James Neal — Bob McKenzie of TSN
New Jersey Devils: Jon Merrill — Frank Seravalli of TSN
New York Islanders: Jean-Francois Berube — Bob McKenzie of TSN
New York Rangers: Oscar Lindberg — Larry Brooks of the New York Post and Frank Seravalli of TSN.
Ottawa Senators: Marc Methot — Pierre LeBrun of TSN
Philadelphia Flyers: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare — Craig Custance of The Athletic
Pittsburgh Penguins: Marc-Andre Fleury – Bob McKenzie of TSN
San Jose Sharks: David Schlemko — Pierre LeBrun of TSN
St. Louis Blues: David Perron — James Mirtle of The Athletic
Tampa Bay Lightning:
Toronto Maple Leafs: Brendan Leipsic — Darren Dreger of TSN
Vancouver Canucks:
Washington Capitals: Nate Schmidt — Pierre LeBrun of TSN
Winnipeg Jets:
Expected Trades With Vegas Golden Knights
The Vegas Golden Knights assuredly have more deals worked out than we know so far, but Bob McKenzie of TSN gave us a long breakdown of the ones that are expected to happen. With some added details from others like Michael Russo of the Star Tribune, Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch and Arthur Staple of Newsday, here are the deals that the hockey world is pretty sure have been agreed upon. To be clear, none of these trades are final until they are announced at tonight’s NHL Awards ceremony:
Minnesota Wild
Vegas signs Erik Haula to multi-year contract, forfeiting expansion selection. Sends conditional draft pick.
Minnesota sends Alex Tuch.
Anaheim Ducks
Vegas selects Clayton Stoner.
Anaheim sends Shea Theodore.
Chicago Blackhawks
Vegas selects Trevor van Riemsdyk.
Chicago sends Marcus Kruger.
This deal in particular should be subject to skepticism, as today’s news surrounding Marian Hossa complicates things. Scott Powers of The Athletic has been told that Kruger will remain with the Blackhawks through tonight, though it’s unclear what that would mean for van Riemsdyk who is still eligible to be drafted.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Vegas will not select Josh Anderson, Joonas Korpisalo or Jack Johnson.
Columbus sends 2017 first-round pick, a prospect, and David Clarkson.
New York Islanders
Vegas will not select certain players left exposed (unclear who exactly has been included).
New York sends 2017 first-round pick, and Mikhail Grabovski.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Vegas selects Marc-Andre Fleury.
Pittsburgh sends unknown draft pick.
There are also deals in place with other teams including Florida and Tampa Bay, but reports have been inconsistent on the details thus far. McKenzie’s thread gives some insight into what they could be, but at this point it is still speculation. Again, each of these should be considered still only expected as details are fuzzy on each of them. We’ll update this page with any other deals that are leaked in the next few hours.
Minnesota Wild Forward Erik Haula To Sign With Vegas Golden Knights
According to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune, the Vegas Golden Knights will pass up a chance to pick a player from the Minnesota Wild. Instead, the team has signed Erik Haula to a three-year contract extension. In order for them to avoid Mathew Dumba and others, the Wild have also agreed to send Vegas prospect Alex Tuch while the Golden Knights will return a conditional draft pick.
This is a huge move for the Golden Knights, and one that could have been expected after the protection lists were released. The Wild chose not to make a deal before the lists were due, instead deciding to trade directly with the source of their roster discomfort. Dumba, Marco Scandella, Eric Staal and others were left unprotected despite serious interest from around the league. Instead of watching one of their defensemen walk out the door, the Wild will instead have to part with their first-round pick from 2014 in Tuch and an effective secondary option in Haula.
The 21-year old Tuch made his NHL debut this season, after two successful years at Boston College. Though he was held scoreless in his six game stint, he did put up 37 points in 57 AHL contests and could make an impact down the line for the Golden Knights. Though he may never be a top-line player, his size and scoring ability should at least allow him to be an effective middle-six winger. The most important part for the Wild was that it wasn’t Kirill Kaprizov, Luke Kunin or Jordan Greenway going the other way, three forward prospects that all may have higher ceilings than Tuch.
In Haula, the Golden Knights add to their forward depth with a versatile player who can skate at center or the wing. The 26-year old was due to become a restricted free agent for the final time in his career, coming off a deal that paid him just $1MM last season. His new contract will give the Golden Knights some cap certainty in the bottom of their lineup, while also gaining an asset. Russo doesn’t have details on the conditional pick, but says that it is “complicated.”
With trades for first-round picks from several teams and a report from last night implicating Shea Theodore in a potential deal with Anaheim, the Golden Knights are putting themselves in prime position to compete in the near future. “Asset harvesting” as George McPhee puts it is bearing fruit for the expansion team.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Wild Notes: Expansion Dealing, Koivu, Olofsson
While the Golden Knights already have at least six trades in place following the Expansion Draft and roster freeze, they may not be done their dealing just yet. TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports (Twitter link) that speculation is growing that the Wild either have or will soon have a deal in place that would see them exchange a prospect to Vegas in exchange for them staying away from unprotected defensemen Mathew Dumba and Marco Scandella.
Minnesota was only able to protect three of their blueliners in part due to the fact that three forwards carry no-move clauses. Undoubtedly, Golden Knights GM George McPhee has received plenty of interest from other teams for one of those two rearguards in a draft-and-trade proposal so for him to entertain a deal to not pick one of those two, the Wild will have to give up something of note. If they do reach an agreement on a deal to stay away, that would push center Eric Staal, who had a resurgent season with in 2016-17, to the forefront of who Vegas could select. In a separate tweet, McKenzie suggests forward Erik Haula, a pending RFA, could get a contract from the Golden Knights and be their selection as well.
Other notes from Minnesota:
- If the team isn’t able to come to an agreement with center Mikko Koivu on an extension this summer, there won’t be any in-season negotiations, the captain told Michael Russo of the Star-Tribune: “I don’t think I would do anything during the season. I don’t think it would help my game at all. If not now, it’s going to be at the end of the year.” Koivu is entering the final season of a seven year, $47.25MM contract, one that will pay the 34 year old $9.18MM in 2017-18. He’s coming off his highest point total since 2010-11 as he recorded 58 points (18-40-58) in 2016-17.
- Also from Russo, he notes that defenseman Gustav Olofsson is someone that intrigues the Golden Knights. The former second round pick got into 13 games of NHL action this past season while adding 24 points in 59 games at the minor league level with Iowa. Olofsson is coming off his entry-level contract and is slated to become a restricted free agent in July.
Snapshots: Schedule, Rapid City, Samsonov
The full 2017-18 NHL schedule will be released on a special television production on the NHL Network on Thursday at 2pm CDT, and with it will likely come the end of any last hope for the league to go to the 2018 Winter Olympics. Anyone holding out hope that the league would change their staunch position and find common ground with the IIHF should drop it when the schedule is finalized and released.
Already, the league has announced that the All-Star game will be in Tampa Bay, and there will be regular season games played in Stockholm, Sweden. With several outdoor games also on the docket and the Vegas Golden Knights entering the league, it should be an interesting season to be sure.
- The Rapid City Rush have come to an agreement with the Minnesota Wild to be their new ECHL affiliate, after the Quad City Mallards left the Minnesota organization to partner with the Golden Knights. The Rush were previously the affiliate of the Arizona Coyotes, but are much closer geographically to both St. Paul and Des Moines, where the Minnesota and Iowa Wild respectively play. Though there is (very) rarely movement from the ECHL to the NHL, Iowa and Rapid City will be working closely together to develop the young Wild prospects.
- In speaking with Tarik El-Bashir of CSN, Washington Capitals Assistant General Manager Ross Mahoney said that he thinks prospect Ilya Samsonov is still a year away from coming to North America, and that they’re happy to wait for him. Samsonov was the first goalie off the board in 2014, and had an outstanding season with Magnitogorsk this year, registering a .936 save percentage in 27 games. It’s tough to find a better goaltending prospect than Samsonov, who has the size and mobility to be a starter in the NHL should he keep developing.
Islanders’ Perplexing Side-Deal With Vegas
As I briefly mentioned in a previous article, the New York Islanders decided to travel a very perplexing road with their protection list. They shielded only 3 forwards, and protected 5 defensemen, allowing a whole host of forwards to be claimed. These include Brock Nelson, Ryan Strome, Casey Cizikas, Nikolai Kulemin, and Josh Bailey at the upper end of the spectrum. Defenseman Calvin de Haan, who has reportedly has had difficulty coming to a deal with management on a new contract, is also left at Vegas’ disposal
What complicates matters is that Arthur Staple of Newsday has been insinuating that the Islanders have a deal in place to protect Nelson, Strome, and de Haan, while others, such as Darren Dreger, believes the deal only applies to forwards. NHL Numbers stated today that the protection agreement would protect only Bailey and Cizikas, which is easily the most disastrous deal of the group. From a pure value standpoint, Nelson, de Haan and Strome have far more value than either player. Staple believed yesterday evening that the Islanders were going to trade their 15th overall selection in order to push Vegas in a favorable direction. Even still, it doesn’t explain the particulars of the players protected.
John Tavares is an obvious keeper, and Andrew Ladd helped the offense in a big way after a rocky start. Anders Lee is coming off a phenomenal 34 goal season in only his 3rd full outing. The defense revolves around Nick Leddy and Travis Hamonic, and despite his steps backward Johnny Boychuk is a big minute eater for the team. You could have made a case for Ryan Pulock over Boychuk, and made that quite convincingly, but it seemed inevitable that team would lose a defender no matter what. Boychuk did have an NMC, which complicated that matter. Considering that the team was 17th in goals against this past season, that wasn’t exactly a worst-case scenario.
Instead of taking the orthodox 4-4 route and protecting Nelson or Strome as well as Pulock or de Haan, or protecting all but one forward in a 7-3 scheme, the Islanders chose instead to protect a relative no-name in Adam Pelech. Pelech had a solid season, to be sure, but he is a bottom-pairing defenseman and doesn’t project as a difference maker. By opting to leave these players exposed, they take a large aspect of the decision making out of their own hands. GM Garth Snow sacrificed a first round pick and a certain degree of autonomy to protect two forwards, when they could instead have done that on their own. If the end goal was to entice Vegas into selecting Thomas Hickey, they could have done so without the bizarre protection structure. This isn’t even delving into the insanity of surrendering a first-round selection to protect one mid-level player over another.
All in all, the Islanders and GM Garth Snow have stolen the show today for most bewildering decision. Unless the deal with Vegas is far more encompassing than it appears at the moment, they are looking to lose a solid contributor and a 1st-round pick when both could have been avoided.
The original article incorrectly linked Dylan Strome.
Central Division Offers Veteran Scoring, Risky Prospects
The Central Division has quite a bit to offer the Las Vegas Golden Knights from prospects to veteran scorers as they sift through the recently exposed rosters of every NHL team. Several team offer quite a bit of challenging option that the inaugural team can either take, trade off or just work out a deal for some picks. Once again, while some of these players may be available, trades may have already been worked out to persuade Las Vegas to look the other way on a few of them. So don’t be surprised if they don’t take them.
The Minnesota Wild have offered the most intriguing options in the draft after having exposed several interesting players. Due to their defensive depth, the team left several defensemen exposed, including 22-year-old Mathew Dumba, a promising defenseman who has already been in the NHL for three years since being the seventh-overall pick in 2012. Dumba’s 11 goals make him a key defenseman to build their franchise around, assuming the team doesn’t have a side deal set up or the Golden Knights are considering flipping him to another desperate team needing defense. Veteran forward Eric Staal was also left unprotected, leaving Las Vegas with even a tougher decisions to make. The 32-year-old veteran had one of his better season with the Wild this past year, putting up 28 goals. His price tag is even reasonable at $3.5MM for the next two years. Defenseman Marco Scandella is an afterthought here, but on any other team, would be an intriguing option for the Golden Knights.
The Nashville Predators have one obvious candidate in veteran scorer James Neal, who helped lead the team to the Stanley Cup Finals. Neal finished the season with 23 regular season goals and the 29-year-old has tallied 80 goals in the last three seasons combined. Whether the Predators have worked out a package in order to keep Neal for their run next year is unknown as of yet. If that’s the case, another interesting name could be 23-year-old winger Pontus Aberg, who has showed a lot of promise in the AHL, including a 31-goal season this past year. He still played 15 games for the Predators, but managed just one goal and had a tough time cracking their rotation. Perhaps the least surprising options go to the Chicago Blackhawks. Long-standing rumors that Chicago has exposed 25-year-old defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk with the supposed agreement they would also take on the contract of Marcus Kruger and his 3.083MM for the next two years for additional costs suggest that Las Vegas already knows what they’re getting.
The Dallas Stars might hope that the Golden Knights take 26-year-old center Cody Eakin. The veteran had an off year after putting up three goals in 60 games, but had tallied 51 goals in the three years before that. The problem with Eakin is the three years he has left at $3.85MM per season. He was originally drafted by McPhee, so maybe the GM would be willing to take his chances with him. Dan Hamhuis could be a solid option as well if the Golden Knights are looking for a 34-year-old veteran defensive-minded blueliner. The Winnipeg Jets did expose 32-year-old Toby Enstrom after he waived his no-movement clause. The veteran could be the perfect person to lead a group of young Golden Knight defenders. Enstrom, despite starting to slow down, is still considered a solid defenseman. However, Winnipeg also left 22-year-old center Marko Dano available to Las Vegas. The former first-round pick in 2013 hasn’t been able to put together a full season, but is still young enough to put it all together. He put up four goals and seven assists last season in 38 games, but missed time due to a lower body injury and never regained his playing time after that.
While the St. Louis Blues exposed Jori Lehtera with the hopes they can package the veteran along with some picks to remove his contract off their books, which still has two years at $4.7MM per season, Las Vegas might be more enamored with 23-year-old Nail Yakupov, who is the former first-overall pick in the 2012 draft. While his career hasn’t exactly gone as planned, he has still shown some glimpses of potential and Las Vegas might be willing to take a chance on him. The Colorado Avalanche surprised a few by exposing goaltender Calvin Pickard. The 25-year-old didn’t have the greatest season last year, evidenced by his 3.02 GAA, but it was behind a weak defense. However, considering the amount of goaltending depth offered from the Eastern Conference, the team might ultimately pass on him considering there are other key goalies available ranging from Petr Mrazek to Marc-Andre Fleury to Philipp Grubauer to name just a few. They may have exposed Pickard to keep 29-year-old Semyon Varlamov away from McPhee, who also drafted the goaltender in Washington back in 2006. Besides that, Colorado left little else exposed.
Western Notes: Wild Stand Pat, Sharks Re-sign Three
One team that has received a lot of attention the last few days is the Minnesota Wild, who were a hotbed of trade chatter coming up to the trade deadline, which just passed due to their possession of multiple defensemen who they would likely have to expose if they couldn’t make a deal. However, the Wild stood pat and did not make any last minute trades and as of now, the team had no side deals going with the Las Vegas Golden Knights, according to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune.
Many teams had been looking to make big deals with Minnesota, who had too many defensemen on their roster and had to lighten their load. Going with a 7-3-1 protection scheme, the Wild were already expected to protect blueliners Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon and then would have to choose between Mathew Dumba, Jonas Brodin and Marco Scandella for the final protection spot. That would expose two of those three to the Las Vegas Golden Knights.
According to Russo, the team had been working on several deals before the deadline, including a possible trade to acquire Jonathan Drouin from Tampa Bay or Alex Galchenyuk from Montreal. There were no details on how close Minnesota came to making a deal with the Canadiens, but Montreal wanted a package that included Scandella. The main issue, however, for general manager Chuck Fletcher was that if he traded away one of those three defensemen, he didn’t want to lose another to the Golden Knights in the expansion draft, therefore losing two defensemen. Standing pat ensures that one of those blueliners will be staying with the club.
- San Jose Sharks general manager Doug Wilson announced that pending unrestricted free agent winger Ryan Carpenter has been signed to a two-year contract today, according to the Sharks website on NHL.com. The 26-year-old Carpenter played in just 11 games this past season, scoring two goals and two assists. He did score 14 goals for the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda in 54 contests. The team also signed Joakim Ryan and Tim Heed, as well, each to two-year contracts, tweeted by NBC Sports’ Kevin Kurz. Ryan, a 24-year-old defenseman scored 10 goals and 39 assists in 65 games for the Barracudas. Heed, also a defenseman, is coming off an even better year, putting up 14 goals and 42 assists in 55 games for the Barracudas. Heed only played one game for the Sharks this year, while Ryan has not made his NHL debut yet. All three have a legitimate chance to crack the Sharks rotation out of training camp depending on the team’s offseason moves.
Thursday Trade Talk: Dumba, Brodin, Galchenyuk, Hjalmarsson
The Minnesota Wild find themselves the center of trade speculation, with Matt Dumba and Jonas Brodin headlining the rumors according to the Star Tribune’s Michael Russo. Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher has received “quality trade offers” revolving around Dumba and Brodin. It’s no secret that the Wild have difficult decisions to make before they make their final choices for the expansion list. According to Russo, it’s prudent to deal either Dumba or Brodin since Jared Spurgeon and Ryan Suter will take up two of the three slots for protected defenseman. Instead of losing one for nothing, Fletcher is listening in on trade offers, and one such team Russo sees as being targeted is Montreal. The player they’re most likely targeting? Alex Galchenyuk.
- TSN’s Ken Campbell writes that with the Canadiens acquiring Jonathan Drouin today, it likely means that Galchenyuk “won’t be back” in Montreal next season. Campbell adds that Galchenyuk is actively being shopped and Campbell figures that the target will be a young defenseman. With Carey Price in need of an extension, and the Montreal brass wanting to avoid “drama” in getting that extension, Galchenyuk would fetch the young d-man that would entice Price to stay and also fill a need for the Canadiens.
- The Chicago Tribune’s Chris Hine goes through a number of players who have been the subject of trade rumors. On the issue of Marcus Kruger, Hine writes that the veteran center is “all but gone” and that defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk is all but certain to join him with Vegas being the likely destination. Kruger would be dealt while van Riemsdyk would be selected in the draft. Regarding a core player who could be traded, Hine opines that Niklas Hjalmarsson could be the choice to move. However, Hine points out that Hjalmarsson has a partial no-trade clause and would only accept a trade to 10 teams. Hine writes that a source within the organization indicated that the Hawks have not asked Hjalmarsson to do this.
Expansion Primer: Minnesota Wild
We’re continuing to break down each team’s situation as it pertains to the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft; which players are eligible, and which will likely warrant protection or may be on the block. Each team is required to submit their protection lists by 4pm CDT on June 17th. The full rules on eligibility can be found here, and CapFriendly has provided a handy expansion tool to make your own lists.
The Minnesota Wild shouldn’t have been underrated this season just a year removed from a 46-28-8 campaign in 2014-15, but there they were projected as a bubble team by many analysts and fans alike. Instead, they burst through the starting gates with tremendous play from their young forward group, and rode an impressive performance from Devan Dubnyk all the way to an 106 point season and the second best record in the Western Conference.
Though they ran head-first into a brick wall named Jake Allen in the first round and were unable to progress deep into the playoffs, their fans should be excited for the immediate future with a good mix of veteran and young talent. When it comes to the expansion draft, any team as deep as Minnesota should be worried, and because of it they’ve been included in much trade speculation. There are simply too many solid players to protect, meaning they’ll face some tough decisions in the next two days.
Eligible Players (Non-UFA)
Forwards:
Zach Parise (NMC), Mikko Koivu (NMC), Jason Pominville (NMC), Eric Staal, Charlie Coyle, Jason Zucker, Chris Stewart, Mikael Granlund, Kurtis Gabriel, Nino Niederreiter, Jordan Schroeder, Erik Haula, Zack Mitchell
Defensemen:
Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, Marco Scandella, Mathew Dumba, Gustav Olofsson, Christian Folin
Goaltenders:
Notable Exemptions
Luke Kunin, Alex Tuch, Joel Eriksson Ek, Justin Kloos, Mike Reilly
Key Decisions
The first decision any team will have to make is which protection scheme to use. Teams can either protect seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender (7-3-1) or eight skaters and one goaltender (8-1). The Wild are among the teams that could consider going with the 8-1 method due to their deep defensive core, but that creates an even bigger problem up front where no-movement clauses and center depth put them at risk of losing a very good player. 
If they do protect seven forwards, they’ll have four spots remaining to decide upon after automatically protecting Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu and Jason Pominville. Pominville especially was expected to be asked to waive his clause, but the team won’t reveal anything until the lists are made official. Since we can’t assume that he would waive the clause even if asked, those last four spots become paramount.
Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund are locks to be protected after breakout seasons for the pair, but after that it gets a little murky. Eric Staal had an excellent bounce-back season in Minnesota with 65 points, while Charlie Coyle and Jason Zucker both set career highs with 56 and 47 points respectively. All three are integral parts of the offense that would be tough to watch walk out the door for nothing.
On defense, Ryan Suter would have been protected even without his no-movement clause, and Jared Spurgeon will no doubt take a place beside him. Beyond that, the team has to make a decision between Jonas Brodin, Mathew Dumba, Marco Scandella and Christian Folin. While Brodin may seem like the easy choice to some, it’s almost certain that Minnesota has been talking to Vegas about who they would select if given the chance.
With the earlier trade of Jonathan Drouin to Montreal, rumblings started that Minnesota would be next to move a big name in order to solve an expansion draft issue. Bob McKenzie of TSN tweeted that there has been a lot of talk about Brodin, and speculated that Montreal may be in on the action given they now have a need for young defenders. The tough part about the deal would be that any player coming back would need to be exempt, or else Minnesota risks exposing another one of their good forwards or defenders.
In net, Dubnyk represents the easiest choice for the Wild after his incredible season, even if he did slow down near the end and into the playoffs. Alex Stalock poses no threat to his protection, and Darcy Kuemper is a free agent this summer.
Speaking of free agents, Vegas does get the opportunity to speak with any pending free agents during their exclusive negotiating window, and Martin Hanzal could appeal to them. The big center was acquired by the Wild mid-season for a first-round pick, and Vegas could see him as an asset too hard to pass up should he be willing to sign a reasonable deal. Though Hanzal wouldn’t give them much value in terms of Stanley Cup competitiveness, he could be used as a trade asset just the same way Arizona flipped him this season.
Projected Protection List
F Zach Parise (NMC)
F Mikko Koivu (NMC)
F Jason Pominville (NMC)
F Eric Staal
F Charlie Coyle
F Mikael Granlund
F Nino Niederreiter
D Ryan Suter (NMC)
D Jared Spurgeon
D Jonas Brodin
If this does end up being the protection list for the Wild, there is a ton of talent available for the Vegas Golden Knights to sink their teeth into. Zucker or Dumba would both be some of the best players on their new squad, and are both young enough to contribute long-term for the expansion club. The mere fact that so much talent is still on the board points to a possible trade in the works in the next 48 hours.
The Wild may have something worked out with Vegas, another team or both, but it will be hard to stop the Golden Knights entirely from taking a good player. That said, keep your eyes peeled for Minnesota moves over the next two days as they’re sure to be involved in every conversation.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images