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Salary Cap Deep Dive: Vegas Golden Knights

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Navigating the Salary Cap is probably one of the more important tasks for any general manager to have. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2017-18 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Vegas Golden Knights

Current Cap Hit: $69,375,832 (under the $75MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Alex Tuch (Two years remaining, $925K)
D Shea Theodore (One year remaining, $863K)

Potential Bonuses

Tuch: $425K

While the brand-new franchise is focused on building up a powerhouse team over the next five years, which means draft picks and more draft picks, which will create a revolving door at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, there should be at least one constant who is already locked in for the future in Theodore. The just-turned 22-year-old is considered to be a long-term piece and despite the team’s overwhelming defensive logjam, the hope is Theodore is on the team’s opening day roster. Theodore shined last year during Anaheim’s playoff run when he along with several other defenseman had to step in for injured players and fared well. Theodore, a offensive defenseman, was a first-round pick of the Ducks in 2013 and despite having just nine points in 39 regular season games last year, he put up eight goals in 14 playoff games.

Tuch, a talented forward acquired near the expansion draft in a side deal with the Minnesota Wild, has a chance to immediately make the team out of training camp. The 21-year-old wing was a first-round pick in 2014 and scored 18 goals for the AHL’s Iowa Wild last year.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

F James Neal ($5MM, UFA)
F Mikhail Grabovski ($5MM, UFA)
D Jason Garrison ($4.6MM, UFA)
F David Perron ($3.75MM, UFA)
D Luca Sbisa ($3.6MM, UFA)
D Clayton Stoner ($3.25MM, UFA)
D Brayden McNabb ($1.7MM, UFA)
D Jonathon Merrill ($1.14MM, RFA)
F William Karlsson ($1MM, RFA)
D Colin Miller ($1MM, RFA)
D Deryk Engelland ($1MM, UFA)
G Calvin Pickard ($1MM, RFA)
F Jon Marchessault ($750K, UFA)
F Teemu Pulkkinen ($700K, RFA)

The Golden Knights will be looking to move as many of their players at the trade deadline as they can. Neal should be their biggest trade bait as many teams wouldn’t mind adding a goal-scorer right in time for the playoffs. The 30-year-old wing is coming off a 23-goal season in Nashville and has scored 165 goals in the last six seasons combined. The team hopes that playing on a top line should keep his scoring numbers up high so that his price increases at the perfect time, but a recent report that a wrist injury suffered during the playoffs last year is still affecting Neal and he will miss two to four weeks is concerning. The team also has high hopes it can move Perron. After putting up a career-high 28 goals in 2013-14, he has struggled with injuries but rebounded last year with an 18 goal season. If he can stay healthy and produce similar numbers, he might be worth a mid to late pick.

One key decision the team will have to make is what to do with Marchessault, who is coming off a 30-goal season a year ago in Florida. At $750K, he is a bargain for the next year, but if he can duplicate his numbers from last year, he would be in line for a big payday. Complicating the situation is that Vegas head coach Gerard Gallant is a big fan of the 26-year-old and was the head coach in Florida wlast year when Marchessault started his breakout season.

The team also has a number of restricted free agents who they will likely hold onto. While Pickard’s name is rarely mentioned in Vegas as he is the current backup, don’t be surprised if Pickard is penciled in as the goaltender of the future. The 25-year-old struggled with Colorado last year (although he did have one of the worst teams around him), but was a promising prospect before that. Miller is another who should be retained. The 24-year-old was a promising defender in Boston who was just beginning to get full-time work. He got into 61 games last year and showed quite a bit of promise. Karlsson should get a bottom line spot in the lineup. The 24-year-old is coming off a 25-point season and the team hopes he takes his game up a notch.

While Grabovski likely won’t see the ice ever in Las Vegas (freeing the team of his $5MM cap hit), Garrison is a defender who may prove to have some value if he can produce on one of the team’s top defensive lines. The 32-year-old struggled at times in Tampa Bay and his offensive numbers have declined in the past couple of years. McNabb is considered to be an excellent defender and should provide solid defense for Vegas. He missed a lot of time due to a broken collarbone injury he suffered last October, forcing the 26-year-old in and out of the lineup all season and he eventually lost his starting job at the end of the year, but should get regular minutes with the Golden Knights. Sbisa is another player who should get playing time in hopes the team can move him later this year. The 27-year-old blueliner was a solid defenseman, but few teams were interested in his $3.6MM pricetag.

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Oscar Dansk Looking For Career Revival In Vegas

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23 years old is still very young for a goaltender. Yet, that didn’t stop many people from writing off Oscar Dansk over the last few years and that was when he was even younger. The path that has led Dansk to a new NHL opportunity with the expansion Vegas Golden Knights has not be straight, nor has it been easy. However, with rave review after rave review coming out of Knights camp, it appears that Dansk may be back on track.

Dansk was originally drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets with the first pick in the second round (#31) of the 2012 NHL draft, out of the Swedish club Brynas. With some prodding from the Jackets, Dansk then came overseas to play junior hockey with the OHL’s Erie Otters. Dansk’s first season of major junior action was a disaster; a 4.11 GAA and .888 save percentage immediately made people rethink Columbus’ decision to take him so early. Yet, Dansk bounced back in his second season in Erie. Thus, when Dansk struggled mightily in his first pro season in 2014-15 – a 3.50+ GAA and sub-.890 save percentage in both the AHL and ECHL – it would have been safe to assume that the next year he would rebound. However, the Blue Jackets had selected Joonas Korpisalo one round after Dansk in 2012 and had slowly been bringing along 2011 seventh-rounder Anton Forsberg as well and that duo had outperformed Dansk. Add in veteran Brad Thiessen, and the AHL’s Lake Erie Monsters had more than enough depth in net (and it would eventually lead them to a Calder Cup title in 2015-16). Rather than permanently put Dansk in the ECHL, Columbus agreed to loan him back to Sweden to play for Rogle BK. Dansk performed well in his first season back home, but the Jackets still chose to loan him out again last season. Following a more pedestrian campaign in 2016-17, Dansk did not receive a qualifying offer from Columbus and his NHL future seemed very much in doubt.

Enter the Vegas Golden Knights, the NHL’s newest team and an organization that needed to fill out the majority of an AHL roster almost entirely with free agent additions. Dansk got a second chance to make a name for himself in North America, inking a one-year with Vegas in early July. Dansk’s first objective is to win the starting job for the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, the new affiliate of the Knights. His competition is former Dallas Stars’ prospect Maxime Lagace, who has had his own fair share of struggles early on in his career. Given the applause that Dansk has already seen in camp, that seems like a safe bet. Once Dansk is established as the next goalie in line in 2017-18, he need only wait for an opportunity to show Vegas what he has to offer. With veteran Marc-Andre Fleury coming off back-to-back seasons in which he shared the net in Pittsburgh and having suffered a concussion in each of those campaigns as well, it is possible that taking over a starter’s workload again could prove to be a tougher task than one might have considered. If Fleury misses time this season, which is surely a possibility, the Knights are set with promising young backup Calvin Pickard. And if Pickard needs a rest? Then Dansk is the man, and s career that went from a high likelihood of NHL success to a high likelihood that he may never even see NHL action will suddenly be back to where it began when he was drafted early back in 2012.

Evening Notes: Zetterberg, Shipachyov, Pickard

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The Detroit Red Wings are getting ready to start another season shortly and while many aren’t expecting an impressive season from this team, the team still has eyes for the playoffs. MLive’s Ansar Khan answers some mailbag questions about the upcoming season and points out that with the combination of gritty veterans and young talent, the team may show some promise. The scribe writes to expect 36-year-old veteran Henrik Zetterberg to center Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist, who were their top line at the end of last year. The belief is that Tatar and Nyquist should benefit from Zetterberg’s presence to build their confidence early in the season.

He added that Dylan Larkin looks ready to take over as the team’s second-line center and be matched with Anthony Mantha, who scored 17 goals in his first full season. Justin Abdelkader might be a good fit to fill out that line. The third line would Frans Nielsen, Darren Helm and Andreas Athanasiou, if the restricted free agent signs with the team. Luke Glendening, Riley Sheahan and Tyler Bertuzzi are the likely candidates on the fourth line, assuming things don’t change much in training camp.

  • The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s David Schoen writes that the team will be counting heavily on the success of Russian veteran Vadim Shipachyov this season. The 30-year-old forward was the third-leading scorer in the KHL last year with 26 goals and the team believes that if he can make the conversion to the NHL successfully, the Golden Knights might be better than many believe when it comes to offense. The team already has James Neal, Jon Marchessault, Reilly Smith, David Perron and the hope is Shipachyov will be that top-line player that opens up the offense.
  • In the same story, Schoen adds that he wouldn’t be surprised if Golden Knights’ goaltender Calvin Pickard makes a name for himself, possibly even this season. While starting goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has received all the press and has become the face of the franchise, Pickard is just 25 years old and was a second-round pick in 2010. He was considered a top prospect before he struggled in a full-time role for the struggling Colorado Avalanche last year. His 2.98 GAA left a lot to be desired. However, Fleury is already 33 and while he was impressive in the playoffs for the Penguins, didn’t have a great year as the backup, putting up a 3.02 GAA for the year in 38 games. If Pickard can re-establish himself in Las Vegas, he could find himself getting big minutes.

Morning Notes: Sharp, Bernier, Agostino

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It’s been a wild few weeks for the Chicago Blackhawks, including the departures of several key players like Niklas Hjalmarsson, Artemi Panarin, and Trevor van Riemsdyk, but the Western Conference dynasty appears to be bringing back a fan-favorite when free agency opens today to help deal with those losses. The Chicago Sun Times’ Mark Lazerus reports, as speculated, that Patrick Sharp will return to Chicago for the coming season. While details of the deal – term, salary, incentives – are not yet known, the deal is expected to be made official promptly after free agency opens at noon ET. Sharp, 35, is a three-time Stanley Cup winner with the Blackhawks and an eight-time 20-goal scorer over his impressive career. Sharp was essentially forced out of Chicago in the off-season two years ago, as the ’Hawks could not muster the cap space to re-sign the prominent forward. The Dallas Stars could, but after a strong 55-point campaign in 2015-16, Sharp struggled with injury and inconsistency this past season, recording just 18 points in 48 games. Age and health have clearly softened Sharp’s edge, but if he is going to rejuvenate his career at this age for any team, it will be in a return to Chicago and his former teammates. Sharp will join Brandon Saad as returning Blackhawks this off-season if this deal does come to fruition this afternoon.

  • Adrian Dater of BSN Denver was busy late last night, breaking the news that Jonathan Bernier is expected to sign with his Colorado Avalanche today. The Avs recently lost young backup Calvin Pickard in the expansion draft and were on the lookout for a reliable backup to Semyon Varlamov. While Bernier has been rumored to sign anywhere from the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins to a return to the Anaheim Ducks, the fit in Colorado makes sense. One could argue that Bernier is coming off the best season of his career in 2016-17 and will have a chance to be more of a “1B” than a definite #2 with the Avalanche. Per usual, there is still no word on the details of the deal that cannot be consummated until later today.
  • Dater also reported that the Boston Bruins are set to make a small, but interesting move today, as they have supposedly come to terms with AHL MVP Kenny Agostino on a short-term contract worth $850K. The high-scoring minor league left wing has seen only limited NHL action, but over the course of an 83-point season with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves last season, he also contributed a goal and two assists in seven games with the St. Louis Blues. The Bruins were known to have some concerns over the potential of Matt Beleskey and Frank Vatrano to play top-six roles on the left side next season, but were also worried about blocking up-and-coming prospects like Jake DeBrusk, Peter Cehlarik, Anders Bjork, and more. The Agostino signing would add another option at a relatively cheap price and (likely) the flexibility of a two-way contract as well. The details will be revealed a few hours from now.
  • In more concrete news, the KHL’s Barys Astana has signed former Washington Capitals prospect Darren Dietz, according to European hockey insider Aivis Kalnins. Dietz was not tendered a qualifying offer by the Capitals by last Monday’s deadline and became an unrestricted free agent. Without any NHL interest, Dietz will try his hand at Russian pro hockey rather than a minor league deal to remain in North America.

Should Vegas Corner Goalie Market?

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With the recent trade of Mike Smith to Calgary, the market for starting goaltenders is dwindling even further. An interesting dynamic for the Vegas Golden Knights as they choose their team will be whether they opt to select every quality goalie out there in order to flip them to other teams. There are quite a few available – Marc-Andre Fleury of Pittsburgh, Eddie Lack (and Cam Ward) of Carolina, Calvin Pickard of Colorado, Antti Raanta of New York, Petr Mrazek of Detroit, Roberto Luongo of Florida, Jaroslav Halak of the Islanders, Michal Neuvirth of Philadelphia, Peter Budaj of Tampa Bay, and Philipp Grubauer of Washington, with a few interesting prospects also exposed.  As we’ve seen in the past few seasons, dealing a goaltender for anything remotely resembling fair value can be an enormous challenge. The salary cap has really warped the value of a solid starting goaltender in a way that has not been totally beneficial to the players.

One down season and a tender’s value goes down quite heavily. The top ten goalies in the league always seem to find a home on the rare occasion they hit unrestricted free agency, but that has been a rare occurrence. Many might point to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final when they isolate a particular moment that the highly-paid goaltender became an oddity. In that Final, Michael Leighton, third-string for Philadelphia, faced off against the very pedestrian Antti Niemi, who was then  sacrificed for cap reasons. With the whole league watching, these teams ascended to hockey’s main stage with relative no names in the crease. While that moment may have been particularly damaging, the moment for me was the fiasco that was the Luongo and Cory Schneider trade saga in Vancouver, which lasted parts of 2 seasons. Then Canucks GM Mike Gillis had a terrible time finding a suitor for Luongo before finally being forced to ship Schneider off in the 2013 offseason for a 9th round pick. This too, was terrible value, considering that Schneider was one of the best young goalies in the league and coming off a scorching season where he had a .937 save percentage. This ordeal took place less than two years after Luongo had taken the team to its first Final since 1994. Granted, Luongo’s contract was considered a bit of an albatross, but it very publicly cemented the value of goaltenders on the trade market as minimal.

Looking forward to the present day, and the last two goaltenders have been traded for rather uninspiring returns. Arizona’s Smith only fetched a 3rd rounder, and Ben Bishop only netted a 4th from Dallas. GM George McPhee could end up hosting a goaltender buffet, with few paying customers. He would be wise to gauge the interest of other teams before deciding on their selections in net. They obviously want to draft a solid starter and a few young goaltenders as future cornerstones. They need to draft 3, and it’s difficult to envision them drafting less than 4 with the enticing names available out there. But if they decide to go into 5 or 6 goaltender territory, McPhee could manufacture a logjam that could be difficult to sort out. After all, only the WInnipeg Jets are truly desperate for a starting goaltender, and that’s assuming they don’t want one of Brian Elliott, Mike Condon, or another UFA to be their partner for Connor Hellebuyck. Philadelphia could be interested in a younger asset, and there are always teams who will desperately seek a starter mid-season when a keeper inevitably goes down to injury. That said, the market simply doesn’t favor the strategy of going all-in in net.

Central Division Offers Veteran Scoring, Risky Prospects

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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: MacKinnon, Barrie, Shipachyov

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They may not have won the lottery despite having the best chance, but if there is a consolation prize about their franchise, it’s that their players seem to be thriving at the preliminary round of the 2017 IIHF World Championships. Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon of Team Canada got into the act during this morning’s 7-2 blowout victory over Slovenia with a hat trick and an assist. Teammate Tyson Barrie scored four points of his own, including a goal to continue a successful string of Avalanche performances so far.

The Avalanche have eight players and a potential prospect at the World Championships, including MacKinnon, Barrie, Matt Duchene and goaltender Calvin Pickard who play for Canada (2-0-0-0), Gabriel Landeskog and Carl Soderberg who play for Sweden, Mikko Rantanen who plays for Finland and J.T. Compher who is playing for the USA. Prospect Andrei Mirinov is playing for Russia.

While it’s still early in the championships, the Avalanche have to be thrilled with their players’ performance. Friday, Pickard got the win in goal after allowing just one goal in Canada’s win over the Czech Republic. Barrie had a goal and assist in that game as well, giving him six points in just two games played so far. Rantanen had an assist in Finland’s victory over Belarus Friday, while Landeskog also picked up an assist for Sweden in their first game on Friday as well.

The Avalanche have high hopes that MacKinnon, 21, who was the first overall pick from the 2013 draft, can take his game to a new level after four solid, but unspectacular seasons. He finished last season with 16 goals and 37 assists for 53 points.

  • CapFriendly tweeted the breakdown of Vadim Shipachyov’s contract breakdown with the Las Vegas Golden Knights. It will be two years with a AAV of 4.5MM. In 2017-18, the veteran will receive a $3MM base salary and a $2MM signing bonus. Then in 2018-19, Shipachyov will receive a $4MM base salary.

Team Canada Names Eighteen Players To World Championship Squad

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With the World Championships beginning in just a few weeks Team Canada has released their first wave of players, announcing 18 names for the upcoming tournament. Five players are returning from the 2016 gold medal team: Calvin Pickard, Michael Matheson, Matt Duchene, Ryan O’Reilly and Mark Scheifele. The full roster so far is as follows:

Eric Comrie (Winnipeg Jets)
Calvin Pickard (Colorado Avalanche)

Tyson Barrie (Colorado Avalanche)
Calvin de Haan (New York Islanders)
Jason Demers (Florida Panthers)
Michael Matheson (Florida Panthers)
Josh Morrissey (Winnipeg Jets)

Sean Couturier (Philadelphia Flyers)
Matt Duchene (Colorado Avalanche)
Claude Giroux (Philadelphia Flyers
Alex Killorn (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Travis Konecny (Philadelphia Flyers)
Ryan O’Reilly (Buffalo Sabres)
Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche)
Brayden Point (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg Jets)
Wayne Simmonds (Philadelphia Flyers)
Jeff Skinner (Carolina Hurricanes)

The tournament will start on May 5th for Canada with their first game coming against the Czech Republic, and will be held in Paris, France and Cologne, Germany. The coaching staff will be made up of Jon Cooper (Tampa Bay Lightning), Gerard Gallant (Vegas Golden Knights), Dave Hakstol (Philadelphia Flyers) and Dave King.

World Championship Updates

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Terry Frei of the Denver Post tweeted a list of Colorado Avalanche players that will play for their respective countries in the 2017 World Hockey Championships. In addition to the previously-announced selections of Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene, Frei states that defenseman Tyson Barrie and goaltender Calvin Pickard will join Team Canada. Colorado forward Mikko Rantanen will play for Finland, and forward J.T. Compher will play for the United States.

Mikko Rantanen has a decorated international career, earning a gold medal as captain of the Finnish World Junior team in 2016, and a silver medal in the World Championships that same year. Overall, Rantanen has 20G and 22A in 60 international games.

J.T. Compher’s addition displays Team USA’s depth issues, as the American forward only has 21 games of NHL experience. Compher did captain the University of Michigan’s D1 Mens Hockey team last season—scoring 16G and 47A in the process.

Finally, the Vegas Golden Knights will be hoping that Calvin Pickard gets some significant ice time after the Avalanche announced that—barring any trade—Pickard will be exposed in the NHL Expansion Draft. Pickard played in 50 games this season after Semyon Varlamov went down with a season-ending injury.

Vegas Notes: Bill Foley, Team Identity, Coaching Decision

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“It’s all just about the show.” These are the words of owner Bill Foley regarding his newly minted Vegas Golden Knights. In his afternoon interview on FoxSports 1340 AM Las Vegas, Bill Foley discussed the team’s inception and his vision for growing the game on the Strip.  Citing the legend of Excalibur, the practically giddy owner proposed his grand broadcasting plans, and outlined his overall vision for the Vegas startup.

Team Identity:

“We want a team of speed, agility, and finesse.” The league has definitely shifted in this general direction, especially since the Pittsburgh Penguins blitzed their way to a Stanley Cup last season. The difference between a Penguins team and a future Knights team, obviously will be determined  by the large gap in top-tier offensive talent.

“We are going to build from the net out.” From Foley’s commentary, we should expect a low-scoring squad for the first couple years of inception. Although Foley aims to make the playoffs in 3 years, a large part of his relative success will be determined by the quality of goaltending he will be able to acquire. Will he merely be satisfied with a Calvin Pickard? The safe bet is that he will attempt to acquire a veteran with NHL seasons under his belt. Would Marc-Andre Fleury be available in a simple transaction? Ben Bishop, considering his backup status on the LA Kings? There are many avenues for GM George McPhee to explore.

Expansion Draft:

“We hope to…put a bunch of picks in our pocket.” Foley described quite clearly his intention to manipulate and maneuver his way into procuring draft picks from other squads worried about losing players. He seems to be quite content settling on stockpiling picks and creating a backlog of prospects. His commentary here may indicate a flurry of activity on the part of his management team and other groups, trying to protect their players under the limited protection options of 7 Forwards, 3 Defensemen, 1 Goalie, or 8 Skaters and 1 Goalie.

Coaching:

“Flexible…someone I can work with. We need someone who is a players’ coach.” The Vegas owner stated that he definitely wants a coach without an old-school mentality. He’s looking for a coach who will be able to maintain focus and passion in his squad regardless of overall record, and the inevitable struggles a new franchise will face. Perhaps Gerard Gallant would fit this role, although there are plenty of options in the coaching arena these days.

Community:

Vegas intends to have half-hour pre-game shows before each game, one-hour post-game shows, and an hour-long hockey devoted call-in show on weekdays, complete with interviews and analysis. Foley also revealed a deeper partnership with Fox Sports, radio coverage on Lotus, and a Spanish broadcast on ESPN Deportes. Foley also mentioned interest in the creation of more ice rinks in the area to support youth hockey, specifically two sheets of ice in Henderson. He stated his optimism of the Vegas passion for hockey after the successful ticket drive, and stated his desire to create a lasting foundation of interest.

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