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Several NHL Teams Release Training Camp Rosters

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With training camps expected to open tomorrow for the upcoming 24-team tournament, teams have been given until Monday at 6 p.m. CT to get their rosters handed into the league. Several teams have released their lists early. The rosters will be updated throughout the day as other teams post their selections. Training camp rosters are limited to 30 players plus an unlimited number of goalies.

Arizona Coyotes (via team tweet):
Forwards: Brayden Burke, Michael Chaput, Lawson Crouse, Christian Dvorak, Hudson Fasching, Christian Fischer, Conor Garland, Michael Grabner, Taylor Hall, Barrett Hayton, Vinnie Hinostroza, Clayton Keller, Phil Kessel, Brad Richardson, Nick Schmaltz, Carl Soderberg, Derek Stepan.
Defensemen: Kyle Capobianco, Jakob Chychrun, Jason Demers, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Alex Goligoski, Jordan Gross, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Ilya Lyubushkin, Aaron Ness, Jordan Oesterle, Victor Soderstrom.
Goalies: Adin Hill, Darcy Kuemper, Ivan Prosvetov, Antti Raanta.

Boston Bruins (via team tweet):
Forwards: Patrice Bergeron, Anders Bjork, Anton Blidh, Paul Carey, Charlie Coyle, Jake Debrusk, Trent Frederic, Ondrej Kase, David Krejci, Sean Kuraly, Karson Kuhlman, Par Lindholm, Brad Marchand, Joakim Nordstrom, David Pastrnak, Nick Ritchie, Zachary Senyshyn, Jack Studnicka, Chris Wagner.
Defensemen: Brandon Carlo, Zdeno Chara, Connor Clifton, Matt Grzelcyk, Torey Krug, Jeremy Lauzon, Charlie McAvoy, John Moore, Urho Vaakanainen, Jakub Zboril.
Goalies: Jaroslav Halak, Maxime Lagace, Tuukka Rask, Dan Vladar.

Calgary Flames (via team release):
Forwards: Mikael Backlund, Sam Bennett, Austin Czarnik, Dillon Dube, Byron Froese, Johnny Gaudreau, Glenn Gawdin, Mark Jankowski, Elias Lindholm, Milan Lucic, Andrew Mangiapane, Sean Monahan, Matthew Phillips, Alan Quine, Tobias Rieder, Zac Rinaldo, Buddy Robinson, Adam Ruzicka, Derek Ryan, Matthew Tkachuk.
Defensemen: Rasmus Andersson, T.J. Brodie, Derek Forbort, Mark Giordano, Erik Gustafsson, Noah Hanifin, Oliver Kylington, Connor Mackey, Michael Stone, Juuso Valimaki, Alexander Yelesin.
Goalies: Jon Gillies, David Rittich, Cam Talbot, Artyom Zagidulin.

Carolina Hurricanes (via team tweet):
Forwards: Sebastian Aho, Ryan Dzingel, Warren Foegele, Morgan Geekie, Steven Lorentz, Jordan Martinook, Max McCormick, Brock McGinn, Martin Necas, Nino Niederreiter, Jordan Staal, Ryan Suzuki, Andrei Svechnikov, Teuvo Teravainen, Vincent Trocheck, Justin Williams.
Defensemen: Jake Bean, Joel Edmundson, Haydn Fleury, Jake Gardiner, Dougie Hamilton, Brady Skjei, Jaccob Slavin, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Sami Vatanen.
Goalies: Anton Forsberg, Petr Mrazek, Alex Nedeljkovic, James Reimer.
Injured: Brett Pesce.

Columbus Blue Jackets (via team release):
Forwards: Cam Atkinson, Emil Bemstrom, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Nick Foligno, Liam Foudy, Nathan Gerbe, Boone Jenner, Ryan MacInnis, Stefan Matteau, Riley Nash, Gustav Nyquist, Eric Robinson, Kole Sherwood, Devin Shore, Kevin Stenlund, Alexandre Texier, Alexander Wennberg.
Defensemen: Gabriel Carlsson, Adam Clendening, Vladislav Gavrikov, Scott Harrington, Seth Jones, Dean Kukan, Ryan Murray, Markus Nutivaara, Andrew Peeke, David Savard, Zach Werenski.
Goalies: Matiss Kivlenieks, Joonas Korpisalo, Elvis Merzlikins, Veini Vehvilainen.

Dallas Stars (via team release):
Forwards: Jamie Benn, Nicholas Caamano, Andrew Cogliano, Blake Comeau, Ty Dellandrea, Jason Dickinson, Justin Dowling, Radek Faksa, Rhett Gardner, Denis Gurianov, Roope Hintz, Mattias Janmark, Joel Kiviranta, Joel L’Esperance, Joe Pavelski, Corey Perry, Alexander Radulov, Jason Robertson, Tyler Seguin.
Defensemen: Gavin Bayreuther, Taylor Fedun, Joel Hanley, Thomas Harley, Dillon Heatherington, Miro Heiskanen, Stephen Johns, John Klingberg, Esa Lindell, Jamie Oleksiak, Andrej Sekera.
Goalies: Ben Bishop, Landon Bow, Anton Khudobin, Jake Oettinger, Colton Point.

Edmonton Oilers (via team release):
Forwards: Josh Archibald, Andreas Athanasiou, Tyler Benson, Alex Chiasson, Leon Draisaitl, Gaetan Haas, Tyler Ennis, Zack Kassian, Jujhar Khaira, Cooper Marody, Connor McDavid, Ryan McLeod, James Neal, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Joakim Nygard, Patrick Russell, Riley Sheahan, Kailer Yamamoto.
Defensemen: Ethan Bear, Matt Benning, Evan Bouchard, Philip Broberg, Caleb Jones, Oscar Klefbom, William Lagesson, Adam Larsson, Darnell Nurse, Kris Russell.
Goalies: Mikko Koskinen, Olivier Rodrigue, Stuart Skinner, Mike Smith, Dylan Wells.

Minnesota Wild (via team release):
Forwards: Sam Anas, J.T. Brown, Ryan Donato, Joel Eriksson Ek, Kevin Fiala, Marcus Foligno, Alex Galchenyuk, Jordan Greenway, Ryan Hartman, Luke Johnson, Mikko Koivu, Luke Kunin, Gerald Mayhew, Zach Parise, Victor Rask, Kyle Rau, Eric Staal, Nico Sturm, Mats Zuccarello.
Defensemen: Calen Addison, Matt Bartkowski, Louis Belpedio, Jonas Brodin, Matt Dumba, Brad Hunt, Brennan Menell, Carson Soucy, Jared Spurgeon, Ryan Suter.
Goalies: Devan Dubnyk, Kaapo Kahkonen, Mat Robson, Alex Stalock. Injured: Greg Pateryn.

Pittsburgh Penguins (via team release):
Forwards: Anthony Angello, Zach Aston-Reese, Teddy Blueger, Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, Patric Hornqvist, Adam Johnson, Sam Lafferty, Evgeni Malkin, Patrick Marleau, Jared McCann, Sam Miletic, Samuel Poulin, Evan Rodrigues, Bryan Rust, Conor Sheary, Brandon Tanev, Phil Varone, Jason Zucker.
Defensemen: Kevin Czuczman, Brian Dumoulin, Jack Johnson, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Kris Letang, John Marino, Marcus Pettersson, Juuso Riikola, Chad Ruhwedel, Justin Schultz.
Goalies: Casey DeSmith, Alex D’Orio, Tristan Jarry, Emil Larmi, Matt Murray.

Tampa Bay Lightning (via team release):
Forwards: Alex Barre-Boulet, Anthony Cirelli, Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow, Yanni Gourde, Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn, Nikita Kucherov, Pat Maroon, Ondrej Palat, Cedric Paquette, Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos, Mitchell Stephens, Carter Verhaeghe, Alexander Volkov, Mathieu Joseph, Gemel Smith, Luke Witkowski.
Defensemen: Zach Bogosian, Erik Cernak, Braydon Coburn, Cal Foote, Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, Jan Rutta, Luke Schenn, Mikhail Sergachev, Kevin Shattenkirk.
Goalies: Spencer Martin, Curtis McElhinney, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Scott Wedgewood.

Toronto Maple Leafs (via team tweet):
Forwards: Kenny Agostino, Adam Brooks, Kyle Clifford, Pierre Engvall, Tyler Gaudet, Frederik Gauthier, Zach Hyman, Kasperi Kapanen, Alexander Kerfoot, Egor Korshkov, Denis Malgin, Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, Ilya Mikheyev, William Nylander, Nic Petan, Nicholas Robertson, Jason Spezza, John Tavares.
Defensemen: Tyson Barrie, Cody Ceci, Travis Dermott, Justin Holl, Teemu Kivihalme, Timothy Liljegren, Martin Marincin, Jake Muzzin, Morgan Rielly, Calle Rosen, Rasmus Sandin.
Goalies: Frederik Andersen, Jack Campbell, Kasimir Kaskisuo, Joseph Woll.

Vancouver Canucks (via team release):
Forwards: Justin Bailey, Jay Beagle, Brock Boeser, Loui Eriksson, Micheal Ferland, Adam Gaudette, Tyler Graovac, Bo Horvat, Kole Lind, Zack MacEwen, J.T. Miller, Tyler Motte, Tanner Pearson, Elias Pettersson, Antoine Roussel, Brandon Sutter, Tyler Toffoli, Jake Virtanen.
Defensemen: Jordie Benn, Guillaume Brisebois, Jalen Chatfield, Alexander Edler, Oscar Fantenberg, Quinn Hughes, Olli Juolevi, Tyler Myers, Brogan Rafferty, Ashton Sautner, Troy Stecher, Chris Tanev.
Goalies: Thatcher Demko, Micheal DiPietro; Louis Domingue, Jacob Markstrom.

Vegas Golden Knights (via team release):
Forwards: Patrick Brown, William Carrier, Nick Cousins, Reid Duke, William Karlsson, Keegan Kolesar, Peyton Krebs, Jonathan Marchessault, Tomas Nosek, Gage Quinney, Max Pacioretty, Ryan Reaves, Nicolas Roy, Reilly Smith, Paul Stastny, Chandler Stephenson, Mark Stone, Alex Tuch.
Defensemen: Jake Bischoff, Dylan Coghlan, Deryk Engelland, Nicolas Hague, Nick Holden, Alec Martinez, Brayden McNabb, Jonathon Merrill, Nate Schmidt, Jimmy Schuldt, Shea Theodore, Zach Whitecloud.
Goalies: Oscar Dansk, Marc-Andre Fleury, Robin Lehner.

 

Vegas Notes: Goaltenders Present And Future, Fleury, Lehner, Patera

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Nearly half of the 24 teams returning for the NHL’s “second season” have questions to answer in goal before taking the ice, per ESPN’s NHL Insiders. One net in question belongs to the Vegas Golden Knights. Marc-Andre Fleury has been known to block a shot or two, but midseason acquisition Robin Lehner made Vegas’ goaltender competition a two-man race. The sample size is small for Lehner, but he finished the season in spectacular fashion. On the year, Fleury’s 2.77 GAA bests Lehner’s 2.89 GAA – but Lehner leads the pair in save percentage (.920 to .905). The Insiders give the nod to Fleury, and one would think coach Peter DeBoer will too. Lehner provides top-shelf insurance, but this early in DeBoer’s Vegas tenure, it’d hurt to go down with Fleury riding the pine. On the other, less-risky hand, it’s much harder to blame the guy for playing the face of the franchise when the games matter most.

  • Long-term, however, the Golden Knights have to balance an aging Fleury, 35, and Lehner, 28, potentially leaving as a free agent. The Golden Knights are in a decent position financially, but they won’t be without casualties this offseason. With the salary cap likely to freeze at $81.5MM, Lehner feels more-and-more like a textbook rental, per David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Besides, after his strong play this year, there’s a good chance a starting job awaits him somewhere. He could command a salary close to Fleury’s $7MM for next season -though likely a touch less – depending on how the next few months play out. Even though Vegas isn’t saddled with a cumbersome cap sheet, they’d probably have to want Lehner as “the guy” moving forward to get him back.
  • Longer-term, the Golden Knights could have their goaltender of the future in Jiri Patera. Patera begins his professional career next season after signing his three-year entry-level contract with Vegas a few weeks ago. The Czech netminder will join the Vegas organization after a strong season with the Brandon Wheat Kings. He won’t join the Golden Knights for 2020-2021, but he’s a prospect worth tracking. Per The Athletic’s Jesse Granger, after Patera signed his ELC with Vegas, Wheat Kings goalie coach Tyler Plante gave this assessment: “They definitely drafted a good person, for sure. He’s a special player and a special person. He’s so coachable and respected by his teammates that it’s tough to see a guy like that go. Love that he’s progressing, and that he’s going to continue on.” 

Details On The Daily Scheduling Of Postseason Games

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With training camps set to open shortly, the idea of live hockey is beginning to seem like more of a reality. While the players still must officially vote to approve the return to play plans, the NHL is all but ready to start the action on August 1st. With details of the qualifying round rules, round robin games for top seeds, and the subsequent playoff structure all hammered out, there are very few questions remaining. Thanks to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, one of those unanswered questions is also no more: how so many games will be played in so short a time in just two locations.

According to McKenzie, the plan is to play three games a day at each of the hub locations, Toronto and Edmonton, for a total of six game. This will include both qualifying round games and round robin seeding games. These games will be held at the same times – 12pm, 4pm, and 8pm – but offset by the two-hour time difference local time. On the east coast, this means games will be on at noon, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm, and 10pm, while on the west coast things will get started a little earlier with games at 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, and 7pm. As McKenzie points out, the possibility of extended overtimes in the qualifying round games could complicate this scheduling, but the league hopes to mitigate these risks by playing round robin games, which have regular season OT rules, during the 4pm slots to counteract early games that ran late and ensure prime time games start on time (or at least close to it).

At first glance, the amount of hockey that could be on display later this summer is exciting for fans who have been without the game for close to four months now. There will certainly be logistical issues with the scheduling of games and extended overtimes, but fans should be flexible with their schedules given the affect that COVID-19 has had on typical summer plans. This should also extend to days games, with many people around North America still working from home and able to watch games that typically they might find themselves in the office during. While the Pacific time zone definitely received the worst deal in terms of the daily schedules, it is worth noting that only the Vancouver Canucks and Vegas Golden Knights call that time zone home among 2020 playoff teams, while 75% of the field resides in the Eastern or Central time zones.

Hypothetically, this scheduling plan through the qualifying round and round robin games, a minimum of 44 games and maximum of 68 games, should mean that those series are over and the standard playoff structure is set in no more than 12 days. It may not be pretty cramming so much action into such a short time frame, but if the league sticks to six games a day they will be able to commence with the standard postseason by August 13. This should allow them to complete the postseason, award the Stanley Cup, and even host the 2020 NHL Draft before November 1, which has been proposed as the opening of free agency for the 2020-21 season.

Petition To Try To Get Henderson Arena Funding On Election Ballot Scrapped Due To Procedural Issue

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Avalanche prospect Bowen Byram has yet to make his NHL debut but he will be on their postseason roster, reports Postmedia’s Steve Ewen.   The 19-year old is coming off of another strong season with Vancouver of the WHL that saw him record 52 points in 50 games while also playing a regular role on Canada’s entry in the World Juniors.  The fourth selection back in 2019 likely won’t contend for a spot in the lineup but if he does get in to due injuries, he will be subject to the nine-game limit without burning the first year of his entry-level contract.

More from the West:

  • Todd Diamond, agent for Canucks RFA defenseman Nikita Tryamkin, indicated an in an appearance on TSN 1040 (audio link) that he expects to get a deal done for his client to return to Vancouver for the 2020-21 season. He also added that there have been no discussions about the team trading Tryamkin’s rights.  The 25-year-old has spent the past three seasons with Yekaterinburg of the KHL after playing a limited role with Vancouver beforehand.  However, with their salary cap situation starting to look murky, the team doesn’t have a ton of flexibility to offer him a contract with a big raise on the $925K he received on his entry-level deal back in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
  • In an appearance on KFAN 100.3 (audio link), Wild GM Bill Guerin told The Athletic’s Michael Russo that “things are going in the right direction” when it comes to winger Kirill Kaprizov. Earlier this week, it was reported that teams would not be permitted to sign players that could then play in the upcoming play-in round, even if they were on their Reserve List; in normal seasons, that would be allowed.  When asked if the team would consider signing Kaprizov and burning the first year of his entry-level deal without playing, Guerin indicated he was open to the possibility along with any other options that come up.  Technically, the deadline to sign Kaprizov to a 2019-20 deal expired on Wednesday after being previously extended by a month; Guerin’s answer hints that another extension may have quietly occurred.
  • A petition to attempt to get the previously-approved funding for a new AHL facility in Henderson, Nevada onto the ballot for their November election has been overturned by City Council for a procedural error, notes Shea Johnson of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The arena, which is slated to be ready in 2022, involves $42MM in public spending which was the reason for the petition.

Vegas Golden Knights Sign Jiri Patera To Three-Year Entry-Level Deal

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The Vegas Golden Knights took a step towards securing their goaltending future today, signing Jiri Patera to a three-year, entry-level contract, per The Athletic’s Jesse Granger.

The Czech goaltender was one of the top goalies of the 2019-2020 season in the WHL, winning the Eastern Conference Goaltender of the Year Award after setting a new franchise record for the Wheat Kings with 2.55 GAA, per NHL.com, who also announced the signing.

Patera, 21, was a sixth-round selection of the Golden Knights in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, the 161st overall selection. He wasn’t necessarily all that highly touted at the time, but his performance in the WHL raised some eyebrows and he’s in the conversation for the top goalie prospect in Vegas’ pipeline.

Despite their limited history, the Golden Knights already boast a strong tradition in the net thanks to Marc-Andre Fleury, a team leader who has been the face of the franchise in these early years. Though the former first overall pick already secured his place in Vegas lore, the veteran netminder wasn’t quite as effective this season as in his first two with the Golden Knights.

Next season would be the five-time All-Star’s age-36 year after 16 seasons in the league. At some point, Vegas will need to set their sights on choosing their goaltender of the future. Robin Lehner has backfilled the role ably after being acquired from the Blackhawks – plus he has a sweet new mask – but he’ll be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.

A Case For Peyton Krebs To Be On Expanded Postseason Roster

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  • Although he’d be unlikely to play for them, Peyton Krebs should on the Golden Knights’ expanded postseason roster, argues Ken Boehlke of SinBin.vegas. Injuries limited the 17th pick last June to just 38 WHL games this season (where he had 60 points) so some extra practice time with the big club would certainly help his development.  Krebs is already signed so he would be eligible to be on their roster and unless he got into ten postseason games, his contract for this would still slide.

2000 Expansion Draft Retrospective: How Columbus And Minnesota Fared (Poorly) Versus Vegas

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Twenty years ago yesterday, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild were taking their first official steps as NHL teams, engaging in the 2000 NHL Expansion Draft. Yet the additions of the 29th and 30th NHL teams goes down as an utterly forgettable event in the annals of NHL history, given just how poor the results were. Fast-forward 17 years and the NHL finally adds team No. 31, the Vegas Golden Knights. Recency bias aside, the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft and especially the season that followed will have a firm foothold on their place in league history. The vast differences between these two drafts, both in format and outside factors, help to explain why the infant Golden Knights already seem to be more established in year three than the Blue Jackets and Wild, facing down their twentieth seasons in 2020-21.

Entry Fee

Columbus and Minnesota: $80,000,000
Vegas: $500,000,000

Like most things in pro sports, this story starts with money. The Blue Jackets and Wild paid just $80MM in 2000 to enter the NHL, not exactly a premium price even 20 years ago. As a result, their introduction to the league was never intended to be smooth. The odds were stacked against them in their inaugural seasons and beyond as they had to fight hard for their place in the league. The Knights on the other hand paid over six times that amount and the 2021 Seattle expansion team is set to pay even more, a record $650MM. With that comes more cushy conditions upon entry, allowing for immediate success to be more realistic.

Recent Expansion

Columbus and Minnesota: Nashville Predators (1998), Atlanta Thrashers (1999)
Vegas: None

The Blue Jackets and Wild also entered the league during a frenzy of expansion. The NHL added nine teams between 1990 and 2000 and Columbus and Minnesota were the unfortunate pair to bring up the rear. Talent was spread thinner than it ever had been before and Nashville and Atlanta, added in the previous two years, were completely exempt from the Expansion Draft. The expansion team thus drafted 26-man rosters. In contrast, when Vegas entered the league the NHL had not seen expansion in the better part of two decades. No one was exempt and talent had been replenished across the league, with Vegan able to pick from each of the 30 teams. Talent level continues to not be a concern approaching the 2021 Expansion Draft, in which Seattle will also have 30 teams to choose from other than Vegas, who also won’t receive a share of their entry fee.

Protection Schemes

Columbus and Minnesota: Nine forwards, five defensemen, and one goalie or seven forwards, three defensemen, and two goalies
Vegas: Seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goalie or eight skaters and a goalie

Nine forwards, five defenseman, and a goalie?! It’s no wonder that most people can’t remember the players selected by the Wild or Blue Jackets. They were either fourth-liners, bottom-pair defensemen, or minor leaguers. On top of that, the team were also competing with one another for these scraps. The secondary option in 2000 became the primary option for Vegas in 2017 minus a second goalie. This guaranteed that nearly every team would expose a top-nine forward, a top-four defenseman, and an experienced goalie.

Results

Columbus: G – Frederic Chabot, Dwayne Roloson, Rick Tabaracci; D – Radim Bicanek, Jonas Junkka, Lyle Odelein, Jamie Pushor, Tommi Rajamaki, Bert Robertsson, Mathieu Schneider, Mattias Timander; F – Kevyn Adams, Kevin Dineen, Dallas Drake, Ted Drury, Bruce Gardiner, Steve Heinze, Robert Kron, Sergei Luchinkin, Barrie Moore, Geoff Sanderson, Turner Stevenson, Martin Streit, Dmitri Subbotin, Jeff Williams, Tyler Wright

Minnesota: G – Zac Bierk, Jamie McLennan, Chris Terreri, Mike Vernon; D – Artem Anisimov, Chris Armstrong, Ladislav Benysek, Ian Herbers, Filip Kuba, Curtis Leschyshyn, Sean O’Donnell, Oleg Orekhovsky; F – Michal Bros, Jeff Daw, Jim Dowd, Darby Hendrickson, Joe Juneau, Sergei Krivokrasov, Darryl Laplante, Steve McKenna, Jeff Nielsen, Stefan Nilsson, Jeff Odgers, Scott Pellerin, Stacy Roest, Cam Stewart

Vegas: G – Jean-Francois Berube, Marc-Andre Fleury, Calvin Pickard; D – Alexei Emelin, Deryk Engelland, Jason Garrison, Brayden McNabb, Jon Merrill, Marc Methot, Colin Miller, Griffin Reinhart, Luca Sbisa, David Schlemko, Nate Schmidt, Clayton Stoner, Trevor van Riemsdyk; F – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Connor Brickley, William Carrier, Cody Eakin, Erik Haula, William Karlsson, Brendan Leipsic, Oscar Lindberg, Jonathan Marchessault, James Neal, Tomas Nosek, David Perron, Teemu Pulkkinen, Chris Thorburn

Kinda one-sided isn’t it? Sean O’Donnell, Filip Kuba, and Darby Hendrickson were some of the best players available to Columbus and Minnesota, while the vast majority of Vegas’ roster was at the very least as accomplished as that trio when they were selected. No one taken in the 2000 Draft can even be remotely compared to established players in their prime like Neal, Perron, and Fleury, young scoring forwards like Marchessault and Karlsson, or up-and-coming defensemen like Schmidt and Miller. The Knights’ entire draft roster also had NHL experience or earned it in their first two seasons, while a number of Blue Jacket and Wild picks never even saw the light of day.or

Draftees To Play With Team

Columbus and Minnesota: 11 apiece
Vegas: 19

To make matters worse, some of the most well-known players selected by the Blue Jackets and Wild – Mathieu Schneider, Mike Vernon, Dallas Drake – never played a game for the franchise. This was by design, as the teams opted to take the select players specifically to allow them to walk as free agents and recoup the compensatory picks, but it sill added to the overwhelming lack of player value selected in 2000. In 2017, the Golden Knights managed to retain more than half of a 30-man roster that was far too large to ever retain completely. In fact, the only player who did not join Vegas in their inaugural season or was not traded away was goalie JF Berube.

First Playoff Appearance

Columbus: 2009
Minnesota: 2003
Vegas: 2018

So how did these drastically uneven expansion results play out? The Wild made their first playoff appearance in their third season with some holdovers from the draft and even made it to the Western Conference Final. However, they finished last in the Northwest Division in the two seasons prior and subsequent to this underdog run. The Blue Jackets did not make the playoffs for the first time until 2009, nearly a decade into their existence. By then, there was no trace of their bleak expansion draft roster. The franchise has just six playoff series appearances in their history, with their first win coming just last season. Vegas on the other hand turned the expansion trope on its head with an incredible run in 2018, fueled almost entirely by draft selections. The team then qualified for the playoffs again last season and are a top-four seed in the West in the upcoming expanded postseason.

First Stanley Cup Final Appearance

Columbus and Minnesota: None
Vegas: 2018

The Golden Knights made it as far as any team can go without winning the Stanley Cup in their very first season. It was unheard of success for an expansion team in any sport and the structure and surrounding of the 2017 Expansion Draft played a major role. The Blue Jackets and Wild, limited for years by their own expansion restrictions, have never made the Stanley Cup Final and entering their twentieth season in 2020-21 don’t look particularly likely to do so next year either. These is a very strong likelihood that Vegas returns to the Final and possibly wins a Stanley Cup before Columbus or Minnesota and Seattle may very well share those same odds.

Twenty years later, the Blue Jackets and Wild are still struggling to establish themselves as top teams in the NHL and their struggles can be traced all the way back to the 2000 Expansion Draft. So while the anniversary can be celebrated for the formal additions of the franchises to the NHL – bringing pro hockey back to Minnesota and spreading the game to a market that has wholly embraced it in Columbus – it should also be remembered as the poorly-constructed entry device that limited these teams from the get go. The 2000 Expansion Draft will never be remembered for any individual players that were selected, but instead the complete lack of impact players selected and the factors that contributed to that result.

Snapshots: Hub Favorites, Phase 2, Postseason Rules

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Six cities remain in the hunt as potential hub locations for when the NHL returns to play. As things stand right now, Vegas and either Vancouver or Edmonton are the frontrunners, per The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun. Toronto, Chicago, and Los Angeles remain outside contenders – but they are still very much in the hunt. Of course, Vegas, Vancouver, and Edmonton are all in the Western Conference, meaning one of the Golden Knights, Canucks, or Oilers would play their games at home – should LeBrun’s hunch prove correct. The NHL isn’t overly concerned, per LeBrun, because without fans present, the games would still qualify as technically neutrally located, even though whichever team does stay home would enjoy a certain amount of comfort in their home building. Finding the best, safest fit to house 12 teams at a time is the priority for now, over maintaining a perfect degree of parity. Let’s check in on the other tidbits of news that have eeked out over the last few hours concerning the NHL’s return to play…

  • Phase 2 takes another step forward tomorrow, allowing for up to 12 skaters to share the ice at a time during workouts, tweets Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston. Only six skaters had been allowed at a time up until now. A successful expansion could prove a crucial development given the recent rash of COVID-19 cases popping up across the sports landscape.
  • We also now know – thanks to NHL deputy commissioner Billy Daly – that each of the 24 participating teams will play one or two exhibition games prior to the round-robin and play-in phases of the NHL postseason, per Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer. That’s not a ton of ice time to ready the troops, but with such a small window of viability, it makes sense to limit player exposure prior to any games of consequence.
  • In a more logistical matter, the NHL and Players’ Association have agreed to extend contracts and visas for players whose contracts were going to expire on June 30th, tweets CapFriendly. That’s not to indicate a more comprehensive agreement between the two sides, as will be required before the NHL officially returns to play. The matter of expiring contracts appears to have been agreed upon as a solitary issue.
  • Teams will have 30 players available for July 10 training camps, with playoff rosters trimmed to 28, per Ben Kuzma of Postmedia Sports. For camp and the playoffs, teams will be granted an unlimited number of goalies. Being as only 6 members of each team have been allowed to share the ice at a time through today, the scope of the NHL’s undertaking will clearly require heavy-lifting from logistics and operations departments.

Pacific Notes: Puljujarvi, Tanev, Glass

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With a recent report that New York Rangers’ Lias Andersson is not interested in returning to the team for the upcoming postseason and prefers to stay in Sweden. Now another unhappy lottery pick could be following the same path as Edmonton Oilers forward Jesse Puljujarvi is believed ready to sign a one-year extension with Karpat of Liiga, according to the Edmonton Journal’s Kurt Leavins.

The fourth-overall pick in 2016 has struggled to establish himself in the NHL and chose to sign a one-year contract with Karpat last season. He had a solid season, scoring 24 goals and 53 points in 56 games this past season, but there remains doubt by many that Puljujarvi will eventually return to the NHL and become a dominant player.

What’s interesting is recent comments in which he referenced a willingness to consider returning to Edmonton when he was quoted last week as saying, “never say never.” Leavins, however, wonders if Puljujarvi made the statement in hopes of raising his trade value, especially since there is a belief that the one-year extension would likely include an NHL opt-out clause.

  • The Province’s Ben Kuzma writes that the Vancouver Canucks could have a tough decision to make with pending unrestricted free agent Chris Tanev. While the team is expected to be capped out this offseason and the team has a number of free agents, including Jacob Markstrom and Tyler Toffoli along with several restricted free agents, Tanev might seem like a player who could easily replaced, especially with a number of young blueliners near NHL ready, including Brogan Rafferty, Guillaume Brisebois, Olli Juolevi and the possible return of Nikita Tryamkin. However, the 30-year-old has made it clear that he wants to stay in Vancouver and considering how well he paired next to rookie Quinn Hughes and his leadership skills, the team might have to seriously consider keeping him over others. “It’s a very tough situation because nobody knows where the cap is going to be,” said Tanev. “But I want to stay in Vancouver. I love it here and it’s sort of my new home. I love the guys on the team and we’re trending in the right direction.”
  • Justin Emerson of the Las Vegas Sun writes that Vegas Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon is still working on who might fill the team’s extra spots on their expanded roster for the upcoming 24-team tournament playoffs. However, one name that won’t be on that list is rookie Cody Glass, who underwent knee surgery in March and is not expected to be ready for the delayed playoffs. Glass had a difficult rookie season in which he struggled on the team’s third line with just five goals and 12 points in 39 games.

Ryan Reaves Took A Pay Cut But Should It Have Been Higher?

at CDT | by 6 Comments

  • While the Golden Knights managed to get Ryan Reaves to take a pay cut with his two-year extension earlier this week, SinBin.vegas’ Ken Boehlke argues that the team didn’t do enough to take advantage of their leverage. The winger has grown to enjoy playing in Vegas and didn’t seem to have much interest in looking elsewhere while his on-ice production isn’t the strongest either with most of his contributions coming on the physical side.  With the team being right up against the Upper Limit of the salary cap and the belief that the cap won’t be going much if at all for a few years, he suggests that they may have been better off dragging this out in the hopes of saving a bit more money in the end.

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