Clik here to view.
One of the most exciting things to have occurred in the NHL in recent weeks is the announcement that the league will likely be expanding into at least one city, with the possibility of a second. The buzz surrounding the the announcement has been intense. One of the proposed cities, Las Vegas, even has an unofficial logo plastered all over their (also unofficial) Facebook page.
Though nothing is official as of yet, teams are surely looking ahead to see how the pending expansion draft could potentially affect their roster. According to the anticipated rules, as reported by The Ottawa Sun:
– Each existing team can lose a maximum of one player per expansion team, so if the league expands by two teams, clubs can only lose two players each; if there is only one team added, only one player can be taken from each existing team
– Rookies and second-year pros are exempt from the expansion draft.
– If the NHL decides to expand for the 2017-18 season, a final announcement would need to be made by June so general managers could make the moves they need to make pertaining to the entry draft and free agency. In this case, the expansion draft would be held in the Summer of 2017.
– There are two ways a general manager can structure their protection of players for the expansion draft. In the first scenario, he can protect 11 players – seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender. In the second, he can protect nine players – eight skaters and one goaltender.
The rules listed are subject to approval from the Player’s Association. Given these restrictions, the Buffalo Sabres will have some difficult decisions to make. While the Sabres are an incredibly young team, most of their youthful talent will not qualify for protection under the rookie rule. Both Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart will have completed their second seasons and will therefore need to be designated as protected by Tim Murray.
Decisions that Murray will have to make in the offseason will affect the players that Buffalo will protect in the expansion draft. The Sabres have eight starting players whose contracts expire this year. It may be easy for Murray open the team’s wallet and offer sizeable contracts for many of these players this season, knowing that he can expose some of that salary in the expansion draft.
One of the most important players that will hit free agency is backup goaltender Chad Johnson. He is the first Sabres goalie to reach 20 wins since Ryan Miller in 2012-13, and they could use him for one more year. That would give young goalies like Linus Ullmark, Jason Kasdorf and Cal Peterson time to get some seasoning in the minors and the team could also get a better read on Robin Lehner.
If Lehner stays healthy and plays well, Johnson could be a nice pickup for the expansion team, and vice-versa; if Lehner can’t stay off of the injured list and Johnson continues to play well, Lehner could be exposed to the expansion draft and Buffalo could be rid of his salary.
There is also a case to be made for exposing Evander Kane. He has had some injury issues this season, missing 17 games, and he missed 45 games in the previous campaign. He did score 20 goals this year–his first time doing so since 2011-12. At $6 million though, Buffalo should be able to expect a bit more production from the talented forward. If Kane has another 20-goal season, it might make sense for Murray to make him available in the expansion draft.
Barring any major changes in Buffalo’s roster, the following players are most likely to fall under Murray’s protection in the expansion draft:
Forwards:
Ryan O’Reilly
Jack Eichel
Sam Reinhart
Evander Kane
Defense:
Rasmus Ristolainen
Zach Bogosian
Jake McCabe
Mark Pysyk
Goalie:
Robin Lehner/Chad Johnson
While it seems more logical for the team to protect as many players as possible, I think Murray is a little more strategic with his choices. Their young and talented defensemen are just as important to the core of the team as the forwards. If rumors are to be believed, the most the Sabres can lose is one player. It may be better for the Sabres to expose someone like Matt Moulson or Tyler Ennis in order to save one of their defenders.
Murray is nothing if not clever. He surely has a few tricks up his sleeve in the offseason that could change the face of this team entirely, but this roster has gained momentum as the season has come to an end, and so much of that has to do with the core players listed above. It only makes sense for Murray to protect them from the expansion draft.
The post Predicting who the Sabres would protect in expansion draft appeared first on Todays SlapShot.