Expansion Draft Madness
Posted 5:56 PM ET | Comments 3
With the news that up to four teams could join the NHL by 2017, it gets me thinking: what would an NHL expansion draft look like? assuming all teams expand at the same time, it could be the biggest series of player transfers in the history of professional sport!rnrnAfter all the building the Oilers have done, it would be a shame for the team to be sliced and diced by the Las Vegas Pirate-Hookers.rnrnGoing by the 2000 expansion rules, each team would keep 9 forwards, 5 defenseman and a goaltender, or seven forwards, three defenseman and two goaltenders. Who would the oilers protect?With so many question marks about the Oil's future, It's impossible to predict who would have a pro contract with Edmonton in 2016-2017, but if it were to happen today, here's what I think the Oilers protection list would look like:
Forwards
1. Taylor Hall
2. Jordan Eberle
3. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
4. David Perron
5. Nail Yakupov
6. Leon Draisaitl
7. Teddy Purcell
8. Benoit Pouliot
9. Boyd Gordon
Defensemen
1. Andrew Ference
2. Justin Schultz
3. Martin Marincin
4. Oskar Klefbom
5. Darnell Nurse
Goaltenders
1. Ben Scrivens
Notable Names Left Unprotected
On the forward side, all the bases get covered fairly nicely by the 9 protection slots. Of course, heart and soul guy Matt Hendricks could end up a casualty, as could still promising players like Tyler Pitlick, Anton Lander, and Mark Acrobello. Then, you've got a trio of prospect forwards in Jujhar Khaira, Bogdan Yakimov and Mitch Moroz who could be troubling losses. Would the Oilers think highly enough of the first two to replace any of Purcell, Pouliot or Gordon on the list?
On the defensive side, the brood of talented young D prospects is a double-edged sword. In an effort to protect Klefbom, Nurse, and Marincin, all barely NHLers but signed to NHL contracts all the same, it's open season on the Oilers defense. Petry would be a painful loss, but I'd predict his absence if only because his games in copper and blue appear already numbered with the 1-year contract he recently signed. Other players with new contracts in Fayne, Nikitin, and Aulie find themselves unprotected, but given they'd need to bump community nice-guy and current captain Andrew Ference to find that security, this shouldn't be surprising.
As far as goaltenders go, picking Scrivens over Fasth seems like a no-brainer in terms of an on-ice and off-ice sell, although it wouldn't at all be surprising to see Fasth scooped up.
Obviously this exercise is a stretch of the imagination. If an expansion draft was impending, the Oil would have played their summer quite differently. Still, it's important to keep in mind that this core for one reason or another could be hen-pecked apart, if not by Bettman's quest for Hockey In Strange Places, then from eventual cap crunch. Thus thinking about these hierarchies can be pretty instructive. Also, it'll be interesting to see how a team plays their roster moves in the season leading up to 2016-2017. If I were a team with lots of prospects coming up, I'd make sure my top guys weren't signed to any NHL contract until the expansion business was taken care of.
If there was an expansion draft this year, how would your team use it's protection list? Who's going to be on the Oilers by the time we need to think about protections?
Forwards
1. Taylor Hall
2. Jordan Eberle
3. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
4. David Perron
5. Nail Yakupov
6. Leon Draisaitl
7. Teddy Purcell
8. Benoit Pouliot
9. Boyd Gordon
Defensemen
1. Andrew Ference
2. Justin Schultz
3. Martin Marincin
4. Oskar Klefbom
5. Darnell Nurse
Goaltenders
1. Ben Scrivens
Notable Names Left Unprotected
On the forward side, all the bases get covered fairly nicely by the 9 protection slots. Of course, heart and soul guy Matt Hendricks could end up a casualty, as could still promising players like Tyler Pitlick, Anton Lander, and Mark Acrobello. Then, you've got a trio of prospect forwards in Jujhar Khaira, Bogdan Yakimov and Mitch Moroz who could be troubling losses. Would the Oilers think highly enough of the first two to replace any of Purcell, Pouliot or Gordon on the list?
On the defensive side, the brood of talented young D prospects is a double-edged sword. In an effort to protect Klefbom, Nurse, and Marincin, all barely NHLers but signed to NHL contracts all the same, it's open season on the Oilers defense. Petry would be a painful loss, but I'd predict his absence if only because his games in copper and blue appear already numbered with the 1-year contract he recently signed. Other players with new contracts in Fayne, Nikitin, and Aulie find themselves unprotected, but given they'd need to bump community nice-guy and current captain Andrew Ference to find that security, this shouldn't be surprising.
As far as goaltenders go, picking Scrivens over Fasth seems like a no-brainer in terms of an on-ice and off-ice sell, although it wouldn't at all be surprising to see Fasth scooped up.
Obviously this exercise is a stretch of the imagination. If an expansion draft was impending, the Oil would have played their summer quite differently. Still, it's important to keep in mind that this core for one reason or another could be hen-pecked apart, if not by Bettman's quest for Hockey In Strange Places, then from eventual cap crunch. Thus thinking about these hierarchies can be pretty instructive. Also, it'll be interesting to see how a team plays their roster moves in the season leading up to 2016-2017. If I were a team with lots of prospects coming up, I'd make sure my top guys weren't signed to any NHL contract until the expansion business was taken care of.
If there was an expansion draft this year, how would your team use it's protection list? Who's going to be on the Oilers by the time we need to think about protections?
Good fucking Blog Mo. You are the real, not some Sushi tits Jabroni like the Gardiner Express.
Yakimov Moroz Kharia arnt eligible to be taken.And why did you protect the worst Defender (Ference) and not protect the 2nd best (fayne)
Klefbom Nurse and Draisaitl are not eligible either