Official Hockey discussion thread

And an expansion draft will follow.

We will propably see something similar to the 2000 Expansion draft:
"26 of the 28 teams existing in the league at the time of the draft were each allowed to protect either one goaltender, five defensemen, and nine forwards or two goaltenders, three defensemen, and seven forwards. The Atlanta Thrashers and Nashville Predators had their entire rosters protected, as they were the two newest franchises in the league, only being in existence for one and two years respectively."
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_NHL_Expansion_Draft
 
From what I read, there will be some tweaks

The items that are reportedly part of the expansion draft include:

* A rule that at least one defenseman and two forwards who have played 40 games in a season or 70 games over two seasons must be left unprotected and must be under contract for the 2017-18 season.

* Teams must protect players that have no-movement clauses active in the 2017-18 season. No-move clauses active in 2016-17 will not be impacted.

* Any player traded after Jan. 1, 2017 cannot be re-acquired until after Jan. 1, 2018.

* And as had been announced earlier, first- and second-year professionals would be exempt from the expansion draft.

As for the expansion team, it would participate in the weighted lottery for the 2017 NHL Entry Draft and would have the same weight as the team that finishes third from last. The expansion team would pick no worse than sixth but could conceivably get the No. 1 overall pick if the lottery fell its way.

Also, the expansion team must select players that have a total value of between 60 and 100 percent of the 2016-17 salary cap and it cannot buy out any player it selects in the expansion draft until after the 2017-18 season. The 2016-17 cap is expected to be between $70 million and $72 million depending on projected revenues.

Each of the 30 teams will lose a maximum of one player. Teams can protect one goaltender, three defenseman and seven forwards as previously announced by the league. There is also the option allowing teams to protect eight skaters and one goaltender.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly has said teams that fail to comply with the expansion rules would be subject to fines and possibly loss of draft picks.
 
The amount of protected players is pretty low. Vegas's team will have access to some decent professionals.
 
They should ... With the $500M the NHL is asking for an expansion fee, the new team should be asking for some good talent
 
Yes, I definitely agree. Plus, they don't want to have a team that comes in and sits at the bottom forever - AKA Columbus and Atlanta.
 
I think Vegas is a good spot for the NHL, for at least now they are the only game in town, though I think the NFL (the Oakland Raiders moving there) will have a team there fairly soon.

The AHL and ECHL has done well there, plenty of local corporations to buy boxes and tickets, a brand new and really nice arena right on the strip, plenty of fans of other teams will plan trips there, and I think they will get local support based on their season ticket sales so far and plenty of migrants from more traditional hockey markets. Quebec really made sense as well, but Vegas is a better market and the NHL needs more teams in the west. Vegas, Seattle, and Salt Lake City are really the only 3 options and Vegas and Salt Lake City is the only ones with an arena already built, but Vegas is by far the better option.

NHL has been on a roll of making some pretty decent decisions lately
 
I actually think Gary Bettman has been very good for the game of hockey. Most people don't think that in Canada, but I really do believe it. The fact that Vegas has a NHL team coming makes it more likely that I will go back. Hopefully next time Maiden plays there is a Habs game the next day.
 
I think so as well, the league still has some problems with a few franchises, but the vast majority are on strong financial footing. Compare that to 12-ish years ago and it is a huge difference. The league is growing in popularity and done well in some non traditional markets ... Dallas and Nashville for example.
 
Things Bettman has done - saved at least three, maybe four Canadian teams. Expanded hockey to places like Tampa, Nashville, Dallas. Given Minnesota a stable team. Slowed the runaway salary problem. Made a more equal league where 25+ teams are competitive. Got NHL players into the Olympics and raised the standard of international play. World Cup of Hockey. Expanded a league by 9 teams in 25 years. Major US TV deal with NBC Sports.
 
I would add came across a solid OT format with 3 on 3 .. I still hate that some games are worth 3 points versus 2, but what they did last year was an improvement, made the all-star game watchable again, and they have done some cool things with Youth Hockey
 
Agreed. Lots of good inner-city hockey programs too. Overall I think the NHL has grown from a league that was very backwoods compared to the NFL in, say, 1988 to a first class sports organization, up there with the NFL and EPL.
 
It is closing the gap, there are still 2 sick franchises (Phoenix and Carolina), Florida is a bit iffy, but some recent winning has helped them a bit. If they can get those 2 resolved and parlay their growth into a better US TV contract, the league will be pretty strong.

To add, the Blackhawks broke ground on their new training facility next to the United Center today .. it certainly qualifies as an inner city area. Beyond their practice rink, they will have a large amount of facilities for youth hockey as well as adult leagues. Chicago proper is really lacking places to skate, this will be a big boost. Most of the rinks are out in the suburbs/surrounding towns. I am sure at some point, we will see a future NHLer that started out there and in the meantime, it will get a lot of kids on the ice, enjoying the sport.
 
Hawks brought back Campbell 1 year around $2M. really good signing, they really missed Oduya last year and he fills that void at a very reasonable/short term cost. Oddly, they actually still have cap room left for once and can probably go snag another player, most likely a veteran bottom 6 forward. As FA plays out, someone good will be on the outside looking in and will take less $ and years for a good shot at a Cup
 
WTF is up with my Bruins!? Lost Erikson to Vancouver, the possibility to resign Lucic to Edmonton, we get Backes? Who's best days are more than likely behind him. Oh, we lost Stempniak too, who was doing well under his role.

That being said, I actually like Edmonton signing Lucic. Am I the only one who thinks Minnesota is over paying for Staal?

I'm with LC, I think Subban for Weber was MTL getting rid of an oncooperative player like BOS traded Seguin, but the return is a much better one in this case.
 
Onhell said:
Lucic to Edmonton
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The McDavid factor - if they can continue to sign some good player who want to play with him and develop a couple of great defencemen they can make a return to the playoffs in a few years.
The best thing would be to find a new Chris Pronger, but that will be difficult...

Calgary is looking interesting as well, with some young talents like Gaudreau, Monahan, Bennett, Tkachuk and Brodie. The greatest difference between them and Edmonton is that they actually have made the playoffs recently and that most of their young players have som experience from winning a playoff round.
 
NHL.com had an interview with the EDM GM and he said that in having convos with other GMs regarding defensemen they concluded that out of 30 teams you have about 12 true top pairing defensemen... so yeah, another Pronger, Niedermayer, Bourque, etc, very hard to find.
 
TheTalisman said:
The best thing would be to find a new Chris Pronger, but that will be difficult...
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Why do you think they traded Taylor Hall? They should have tried to get Seth Jones from Nashville last year before they moved him. That's a guy you can build a D-corps around. Beyond that, not too many.

Onhell said:
at out of 30 teams you have about 12 true top pairing defensemen...
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Karlsson, Weber, Keith, Doughty, Muzzin, Seabrook, Ekman-Larsson, Chara (though his time is almost done), Giordano (maybe), Ekblad, Suter, McDonough (borderline), Letang, Burns, Pietrangelo, Shattenkirk, Hedman, Enstrom (borderline), Subban (maybe).

Depending on your definition, between 14-20.
 
Indeed. He didn't go into details, so it's hard to say what the GMs consider a top pairing D-man. Not only does EDM need one, but I'm a bit skeptical of their goaltending situation. Talbot needs to prove himself this season as a legit number 1.

Speaking of goaltending, do you guys think Pittsburgh will expose Fleury or Murray for the expansion draft?
 
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