Shortly after protected lists were released Sunday morning, GMs began calling McPhee to try to poach available players from other teams. "It would be, 'Do we have too many players?' There are a lot of good players there".
The NHL expansion draft and Vegas' initial roster will be unveiled during Wednesday's televised NHL Awards Show. Following the draft, the Golden Knights will be permitted to trade players that were selected. There is enough talent available to select a competitive team for 2017-18, but with other GMs eager to protect their own assets, stocking the cupboards with draft picks and prospects seems to be the path Vegas will take.
"We are excited to welcome the Vegas Golden Knights to the National Hockey League and the Pacific Division".
Nashville Predators forward James Neal and Anaheim Ducks defenseman Sami Vatanen also were left unprotected.
If forward Jason Zucker is left unprotected by the Minnesota Wild, and the Golden Knights are game for instant cachet with fans, they'd land a hometown player faster than any other NHL Sun Belt team.
Notable goalies available to the Knights include, Philipp Grubauer of Washington, Roberto Luongo of Florida, Detroit Red Wings Petr Mrazek and Colorado's Calvin Pickard, who backstopped Canada to a silver medal last month at the World Championships.
The NHL is expected to announce Sunday at 10 a.m. what players are being protected by each team.
Just two years ago, the Senators got a first-round pick from Buffalo for goaltender Robin Lehner, Boston a first-round pick from San Jose for Martin Jones and NY second- and third-round picks from Edmonton for Cam Talbot. Martin is also a guy McPhee surely knows well as he spent his entire career in the Eastern Conference before joining the Sharks two seasons ago.
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Said Chayka: "I think the league will kind of wait and see how the exposure lists comes out ... then hopefully re-engage and see if we can make a deal that makes our team better".
The Golden Knights will also have this three-day window to meet with the pending restricted and unrestricted free agents exposed in the draft, and if they negotiate a deal with one of those players in that time, that counts as Vegas' pick from that team. Considering the fact that they only had three free protection slots due to eight no-movement clauses, there were only so many options of who to protect anyway.
Thornton had a cap hit of $6.8 million and Marleau $6.7 million in the last of three-year deals.
Columbus: Watch for a possible deal, as it was reported by Columbus Dispatch's Aaron Portzline that the Blue Jackets will send a first-round pick - the 24th-overall selection - to the Golden Knights to keep their squad together.
The Philadelphia Flyers didn't protect goaltender Michal Neuvirth, who the team signed to a two-year, $5 million contract extension in March.
The NHL Expansion Draft will be held Wednesday, June 21. If Wilson can get the remaining $12 million of his contract off the books, it would give him more cap flexibility when free agency kicks off on July 1.
Boedker, who signed a four-year, $16 million contract with the Sharks in free agency last summer, underperformed in his first season with the team, serving as a healthy scratch on January 5 and in Games 3 and 4 of the squad's Stanley Cup playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers.
The North American Hockey League (NAHL) will be on site both days of the draft with live coverage on nahl.com, as well as, the NAHL's social media channels.
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