Thought we could have a discussion about the next item on the Blues calendar.

Who we gonna lose? Who do you wish we could lose?

http://thehockeywriters.com/9-surprises ... ion-draft/

The 2017 NHL Expansion Draft is set to take place starting on June 18 and at the draft, the Vegas Golden Knights will have added 30 new players to its roster, trying to ice a team that will be competitive during next year’s NHL regular season. It’s no easy task when you’re relegated as an expansion franchise to grabbing cast-offs or unwanted contracts from the existing NHL teams to try and round out your core. This year may be a bit different and the NHL has tried to set things up so that their newest team isn’t guaranteed a last-place finish.

This guy thinks Jaskin gets chosen:

I'll take a stab at the protected list for the Blues:

Forwards:
Tarasenko, Stastny, Steen, Schwartz, Berglund, Sobotka, Reaves

Defense:
Petro, Bouwmeester, Edmundson

Goalie:
Allen

I actually feel like outside of the last forward spot, occupied by Reaves in my draft, it's pretty straightforward. I like Reaves in the last spot because the other options (Perron, Jaskin, Yak, Brodziak, Paajarvi) are all extremely replaceable. Maybe you try to offer Vegas a deal to get them to take Lehtera, but I don't think they want that deal either. I could see them taking Jaskin, Hutton, Gunnarsson or Perron if he's exposed, and none of those really bother me at all.

I heard a rumor that teams might actually offer Vegas deals to ensure they take certain players from OTHER teams as well. For instance we throw them a pick to guarantee they take a certain player from Nashville. That would be a great wrinkle. Looking forward to this offseason. Just finish up the playoffs quickly guys.

If it's me, I protect 91, 17, 26, 20, 71, 28, 75, 27, 19, 6, and 34.

To me, I would rather expose Berglund, Perron, and Lehtera on the off-chance that one will be selected because that frees up somewhere around $4M in cap space while giving most likely either Barbashev or Sanford a spot to replace any of those guys. Reaves and Brodziak, on the other hand, represent good value at around $1M in cap space, those guys will be hard to replace for the same salary.

Having said that I would think Hutton gets selected. To me he is one of the best backup goalies out there for the price. LV needs to stay cap-compliant so it's not like they can afford to take on a bunch of bloated salaries. They will be looking for value as a top priority.

blueslifer wrote:If it's me, I protect 91, 17, 26, 20, 71, 28, 75, 27, 19, 6, and 34.

To me, I would rather expose Berglund, Perron, and Lehtera on the off-chance that one will be selected because that frees up somewhere around $4M in cap space while giving most likely either Barbashev or Sanford a spot to replace any of those guys. Reaves and Brodziak, on the other hand, represent good value at around $1M in cap space, those guys will be hard to replace for the same salary.

Having said that I would think Hutton gets selected. To me he is one of the best backup goalies out there for the price. LV needs to stay cap-compliant so it's not like they can afford to take on a bunch of bloated salaries. They will be looking for value as a top priority.

I think protecting Brodziak is a waste. Don't get me wrong, I like him in his role, but I can't see Vegas picking him since he'll be UFA in a year and has no real long term upside. Its not like he has a bigger salary that will get Vegas closer to the cap floor, and they're not going to be in a position where they want to waste roster spots on short term bottom six mucker veterans. I don't think there's a chance in hell that Berglund is exposed, for better or worse.

Hutton might be the guy, but likely due to lack of other appealing options on this roster.

Which Blues players are exempt from the expansion draft?

Dave's a mess wrote:

blueslifer wrote:If it's me, I protect 91, 17, 26, 20, 71, 28, 75, 27, 19, 6, and 34.

To me, I would rather expose Berglund, Perron, and Lehtera on the off-chance that one will be selected because that frees up somewhere around $4M in cap space while giving most likely either Barbashev or Sanford a spot to replace any of those guys. Reaves and Brodziak, on the other hand, represent good value at around $1M in cap space, those guys will be hard to replace for the same salary.

Having said that I would think Hutton gets selected. To me he is one of the best backup goalies out there for the price. LV needs to stay cap-compliant so it's not like they can afford to take on a bunch of bloated salaries. They will be looking for value as a top priority.

I think protecting Brodziak is a waste. Don't get me wrong, I like him in his role, but I can't see Vegas picking him since he'll be UFA in a year and has no real long term upside. Its not like he has a bigger salary that will get Vegas closer to the cap floor, and they're not going to be in a position where they want to waste roster spots on short term bottom six mucker veterans. I don't think there's a chance in hell that Berglund is exposed, for better or worse.

Hutton might be the guy, but likely due to lack of other appealing options on this roster.

I agree about Brodziak. I doubt they would take him. If I was Vegas, I'd take either Berglund or Perron if they were available. I'm thinking that there will be some better choices for goaltenders than Hutton. Vegas will need to get to the salary cap floor, so maybe they'll take one of Dallas's goaltenders and Pittsburgh?

BluesSK wrote:Which Blues players are exempt from the expansion draft?

Fabbri and Parayko are the important ones.

storey13 wrote:

BluesSK wrote:Which Blues players are exempt from the expansion draft?

Fabbri and Parayko are the important ones.

Basically add to them the kids: Barbashev, Schmaltz, Sanford. I believe Lindbohm would have to be protected since this year was his third full pro year. We're lucky that the few games Parayko played after his college season was up doesn't count as a "full pro year" in the expansion draft, so we don't have to protect him. Otherwise we'd likely be losing Edmundson.

UMSLBlues12 wrote:

storey13 wrote:

BluesSK wrote:Which Blues players are exempt from the expansion draft?

Fabbri and Parayko are the important ones.

Basically add to them the kids: Barbashev, Schmaltz, Sanford. I believe Lindbohm would have to be protected since this year was his third full pro year. We're lucky that the few games Parayko played after his college season was up doesn't count as a "full pro year" in the expansion draft, so we don't have to protect him. Otherwise we'd likely be losing Edmundson.

I believe we'd be losing Bouwmeister in that scenario.

Frank Seravalli tweeted today about Vegas already being offered some backdoor moves. Hawks are trying to get rid of Kruger, and are saying they'd trade the Knights TVR if the Knights take Kruger in the expansion draft.

UMSLBlues12 wrote:Frank Seravalli tweeted today about Vegas already being offered some backdoor moves. Hawks are trying to get rid of Kruger, and are saying they'd trade the Knights TVR if the Knights take Kruger in the expansion draft.

The only players with 7 figure contracts the Hawks actually can expose are Panarin, Panik, and Kruger. The 3 Cups were nice for them, but the party's over and the bill is due.

Dave's a mess wrote:

UMSLBlues12 wrote:Frank Seravalli tweeted today about Vegas already being offered some backdoor moves. Hawks are trying to get rid of Kruger, and are saying they'd trade the Knights TVR if the Knights take Kruger in the expansion draft.

The only players with 7 figure contracts the Hawks actually can expose are Panarin, Panik, and Kruger. The 3 Cups were nice for them, but the party's over and the bill is due.

Even shedding those two deals would leave them over a $73M cap and they would still need to add two spare forwards and a spare D. I'd say it's almost a certainty that the PA is pressured into using enough of their 5% inflator to get the cap up to $75M next year, and the 'Hawks current cap situation will be a big reason why the league favors that move by the PA.

Per JR:

"I have heard rumblings that Vegas may have some interest in Lehtera and I wouldn't be shocked if the Blues gave up a second-rounder to make the deal work. For those who have been involved in our recent chats, I have said that I couldn't see the Blues giving up one of their first-rounders, but a second would make more sense. And as far as Justin Williams, he's a guy I believe the Blues would have some interest in."

I heard vegas was going to take lehtera and gunnarson from us.

Hypothetically speaking, that frees up ~9 mil.

Say 6ish to parayko, where would that leave us? Roll the dice with yeo and (around) 3mil less than last yr?

Ozzies09tc wrote:I heard vegas was going to take lehtera and gunnarson from us.

Hypothetically speaking, that frees up ~9 mil.

Say 6ish to parayko, where would that leave us? Roll the dice with yeo and (around) 3mil less than last yr?

Stop it....dreams like that never come true for me as a Blues fan

Frank used to be in my fantasy hockey league. I'll see if I can get anymore info on Vegas taking Lehtera.

I believe its because we are sharing the wolves and have two 1st rd draft picks, we will give them a 2nd to take gunnarson and lehtera (along with sharing ahl)

Who would replace gunnarson? Lindbohm? Butler? Dunn/schmaltz/ufa?

Ozzies09tc wrote:I believe its because we are sharing the wolves and have two 1st rd draft picks, we will give them a 2nd to take gunnarson and lehtera (along with sharing ahl)

Who would replace gunnarson? Lindbohm? Butler? Dunn/schmaltz/ufa?

Dunn

Per Columbus Dispatch

Speculation is that the Blue Jackets already have a deal in place with Vegas, that the sides have agreed to some form of mutual back-scratching that will steer the Golden Knights toward taking a player on their roster who will cause only a minor wince.

The Jackets will send Vegas a prospect and/or a draft pick to take player “A” instead of player “B,” and Vegas will agree to future considerations to make the deal conform to NHL guidelines.

Alright, Cup has been handed out, time for that sweet, sweet, sexy trade action to get fired up. It's going to kill me if they keep the lid on trades until the 18th when the official protected player lists are submitted.

Dave's a mess wrote:Alright, Cup has been handed out, time for that sweet, sweet, sexy trade action to get fired up. It's going to kill me if they keep the lid on trades until the 18th when the official protected player lists are submitted.

Yes. Definitely more excited about these next couple weeks than I was about the previous couple weeks.

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:

Dave's a mess wrote:Alright, Cup has been handed out, time for that sweet, sweet, sexy trade action to get fired up. It's going to kill me if they keep the lid on trades until the 18th when the official protected player lists are submitted.

Yes. Definitely more excited about these next couple weeks than I was about the previous couple weeks.

Yeah, it only took 3 weeks to play 6 games.

Time for some fun again.

Have any Blues been asked to waive their no trade clauses for the expansion draft?

BluesSK wrote:Have any Blues been asked to waive their no trade clauses for the expansion draft?

I don't think they have anybody they need to ask. While a few guys have no trade clauses (NTC), only players with no movement clauses (NMC) have to be asked to waive that clause in order to be put on the exposure list for the expansion draft. According to Capfriendly.com Berglund is the only player with a NMC.