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Rumored Vegas Golden Knights Expansion Selections

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The Vegas Golden Knights will reveal their expansion selections at tonight’s NHL Awards show, but details have started to come in on who each team will lose. There are many rumors floating around, but these are the most reputable. As with anything, nothing is final until the actual selections are announced tonight. This page will be updated with new information as it comes in.

Here are the latest rumored selections along with their source:

Anaheim Ducks: Clayton Stoner — Bob McKenzie of TSN

Arizona Coyotes: 

Boston Bruins: Colin Miller — Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet

Buffalo Sabres: William Carrier — Frank Seravalli of TSN

Calgary Flames: Deryk Engelland — John Shannon of Sportsnet

Carolina Hurricanes:

Chicago Blackhawks: Trevor van Riemsdyk — Frank Seravalli of TSN

Colorado Avalanche:

Columbus Blue Jackets: William Karlsson — Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch

Dallas Stars: Cody Eakin — Jim Toth of TSN

Detroit Red Wings: Tomas Nosek — Craig Custance of The Athletic.

Edmonton Oilers: Griffin Reinhart — John Shannon of Sportsnet

Florida Panthers: Jon Marchessault — Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet

Los Angeles Kings: Brayden McNabb — John Shannon of Sportsnet

Minnesota Wild: Erik Haula — Michael Russo of the Star Tribune

Montreal Canadiens: Alexei Emelin — Eric Engels of Sportsnet

Nashville Predators: James Neal — Bob McKenzie of TSN

New Jersey Devils: Jon Merrill — Frank Seravalli of TSN

New York Islanders: Jean-Francois Berube — Bob McKenzie of TSN

New York Rangers: Oscar Lindberg — Larry Brooks of the New York Post and Frank Seravalli of TSN.

Ottawa Senators: Marc Methot — Pierre LeBrun of TSN

Philadelphia Flyers: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare — Craig Custance of The Athletic

Pittsburgh Penguins: Marc-Andre Fleury – Bob McKenzie of TSN

San Jose Sharks: David Schlemko — Pierre LeBrun of TSN

St. Louis Blues: David Perron — James Mirtle of The Athletic

Tampa Bay Lightning:

Toronto Maple Leafs: Brendan Leipsic — Darren Dreger of TSN

Vancouver Canucks:

Washington Capitals: Nate Schmidt — Pierre LeBrun of TSN

Winnipeg Jets:

Vegas Signed Two RFAs, Selected “A Couple” UFAs

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Right from the horse’s mouth, Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reports that Bill Foley and the Vegas Golden Knights signed two restricted free agents during the negotiating window and picked “a couple” of unrestricted free agents with which they will continue to negotiate. One of those RFAs is presumably Erik Haula of which we already know, while Jean-Francois Berube is likely one of the UFAs. Brendan Leipsic, rumored to be headed to Vegas from the Toronto Maple Leafs is also an RFA, though there has been no word on whether he has signed or not as of yet. Deryk Engelland is possibly the Calgary pick, which would represent another pending UFA.

Vegas GM George McPhee told us yesterday that there would be a few “throwaway picks” meaning players who the Golden Knights had no intention of signing after the draft. While Berube might represent that option, Engelland does make his off-season home in Vegas and could theoretically sign with the team. The Golden Knights should have no shortage of defensemen to choose from however, making him still a long-shot to spend the 2017-18 season on the strip. The Flames look like they’re getting off easy in the draft, without a side deal reported as of yet.

It’s interesting to see that the Golden Knights don’t appear to have gone after any of the big name free agents, as discussed this morning in regards to Karl Alzner. It’s hard to forfeit your selection in the expansion draft just to sign a player who you can talk to just a week later. With players like Nate Schmidt and Brenden Dillon available in the free agent hotbeds, the Golden Knights have probably just used the negotiating window to exchange early figures with the pending UFAs.

Expected Trades With Vegas Golden Knights

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The Vegas Golden Knights assuredly have more deals worked out than we know so far, but Bob McKenzie of TSN gave us a long breakdown of the ones that are expected to happen. With some added details from others like Michael Russo of the Star Tribune, Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch and Arthur Staple of Newsday, here are the deals that the hockey world is pretty sure have been agreed upon. To be clear, none of these trades are final until they are announced at tonight’s NHL Awards ceremony:

Minnesota Wild

Vegas signs Erik Haula to multi-year contract, forfeiting expansion selection. Sends conditional draft pick.

Minnesota sends Alex Tuch.

Anaheim Ducks

Vegas selects Clayton Stoner.

Anaheim sends Shea Theodore.

Chicago Blackhawks

Vegas selects Trevor van Riemsdyk.

Chicago sends Marcus Kruger.

This deal in particular should be subject to skepticism, as today’s news surrounding Marian Hossa complicates things. Scott Powers of The Athletic has been told that Kruger will remain with the Blackhawks through tonight, though it’s unclear what that would mean for van Riemsdyk who is still eligible to be drafted.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Vegas will not select Josh Anderson, Joonas Korpisalo or Jack Johnson.

Columbus sends 2017 first-round pick, a prospect, and David Clarkson.

New York Islanders

Vegas will not select certain players left exposed (unclear who exactly has been included).

New York sends 2017 first-round pick, and  Mikhail Grabovski.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Vegas selects Marc-Andre Fleury.

Pittsburgh sends unknown draft pick.

There are also deals in place with other teams including Florida and Tampa Bay, but reports have been inconsistent on the details thus far. McKenzie’s thread gives some insight into what they could be, but at this point it is still speculation. Again, each of these should be considered still only expected as details are fuzzy on each of them. We’ll update this page with any other deals that are leaked in the next few hours.

Minnesota Wild Forward Erik Haula To Sign With Vegas Golden Knights

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According to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune, the Vegas Golden Knights will pass up a chance to pick a player from the Minnesota Wild. Instead, the team has signed Erik Haula to a three-year contract extension. In order for them to avoid Mathew Dumba and others, the Wild have also agreed to send Vegas prospect Alex Tuch while the Golden Knights will return a conditional draft pick.Erik Haula

This is a huge move for the Golden Knights, and one that could have been expected after the protection lists were released. The Wild chose not to make a deal before the lists were due, instead deciding to trade directly with the source of their roster discomfort. Dumba, Marco Scandella, Eric Staal and others were left unprotected despite serious interest from around the league. Instead of watching one of their defensemen walk out the door, the Wild will instead have to part with their first-round pick from 2014 in Tuch and an effective secondary option in Haula.

The 21-year old Tuch made his NHL debut this season, after two successful years at Boston College. Though he was held scoreless in his six game stint, he did put up 37 points in 57 AHL contests and could make an impact down the line for the Golden Knights. Though he may never be a top-line player, his size and scoring ability should at least allow him to be an effective middle-six winger. The most important part for the Wild was that it wasn’t Kirill Kaprizov, Luke Kunin or Jordan Greenway going the other way, three forward prospects that all may have higher ceilings than Tuch.

In Haula, the Golden Knights add to their forward depth with a versatile player who can skate at center or the wing. The 26-year old was due to become a restricted free agent for the final time in his career, coming off a deal that paid him just $1MM last season. His new contract will give the Golden Knights some cap certainty in the bottom of their lineup, while also gaining an asset. Russo doesn’t have details on the conditional pick, but says that it is “complicated.”

With trades for first-round picks from several teams and a report from last night implicating Shea Theodore in a potential deal with Anaheim, the Golden Knights are putting themselves in prime position to compete in the near future. “Asset harvesting” as George McPhee puts it is bearing fruit for the expansion team.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Wild Notes: Expansion Dealing, Koivu, Olofsson

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While the Golden Knights already have at least six trades in place following the Expansion Draft and roster freeze, they may not be done their dealing just yet.  TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports (Twitter link) that speculation is growing that the Wild either have or will soon have a deal in place that would see them exchange a prospect to Vegas in exchange for them staying away from unprotected defensemen Mathew Dumba and Marco Scandella.

Minnesota was only able to protect three of their blueliners in part due to the fact that three forwards carry no-move clauses.  Undoubtedly, Golden Knights GM George McPhee has received plenty of interest from other teams for one of those two rearguards in a draft-and-trade proposal so for him to entertain a deal to not pick one of those two, the Wild will have to give up something of note.  If they do reach an agreement on a deal to stay away, that would push center Eric Staal, who had a resurgent season with in 2016-17, to the forefront of who Vegas could select.  In a separate tweet, McKenzie suggests forward Erik Haula, a pending RFA, could get a contract from the Golden Knights and be their selection as well.

Other notes from Minnesota:

  • If the team isn’t able to come to an agreement with center Mikko Koivu on an extension this summer, there won’t be any in-season negotiations, the captain told Michael Russo of the Star-Tribune: “I don’t think I would do anything during the season. I don’t think it would help my game at all. If not now, it’s going to be at the end of the year.”  Koivu is entering the final season of a seven year, $47.25MM contract, one that will pay the 34 year old $9.18MM in 2017-18.  He’s coming off his highest point total since 2010-11 as he recorded 58 points (18-40-58) in 2016-17.
  • Also from Russo, he notes that defenseman Gustav Olofsson is someone that intrigues the Golden Knights. The former second round pick got into 13 games of NHL action this past season while adding 24 points in 59 games at the minor league level with Iowa.  Olofsson is coming off his entry-level contract and is slated to become a restricted free agent in July.

Minnesota Issues Qualifying Offers To Restricted Free Agents

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According to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune, the Minnesota Wild have tendered qualifying offers to (amounts pulled from CapFriendly’s QO calculator):

The team has also decided not to qualify Guillaume Gelinas, Alex Gudbranson, and Brady Brassart, and is still deciding on Jordan Schroeder. It is likely that the team also qualified Christian Folin, but it is still unclear if the team has made a decision on Steve Michalek, Kurtis Gabriel, Zack Mitchell and Zach Palmquist, all of whom are also restricted free agents this summer.

Those free agents not issued an offer will become unrestricted free agents, while the Wild will retain the exclusive negotiating rights on the others even if they should turn down the offer. Both Reilly and Olofsson are still eligible for two-way offers, which they may accept. The other more established RFAs will in all likelihood turn them down and enter negotiations or the arbitration process.

The reason the team is still undecided when it comes to Schroeder, despite his 13 points in 37 games and pedigree as a first-round pick, is likely because he is eligible for arbitration. With Minnesota set to be very tight to the cap next season, they may not be able to afford the arbitration settlement for the 26-year old and could instead cut him lose or trade him in the coming days.

All teams must submit qualifying offers by 4pm on June 26th, or else lose their exclusive negotiating rights to that player. Last year, many players including Brandon Pirri and Beau Bennett did not receive offers by the deadline and became UFAs able to sign anywhere in the league.

Wild Notes: Dubnyk, Vezina Finalists, Yeo

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It was a tough day for the Wild’s Devan Dubnyk tweets Sportsnet’s John Shannon, who allowed the game-winning overtime goal to Magnus Paajarvi in today’s Game 5. The veteran goaltender, who is coming off a great 2016-17 season, yielded four goals in what turned out to be their season-ending game. To make matters worse, Dubnyk, who was a candidate to be a finalist for the Vezina Trophy this year, was not selected. The NHL announced their finalists today as Washington Capitals’ Braden Holtby, Columbus Blue Jackets’ Sergei Bobrovsky and Montreal Canadiens’ Carey Price.

Still, the 30-year-old Dubnyk remains a cornerstone for the franchise after finishing the season, having played 65 games with a 2.25 GAA and a .925 save percentage. He is also locked up contractually until the 2020-21 season.

The team should be expected to contend for another few years as they also have the core of their team locked up for the next few years behind veterans Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, Jason Pominville and defenseman Ryan Suter. The team’s youth is also ripening with solid seasons from Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter and defenders Jared Spurgeon, Mathew Dumba and Jonas Brodin.

The team may have some tough decisions for the upcoming expansion draft. The veteran team is sure to lose a quality player, and must contend with the No Movement Clauses of Koivu, Pominville, Parise and Suter. That leaves only a handful of spots left, depending on which path the Wild chooses to take. Tough decisions will have to be made about several players, including Jason Zucker, Erik Haula, Chris Stewart as well as veteran Eric Staal, who went down during Game 5. Even young defensemen like Brodin and Dumba could be exposed as well.

The team only has a handful of unrestricted free agents, namely Martin Hanzal and Ryan White, both acquired at the trade deadline from Arizona to help with their playoff run. The team must decide if they want or able to being one or both veterans back to the team next season.

  • One consequence to the Wild’s ouster in the playoffs will benefit the Arizona Coyotes. When Minnesota traded for Hanzal and White at the trade deadline, the team sent their 2017 first-round pick, a 2018 second-round pick and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2019 as well as prospect Grayson Downing. To the Wild’s benefit, that 2019 conditional fourth-rounder will remain a fourth-rounder. However, the series loss will allow the Coyotes to get a better pick than they had expected. The Wild at the time of the trade had the top record in the Western Conference and many figured that the pick would land in the high 20’s. Now the Wild could be handing a pick as early as No. 23 to the Coyotes for Hanzal and White, who are both unrestricted free agents in the offseason.
  • Blues head coach Mike Yeo said he has no special feelings about beating the Wild, the team that fired him during the 2015-16 season. “It’s not about me. I’ve been sincere when I’ve said that. I don’t think that what I’m feeling right now would be any different if it was any other team.”

Roster Notes: Haula, Lazar, Oduya

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Lineup changes have arrived for the Flames according to Kristen Odland, as the team will attempt to ward off elimination. Matt Stajan and Lance Bouma have both been told to take the night off, as Curtis Lazar and Freddie Hamilton find their way back to the ice. Hamilton had 2 goals and 0 assists in his 26 regular season games, and Lazar had 1 goal and 3 assists in his 37 games played. Neither is obviously expected to provide stellar offense, but instead to spark energy and infuse youth into a lineup which looked gassed in their Game 3 three-goal lead implosion. Lazar had been held pointless in 6 games while dressed for the Senators in the playoffs two seasons ago, though he was fantastic for the Oil Kings in their Memorial Cup run the year prior. This will be Hamilton’s first playoff experience.

  • Blackhawks’ Johnny Oduya has been yanked from the lineup by coach Joel Quenneville for a potentially deciding Game 4. Michal Kempny is expected to take his place. The 26 year-old Czech defenseman had a phenomenally underappreciated season, posting an absurd 56.1% Corsi For. The left-handed shooting defenseman has never played in a playoff game. He had gone unsigned until May of last year, when he was acquired by the organization for depth. He ended up playing 50 games for the Hawks, despite marginal offensive totals. Oduya’s veteran status makes this a surprising move, although his lack of speed and age were starting to show in a series where the Predators’ forecheck was relentless.
  • Erik Haula will not play for the Minnesota Wild tonight in their game against the Blues. Haula was held pointless and registered a -2 through 3 games. Coach Bruce Boudreau did not confirm who would take his spot, as he had been playing on the top unit with Mikko Koivu. This is a surprising move despite his struggles in the series, as the forward had been producing at a decent clip before running into the red-hot Jake Allen. There has been no word as to who will replace his position on the left wing.

Deadline Primer: Minnesota Wild

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With the trade deadline now just a week away, we continue to take a closer look at each team. Where do they stand, what do they need to do, and what assets do they have to fill those needs?

After slipping into the playoffs last year with less than 90 points and the final wildcard position, only to get punched in the mouth by the Dallas Stars and go home early, the Minnesota Wild needed a change. They’d fired their coach halfway through the season, and were relying on an aging (but excellent) core of Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise and Ryan Suter too much to succeed.

Enter Bruce Boudreau and the kids. After good solid seasons from the young guns a year ago, many of them have exploded to the forefront of the team this season, with Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter, Charlie Coyle, and Jason Zucker all already setting career-highs in points through 59 games. They’re leading the Western Conference by five points and look poised for a deep playoff run.

Record

39-14-6, 1st in Central Division

Deadline Status

Buyer

Deadline Cap Space

$5.20MM – full-season cap hit, 47/50 contracts per CapFriendly.

Draft Picks

2017: MIN 1st, MIN 3rd, MIN 4th, MIN 5th, MIN 6th, MIN 7th
2018: MIN 1st, MIN 2nd, MIN 3rd, MIN 4th, MIN 5th, MIN 6th, MIN 7th

Trade Chips

Minnesota will almost surely avoid trading anything off the roster that has put them in prime position for a Stanley Cup run, meaning they’ll have to use draft picks and prospects as bait if they want to add anything next week. It’s a shame they don’t have their second-round pick from this season—which they traded to Buffalo for Chris Stewart back in 2015—since they are used so often in rental deals. Jason Pominville

The Wild do however have a fairly stocked cupboard of prospects that could be waived in front of a team looking to get younger. Their drafting the last decade (or longer) though not perfect in the first round has unearthed plenty of talent in later selections. They’ve picked players like Cal Clutterbuck (3rd), Justin Falk (4th), Marco Scandella (2nd), Erik Haula (7th), Darcy Kuemper (6th), Zucker (2nd) and Johan Larsson (2nd) all outside of the first round and found excellent value in each.

If a team really wants to go after youth, they could ask for prospects like Jordan Greenway, who showed off his skills at the most recent World Juniors. Kirill Kaprisov is tearing up the KHL as a 19-year old, and it was recently reported that he’ll play for CSKA next season. Alex Tuch is showing his ability at the AHL level after a dominating NCAA career, and Luke Kunin continues to captain the University of Wisconsin up the college hockey rankings. It would be crazy to trade any of these names for a rental, but if the Wild want to enter the ring of possible long-term upgrades, they have the pieces to do it.

One Player To Watch: F Jason Pominville, who has a big cap-hit and is playing much less due to the emergence of the young guns is a contract that the Wild may look to move out if they’re to make any improvements.

Team Needs

1) Wing Depth – The Wild would like to move Coyle back to center ice if possible, but they’d need a winger who can jump into their top-six to do it. Jannik Hansen has been rumored to be on their radar, but a player like Patrick Eaves seems a better fit. It’s not guaranteed that they’ll do anything, though GM Chuck Fletcher has said that they have some “unproven depth” at forward.

2) Center – The nice thing about having Coyle is that if you can’t find the upgrade at the wing you could always acquire a center instead and leave him out there. Arizona’s Martin Hanzal was quoted today by Chris Hine of the Chicago Tribune as saying he wants to stay in the middle even if traded, which would still be possible for the Wild.

Minor Transactions: 2/9/2017

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For the third consecutive day no players were placed on waivers, as Chris Johnston of Sportsnet noted this afternoon. However, that doesn’t mean teams aren’t busy calling players up from or sending players to the minor leagues. In this post we’ll track the day’s minor transactions and update as needed.

  • The Buffalo Sabres have announced (via Twitter) that they have recalled forwards Evan Rodrigues and Derek Grant from Rochester. Bill Hoppe of the Times Herald added that Zemgus Girgensons wasn’t on the ice for the team’s morning skate and while Evander Kane was, he didn’t take line rushes. The implication being both players might be unavailable tonight thus necessitating the call-ups. Rodrigues has appeared in two games this season, going scoreless while averaging 11:28 of ice time. Grant, who was recently reacquired via waivers from Nashville, has registered four points, all assists, in 41 games. He is still searching for his first NHL goal after seeing action in 81 games over parts of five seasons with Ottawa, Calgary, Buffalo and Nashville.
  • Winger Alex Tuch has been reassigned by the Minnesota Wild to their AHL affiliate in Iowa, the team announced this morning. Tuch, the club’s first-round pick, 18th overall, in the 2014 draft, has appeared in three games this season without netting a point. He’s registered 11 goals and 22 points in 34 AHL contests. Michael Russo of the Star Tribune tweeted that unless the team recalls another forward from the minor then it appears as if Charlie Coyle will move back to the wing with Erik Haula and Tyler Graovac assuming the third and fourth line center slots, respectively.
  • Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times brings word that the Tampa Bay Lightning have reassigned forwards Michael Bournival and Joel Vermin to Syracuse. Smith adds that this could be good news for Ondrej Palat and Alex Killorn, as the reassignments leave the team with just 12 healthy forwards – Ryan Callahan is currently on IR. Palat has missed the last two games while Killorn didn’t play in Tampa’s 5 – 0 shutout win over the L.A. Kings.

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