Update 6:45 PM: Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post reports that the Knights have not selected goalie Philipp Grubauer. That leaves Nate Schmidt as the most likely choice.
Original Story: Early Wednesday afternoon, teams were informed which of their unprotected players were selected in the expansion draft before they are officially announced during the NHL Awards show later in the evening. The teams, some of which had already worked out side deals with Vegas to prevent certain players from being drafted, then notified the players. Now, we’re starting to hear about it.
The Golden Knights seem to be passing on some quality goaltenders, including Petr Mrazek and Anttti Raata. We already know they’ll be picking up Marc-Andre Fleury from the Penguins. However, Vegas general manager George McPhee has tons of trades worked out already. Some of his selections will be quickly flipped in previously arranged deals and more players will likely being traded in the coming days.
We can speculate on who will be picked from the Caps, but it’s hard to tell at this point. CSN’s Jill Sorenson reported that the player has been notified. As an unprotected UFA, Karl Alzner did speak with Vegas during the 72-hour window, but opted to test free agency instead.
Here’s a running tally.
Many rival GMs concede McPhee did excellent job of maximizing his leverage in unique situation, likes of which has never been seen in NHL.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 21, 2017
Fleury, BTW, expected to be on hand/introduced during NHL Awards show. As I said Tuesday, he strikes me as likely face of VGK franchise.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 21, 2017
CLARIFICATION: I believe some trades may be announced tonight if they’re self-contained expansion draft related trades.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 21, 2017
Let’s start with ANA. The belief is VGK will claim Clayton Stoner, pass on Manson/Vatanen and, in return for all that, get Shea Theodore.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 21, 2017
Next up, CHI. @frank_seravalli reported awhile back net result would be VGK getting Trevor van Riemsdyk and taking on Marcus Krueger.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 21, 2017
Sounds like it's Pierre-Edouard Bellemare headed to Vegas from Philly.
— Craig Custance (@CraigCustance) June 21, 2017
Can tell you that Vegas has NOT selected Antti Raanta from Rangers…
— Larry Brooks (@NYP_Brooksie) June 21, 2017
No reason to ever doubt @TSNBobMcKenzie. So the deal is #Isles 1st, 15th overall and Grabovski to have Vegas select JF Berube.
— Arthur Staple (@StapeAthletic) June 21, 2017
Bill Foley says Vegas signed two restricted free agents during their exclusive negotiating period.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 21, 2017
SOURCES: #mnwild's Erik Haula signs with Vegas Golden Knights, Alex Tuch likely bound for Vegas by day's end https://t.co/Hxtho3c70x
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) June 21, 2017
Sounds like Deryk Engelland is the Calgary Flames player going to Vegas. He's a UFA ON July 1. #ExpansionDraft
— John Shannon (@JShannonhl) June 21, 2017
I'm hearing it's goaltender J-F Berube, as part of the larger deal between NYI and VGK: https://t.co/fVPATCrSiR
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 21, 2017
Source tells me #Winnipeg's & now former #Stars forward Cody Eakin is a Las Vegas #GoldenKnights #NHLExpansionDraft #NHL
— Jim Toth (@JimTothSports) June 21, 2017
Hearing Tomas Nosek most likely to be picked by Vegas from Red Wings list.
— Craig Custance (@CraigCustance) June 21, 2017
Can confirm that Oscar Lindberg will be going to Vegas in the expansion draft.
— Larry Brooks (@NYP_Brooksie) June 21, 2017
De source sûre, je peux confirmer que le joueur des @StLouisBlues choisir par les @GoldenKnights est David Perron.
— Raphaël Doucet (@raphdoucet) June 21, 2017
Got some better intel on #Habs, just to correct an earlier tweet. Looks like VGK is targeting Alexei Emelin – not Davidson.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/877630728376205312
And boom goes the dynamite:
Can confirm that Philipp Grubauer *was not* selected by the Vegas Golden Knights. Means it's likely that D Nate Schmidt is the pick.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) June 21, 2017
Hearing that smooth-skating D Nate Schmidt is Vegas-bound…
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 21, 2017
