LAS VEGAS — One year ago, there was a secret announcement before the 2016 NHL Awards. Your correspondent and other reporters gathered in a ballroom in the Encore Resort and Casino awaiting news we already knew. After waiting a while, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, businessman and financier Bill Foley, and a giant street sign reading “NHL Hockey Blvd” emerged from a door on a right. Las Vegas had a hockey club, becoming the 31st franchise in the league.
A year later, they’ve turned that franchise into a hockey team, selecting 30 players from each of the other organizations in the NHL during a televised production of the 2017 NHL Awards.
Vegas general manger George McPhee made 10 total trades, stockpiling draft picks for years to come, exacting a price from teams to keep players they did not want to part with. He also acquired players in exchange for selecting certain players in the draft.
In the coming days, McPhee will likely flip some of his players. He currently has 30 NHL players. The maximum number of players you can dress for a game is 23. The Knights could be a force in a few years.
So here is the roster as it stands after the expansion draft Wednesday night.
More from the NHL:
The Golden Knights’ complete selections by position (and ordered alphabetically):
GOALTENDERS (3)
Jean-Francois Berube, NY Islanders
Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh
Calvin Pickard, ColoradoDEFENSEMEN (13)
Alexei Emelin, Montreal
Deryk Engelland, Calgary
Jason Garrison, Tampa Bay
Brayden McNabb, Los Angeles
Jon Merrill, New Jersey
Marc Methot, Ottawa
Colin Miller, Boston
Griffin Reinhart, Edmonton
Luca Sbisa, Vancouver
David Schlemko, San Jose
Nate Schmidt, Washington
Clayton Stoner, Anaheim
Trevor van Riemsdyk, ChicagoFORWARDS (14)
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Philadelphia
Connor Brickley, Carolina
William Carrier, Buffalo
Cody Eakin, Dallas
Erik Haula, Minnesota
William Karlsson, Columbus
Brendan Leipsic, Toronto
Oscar Lindberg, NY Rangers
Jonathan Marchessault, Florida
James Neal, Nashville
Tomas Nosek, Detroit
David Perron, St. Louis
Teemu Pulkkinen, Arizona
Chris Thorburn, WinnipegThe Golden Knights had to pick at least 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goaltenders. They also were required to select a minimum of 20 players under contract for the 2017-18 season as well as players with an aggregate value between 60-100% of the 2016-17 season’s upper limit for the salary cap.
The Golden Knights’ 30 selections have combined for four Stanley Cups as well as the following in their NHL regular-season careers: 8,420 games, 854 goals, 1,436 assists, 2,290 points and 409 goaltending wins. Players from eight different countries are represented in their picks: Canada (18), USA (4), Finland (2), Sweden (2), Czech Republic (1), France (1), Italy (1) and Russia (1).
In association with their 2017 NHL Expansion Draft selections, the Golden Knights made the following transactions:
* Vegas acquired D Shea Theodore from Anaheim.
* Vegas acquired Buffalo’s 6th-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft (161st overall).
* Vegas acquired Boston’s 5th-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft (142nd overall, previously acquired by Carolina).
* Vegas acquired F David Clarkson, Columbus’ 1st-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft (24th overall) and Columbus’ 2nd-round pick in 2019.
* Vegas acquired F Reilly Smith from Florida for Vegas’ 4th-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.
* Vegas acquired F Alex Tuch from Minnesota for Vegas’ 3rd-round pick in the 2017 or 2018 NHL Draft.
* Vegas acquired F Mikhail Grabovski and D Jake Bischoff as well as NY Islanders’ 1st-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft (15th overall) and 2nd-round pick in 2019.
* Vegas acquired Pittsburgh’s 2nd-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft.
* Vegas acquired F Nikita Gusev, Tampa Bay’s 2nd-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft (45th overall) and Pittsburgh’s 4th-round pick in 2018 (previously acquired by Tampa Bay).
* Vegas acquired Winnipeg’s 1st-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft (13th overall) and 3rd-round pick in 2019 for Columbus’ 1st-round pick in 2017 (24th overall, previously acquired by Vegas).
Headline photo: Ethan Miller
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