[Article] If an expansion draft happened now, which Canucks would you protect?

[TheFleetwoodMack]

http://vansunsportsblogs.com/2014/08/28/if-an-expansion-draft-happened-now-which-canucks-would-you-protect/

According to reports, which the NHL unsurprisingly denied, the league is planning expansion by four teams in 2017. The reports arent really anything new expansion into Las Vegas, Seattle, Toronto, and Quebec City has been rumoured for years but the certainty with which Howard Bloom, who is usually reliable for sports business news, has reported the news has made this a hot topic this week.

If and when expansion does occur, the team will need to hold an expansion draft to fill out of the rosters of the new teams. Just for fun, lets imagine the league chose to expand right now, requiring an immediate expansion draft.

The new teams wont be able to pick just anyone from the existing teams rosters, of course. In an expansion draft, each team protects certain players, ensuring that they cant be selected. There are limits to the number of players that can be protected, however, ensuring that a few decent players are available to the new teams.

So, which players would you protect on the Canucks?

Well use the rules from the last expansion draft, when the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild joined the league in 2000, despite the fact that they were for a two-team expansion; a four-team expansion draft would likely require more unprotected players.

In 2000, there were two options for the number of players you could protect: either one goaltender, five defencemen, and nine forwards or two goaltenders, three defencemen, and seven forwards. They specifically made it difficult to protect both your starter and your backup so that quality goaltenders were available to select. To make it even more difficult, if a team chose to protect two goaltenders, they had to leave at least one goaltender exposed with at least 10 NHL games in the previous season or 25 NHL games over the previous two seasons.

Teams were also required to expose one defenceman and two forwards with at least 40 games played in the previous season or 70 over the last two seasons, including playoff games.

1st and 2nd-year pros (and, presumably, prospects who havent reached the pros) and unsigned draft choices were exempt, so dont worry about protecting the likes of Bo Horvat, Jake Virtanen, and Frank Corrado.

An expansion draft can be used like a compliance buyout, without the pesky paying-someone-a-bunch-of-money-to-go-away part. If you have an unpalatable contract on your hands, you leave that player unprotected, hoping that one of the expansion teams will take on the contract.

With that in mind, nows the time to skewer a Canuck whos fallen out of your favour, whether its Alex Edler and the five years remaining on his $5 million-per-season contract, Alex Burrows and his no-longer-hometown-team-discount, or Jannik Hansen and his not-a-top-six-forwardness.

Heres my list of protected players, with an explanation for each.

Goaltender (1)

Eddie Lack

Considering I wasnt a huge fan of the Ryan Miller signing to begin with, Im perfectly content to see him claimed in this imaginary expansion draft. If this were a real expansion draft, theres not a chance that Jim Benning and Trevor Linden would expose Miller, because then they would have to re-print all of their promotional material for next season.

This comes down to one thing, really: age. Lack is 26, Miller is 34. Personally, Id rather keep the up-and-coming potential number one, rather than the former star on the decline. While this would leave the Canucks with a pretty weak tandem in the short-term, I think the Canucks could likely engineer a trade for a better backup if neither Joacim Eriksson nor Jacob Markstrom were up for the task.

Defencemen (5)

Alex Edler

Dan Hamhuis

Kevin Bieksa

Chris Tanev

Ryan Stanton

The first four defencemen are an easy choice (unless you really hate Alex Edler), so it comes down to the fifth defenceman to protect: Ryan Stanton, Yannick Weber, or Luca Sbisa. Im going with Stanton, because hes more reliable than Weber and everything Ive seen and heard on Sbisa worries me. Im really looking forward to Sbisa proving me wrong and Weber becoming a more regular presence in the lineup and on the powerplay this season, but right now Id rather keep the steady Stanton.

Forwards (9)

Daniel Sedin

Henrik Sedin

Radim Vrbata

Nick Bonino

Chris Higgins

Alex Burrows

Jannik Hansen

Zack Kassian

Linden Vey

This was a tough one, as it resulted in leaving some good depth players exposed to get picked up by the Las Vegas Strip or Seattle Plaid. They include Derek Dorsett, Shawn Matthias, and Brad Richardson, along with Tom Sestito and a number of players in Utica, including, unfortunately, Nicklas Jensen. I chose to protect Vey over Jensen, simply because of Veys potential and how close he is to realizing it.

So, who would you choose to protect? Do you agree with my choices or do you think Im out to lunch? Do you protect Ryan Miller, Eddie Lack, or both? Do you try to lose a big contract or protect all your best players?

Who would your picks be?

[bigbadcanucks]

http://vansunsportsblogs.com/2014/08/28/if-an-expansion-draft-happened-now-which-canucks-would-you-protect/

Heres my list of protected players, with an explanation for each.

Goaltender (1)

Eddie Lack

Considering I wasnt a huge fan of the Ryan Miller signing to begin with, Im perfectly content to see him claimed in this imaginary expansion draft. If this were a real expansion draft, theres not a chance that Jim Benning and Trevor Linden would expose Miller, because then they would have to re-print all of their promotional material for next season.

This comes down to one thing, really: age. Lack is 26, Miller is 34. Personally, Id rather keep the up-and-coming potential number one, rather than the former star on the decline. While this would leave the Canucks with a pretty weak tandem in the short-term, I think the Canucks could likely engineer a trade for a better backup if neither Joacim Eriksson nor Jacob Markstrom were up for the task.

Defencemen (5)

Alex Edler

Dan Hamhuis

Kevin Bieksa

Chris Tanev

Ryan Stanton

The first four defencemen are an easy choice (unless you really hate Alex Edler), so it comes down to the fifth defenceman to protect: Ryan Stanton, Yannick Weber, or Luca Sbisa. Im going with Stanton, because hes more reliable than Weber and everything Ive seen and heard on Sbisa worries me. Im really looking forward to Sbisa proving me wrong and Weber becoming a more regular presence in the lineup and on the powerplay this season, but right now Id rather keep the steady Stanton.

Forwards (9)

Daniel Sedin

Henrik Sedin

Radim Vrbata

Nick Bonino

Chris Higgins

Alex Burrows

Jannik Hansen

Zack Kassian

Linden Vey

Who would your picks be?

I'd do the same as your picks, with three changes:

I'd protect Miller instead of Lack (and bank on Markstrom to make it as a back up); Sbisa instead of Stanton (Sbisa is heavier and IMO, has higher upside); Matthias instead of Burrows (IMO Matthias has a ceiling that he hasn't hit yet and Burrows has been on a three year decline, falling off the cliff this past season).

[c00kies]

I'd definitely pick Jensen over Hansen.

[Rex425]

Mine

Goalie

Miller

Defense

Edler

Hamhuis

Tanev

Stanton

Bieksa

Forwards

Sedins(2)

Vrbata

Bonino

Higgins

Vey

Kassian

Richardson

Matthias

IMO this could be a chance to get rid of the salary of Burrows and Hansen. Honestly we haven't even seen Vrbata or Miller yet so let's keep them and if they don't do as expected, we can always get a better return than Burrows or Hansen or Lack.

[Ghostsof1915]

Are entry level contracts exempt?

[Rex425]

I'd definitely pick Jensen over Hansen.

We don't need to protect him. He's not eligible.

[Rex425]

Are entry level contracts exempt?

I think it's a certain amount of games.

[Watermelon]

I would leave Burrows unprotected. Love the guy but we need the cap and hes been declining, hope he proves me and a lot of us wrong this season though. Also if by the end of this season Edler is still sucking then I would leave him unprotected, it would be like the 3rd or fourth bad season straight

[CRAZY_4_NAZZY]

H.Sedin

D.Sedin

Burrows

Kassian

Vrbata

Vey

Higgins

Matthias

Bonino

Hamhuis

Bieksa

Edler

Sbisa

Tanev

Lack

[terrible.dee]

I'd do the same as your picks, with three changes:

I'd protect Miller instead of Lack (and bank on Markstrom to make it as a back up); Sbisa instead of Stanton (Sbisa is heavier and IMO, has higher upside); Matthias instead of Burrows (IMO Matthias has a ceiling that he hasn't hit yet and Burrows has been on a three year decline, falling off the cliff this past season).

Meh, have to disagree with you on this.

Trust me, Sbisa will not be outplaying Stanton this year, you'll see for you self soon. I'm actually looking for him to have a mini-break out this year. I think there is a lot more good to come from Ryan Stanton.

Matthias is over rated in my books, people seem to just gush over his size and forget that nothing of significance happens when the puck is on his stick, if you've seen things from him I haven't please fill me in, because I just don't see it. Reminds me of Victor Orescavtich. (SP) Or Roman Oksuita.

I disagree with protecting Miller because I don't like him, and I like Lack a lot. Yes, just a personal thing

[Bissurnette]

Meh, have to disagree with you on this.

Trust me, Sbisa will not be outplaying Stanton this year, you'll see for you self soon. I'm actually looking for him to have a mini-break out this year. I think there is a lot more good to come from Ryan Stanton.

Matthias is over rated in my books, people seem to just gush over his size and forget that nothing of significance happens when the puck is on his stick, if you've seen things from him I haven't please fill me in, because I just don't see it. Reminds me of Victor Orescavtich. (SP) Or Roman Oksuita.

I disagree with protecting Miller because I don't like him, and I like Lack a lot. Yes, just a personal thing

Then may I suggest you put your personal feelings aside? Lack is great (I really do like him), but we have lots of young goalies in the system with arguably better upside than Lack. What we don't have is a vet goalie however. Miller can take them under his wings and really teach them a thing or 2 about being a pro.

As for Matthias, yes his size and speed is significant. Plus, it seemed to me like lots of good offense came off his stick at the end of last season. He just needs the right linemates. Even if he doesn't produce much offensively, he's great on the pk and can be an excellent 4th liner for us.

[Pears]

Sedins

Vrbata

Kassian

Burrows

Bonino

Higgins

Vey

Matthias

Richardson

Hamhuis

Edler

Tanev

Sbisa

Bieksa

Miller (makes 0 sense to not protect him after just signing him)

[ComfyMatter]

H.Sedin

D.Sedin

Burrows

Kassian

Vrbata

Vey

Higgins

Matthias

Bonino

Hamhuis

Bieksa

Edler

Sbisa

Tanev

Lack

This.

[UFCanuck]

Canucks I wouldn't protect:

Jannik Hansen

Ryan Stanton

Tom Sestito

Jakob Markstrom

Yannick Weber

[supermanbieksa]

Henrik

Daniel

Kassian

Vrbata

Higgins

Vey

Bonino

Matthias

Burrows

Hamhuis

Edler

Bieksa

Stanton

Tanev

Miller (we already have great goalie prospects)

[Tom Sestito]

I question anyone who wouldn't protect Sestito.

He is clearly the most talented person on this team.

[bigbadcanucks]

Meh, have to disagree with you on this.

Trust me, Sbisa will not be outplaying Stanton this year, you'll see for you self soon. I'm actually looking for him to have a mini-break out this year. I think there is a lot more good to come from Ryan Stanton.

Matthias is over rated in my books, people seem to just gush over his size and forget that nothing of significance happens when the puck is on his stick, if you've seen things from him I haven't please fill me in, because I just don't see it. Reminds me of Victor Orescavtich. (SP) Or Roman Oksuita.

I disagree with protecting Miller because I don't like him, and I like Lack a lot. Yes, just a personal thing

I personally like Stanton...I would say Sbisa and Stanton is about equal right now, but IMO, Sbisa has a higher upside than Stanton.

Matthias is under rated in my books (funny how we see the same player so differently, hey terrible?)...he's got the good size you speak of, has speed to burn, and is much better with the puck on his stick than I ever thought he was. He works hard and is hard to knock over...Victor Oreskovich was good for one thing and that was banging bodies (he handled the puck like a grenade and didn't have any touch around the net - so gonna have to disagree with your assessment that Matthias = Oreskovich. Who is Roman Oksuita? Have honestly never heard of the guy).

Losing Eddie Lack would hurt, but IMO, as good as he was pre-Luongo trade, he's not ready for prime time; and given time and work with Rollie the Goalie, I think Markstrom can be a solid back up for the next three years and possibly develop into a starter in that time.

Since there is no expansion draft taking place anytime soon, all this is fantasy hockey talk...thanks for indulging me.

[Crackers]

I know as a team we don't have the deepest lineup, but it would be impossible to make a half decent team through an expansion draft. Any current teams would obviously protect all players who are a potential franchise type player. From the looks of it the best these teams could hope for is 1 or 2 second liners up front, followed by 3rd and 4th liners, or underachievers.

Your defensive core would be made up of bottom-pair type players,and goalies are the only area where you could find a player of good value.

Where would these teams even get prospects from? Do they have extra picks in the next regular draft?

[Dogbyte]

Miller

Hamhuis

Tanev

Bieksa

Edler

Sbisa

Sedin

Sedin

Vrbata

Kassian

Bonino

Vey

Mattias

Higgins

Dorsett

I think Hansen and Burrows are on borrowed time and Richardson will not be re-signed. Sestito can fill the gap but he's expendable. I really had a hard time with Stanton over Sbisa ... it was a coin toss. I like Stanton a lot though. This really wouldn't hurt us at all in a year's time. In fact it would benefit us.

I know as a team we don't have the deepest lineup, but it would be impossible to make a half decent team through an expansion draft. Any current teams would obviously protect all players who are a potential franchise type player. From the looks of it the best these teams could hope for is 1 or 2 second liners up front, followed by 3rd and 4th liners, or underachievers.

Your defensive core would be made up of bottom-pair type players,and goalies are the only area where you could find a player of good value.

Where would these teams even get prospects from? Do they have extra picks in the next regular draft?

They usually get the top pick in the draft and then suck again for a year or two so they get another 2 or 3 first overalls. So basically Edmonton, which could be better if they got their act together.

[spur1]

roman was a fellow Canuck

Or was he a Leaf?