Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

How NHL expansion draft would look if Las Vegas scores a team

NHL Expansion

Mary Schwalm / AP

Boston Bruins players take to the ice before the start of an NHL game against the Montreal Canadiens at TD Garden on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015, in Boston.

Expansion was a topic of discussion in NHL circles two weeks ago at the general manager meetings in Boca Raton, Fla. And that spawned talk on how a new organization might be stocked with players.

Of course, expansion is not even a certainty. Las Vegas appears likely to get a franchise, probably starting play in 2017-18. Quebec City is the other expansion applicant, but the league doesn't seem interested in adding another team to the Eastern Conference right now, nor perhaps any other Canadian franchise given the nation's deep financial woes.

Reportedly, the NHL will announce its expansion plan before June's draft.

But if we do see establishment of the Vegas Outlaws, Rat Pack, Rattlers, Wranglers, or whatever the team is called, it should feature a roster of players far superior to previous NHL expansion clubs, which would be only fair, given the $500 million expansion fee new teams may pay.

Since the Original Six era, which ran from 1942-1967, the NHL has expanded 11 times and contracted once — when the Cleveland Barons and Minnesota North Stars merged into a single team in 1978.

Many of the teams in the most recent of the league's 11 previous expansions were stocked with aging, fading or just not very good players from existing clubs. For the most recent expansion, adding Columbus and Minnesota in 2000, existing teams could protect nine forwards, five defensemen and a goalie.

The shortage of talent led to some dismal starts, an ignominious list topped by the Washington Capitals' 8-67-5 inaugural season in 1974-75. The Caps that season had a goalie, Michel Belhumeur, who posted a record of 0-24-3.

Consider the Atlanta Thrashers' 14-57-7-4 first-year mark in 1999-2000, or the San Jose Sharks' 17-58-5 debut.

Conversely, the Florida Panthers were an expansion success story, going 33-34-17 their first season, 1993-94, and reaching the Stanley Cup final in their third season.

The NHL sounds determined to assure that the next expansion team will have a legitimate roster from Day 1. Existing teams are expected to be able to protect only seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie — and that includes top prospects not yet in the NHL.

"If the league is going to add another team they want to be sure that team is competitive and has a chance to do well right from the start," Bruins forward Chris Kelly said.

Offered teammate Dennis Seidenberg: "We don't even now if it's going to happen. But, yeah, we talked about it. In order for an expansion team to have success, it has to be able to put a good product in the ice. For that to happen, the existing teams can't protect all their guys. It will be bad for some guys, but good for the expansion team.

"It will definitely be a very decent group of players that they can draft from."

Especially with the defensemen and the goalie, a new team should do very well.

"If you're protecting only three defensemen, that's huge," said former goalie Brian Hayward, who, after nine seasons split between Winnipeg, Montreal and Minnesota, went to the 1991-92 San Jose expansion club.

"One goalie has been done before. I mean (Rangers star John) Vanbiesbrouck went to the Florida Panthers and they immediately became pretty good. But to me it's the defense that's the really big thing. The idea this time of having a defense corps made up of a bunch of essentially No. 4 NHL defensemen, 26, 27 years old, that changes everything."

Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau would expect painful choices for GMs.

"It's got to be done," Boudreau said, "but it's going to make the GMs' work a little more difficult — because there are a lot of teams that have more than eight or nine good players and prospects.

"I don't even now if there's going to be expansion. But I do believe that if there is, the new teams are going to be better suited to play in the NHL than expansion teams of the past. I've got to believe that people don't want to wait eight years for a new team to become good."

Anaheim blueliner Kevin Bieksa understands the need to give an expansion team real talent, but expects the process to be difficult in all 30 front offices and locker rooms.

"Obviously it's a scary situation that you can only protect 11 players," Bieksa. said. "That's tough. That's going to put teams in a difficult position, with lot of tough decisions to make.

"But if you're going to bring new teams into the league, you've got to give them a chance to compete. They're going to be new markets, which are trying to build and grow the game. If they're 8-74, or whatever, who's going to want to go watch a team that loses every game?

"It will be a tough process. I think the guys who do get picked up will have to look at it as they're really wanted by the new team. That's flattering. But it'll be tough to lose guys, for sure, in that way."

But Bieksa expects the expansion club to be pretty good right away.

"You're going to get six top-4 defensemen right off the bat and you're going to get some quality forwards and a good goalie. If the team has a good GM, they'll have a chance to compete right off the bat."

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