There's an expansion draft coming up, and NHL teams have until June 17 to prepare their protection lists. Some teams have some tough decisions to make, which we reviewed last week, but others have a space or two to spare. That could make for some interesting trades during the next week or so.
This week, we'll be looking at the 10 teams that have room on their protection lists to acquire a player before the expansion draft, at a potential discount. In each case, we'll review who the team is likely to protect, what it has room for, who it might target and what it has to offer. Let's begin in nets.
The Coyotes have all the tools to make an interesting deal before the expansion draft. They have the cap space, the surplus of picks and prospects, and the reputation for taking advantage of their position to take on players and contracts.
Over the years, the Coyotes have acquired the contracts of inactive players such as Chris Pronger from the Flyers on June 27, 2015, Pavel Datsyuk from the Red Wings on June 24, 2016, and Dave Bolland from the Panthers on Aug. 25, 2016. In return, they have acquired a few draft picks and prospects.
For Arizona general manager John Chayka, it could be time to cash in some chips and get a new goalie to replace Mike Smith and his backup, Louis Domingue. One of the high-profile possibilities is Marc-Andre Fleury of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
With Anthony Duclair, Tobias Rieder, Jordan Martinook and possibly Alex Burmistrov as the only forwards at any risk of being selected by the Vegas Golden Knights, the Coyotes also have room to add a few forwards. There's practically no question that Chayka will make at least one deal, and quite possibly two or more.
With or without an expansion draft, the Flames would be looking for a goalie who can help them take the next step toward contention.
In 2015-16, the Flames struggled with Karri Ramo, Jonas Hiller, Joni Ortio and Niklas Backstrom, who combined for an .898 team save percentage. In 2016-17, they opted for Brian Elliott and Chad Johnson, who had matching .910 save percentages that tumbled to a combined .893 in the playoffs. It's time to try something new.
The expansion draft might be the perfect opportunity to acquire a developing young goalie from a team that already has an established starter who requires protection. The Hurricanes already set the price tag, acquiring Scott Darling from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for a third-round selection. Among the top 10 goalies in save percentage during the past three seasons (minimum 40 games), that still leaves Matt Murray, Antti Raanta, Philipp Grubauer and Andrew Hammond on the board.
The Penguins are likely to find a way to protect Murray, and Hammond is far too big a gamble even for Calgary, which leaves Raanta, an unrestricted free agent, and Grubauer, a restricted free agent, as the ideal trade targets.
It confused a lot of people when Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill acquired the rights to Ben Bishop from the Kings on May 9. After all, the Stars already had Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi; why did they need another goalie?
Digging deeper, Lehtonen and Niemi have a combined cap hit of $10.4 million, and yet save percentages of .904 and .900, respectively, during the two seasons that they have played together. Nill took advantage of the expansion draft to acquire a new No. 1 goalie.
If Dallas can do it, why not Detroit? The Red Wings are in a similar boat, with just under $9.3 million in cap space invested in Jimmy Howard and Petr Mrazek, who have save percentages of .912 and .913, respectively, during the past four seasons.
That might not be quite as bad as the situation in Dallas, and it still leaves the issue of what to do with the surplus of goalies once a new starter is acquired, but it's certainly an option that GM Ken Holland might explore further.
One final team that could be in the mix for a goalie is the Flyers, who currently stand to begin the 2017-18 season with journeyman backup Michal Neuvirth, who had a .891 save percentage last season, backed up by rookie Anthony Stolarz. Could they also be in the mix to acquire Fleury from their divisional rivals?
Making the possibility of dealing with the Penguins more intriguing, the Flyers also have room for someone on their blue line. In the traditional configuration, teams can protect three defensemen, which would certainly include Shayne Gostisbehere and Radko Gudas. Ivan Provorov's single season of experience makes him ineligible for the expansion draft, and thus without need of protection.
If GM Ron Hextall is comfortable exposing Andrew MacDonald and Michael Del Zotto, then he could perhaps arrange a blockbuster that includes both Fleury and one of Pittsburgh's surplus defensemen like Ian Cole or RFAs Justin Schultz or Brian Dumoulin.
Such a big deal would require some prime picks and/or prospects in exchange, like forward Travis Konecny or defensemen Travis Sanheim, Samuel Morin or Robert Hagg, but a balanced trade could prove to be a positive move for both teams.
One of the advantages of losing quality defensemen like Johnny Boychuk, Dougie Hamilton and Dennis Seidenberg in recent years is that it leaves more space on protection lists.
While that obviously wasn't what the organization had in mind when parting ways with those players, it is true that captain Zdeno Chara and puck-moving specialist Torey Krug are the only defensemen who require protection.
Judge for yourself. Consider the following table of stats for Boston's current defensemen during the past three seasons combined. Rookies Brandon Carlo and Charlie McAvoy aren't eligible for the expansion draft and John-Michael Liles is a free agent, which leaves a wealth of useful but strictly secondary veterans who can be safely exposed in the expansion draft:
In exchange, Boston GM Don Sweeney could offer one of the most popular goaltending selections in mock expansion drafts, Malcolm Subban. Given that the Bruins are likely to run with Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin next season, Subban could serve as the perfect trade bait -- provided he goes to one of the aforementioned teams with space to protect him.
The table of figures crafted for Boston would look about the same for Toronto. Just like the Bruins, the Maple Leafs have two defensemen worth protecting, Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner, plus one player who is not eligible for the expansion draft, Nikita Zaitsev, and then a long list of depth options that the Vegas Golden Knights would be quite welcome to select, from Toronto's perspective.
Also like the Bruins, the Maple Leafs have the organizational strength to make the transaction worthwhile for the other team. Expect teams with surplus defensemen like Anaheim, Florida, Minnesota, the New York Islanders, Ottawa and San Jose to compete with one another to deal with Boston and Toronto.
The Hurricanes were the first team to take advantage of the upcoming expansion draft by acquiring Darling from the Blackhawks for a third-round draft pick, and then signing him to a four-year deal with an annual cap hit of $4.15 million.
Even after that move, the Hurricanes still have plenty of space on their protection list. That's especially true on the blue line, since Justin Faulk is their only top-four defenseman who has the three or more professional seasons required to be eligible for the expansion draft. Given that Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce and Noah Hanifin don't require a spot on the protection list, that leaves two extra spots for GM Ron Francis to fill.
Rather than acquire more defensemen for what is soon destined to become one of the league's best blue lines, Francis might be focused up front instead. In the traditional protection list configuration, teams can protect seven forwards, which will likely include Jordan Staal, Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask, Elias Lindholm and Teuvo Teravainen. Even if Francis opts to also protect veteran Lee Stempniak, that still leaves another spot. He's not done dealing yet.
The Kings have the room on their protection list for another forward, but not the cap space.
As it stands, the Kings need only protect Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Tanner Pearson, and Tyler Toffoli up front, which leaves room for three more forwards on their protection list. As for Dustin Brown and Marian Gaborik, GM Rob Blake would probably be thrilled if the Golden Knights took one of them off his books, given that they carry annual cap hits of $5.875 million and $4.875 million for four and five more years, respectively. In fact, the Kings are exactly the sort of team that would offer Vegas an incentive to relieve them of one of their bigger contracts in the expansion draft.
If he doesn't make a deal for additional forwards, then Blake could adopt the alternate protection list format that allows teams to protect four forwards and four defensemen. However, there isn't anyone on the blue line who required protection beyond Drew Doughty, Alec Martinez and Jake Muzzin.
The expansion draft is a great equalizer not just for the new team, but also for the weaker existing NHL teams. While most teams are worried about losing a key player, the Devils have the room to acquire some players and keep them under the safety of their protection list. And, unlike the Kings, they have the cap room to maneuver.
As exemplified by last year's trade that sent Adam Larsson to the Edmonton Oilers and brought Taylor Hall to the Devils, GM Ray Shero is probably most interested in acquiring forwards. Besides Hall, he will want to protect fellow 20-goal scorers Kyle Palmieri and Adam Henrique, along with Travis Zajac, but can probably risk exposing Michael Cammalleri due to his frequent injuries and $5 million cap hit. That leaves room for three forwards.
Colorado GM Joe Sakic might have a tough decision in goal between highly paid starter Semyon Varlamov and promising backup Calvin Pickard, but he will be able to otherwise fill out his protection list with ease.
Up front is where he has the most space. Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog will be protected, but then there is some flexibility. As it stands, Sakic will probably choose to protect useful secondary veteran Blake Comeau along with promising young players like Mikhail Grigorenko, Sven Andrighetto and Matt Nieto, but he could safely expose one of them if it means adding more help up front.