NHL teams finally got their salary cap number for the 2017-18 season on Sunday.
That's an increase of $2 million from last season. It gives teams that are tight to the cap a little bit of breathing room, but not much.
Click here to check out the latest snapshot of the cap positions of teams around the league from CapFriendly. It's only a snapshot, though—these numbers will all shift somewhat after the expansion draft, when every team will lose a player.
Cap space is one area where the Canucks are sitting pretty for next season, showing 18 players signed and nearly $16 million in available room.
That leads back to the possibility that Ryan Miller could return to Vancouver next season:
Speaking of goalies, Ray Ferraro of TSN had some interesting comments about goalies and the expansion draft in his latest Pulp Hockey podcast, which was recorded a few days before the protected lists were released on Sunday.
Ray thinks that we could see Vegas draft as many as four or five goalies, then flip the ones they decide not to keep for something in the neighbourhood of a second-round pick and a prospect.
These comments were made before Calgary acquired Mike Smith from Arizona on Friday, which appears to take them out of the mix for a No. 1—though the Flames do still need a backup.
Some pretty good goaltenders are available, we think—on the exposed lists, at least. Vegas has a chance to stock up from a group that includes Marc-Andre Fleury, Philipp Grubauer, Petr Mrazek, Jonathan Bernier, Linus Ullmark, Calvin Pickard, Joonas Korpisalo, Al Montoya, Keith Kinkaid, Jaroslav Halak, Antti Raanta, Mike Condon, Steve Mason, Michal Neuvirth and Peter Budaj. It'd be pretty easy to get five solid goalies off that list, then deal them back to teams that are looking to upgrade their tandems, even on the backup side.
George McPhee has said today that he's imposing his own trade deadline at the end of the day on Monday, then will make his selections on Tuesday for announcement at the NHL Awards on Wednesday.
In other Canucks news, Ferraro also mentioned on his podcast that he believes that Chris Tanev is in play for a possible trade and the asking price will be a first-round pick plus a prospect—it doesn't make sense to deal him for less.
Mike G. Morreale of NHL.com reiterates Jim Nill's comment about his potential willingness to move his third pick in his latest article on Dallas' plans for the draft.
"I'm not giving the pick away, but if there's something there where I can get a marquee player that can help us, I definitely have to look at that," Nill said. "I know I have an asset and my job is to see what's out there."
The rest of Morreale's article focuses on the uncertainty surrounding this year's draft class—how most of the top 20 players are pretty interchangeable, depending on what a team is looking for. The Stars do also have another first-rounder at their disposal—the 29th pick, which they got from Anaheim in their Patrick Eaves trade-deadline deal.
I finally took my deep dive into the top 10 players available in this year's draft.You can see that
here, in this Bleacher Report article.
I will be curious to see how Nolan vs. Nico plays out at No. 1—with Jersey having the pick, I can see Ray Shero being progressive enough to take the Swiss player Hischier first overall, but I think it'll be mighty tough for his scouts to ignore the NHL bloodlines and "good Canadian boy" factor that Nolan Patrick brings to the table.
TSN's Bob McKenzie released his final draft rankings on Monday morning, with Hischier on top. His rankings come from a survey of 10 NHL scouts. In addition to the intrigue of Hischier out-polling Patrick 5-to-4, McKenzie also mentions that Junior A defenseman Cale Makar got a first-place vote, which is certainly worth noting.
Bob's rankings are not a mock draft, but if Makar and Finnish defenseman Miro Heiskanen have generated enough excitement to make themselves both top-five picks, that would be great news for Vancouver.
Given the Canucks' needs, I would love to see them get a shot at Gabe Vilardi—who was named to the Memorial Cup All-Star team despite the fact that he's one of the youngest players in this year's draft. Vilardi doesn't turn 18 until August 16, and he's already rolling around in a 6'3", 200-pound body that he's using to great effect.
I also like the fact that Vilardi's biggest strengths come on the playmaking side. The Canucks look like they have a nice collection of skilled wingers in their prospect chest. A big centre like Vilardi, who likens himself to John Tavares, is okay by me!
If Vilardi's off the board by the time the Canucks get their turn, my second choice would be Cody Glass of the Portland Winterhawks. A couple of weeks ago, I talked about how the Winnipeg Jets hit the jackpot when they took Mark Scheifele at No. 7 in 2011 off the strength of one good season in his draft year. Glass is similar—ranked more highly at number six among North American skaters (Scheifele was 22 in his draft year), but he went from 27 points in his first WHL season in Portland to 94 points last year!
Glass is smaller than Vilardi but he's still 6'2" and just turned 18 in April, so he'll have time to fill out. Glass also has more speed and quickness than Vilardi. He says he patterns his game after Patrice Bergeron. I think he'd be a lot of fun to watch.
I do want to see the Canucks choose a centre with their high pick. Heiskanen has had a heckuva year and yes, Vancouver is not exactly deep in defense prospects, but I also think defensemen are easier to find outside the first round.
The Canucks' current top six has only two first-round picks, Erik Gudbranson and Luca Sbisa. Alex Edler was drafted in the third round, Ben Hutton in the fifth and Chris Tanev and Troy Stecher were both undrafted.
Even if you don't think Vancouver is the ideal model, take a look at Nashville. Granted, Nashville is very good at drafting and developing, but their ballyhooed top four consists of one first-rounder, Ryan Ellis (11th), along with Roman Josi (38th), P.K. Subban (43rd) and Mattias Ekholm (102nd). I think because defensemen take such big steps in their development after they're drafted, it's a lot less clear what you're getting on draft day.
Even Erik Karlsson was drafted 15th overall—just three years later he won a Norris Trophy!
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