The Ducks ouster from the playoffs reminds me of getting dumped by a girlfriend. At first you want nothing to do with women, then a hot one catches your eye and suddenly the hunt is on. Its been like that for me and I'm sure for many of you as well.
News and Notes
* Randy Carlyle will be back behind the bench next season. The head coach signed a one year extension.
* Assistant coach Paul MacLean will not be back after submitting his resignation last week.
* According to TSN, GM Bob Murray is getting calls on injured defenseman Sami Vatanen.
* AHL center Sam Carrick signed a two-year extension.
The Clock is Ticking toward Sin City
Speaking of Murray, he has plenty of work to do as the expansion draft draws ever so close. The biggest domino, in terms of what moves the Ducks make, is whether or not Cam Fowler signs a contract extension. The next domino is getting Kevin Bieksa to waive his no trade clause in order to become eligible for the draft. From there its open season. Here are some important dates which I pulled from Mike Augello's blog:
On June 15 or 16, NHL clubs face the deadline to offer restricted free agents (RFA) salary arbitration and the window for buying out players begins.
On June 17, teams must submit their protection list for the Expansion Draft and the following day, it will be released to the public.
On June 18, the 72-hour window for Vegas GM George McPhee to negotiate and sign unrestricted free agents and restricted free agents who were not on protection lists begins. That lasts until June 21, when McPhee submits his 30 choices and they are announced at the NHL Awards.
Ducks RFA's: Nic Kerdiles, Emerson Etem, Kevin Boyle, Ryan Faragher, & Jaycob Megna Ducks UFAs: Korbinian Holzer, Nate Thompson, Patrick Eaves, Jhonas Enroth, Jonathan Bernier
I don't see any free agents Las Vegas would want BEFORE the expansion draft. After the draft is another story all together.
The List
As of now (without trades) this is who I believe the Ducks protect in the expansion draft:
Forwards Corey Perry Ryan Getzlaf Ryan Kesler Rickard Rakell Jacob Silfverberg Andrew Cogliano Antoine Vermette or Logan Shaw
Defensemen Hampus Lindholm Cam Fowler Sami Vatanen
Goalie John Gibson
Which leaves the following players exposed:
Antoine Vermette or Logan Shaw Jared Boll Chris Wagner Kevin Bieksa Josh Manson Dustin Tokarski