With the possibility and probability of NHL expansion occurring as early as the 2017-2018 season, the outlines of how an expansion draft were announced this past week during the NHL’s annual general managers meeting in Florida. If there is to be expansion, it will be announced prior to this year’s draft, giving teams a full year to prepare and plan. Teams will have two options when it comes to the expansion draft, they will be able to:
Protect 1 goaltender, 3 defencemen and 7 forwards Protect 1 goaltender, 8 skaters
1st & 2nd year players in the AHL & NHL will be exempt. This greatly benefits the Montreal Canadiens as they do not have to use a spot protecting their top prospects such as Michael McCarron and Nikita Scherbak as they will be considered 2nd year pros. By comparison, a young player such as Charles Hudon or Jacob De La Rose would have to be protected. The one question mark is if players with no movement or trade clauses will be exempt from the expansion draft as there is no verbiage regarding this in the last collective bargaining agreement signed between the NHLPA & the NHL.
As of now, the Canadiens only have 12 players signed to a contract for the 2017-2018 season plus restricted free agents such as Alex Galchenyuk, Nathan Beaulieu and said De La Rose & Hudon. There are of players who will become RFA’s this coming July 1st who will likely be re-signed and thus needed to be protected if the Canadiens so choose. This includes Sven Andrighetto, Daniel Carr, Phillip Danault, Michael Bournival, Lucas Lessio, Darren Dietz and Mark Barberio. From the current roster, players who will be UFA’s include Andrei Markov, David Desharnais, Mike Condon and Brian Flynn. With the Canadiens not having to worry about protecting McCarron and Scherbak, it makes it a lot easier to decide who the Canadiens should and will protect.
Going by the current roster, the Canadiens protected list would likely consist of:
Goaltender: Carey Price - Enough said.
Defence: P.K. Subban, Jeff Petry, Nathan Beaulieu
These 3 defencemen are the cornerstone of the Canadiens blueline. Markov will be an UFA and 38 years old. Even if the Canadiens want him to come back for one more year, it is highly doubtful that an expansion team will want an almost 40 year old defenceman. Alexei Emelin will have one more year left on his contract and has a no trade clause. He may or may not be exempt. Unless he has an incredible 2016-2017 season, there is no reason to protect him and the Canadiens should protect two extra forwards. There should be no need for the Canadiens to use scenario B and only protect 8 skaters instead of a possible 10.
Forwards: Max Pacioretty, Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher, Tomas Plekanec, Lars Eller are established NHL’ers that would be protected as of today. After that the Canadiens would have decide between young players such De La Rose, Hudon, Carr and Andrighetto for who to protect and they will have the 2016-2017 season to help them make that decision. The Canadiens have ample 3rd and 4th line players and it is possible that they lose a player but the rules are that they can only lose one roster spot if there is one expansion team or 2 players if 2 teams enter the NHL. The Canadiens can recover if an expansion team claims a player such as Danault or Torrey Mitchell for a 4th line/depth role.
What is evident and already much discussed is that the Canadiens lineup and depth on forward is quite weak. The fact that the biggest debate would be whether or not to protect Jacob De La Rose or Daniel Carr is in actual fact, not that big of a problem especially when considering what other team’s will have to deal with. Should players such as Tomas Plekanec and Lars Eller truly need to be protected? Both will be UFA’s after the 2017-2018 season. Chances are that an expansion team will be more interested in getting players who are signed to a longer term to establish their team. Bergevin knows that he has one year to prepare for expansion and that will probably be in the back of his mind as he prepares for whatever moves he would like to make this offseason. The Canadiens need at least 2 more players to round out the top 6 and whoever Bergevin might be able to get would likely take up a spot on the protected list.
While this year’s trade deadline was a bit of a bust in terms of excitement for deadline day deals, the next year should be more exciting as teams would rather try to get a return for a player that they might not be able to protect. It will add an extra element of excitement for fans and a headache for GM’s.
Now back to reality. The injury bug isn’t done with the Canadiens as it was announced that Mark Barberio suffered a concussion against the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night and is out indefinitely. Darren Dietz has been re-called on an emergency basis once again and will likely play Saturday night against Ottawa. He will be paired with Victor Bartley on the 3rd pairing as Greg Pateryn and Nathan Beaulieu will form the second unit. The good news? P.K. Subban is back on the ice and skated before practice this morning:
P.K. Subban skated this morning before practice. He's not on the ice with the team for official practice, neither is Barberio. #HabsOn690
— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) March 18, 2016
It appears as though Jacob De La Rose will be a healthy scratch against the Senators as Stefan Matteau will draw back into the lineup. Paul Byron, who scored the overtime goal against Buffalo without actually registering a shot, continues to be the coach’s choice for the best option as the second line right winger. The forward lines at practice this morning were:
Les trios du #CH :
— Patrick Friolet (@PFrioletRDS) March 18, 2016
Pacio-Galchenyuk-Andrighetto
Eller-Plekanec-Byron
Lessio-McCarron-Mitchell
Matteau-Danault-Brown
De La Rose extra #RDS
Cheers & follow along! Follow @Jenbcutler