Hockey action resumes today, in the form of Day 1 of the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship, from Montreal and Toronto.
The Vancouver Canucks have just two prospects for us to keep an eye on this year, and they're playing in the same game today. High-profile defenseman Olli Juolevi will captain Team Finland against forward Lukas Jasek and the Czechs at 2 p.m. PT from Montreal, with television coverage on TSN3 and TSN5.
On Team Canada, expect some B.C. boys to play prominent roles. Up front, Matthew Barzal, chosen 16th overall by the New York Islanders in 2015), is a Coquitlam native, while Tyson Jost of Kelowna was taken 10th overall by the Colorado Avalanche in 2016.
On the blue line, watch for Noah Juulsen of Abbotsford, drafted 26th by Montreal in 2015, and Dante Fabbro of Coquitlam, chosen 17th by Nashville in 2016.
Canada kicks off its preliminary-round action against Russia at 5 p.m. PT from Toronto. You'll find that on TSN1, as well as several of the secondary channels.
The Canucks have one more day off before they get back on the ice at Rogers Arena for practice on Tuesday, ahead of Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Kings.
While things are quiet, I figured this would be a good time to dig back into the expansion draft situation, especially because there's one wrinkle that I haven't seen discussed up to this point.
If you haven't played around with it already, I highly recommend that you
click here to check out the Expansion Draft Tool at CapFriendly.
In addition to providing a link to the expansion draft rules, the page also provides lists of the players that could be available from each team and gives you interactive tools to protect players and try to build your own initial roster for the Vegas Golden Knights.
As we know, Vegas management is required to pick one player from each existing team—and must finish up with at least 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goaltenders. That'll leave them with four extra spots to fill as they please.
But just like every other team, the Golden Knights will need to get their roster down to 23 players in time for their opening night in October of 2017. They'll need to get crafty if they don't want to lose up to a quarter of their picks on waivers as they roll towards their opening faceoff—and that's before they add any possible free-agent signings or drafted players who might be able to step straight into the NHL.
In the mock draft they put together in November,
TSN's Frank Seravalli and Craig Button put a heavy emphasis on acquiring defensemen, "as they are the game’s best currency in trades." The Golden Knights would do well to convert some of the players they draft into waiver-exempt youngsters who are exempt from the expansion draft, but can continue to learn their trade in the minors with the possibility of stepping up into the lineup a year or two down the road.
According to
Steve Carp at the
Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Golden Knights are looking to finalize their AHL affiliate by the end of January—most likely an Eastern Conference club that's currently independently owned.
I wanted to see if the Canucks will be offering up any waiver-eligible players that might entice Vegas general manager George McPhee to use his expansion-draft pick to shore up his AHL squad, rather than taking one of the Canucks' current roster players.
According to the CapFriendly
Waivers Calculator, here are the Canucks players currently under contract that are waiver-exempt this season, along with their expansion draft eligibility and waiver status for next season.
Guillaume Brisebois - age 19 - expansion draft exempt - waiver exempt until 2020-21 - three-year entry-level contract - playing in QMJHL
Michael Carcone - age 20 - expansion draft exempt - waiver exempt until 2019-20 - first year of entry-level contract - playing in AHL
Cole Cassels - age 21 - expansion draft exempt - waiver exempt until 2018-19 - second year of entry-level contract - playing in AHL
Anton Cederholm - age 21 - expansion draft exempt - waiver exempt until 2018-19 - second year of entry-level contract - on loan to Sweden
Thatcher Demko - age 21 - expansion draft exempt - waiver exempt until 2020-21 - first year of entry-level contract - playing in AHL
Michael Garteig - age 25 - expansion draft exempt - waiver eligible next season (2017-18) - first year of entry-level contract - playing in ECHL/AHL
Brendan Gaunce - age 22 - expansion draft eligible - waiver eligible next season (2017-18) - third year of entry-level contract - playing in NHL
Olli Juolevi - age 18 - expansion draft exempt - waiver exempt until 2021-22 - three-year entry-level contract - playing in OHL
Joseph LaBate - age 23 - expansion draft exempt - waiver exempt until 2018-19 or 67 more NHL games, whichever comes first - second year of two-year entry-level contract - playing in AHL
Yan-Pavel Laplante - age 21 - expansion draft exempt - waiver exempt until 2019-20 - first year of three-year entry-level contract - playing in AHL/ECHL
Evan McEneny - age 22 - expansion draft exempt - waiver eligible next season (2017-18) - third year of entry-level contract - playing in AHL
Borna Rendulic - age 24 - expansion draft eligible - waiver eligible next season (2017-18) - currently on one-year contract - playing in AHL
Ashton Sautner - age 22 - expansion draft exempt - waiver exempt until 2018-19 - second year of three-year entry-level contract - currently on injured reserve in AHL
Troy Stecher - age 22 - expansion draft exempt - waiver exempt until 2019-20 or 44 more NHL games, whichever comes first - first year of two-year entry-level contract - playing in NHL
Mackenze Stewart - age 21 - expansion draft exempt - waiver exempt until 2018-19 - second year of three-year entry-level contract - playing in ECHL
Jordan Subban - age 21 - expansion draft exempt - waiver exempt until 2018-19 - second year of three-year entry-level contract - playing in AHL
Nikita Tryamkin - age 22 - expansion draft exempt - waiver exempt until 2018-19 or 42 more NHL games played, whichever comes first - second year of two-year entry-level contract - playing in NHL
Jake Virtanen - age 20 - expansion draft exempt - waiver exempt until 2018-19 - second year of three-year entry-level contract - playing in NHL/AHL
What does that all mean? It looks like the Canucks don't have any players that tick both boxes—available for selection by Las Vegas and waiver exempt next season.
• Joseph LaBate is an interesting case. CapFriendly lists him as exempt, but he was signed to a professional tryout contact by the Canucks after finishing his 2014-15 college season at Wisconsin and played two regular-season AHL games with Utica in the 2014-15 season before signing his two-year entry-level contract.
I haven't been able to find any information on whether or not games played on a PTO count towards a "professional season." If they do, LaBate would be available for selection by Vegas—and could be shipped down to their minor-league team next season without needing to clear waivers. As a physical player with decent hands who has shown that he's on the cusp of being a useful NHLer, LaBate might be a player that would be of interest to the Vegas organization.
• Evan McEneny also has pro games played in three seasons. The Mike Gillis regime signed McEneny to his entry-level contract in September of 2012, as an undrafted 18-year-old. He mostly stayed in junior until 2015-16, but played one game with the Comets in 2013-14.
CapFriendly also has McEneny listed as being expansion draft exempt. His contract status makes his situation appear a little clearer than LaBate's—because he played just one pro game in 2013-14, he didn't reach that 10-game threshold that "burns" a year of an entry-level contract. So, I assume that doesn't count as a "pro season" for expansion draft purposes—and the same is probably also true for LaBate.
I can't imagine a journeyman AHLer like McEneny being an expansion draft target, especially when he will need to clear waivers in order to play in the minors next season.
• Borna Rendulic is definitely in his third pro season in North America. He is waiver exempt this year, but will need to clear waivers next year, so he wouldn't be an attractive target for Vegas.
• There was some concern that Nikita Tryamkin's previous KHL experience, which dates back to 2012-13, might make him expansion-draft eligible, but he is also listed as being exempt by CapFriendly.
So—it looks like that was an exercise in futility. The Canucks will most likely lose a roster player to Las Vegas. TSN speculates that it'll be Luca Sbisa—that's based on the assumption that the team will protect Alex Edler, Chris Tanev and Erik Gudbranson as its three defensemen.
Up front, the seven forwards protected will be the Sedins and Loui Eriksson (all with no-movement clauses), plus Brandon Sutter, Bo Horvat, Jannik Hansen....and who?
As things stand now, the organization will have to choose between Sven Baertschi, Markus Granlund, Derek Dorsett and Anton Rodin for that last protected spot.
I wouldn't get too excited about the prospect of trading a player in order to make extra room on the protected list, either. Those protection spots are precious to every other team as well—it's unlikely that anybody would be too interested in acquiring a Canuck at the cost of exposing one of their own current players.
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