NHL Expansion Draft - Arizona Coyotes

Expansion Draft Rules

All information from NHL.com

Protected Lists

• Clubs can protect one of two options:
• Seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goaltender
• Eight skaters and one goaltender
• All players with No-Movement clauses in their contract have to be protected unless they waive their clauses
• All first- and second-year pro players will be exempt from selections and don't have to be protected

Player Exposure Requirements

• Clubs must meet minimum requirements for exposure in the Expansion Draft:
• One defenseman who is under contract in 2017-18 and played in 40 or more games in 2016-17 or played in 70 or more games in two prior seasons.
• Two forwards who meet the same requirements as above
• One goaltender who is under contract in 2017-18 or will be a restricted free agent at the expiration of his current contract immediately prior to 2017-18.

Vegas Requirements

• Must select one player from each existing club for a total of 30 players
• Must select at least 14 forwards, 9 defensemen, and 3 goaltenders
• Must have a minimum 20 players under contract for the 2017-18 season
• Must reach the salary cap floor and cannot exceed the cap ceiling
• May not buy out any players selected in the Expansion Draft before the first summer following their first full season

Protection List

• NMC= No Movement Clause
• NTC= No Trade Clause
• Red = Who I would protect

Forwards

POS	Age	Name	Cap Hit	Expiration	40/70
RW	40	Shane Doan	$3,876,134	UFA – 2017	X
LW	28	Jamie McGinn	$3,333,333	UFA – 2019	X
RW	24	Tobias Rieder	$2,225,000	RFA – 2018	X
RW	32	Brad Richardson	$2,083,333	UFA – 2018	X
C	25	Alexander Burmistrov	$1,550,000	RFA – 2017	X
C	26	Peter Holland	$1,300,000	RFA – 2017	X
RW	35	Radim Vrbata	$1,000,000	UFA – 2017	X
LW	22	Mitchell Moroz	$875,000	RFA – 2017	40GR
C	23	Tyler Gaudet	$874,125	RFA – 2017	36GR
LW	25	Teemu Pulkkinen	$812,500	RFA – 2017	21GR
LW	21	Anthony Duclair	$772,500	RFA – 2017	X
RW	23	Brandon Trooch	$636,667	RFA – 2017	40GR
LW	24	Jordan Martinook	$612,500	RFA – 2017	X
LW	24	Garret Ross	$600,000	RFA – 2017	40GR
LW	29	Joe Whitney	$600,000	UFA – 2017	40GR
C	26	Josh Jooris	$600,000	RFA – 2017	X
LW	26	Craig Cunningham	$600,000	UFA – 2017	40GR
C	31	Chris Mueller	$600,000	UFA – 2017	40GR
LW	25	Jeremy Morin	$575,000	RFA – 2017	40GR

Defensemen

POS	Age	Name	Cap Hit	Expiration	40/70
D	25	Oliver Ekman-Larsson	$5,500,000	UFA – 2019	X
D	31	NMC – Alex Goligoski	$5,475,000	UFA – 2021	X
D	24	Connor Murphy	$3,850,000	UFA – 2022	X
D	34	Zbynek Michalek	$3,200,000	UFA – 2017	X
D	27	Luke Schenn	$1,250,000	UFA – 2018	X
D	27	Kevin Connauton	$1,000,000	UFA – 2018	X
D	25	Jarred Tinordi	$700,000	UFA – 2017	40GR
D	29	Jamie McBain	$650,000	UFA – 2017	19GR

Goaltenders

POS	Age	Name	Cap Hit	Expiration
G	35	Mike Smith	$5,666,667	UFA – 2019
G	25	Louis Domingue	$1,050,000	RFA - 2018

Exempt List

• C Pavel Datsyuk
• C Dave Bolland
• C Dylan Strome
• C Nick Merkley
• LW Lawson Crouse
• LW Brendan Perlini
• LW Max Domi
• RW Christian Fischer
• C Christian Dvorak
• C Ryan MacInnis
• C Laurent Dauphin
• LW Michael Bunting
• C Grayson Downing
• RW Conor Garland
• C Lane Pederson
• D Chris Pronger
• D Jakob Chychrun
• D Anthony Deangelo
• D Kyle Capobianco
• D Kyle Wood
• D Dysin Mayo
• D Jalen Smereck
• D Dakota Mermis
• G Adin Hill
• G Marek Langhamer

Explanation of my Protection List

• I think that the Coyotes will protect forwards Jamie McGinn, Tobias Rieder, Brad Richardson, Alexander Burmistrov, Mitchell Moroz, Teemu Pulkkinen, and Anthony Duclair.  All of these players are still relatively young besides Richardson and appear to be parts of the team's future. Burmistrov, Moroz, Pulkkinen, and Duclair all need new contracts this offseason but are restricted free agents so the Coyotes will want to protect them.  Captain Shane Doan doesn't need to be protected since he is an unrestricted free agent this offseason as is Radim Vrbata so they won't be exposing anyone of true value in the draft.  They do need to re-sign one of their free agents or sign a free agent for next season in order to fulfill the exposed requirements at forward.
• On defense, the Coyotes have just one player with a no-move clause in Alex Goligoski.  They will almost certainly choose to protect Oliver Ekman-Larsson, their franchise player, and Connor Murphy.  In net, they will have to make a choice as to whether protect veteran Mike Smith or his backup, Louis Domingue.  I think that they will protect Domingue and believe that Vegas is looking for young players and wouldn't want to take on Smith's massive contract.
• Arizona isn't going to leave much in terms of value exposed in the draft regardless of who they choose to protect.  With the players I am choosing to protect, Arizona doesn't have any forwards left to expose who are under contract next season.  I figure that because of the lack of talent on Arizona's blueline, they will almost certainly go with protecting seven forwards and three defensemen.  Like I said above, they will have to sign someone to meet the exposure requirements.  On defense, the Coyotes have two players under contract for next season, Luke Schenn and Kevin Connauton, who will probably be left exposed. Even if Vegas drafts one of these two players, it won't be doing the Coyotes any harm.  Lastly, I think that Mike Smith will be the goaltenders left unprotected but I have serious doubts that Vegas would want him.
• Arizona will be completely fine in the Expansion Draft.  They are a young, and really bad team, who has very little to offer in terms of long-term, controllable players.  They only have ten players under contract beyond this season who are even eligible to be taken in the draft.  At worst, Vegas will draft Mike Smith, but that would be beneficial to the Coyotes long-term as they be out from under his contract, which doesn't expire until after the 2018-19 season.

*All cap and salary information come from CapFriendly.com*