NHL Expansion Draft - Ottawa Senators

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	30	Bobby Ryan	$7,250,000	UFA – 2022	X
LW	27	Mike Hoffman	$5,187,500	UFA – 2020	X
C	29	Derick Brassard	$5,000,000	UFA – 2019	X
LW	32	Clarke MacArthur	$4,650,000	UFA – 2020	17GR
RW	35	Alexander Burrows	$2,500,000	UFA – 2019	X
RW	24	Mark Stone	$3,500,000	RFA – 2018	X
C	27	Kyle Turris	$3,500,000	UFA – 2018	X
C	29	Zack Smith	$3,250,000	UFA – 2021	X
RW	28	Tommy Wingels	$1,732,500	UFA – 2017	X
RW	37	Chris Neil	$1,500,000	UFA – 2017	X
LW	31	Viktor Stalberg	$1,500,000	UFA – 2017	X
C	36	Chris Kelly	$900,000	UFA – 2017	X
C	24	Jean-Gabriel Pageau	$900,000	RFA – 2017	X
C	25	Casey Bailey	$874,125	UFA – 2017	33GR
C	30	Tom Pyatt	$800,000	UFA – 2017	X
C	25	Ryan Dzingel	$750,000	RFA – 2017	X
RW	30	Mike Blunden	$737,500	UFA – 2018	38GR
C	26	Philip Varone	$700,000	UFA – 2017	33GR
LW	24	Max McCormick	$650,000	UFA – 2017	33GR
C	22	Ryan Rupert	$631,667	RFA – 2017	40GR

Defensemen

POS	Age	Name	Cap Hit	Expiration	40/70
D	31	NMC – Dion Phanuef	$7,000,000	UFA – 2021	X
D	26	Erik Karlsson	$6,500,000	UFA – 2019	X
D	31	Marc Methot	$4,900,000	UFA – 2019	X
D	23	Cody Ceci	$2,800,000	RFA – 2018	X
D	27	Mark Borowiecki	$1,100,000	UFA – 2018	X
D	25	Jyrki Jokipakka	$900,000	RFA – 2017	X
D	22	Patrick Sieloff	$894,167	RFA – 2017	40GR
D	23	Mikael Wikstrand	$813,333	RFA – 2017	40GR
D	27	Chris Wideman	$800,000	UFA – 2018	X
D	24	Fredrik Claesson	$650,000	RFA – 2018	X
D	25	Brandon Gormley	$650,000	UFA – 2017	40GR

Goaltenders

POS	Age	Name	Cap Hit	Expiration
G	35	Craig Anderson	$4,200,000	UFA – 2018
G	29	Andrew Hammond	$1,350,000	UFA – 2018
G	22	Chris Driedger	$755,000	RFA – 2017
G	26	Mike Condon	$575,000	UFA – 2017

Exempt List

• C Colin White
• C Logan Brown
• C Filip Chlapik
• RW Gabriel Gagne
• LW Francis Perron
• LW Nicholas Paul
• C Vincent Dunn
• C Chris DiDomenico
• RW Marc Hagel
• C Chad Nehring
• D Thomas Chabot
• D Andreas Englund
• D Maxime Lajoie
• D Macoy Erkamps
• D Ben Harpur
• D Cody Donaghey
• G Matt O'Connor
• G Marcus Hogberg

Explanation of my Protection List

• If I were running the Senators they would be one of the few teams to protect eight total skaters instead of seven forwards and three defensemen.  I am choosing this because they have more than three defensemen that they would like to protect and not a lot of forwards that I think are vital to protect.  Plus, several of their key forwards are exempt from the Expansion Draft making the process easier.  The four forwards I am protecting are Mike Hoffman, Derick Brassard, Mark Stone, and Kyle Turris.  Hoffman is one of the game's best scorers, they gave up a lot to get Brassard from the Rangers, Mark Stone is a vital part of their future, and Turris is their number one center.  On defense, Dion Phaneuf has a NMC so he must be protected, and I am protecting Erik Karlsson (obviously), Marc Methot, and Cody Ceci with the other three spots.  Had Phaneuf not had a NMC I may have chosen to just protect three defensemen, but I couldn't pick between Ceci and Methot and ultimately decided to protect both.  In net, I am protecting Craig Anderson who, despite his age, is the team's franchise goalie and has been with the team for a long time now.
• With the players I chose to protect, Ottawa will expose quite a bit of talent, especially at forward.  Bobby Ryan, Clarke MacArthur, Alexandre Burrows, and Zack Smith are all forwards with term left who are unprotected.  Mark Borowiecki and Chris Wideman are the defensemen left exposed and Andrew Hammond rounds out the list at goaltender.
• I believe that Ottawa could end up getting some cap relief as a result of the Expansion Draft.  I doubt that Vegas will touch Bobby Ryan and his massive contract unless Ottawa offers a draft pick or prospect to sweeten the deal and the same goes for Clarke MacArthur who has struggled with injuries in recent seasons.  Vegas may have interest in Alexandre Burrows given the brevity of his deal but Zack Smith is obviously the most attractive option at forward.  On defense, Mark Borowiecki is the best available and is only under contract for next season.  He will probably be the player Vegas takes unless a deal is made between the two teams for Vegas to take Ryan or MacArthur.  Both are paid too much money and neither have provided much on-ice production in recent seasons, helping Ottawa greatly if either were off the team's books.

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