Vegas Golden Knights Expansion Outlook: Arizona Coyotes
Vegas Golden Knights options are limited picking from the Arizona Coyotes.
This is probably one of the toughest teams to analyze come time for the expansion draft. The Arizona Coyotes are a team that’s going in sell mode at the trade deadline. Big time. So it’s going to be tough to gauge which players the desert dogs decides to protect come time for the expansion draft in June. The Vegas Golden Knights GM George McPhee is going to have a lot on his mind picking from this team.
In all likelihood, players like Michael Stone, Martin Hanzal, Radim Vrbata and Brad Richardson won’t make it past the deadline. The Coyotes are looking to stockpile more picks and prospects for those players. But let’s pretend they all don’t get dealt. Looking up and down Arizona’s roster, I see a very young team with most of its good talent already exempt.
The Coyotes should go with the NHL’s second option and protect 4 Forwards 4 Defensemen and 1 Goalie. The only player with a no-movement clause on Arizona is defenseman Alex Goligoski, so he will indeed be protected. Joining him on the protection list on the blue line will be Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Connor Murphy and Michael Stone. The inevitable protected locks at forward will be Jordan Martinook, Tobias Rieder and Anthony Duclair. That leaves one spot remaining for forwards on Arizona’s protection list. If he’s still there, Hanzal will be the guy the team ends up protecting. The pending unrestricted free agent is on a good 3 game stretch scoring 4 goals for the Coyotes.
We go to the goaltending position which is a rather easy choice for the Coyotes. 34-year-old Mike Smith carries a 5.67 million dollar cap-hit while 24-year-old Louis Domingue holds only a 1.05 million dollar cap-hit. Smith isn’t getting any younger and the Coyotes want any way possible to get out of Smith’s contract. Meaning Domingue is the goalie of choice the Coyotes will decide to protect.
The Vegas Golden Knights options aren’t very appealing to say the least. Vegas could go with an upside forward in Alexander Burmistrov. The former 8th overall pick in the 2010 entry draft has played better in his time with Arizona than Winnipeg. The problem with him is he’s lacks physicality, strength and size.
In addition to Burmistrov, defenseman Luke Schenn is a good possibility to go to Vegas. The former 5th overall pick in 2008 has played much of the year on the first pairing with Ekman-Larsson. Schenn has never been known for offense as he only produced five assists in 51 games played. Schenn’s strengths lie in his defensive game. He brings a leadership mentality to the table along with some shutdown ability. Not only does Schenn come with those qualities but he’s also strong and has great mobility. Another thing that Schenn loves to do that most players don’t is block shots and dish out big hits. As a matter of fact, the 27-year-old is 4th in the NHL with 188 hits. Ironically he even took out his eventual defensive partner last season.
Most of all, the 6’2 229 pound defenseman also got another year on his deal at affordable money at 1.25 million. This would especially make sense from a Golden Knights point of view. Keeps the team cap space down in order to pick players with bigger contracts and sign UFA’s in July if they please. With the way things stand in the desert as of now, I say Luke Schenn is my pick to be a Golden Knight in 2017.
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Golden Knight Prediction: Luke Schenn