Vegas Golden Knights have too many restricted options picking from the Vancouver Canucks.
The Vegas Golden Knights will have their hands full scouting this team. The Vancouver Canucks sit in sixth place in the Pacific division, nowhere close to the playoff picture. Canucks General Manager Jim Benning was busy near the deadline trading away Jannik Hansen and Alex Burrows.
It’s been a miserable year for the fans of the Canucks. Scoring is major issue on the team. Henrik and Daniel Sedin are starting to show their age. Loui Eriksson doesn’t look like the pickup that Vancouver had hoped for. The fans were also hoping for Markus Granlund to make a bigger contribution than he has. And Ryan Miller just doesn’t look like Ryan Miller anymore.
The scheme that Benning will likely use is seven forwards three defensemen and one goaltender. Most of the Canucks young talent is already exempt like Troy Stetcher, Ben Hutton, Nikita Tryamkin, Jordan Subban and Jake Virtanen. Both Sedin twins and Eriksson have no movement clauses which means they must protect those three players. If they want to move on from one of them, the organization has to ask the player to waive the no movement clause.
There is only one choice at the goaltender position for the Canucks. Ryan Miller will be going to free agency which only leaves Jacob Markstrom the lone goalie under contract. Markstrom is a mammoth in the net standing 6’6 but his stats don’t show that he’s a starting NHL goaltender. Markstrom is 10-11-3 with a 2.63 GAA and .910 save percentage. As the only choice, Markstrom is the unanimous choice to protect in-goal.
Defense is also easy to choose from as well. Alex Edler, Chris Tanev and Erik Gudbranson are locks on the blue line when the 2017-2018 season starts for Vancouver. If Edler gets traded just before the expansion draft, I expect the Canucks to protect either Philip Larsen or Luca Sbisa by default.
The forward position is where things could get fuzzy for the team from British Columbia. With the Sedin twins and Eriksson locking up three forward slots, the Canucks only have four protection slots left. Markus Granlund, Brandon Sutter and Bo Horvat will absolutely get kept as well. With one forward slot left, I decide the Canucks should protect Sven Baertschi.
Baertschi is only one point shy from his season total of last year. The 24-year old has 13 Goals, 14 Assists and 27 Points in 50 games played for Vancouver. Baertschi however, is on the injured reserve at the moment with a concussion and hopes to be back on the road with the team soon. Baertschi is an incredible skater and has amazing puck skills.
The Swiss forward needs to be more of a consistent threat because sometimes he doesn’t always show it on the ice. Baertschi also needs to bulk up a bit more due to the fact that he doesn’t have ideal NHL size.
Vegas Golden Knights General Manger George McPhee needs to scout this team a ton coming down the stretch. I’m going to be completely honest with you, there is no clear-cut player from this team to become a Golden Knight. It’s anyone’s guess who’s going to make the move from Vancouver to Las Vegas.
As a result, Anton Rodin should be the player McPhee takes. Now let’s get one thing straight. Rodin has only played three career NHL games with one assist. The reason why he came over to the NHL so late was to progress his game in Europe.
The 26-year old came from the 2009 NHL entry draft when the Vancouver Canucks selected him in the second round 53rd overall. Rodin played most of his hockey in Sweden and collected 16 Goals, 21 Assists, and 37 Points last season for Brynas IF Gavle.
Rodin is currently nursing a knee injury that’s sidelined him since January. Rodin’s style of play focuses on his tremendous skating ability and slick puck movement. The Right Winger is also very versatile because he can also line up at the faceoff dot playing Center.
Like Baertschi, Rodin also needs to bulk up in size. He needs to show he’s capable he can protect the puck along the boards. The big thing standing in the way of Rodin is injury. Rodin had his left knee repaired once before and he re-aggravated it this year with Vancouver.
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If Rodin can prove he can stay healthy and produce at a high level, this could be a steal for McPhee and the Vegas Golden Knights. Brendan Gaunce, Jayson Megna and Derek Dorsett are other players that George McPhee could potentially pick. But in an expansion draft, you can afford to take some chances on players that are unproven and that’s exactly what McPhee should do.
Golden Knights Prediction: Anton Rodin