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Vegas Golden Knights Expansion Outlook: Columbus Blue Jackets

By Richard Cardinale |
COLUMBUS, OH - FEBRUARY 25: William Karlsson #25 of the Columbus Blue Jackets skates against the New York Islanders on February 25, 2017 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OH - FEBRUARY 25: William Karlsson #25 of the Columbus Blue Jackets skates against the New York Islanders on February 25, 2017 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images)

Vegas Golden Knights stand to get a young forward from the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Vegas Golden Knights are very fortunate of being the only team in the expansion draft. They will get to choose from the Columbus Blue Jackets who have one of the deepest rosters in the NHL. Golden Knights General Manager George McPhee will be a little kid in a candy store picking from this team.

The Blue Jackets have been one of the NHL’s most surprising teams after a terrible season last year. Columbus currently sits in 2nd place in the Metropolitan division with 88 points. Most of those points were due to the teams 16 game winning streak, falling just one win shy of the record.

The talent on this roster that General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen put together is incredible. From the goaltender to the defense then finally all the way down to the fourth line, this team looks poised for a run.

Kekalainen will most certainly use the seven Forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender scheme. Reason being, Columbus just have too many young forwards they would expose to Vegas if they go the other route. Luckily for Columbus, young talent like Zach Werenski, Markus Nutivaara, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Sonny Milano and Oliver Bjorkstrand will all be exempt from the expansion draft in June.

Sergei Bobrovsky has been a godsend  for this Blue Jackets team all year-long. Bobrovsky is 34-13-4 with a 2.09 GAA, a .929 save percentage and five shutouts. No doubt the Russian born goalie will be Vezina candidate at the end of the season. He’s the goaltender that Columbus will protect.

As for backup Joonas Korpisalo, he could be an option for the Golden Knights. Korpisalo is 5-2-0 with a 2.65 GAA, .925 save percentage and one shutout. He’s only 22 years old, Vegas would be required to take at least three goalies and it wouldn’t shock me if McPhee took the Finnish native.

On defense, I see Seth Jones, Ryan Murray and David Savard on the Blue Jackets protection list by June. Leaving Jack Johnson off that list was tough as he’s one of the heart and soul players for Columbus. I just think the young talent that Jones, Murray and Savard bring outweighs the one player. Johnson could also be a prime candidate for the new team in Las Vegas.

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The forward position is where all hell breaks loose for Columbus. The team will have to protect all players with no-movement clauses like Nick Foligno, Brandon Dubinsky and Scott Hartnell. If I’m Kekalainen, I’d ask Hartnell to waive his no movement clause to either expose him to Vegas or a trade to another team in the off-season.

As it stands now, I’d say Hartnell won’t get asked to waive his no movement clause so he’ll be protected along with Foligno and Dubinsky. Therefore, the next four players that the team decides to protect should be Cam Atkinson, Alexander Wennberg, Brandon Saad and Boone Jenner.

This leaves a ton of Forwards for George McPhee to choose from. William Karlsson, Josh Anderson and Lukas Sedlak will all be there for the taking. These three players are at least 24 years old and only getting better by the game. In my opinion, I think it comes down to Karlsson and Anderson.

It’s a tough call but I’d have to say William Karlsson gets a slight edge over Josh Anderson. Anderson is no slouch though. The 22-year-old is a big physical power forward who’s a hard worker and has some scoring ability. Anderson has 14 Goals, 10 Assists, 24 Points and 64 PIM.

Karlsson is the exact opposite to Anderson. The Swedish born Center is a smaller player who has a little finesse to his game. His stats may not prove it, but he plays on the Blue Jackets bottom six. Karlsson has six Goals, 17 Assists and 23 Points.

Karlsson has excellent hockey sense and he’s also a tremendous playmaker. Not only does the 24-year-old bring good offensive instincts to the table but he plays very well in all three zones. Columbus Head Coach John Torteralla loves to use him on the penalty kill and as a dual threat while shorthanded.

Karlsson needs to work on bulking up by at least putting on 10 more pounds as he’s a little lanky for a player that’s 6’1. He also needs to put in more time on winning draws but that obviously comes with time at the NHL level.

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The Vegas Golden Knights will get one of their rising young studs off this Columbus team. Whether it’s Karlsson, Anderson, Sedlak, Johnson or Korpisalo they’ll be getting a good player to build their franchise around. As a result, I feel Karlsson is the best bet to become a Golden Knight at the expansion draft. He has very few flaws in his game and has lots of room to grow. If Karlsson is available, McPhee needs to pick him with his potential being somewhat high.

Golden Knights Prediction: William Karlsson

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