Vegas Golden Knights Expansion Outlook: Ottawa Senators
The Vegas Golden Knights could reel in a solid player from the Ottawa Senators at the expansion draft.
Vegas Golden Knights General Manager George McPhee will have a lot on his plate when scouting the Ottawa Senators. The Senators bring a ton of options for Vegas so it’s important for McPhee and scouts to nail this pick. As for Ottawa General Manager Pierre Dorion, let’s just say he’ll have a chat or two with McPhee to not take certain players in the expansion draft.
Dorion’s Senators are in the driver’s seat in the Atlantic division. Ottawa is in second place down only a point to Montreal with two games at hand. The team has a great mix of veteran leadership and young talent. Dorion went out shopping at the trade deadline by acquiring depth forwards Alexandre Burrows, Tommy Wingels and Viktor Stalberg.
The Sens have a few prospects already exempt like Defenseman Thomas Chabot, Forward Logan Brown and goaltender Matt O’Connor. Further more, most of the Ottawa Senators talent will be available at the expansion draft. But who will Dorion select to protect from the Vegas Golden Knights?
Dorion should use the seven Forwards, three Defenseman and one Goalie protection scheme. The Sens could go the other way but that would leave too many good young forwards exposed to the Golden Knights.
In goal the obvious protection choice is Craig Anderson. Anderson has been sparkling this year with 21-8-1 record with a 2.23 GAA and a .930 save percentage. The 35-year-old missed time this year due to his wife battling cancer.
Anderson’s partner in the crease Mike Condon has been a cult hero for the Senators this season. The backup goaltender stepped up in a big way in the first half of the season. It only cost the Sens a 2017 fifth round pick, what a deal for Dorion. Condon is 18-12-6 with a 2.49 GAA, a save percentage of .914 and five shutouts.
On defense, there’s only three logical choices. The Sens will choose to lock in Dion Phaneuf, Erik Karlsson and Cody Ceci. Keep in mind Phaneuf could waive his no-movement clause in order to protect a player like Marc Methot but that wouldn’t be a smart decision by the organization.
At forward, the virtual locks are Bobby Ryan, Mike Hoffman, Kyle Turris, Derick Brassard, Mark Stone and Jean-Gabriel Pageau. With one last forward slot to go I see the Sens giving that spot to Zack Smith. The reason is because Smith just signed a deal with the Sens that will culminate in 2021.
So what does George McPhee have left to choose from? The Sens could choose a player like Defenseman Chris Wideman. Wideman is a straight forward offensive depth defenseman. He doesn’t own ideal NHL size and makes too many mistakes in his own zone, I’d stay away if I’m McPhee.
The Vegas Golden Knights should choose top four defenseman Marc Methot. Methot brings an edgy style of physicality to his defensive game. The hometown Ottawa, Ontario native is a true defensive defenseman and he also displays tremendous leadership qualities. Very rarely do you see mistakes by Methot in his own defensive zone. Methot is one of the most underrated stay at home defenseman in the game.
Methot doesn’t have much more room to develop as a 31-year-old. Of course when you’re a stay at home defenseman, your offensive numbers are going to plummet in to the ground. Methot only has 11 Assists on the campaign so he has little to no ability on offense.
Next: The Vegas Golden Knights Are Guaranteed To Get A Great Player From The New York Rangers.
Vegas Golden Knights could use a player like Methot in their top four defensive pairings but they could also use him for other things. Methot carries a $4.9 million dollar cap-hit and McPhee could use a player like him to reel in some picks and/or prospects to get younger quicker. Whatever McPhee decides to do remains to be seen but it would be smart to take Methot for those reasons.
Golden Knights Prediction: Marc Methot