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Vegas Golden Knights Expansion Outlook: Philadelphia Flyers

By Richard Cardinale

PHILADELPHIA, PA - JANUARY 04: Matt Read #24 of the Philadelphia Flyers positions himself on a scoring opportunity against Henrik Lundquvist #30 of the New York Rangers on January 4, 2017 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - JANUARY 04: Matt Read #24 of the Philadelphia Flyers positions himself on a scoring opportunity against Henrik Lundquvist #30 of the New York Rangers on January 4, 2017 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Vegas Golden Knights have very few good options picking from the Philadelphia Flyers.

This years expansion draft is designed to give the Vegas Golden Knights a chance. Some teams give them that chance and some teams won’t and the Philadelphia Flyers certainly won’t. Due to the Flyers having a top-heavy roster, Golden Knights General Manager George McPhee won’t be able to pick any of the Flyers talented core players.

I don’t think anyone is going to count out the Flyers after their fantastic end of the regular season last season. This year however is a different story. They sit in 7th place in the Metropolitan division and seven points out of a playoff spot. It doesn’t look playoff hockey will be coming to Philadelphia this season.

Talented players like Travis Konecny, Ivan Provorov, Robert Hagg and Travis Sanheim will all be exempt from the expansion draft. This is huge for the Flyers as they continue to get their team going in a youth direction. The Broad Street Bullies must continue to get younger especially on defense in order to get back on the winning track.

For Flyers General Manager Ron Hextall, there’s really only one protection scheme he can use without giving up so much talent. The seven Forward, three Defenseman and one Goaltender list is the way Hextall has to go.

It’s a very tricky situation in-goal for the Flyers. Michel Neuvirth just got signed to a contract extension but I don’t see the Flyers protecting him. Neuvirth is 10-10-1 with a 2.91 GAA and a .887 save percentage.

The Flyers could opt to go with Steve Mason b however he hasn’t fared much better either. Mason is 20-20-7 with a 2.76 GAA, a .905 save percentage to go along with three shutouts. The Flyers mus give him a contract extension to the impending UFA but it remains to be seen what the Flyers exactly do with Mason. I say he tests the market and gets out of Philly.

The goalie I see the Flyers protecting is their young prospect Antony Stolarz. Stolarz is 2-0 with a 1.79 GAA and a .938 save percentage. It would be very smart for Hextall to protect his future number one goalie. If for some reason he’s not protected, McPhee must pounce on this incredible opportunity.

It’s even a little sketchy on the back-end as well. Shayne Gostisbehere is the obvious number one keep on Broad Street. It looks as if Radko Gudas and Brandon Manning will lock up the last two defensive slots on their protection list. This will leave the overpaid Andrew MacDonald exposed to Vegas.

As for the forward group, they’re all pretty much slam dunks. Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek, Brayden Schenn, Valterri Filppula, Sean Couturier and Scott Laughton will assume those slots on the protection list. No one else on the Flyers roster is having a breakout season to even challenge for a spot.

Furthermore, Philadelphia is one of those few teams that could send out their protection list to the Vegas Golden Knights tomorrow and would be extremely content with the players they’re going to expose. Since the Flyers are so well-rounded at the top of the roster, Hextall should have no problem with the expansion draft process.

But where does George McPhee even go picking from this roster? McPhee has no choice but to pick an underachieving forward with a rather large contract and hope for the best they can produce to the best of their abilities. Or hope he could get trade the player later on in the offseason to get draft picks/prospects.

McPhee could go with two-way forward Michael Raffl but his upside is limited and doesn’t play much of a consistent offensive game. McPhee could also roll with one of the Flyers young guns Nick Cousins. The problem with Cousins is he doesn’t have much of an identity as a player in the NHL.

McPhee should take a chance and pick Matt Read. Read comes with great speed and plays an outstanding two-way game. The Right Wing is also very versatile and can play in any situation. He’s also a dual threat on the penalty kill.

Read doesn’t own ideal NHL size so injuries and lack of consistency could arise. Read hasn’t gotten much going this season on the score sheet, only scoring eight Goals and eight Assists. As a matter of fact, Read hasn’t scored at least 47 Points since his rookie year in 2011-2012. So it’s been awhile since he put together his best offensive campaign.

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Read isn’t a flashy player by any stretch of the imagination. But what the 30-year-old does bring is much-needed energy that every hockey club needs. If he could put up better offensive numbers than previous years, McPhee got himself a steal in the expansion draft. If not, I’d look into trading Read to a contender at next years Trade Deadline for picks/prospects.

Golden Knights Prediction: Matt Read

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