Vegas Golden Knights: Expansion Draft Carolina Hurricanes

The Vegas Golden Knights are the newest NHL team. Over the next month I will take a look at why they took who they did from each NHL franchise.

The Vegas Golden Knights are the 31st NHL franchise. As an expansion team they were allowed to take one player (who was eligible to be drafted) from the other 30 NHL teams. Each team was able to protect either seven forwards, three defenceman and one goaltender or eight skaters and one goaltender. The full rules can be found here. The sixth team we are going to look at is the Carolina Hurricanes.

Carolina Hurricanes

Like the Buffalo Sabres and the Arizona Coyotes, Carolina did not have many good options for the Knights to take. Some players available for Vegas to draft were Jay McClement, Lee Stempniak and Cam Ward. McClement has been a bottom six player for his entire career and is a PK specialist. While he could help Vegas, he may not have even made their starting roster, meaning that he has no value to the Knights. Stempniak is a decent option but since he is 34 years old, he does not really fit into Vegas’ long term plans. Ward could have been a great backup goaltender for the Knights, but his $3,300,000 cap hit is expensive for a backup.

The Knights decided to take Connor Brickley from the Hurricanes, which was a huge mistake.

Why Was This A Mistake?

Connor Brickley is a 25-year-old left winger. Last season he had 26 points in 69 games in the AHL with the Charlotte Checkers, which is below average. He has played in 23 NHL games – all during the 2015-16 season – with five points over that span.

After being drafted by the Knights on June 21st, Brickley, a UFA, decided to sign with the Florida Panthers on July 1st. Drafting Brickley was a huge mistake for Vegas because they missed out on other players such as Klas Dahlbeck and Joakim Nordstrom. Instead of getting one of those two players, who could have helped the Knights, they ended up going with Brickley, who left them for Florida.

This hurts Vegas’ team and was not a good choice for the team. They made a risk and ended up losing on it. Dahlbeck is a good defensive defenceman and could have been a great third pairing defenceman for the team. Nordstrom is a good bottom six forward, who can also play on the PK. He could have been a nice addition to the Knights’ roster.

Instead of them, Brickley was drafted and left the team soon after.

Overview

The Knights did not have many options to choose from the Hurricanes. Some players were too old to fit into Vegas’ long term goals, while others do not have good chances of becoming NHL players. Some available players were McClement, Stempniak and Ward, who are all 33 years old or older. As I said before, that would not fit into Vegas’ long term goals.

More suitable players would have been Dahlbeck and Nordstrom. They are both young and are capable to play in the NHL. The Knights decided to take Brickley, which was a bad choice. Mentioned above, Brickley decided to leave Vegas as a UFA and sign with the Panthers.

Next: Vegas' 2017-18 Goaltending Tandem

Overall, I think Dahlbeck would have been the best choice for Vegas to draft.

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