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Vegas Golden Knights: Expansion Draft Detroit Red Wings

By Michael Joubran |
LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 21: Tomas Nosek is selected by the Las Vegas Golden Knights during the 2017 NHL Awards and Expansion Draft at T-Mobile Arena on June 21, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 21: Tomas Nosek is selected by the Las Vegas Golden Knights during the 2017 NHL Awards and Expansion Draft at T-Mobile Arena on June 21, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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 eleventh team we are going to look at is the Detroit Red Wings.

Detroit Red Wings

Despite being one of the worst team in the NHL last season, the Red Wings had a couple of good options for the Knights to choose from. They had two good goalie options to choose from in Petr Mrazek and Jared Coreau. Mrazek is 25 years old and has proved that he can be a starter in the NHL. After a bad season in 2016-17, I am assuming that the Knights did not want to risk choosing him. He has also been known to have a bad temper and possibly Vegas did not want that in their locker room.

Coreau is 25 as well but does not have much NHL experience. Despite that, he has been a very solid goalie in the AHL and could become a good starter in the NHL. He played in 14 games last season with the Wings but his stats were not the greatest. Since the Wings were a very bad defensive team last year, it is not a shock that Coreau’s stats were below average.

With Vegas not wanting to take a risk on one Detroit’s goalies, they decided to go with a different option. The Knights decided to draft Tomas Nosek, a 25-year-old centerman with little NHL experience. Last season he was a very good AHL, producing 41 points in 51 games and another 22 points in 19 playoff games. In 11 games with the Wings, he produced one point, a goal. That is below average but he does not have much NHL experience and it takes time to adjust to the big leagues.

What Other Options Did They Have?

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The Knights could have went with a goaltender in Mrazek or Coreau but decided not to. Two other options for Vegas are Niklas Kronwall and Xavier Ouellet. Kronwall is a 36-year-old veteran, who has 13 years of NHL experience. He could have been a decent option for Vegas but his age does not match with their long-term plans. Plus his cap hit of $4,750,000 would not do Vegas any favours.

Ouellet could have been a very good choice for the Golden Knights. He is 24 years old and would have matched the age group of Vegas’ long term players. Last season he had 12 points in 66 games, his first full season in the NHL. That is a bit below average but, it takes time to adapt to the NHL and he could do a lot better this season.

Overview

Nosek was a decent option for the Knights but I do not believe that he was the best choice. I believe that one of Mrazek or Ouellet would have been a better choice for the Knights. That being said, Nosek was probably chosen because of Vegas’ lack of depth at offence but surplus of depth on defence and in net.

Next: Potential Leaders For 2017-18 Season

Overall, I believe that Nosek was a decent pick for the Knights but I personally would have chosen somebody else.

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