[StrykerSteve]

Originally Posted by PugnaciousIntern

The reason I see Brouwer possibly being selected is not by only looking at our unprotected list, but by looking at the rest of the league. There are going to be plenty of unproven Grade B prospects available, and every team will have their own Kulak/Wotherspoon and Porier/Shinkaruk available.

If the last year never happened for Brouwer, I would imagine he would be a no-brainier selection for them, despite the warning signs during the last offseason. If his contract was more palatable, it would be an easier selection. But in context of his contract and last year, it's a much tougher sell.

Keep in mind that Las Vegas needs to field an NHL team this fall, and guys with experience and proven ability in the NHL will be important. They will need a 23-man roster of NHL players in September. Simplistically speaking, 7 of their 30 expansion draft selections will be farm or trade fodder, while 23 will be players for opening night.

Of course, there's more to it. They will add NHLers in UFA, and probably heavily. They will likely have more rookies on opening night than a typical team. And they will likely trade some of their selections for proven NHLers later in the offseason. That said, my wild guess is that about 15 players from the expansion draft (~half of their selections) will be on their opening night roster. As a result, I would guess that Las Vegas weighs current NHL ability higher than we weigh the prospect potential of our own players.

On a contradictory note - I think they will easily reach the cap floor. They'll go out and make a splash in the UFA market, and would likely rather overpay for players around their prime (Shattenkirk, Radulov, Oshie, Stone, etc) than for an expansion draft selection with poor trade value, such a Brouwer.

Ultimately, the selection from the Flames is far from a foregone conclusion, but I think it has more to do with what happens from selections from the rest of the league than it does with the Flames' roster.

Good post.