LeBrun: NHL Expansion Draft Parameters Discussion ‘Contentious’

[Fire of the Phoenix]

I wouldn't buy Stajan out, I would keep him for the purpose of exposing him in the expansion draft, unless his NTC is an obstacle. He would be a great veteran leader for any would-be expansion team.

[djsFlames]

6F: Gaudreau, Monahan, Bennett, Backlund, Jankowski, Poirier/Shinkaruk

4D: Giordano, Brodie, Hamilton, Jokipakka

1G: Gillies

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Fire of the Phoenix

I wouldn't buy Stajan out, I would keep him for the purpose of exposing him in the expansion draft, unless his NTC is an obstacle. He would be a great veteran leader for any would-be expansion team.

Well that's just it. His NTC could mean we need to put him on our protected list. If this is the case we need to buy him out.

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

6F: Gaudreau, Monahan, Bennett, Backlund, Jankowski, Poirier/Shinkaruk

4D: Giordano, Brodie, Hamilton, Jokipakka

1G: Gillies

I doubt Jankowski will need protecting. If he does, there will be a lot of really good players available. If guys like that do need protecting, I will actually be kind of jealous of the new team as they will likely be just as good as we are right off the bat. Not as many top end players, but their bottom 9 forwards and bottom 4 defense will probably be much better if they can pick first years pros. Teams will be forced to leave really good players available so their top prospects don't get poached.

I eagerly await the NHL screwing this up. It should be fun watching an expansion team zoom past us after we had to endure years of pain.

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Well that's just it. His NTC could mean we need to put him on our protected list. If this is the case we need to buy him out.

I bet a few will waive rather than risk getting bought out. A guy like Stajan knows he might not get another contract, playing for an expansion team might be his best bet. It will be an interesting dynamic to watch as it plays out.

[Hockey Fan #751]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

After this NEXT season, the only NTC/NMC the Flames have as of now are:

1. Frolik
2. Stajan
3. Gio
4. Brodie

That's it unless they hand any out vis UFA this summer.

Also, my bet is they would buy out Stajan long before being forced to keep him on a protected list over a better, younger player.

I would think that the expansion rules will be set before this summer (assuming the league is going to expand) and if that's the case there will be very few NMCs handed out (again, assuming you won't be able to make those types of players available in the expansion draft).

[You Need a Thneed]

Obviously the top players and prospects aren't going to be available. If top players had to be available, the expansion teams would have a really good opportunity to come in and be the very best in the league.

Really, there's no fair way to prevent expansion teams in their first year to be filled up with bottom six forwards, and maybe a couple decent, but overpaid players - teams that try hard but can't really compete. I wouldn't expect the awfulness of some of the last round of expansion, but I wouldn't expect anywhere near a winning record.

Also, I wouldn't worry about losing too much. For every team that enters the league, you either lose a bottom six forward, or a bottom three d man, on average. For the most part, the replacement level player you fill up that spot with is nearly as good.

Losing a colborne and an Engllend (as an example) over a summer or two wouldn't hurt too much.

[Alberta_Beef]

I think one thing people seem to be forgetting is they will also limit the number of players a team can lose, I imagine that they will limit it to 2 or 3 players per team with the addition of 2 teams.

But as someone else mentioned it would be better to have the expansion teams in the entry draft a year or two early to build a bit of a prospect base rather than forcing teams to lose their prospects they have developed.

[Trojan97]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

This is all so annoying to me.

Flames go into a much needed rebuild, start acquiring all sorts of nice young assets and all of a sudden it's looking like they're going to open up player exposure in an expansion draft. Not to mention that they change the draft lottery rules too so that the worst teams have less odds at picking high.

Bunch of ****ing baloney IMO.

Way she goes. No different then a team who finally gives up and decides to rebuild and ends up with a couple weak drafts at the top end instead of the McDavid/Crosby. Sure it sucks that expansion is likely to coincide with us having good young talent and possibly losing a piece or two but stuff happens. Besides, A) no one has any idea how the expansion process will work beyond speculation, and B) while we certainly have a few nice pieces, we're far from having a goldmine of talent coming up.

[sureLoss]

nm