The first roster for the expansion Vegas Golden Knights was announced last night during the 2017 NHL Awards in Las Vegas.
Notable picks by the Knights include goalie Marc-Andre Fleury from the Pittsburgh Penguins, forward James Neal from the Nashville Predators, and forward David Perron from the St Louis Blues.
The Winnipeg Jets will be without the services of Chris Thorburn next season, as Vegas took the physical forward in the expansion draft. The Jets also acquired the 24th overall pick in tomorrow’s entry draft from Vegas in exchange for the 13th overall pick and a third-round pick in 2019. The trade was made by Winnipeg to ensure that Vegas would select Thorburn.
The Jets weren’t the only team making deals with the Golden Knights, who acquired 11 draft picks (in addition to the two from the Jets) and seven players in deals to protect certain players in the expansion draft. 10 deals in total were made.
Though they are all Golden Knights for today, many hockey insiders believe multiple players on the roster are bound for other teams and will be traded tomorrow at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft in Chicago.
List of all Expansion Draft picks by the Vegas Golden Knights
Colorado Avalanche: Calvin Pickard, G
Vancouver Canucks: Luca Sbisa, D
Arizona Coyotes: Teemu Pulkkinen, F
New Jersey Devils: Jon Merrill, D
Buffalo Sabres: William Carrier, F
Detroit Red Wings: Tomas Nosek, F
Dallas Stars: Cody Eakin, F
Florida Panthers: Jonathan Marchessault, F
Los Angeles Kings: Brayden McNabb, D
Carolina Hurricanes: Connor Brickley, F
Winnipeg Jets: Chris Thorburn, F
Philadelphia Flyers: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, F
Tampa Bay Lightning: Jason Garrison, D
New York Islanders: Jean-Francois Berube, G
Nashville Predators: James Neal, F
Calgary Flames: Deryk Engelland, D
Toronto Maple Leafs: Brendan Leipsic, F
Boston Bruins: Colin Miller, D
Ottawa Senators: Marc Methot, D
San Jose Sharks: David Schlemko, D
St. Louis Blues: David Perron, F
New York Rangers: Oscar Lindberg, F
Edmonton Oilers: Griffin Reinhart, D
Montreal Canadiens: Alexei Emelin, D
Anaheim Ducks: Clayton Stoner, D
Minnesota Wild: Erik Haula, F
Columbus Blue Jackets: William Karlsson, F
Chicago Blackhawks: Trevor van Riemsdyk, D
Pittsburgh Penguins: Marc-Andre Fleury, G
Washington Capitals: Nate Schmidt, D
All 10 trades completed for the Expansion Draft
* Vegas acquired D Shea Theodore from Anaheim.
* Vegas acquired Buffalo's 6th-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft (No. 161).
* Vegas acquired Boston's 5th-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft (No. 142, previously acquired by Carolina).
* Vegas acquired F David Clarkson, Columbus' 1st-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft (No. 24) and Columbus' 2nd-round pick in 2019.
* Vegas acquired F Reilly Smith from Florida for Vegas' 4th-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.
* Vegas acquired F Alex Tuch from Minnesota for Vegas' 3rd-round pick in the 2017 or 2018 NHL Draft.
* Vegas acquired F Mikhail Grabovski and D Jake Bischoff as well as NY Islanders' 1st-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft (No. 15) and 2nd-round pick in 2019.
* Vegas acquired Pittsburgh's 2nd-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft.
* Vegas acquired F Nikita Gusev, Tampa Bay's 2nd-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft (No. 45) and Pittsburgh's 4th-round pick in 2018 (previously acquired by Tampa Bay).
* Vegas acquired Winnipeg's 1st-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft (No. 13) and 3rd-round pick in 2019 for Columbus' 1st-round pick in 2017 (No. 24, previously acquired by Vegas).
(Photo courtesy of NHL.com)
