The Colorado Avalanche's situation for the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft

Draft rules have been released for the new Las Vegas franchise that will probably fail faster than the Cleveland Barons, Atlanta Flames, Atlanta Thrashers, and so on. For the other 30 NHL teams, they need to start thinking about who to protect. This can be difficult for all teams, especially those with many top prospects, and a strong core/depth chart. Fans of the Wild, Flyers, Blue Jackets, New Jersey, Ottawa, and Vancouver can probably stop reading here.

For fans of actual competitive NHL teams, Avs included, here are the rules for protection, if for some reason you haven’t already heard them:

There are two protection options: 

1) 7 Forwards, 3 Defensemen, 1 Goalie (11 players)

 2) 8 skaters (forwards and defensemen), 2 goalies. (10 players)

Other important rules: No-movement players must be protected, 1^st and 2^nd year players, and unsigned prospects can’t be taken and won’t count against the protection limit for teams,

So who should the Avs protect, and which option should the Avs take? Here are some thoughts: The Avs can take option 1 and only protect 1 goalie, which means they can protect an extra player. This means they would need to protect 3 dmen and 7 forwards, no exceptions, and one of Varly/Pickard.

If the Avs take option 2, they can protect 8 forwards, 0 dmen, and both goalies, or any other combination of forward/dmen skaters.

Here is what we know: When the 2017-18 season hits, the Avs will have Erik Johnson and Beauchemin as players who MUST be protected due to no-movement clauses. Iginla has no contract for the 2017-18 season so the Las Vegas team may not want to select him, and the Avs may not want to protect him.

Our picks for protection for option 1:

7 Forwards: Duchene, Landeskog, Soderberg, MacKinnon, Grigorenko (assuming he’s signed) Comeau, and anyone who they have at the time worth protecting. Depending on the rules, Iignla may need to be the 7^th player. Note: Rantanen will be finishing his 2^nd professional year (AHL included) so he is exempt.

3 Defensemen: Johnson, Beauchemin, Barrie

1 Goalie: Varly or Pickard, depending on how this season goes.

Players left open: McLeod, Mitchell, Martinsen, Aggozzino, Stuart, Holden, Gelinas, Zadorov Varly/Pickard. Bigras will have finished his 2^nd professional year, so he will be exempt, we think.

Option 2:

8 Skaters: Duchene, Landeskog, MacKinnon, EJ, Beauchemin, Barrie, Zadorov, Soderberg

Goalies: Varlamov, Pickard.

Players left open: McLeod, Mitchell, Martinsen, Aggozzino, Stuart, Holden, Gelinas, Zadorov, Grigorenko.

The verdict: As of right now, option 2 looks better for the Avs. They get to protect their Dmen, Zadorov included, and their main forward core, excluding Grigorenko.  With option 1, the Avs leave the bottom 3 defensemen open and the bottom 6 forwards, none of which would not be catastrophic losses. If the Avs take option 1, they leave Barrie or Zadorov open, which one of whom, given the other players open, would get scooped up by the Vegas team.

Of course this could all change. If Barrie leaves, Varly has a bad year, the Avs resign Boedeker, or a big trade/signing could change the whole outlook of the expansion draft situation. Regardless of what happens, the Avs MUST protect EJ and Beauchemin, and SHOULD protect Landeskog, Duchene, MacKinnon, and Barrie. It is kind of good, but also kind of sad, that the Avs do not have more then 8 players, that if lost in the draft, wouldn’t be missed very much. McLeod may be the only one, and who knows what will happen with Skille, Aggozino, Martinsen, and Matthias. If the goalies have a good year, they should both be protected, and Rantanen/Bigras should be safe.

What would you do?




Other Reading:

PATENT PENDING: THEY DO THIS SO MUCH, THEY MIGHT AS WELL OWN THEM

NEW ALL-STAR GAME FORMAT: WHO MAKES IT FOR THE AVS? OTHER TEAMS?

NEWS FLASH: THE AVS HAVE BEEN JUST AS BAD AS THE OILERS SINCE 2008

ALSO:

THE 5 WORST CONTRACTS ON THE COLORADO AVALANCHE