Carolina Hurricanes May Have the Expansion Draft in Mind
By Jenny Lana
Carolina Hurricanes will lose key players in the expansion draft.
With the expansion of the league to Las Vegas, there will be a expansion draft. There are certain rules Any advice you would give a player that might work for me too? team has to abide by. A lot of the teams are thinking about that with it being free agency. They are thinking about who they would lose in the draft and they are thinking of the team’s future. As much as we all hate it, our favorite players won’t be resigned or they will be traded. Heck they may even end up in Las Vegas.
There are rules for the expansion draft and it will undoubtedly affect the Carolina Hurricanes. The question is, will it be for the better or will it hurt them?
The expansion draft will select one player from all of the NHL’s current 30 team roster. Las Vegas will be the eighth team in the Pacific Division and the 15th team in the Western Conference. The NHL has 16 teams in the Eastern Conference. How does this affect the Carolina Hurricanes and other teams if only one player will be selected from each team?
Clubs will have two options for players they wish to protect in the Expansion Draft:
a) Seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender
b) Eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goaltender
* All players who have currently effective and continuing “No Movement” clauses at the time of the Expansion Draft (and who to decline to waive such clauses) must be protected (and will be counted toward their club’s applicable protection limits).
There are minimum requirements that are going to affect the team.
The Carolina Hurricanes have to also take the minimum requirements in mind while deciding who to sign, trade and re-sign. Do we trade and let someone go who we can’t get back next season, or do we keep someone who can help us build but risk losing them to Las Vegas?
One defenseman who is a) under contract in 2017-18 and b) played in 40 or more NHL games the prior season OR played in 70 or more NHL games in the prior two seasons.
ii) Two forwards who are a) under contract in 2017-18 and b) played in 40 or more NHL games the prior season OR played in 70 or more NHL games in the prior two seasons.
iii) One goaltender who is under contract in 2017-18 or will be a restricted free agent at the expiration of his current contract immediately prior to 2017-18. If the club elects to make a restricted free agent goaltender available in order to meet this requirement, that goaltender must have received his qualifying offer prior to the submission of the club’s protected list.
https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-expansion-draft-rules/c-281010592
There is a lot more that goes into tough decisions, but what I’ve listed is what is the most significant to us. Now where does that/who does that leave us with?
Going by the guidelines, who could we lose to the expansion draft? Both Cam Ward who we just resigned, and Eddie Lack are still under contract and aren’t set to be free agents until 2018.
Now the defensemen and forwards are hard to know who the Carolina Hurricanes will potentially lose. As stated above, they must play 40 NHL games this coming season, or a total of 70 games in the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 seasons. Neither of which I nor anyone else can calculate until the end of the season due to illnesses, family emergencies, healthy scratches and injuries. At this point, who the Carolina Hurricanes may lose is at a stand still, and no matter who the Carolina Hurricanes lose, they will need players to replace them and that will affect the cap space as well as the team as a whole. I personally like the direction that the Carolina Hurricanes are headed and I hope they can reach the playoffs this season.