While 30 NHL teams were talking trades ahead of this week’s deadline, the wheeling and dealing is about to begin for the 31st.
The expansion Vegas Golden Knights can begin making trades and signing free agents for next season as soon as owner Bill Foley’s final payment clears with the league. The expansion draft is almost four months away, but Vegas could get some clarity – and some assets – very soon.
“We’ve been talking with teams here for a few weeks now,” general manager George McPhee said. “Teams are looking for some certainty with their rosters and obviously trying to improve their rosters before the trading deadline and they want to talk to us to see if there’s a player that we could agree upon that for a couple months from now to claim, which would make their life easier.”
Most of the talk about the Vegas expansion draft has centered on teams giving up draft picks or prospects to the Golden Knights in exchange for a “hands off” agreement. Maybe it’s worth it a mid-round pick to the Anaheim Ducks not to lose one of their young defensemen or for the Columbus Blue Jackets to guarantee an extra player is safe because they’ll be forced to protect so many with no-movement clauses.
But if McPhee agrees to take, say, Bobby Ryan from the Ottawa Senators, it keeps GM Pierre Dorion from being nervous about losing someone like defenseman Marc Methot. Preparations for the expansion draft are an ongoing chess match with scores of pieces in play.