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Toronto Maple Leafs: Expansion Draft Do’s and Don’ts

ByLauren Kelly|
Apr 15, 2017; Washington, DC, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Martin Marincin (52) shoots the puck against the Washington Capitals in game two of the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 15, 2017; Washington, DC, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Martin Marincin (52) shoots the puck against the Washington Capitals in game two of the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

The 2017 NHL Expansion Draft looms large, especially with the Stanley Cup Playoffs half-over.

With the Toronto Maple Leafs out of the playoffs, fans eagerly turn to one of two drafts to discuss: the NHL Entry Draft and the more-popular Expansion Draft.

CapFriendly.com (I’m sure you’ve heard of it) has created an Expansion Draft tool that allows users to protect players from each NHL team and “draft” a Vegas Golden Knights team from the remaining players. If you haven’t attempted to use the tool at least once, you should definitely check it out. They also provided a simple, yet detailed FAQ list of the Expansion Draft rules, which can be found here. Feel free to give yourselves a refresher before reading the rest of this post.

Using both the Draft tool and the FAQs list, I compiled a list of “do’s and don’ts” that I feel the Toronto Maple Leafs should follow. Before we get to that, however, I want to make a few (probably rhetorical, but important nonetheless) points.

  1. All the Leafs rookies who made their NHL debuts in 2016-17, with the exception of Connor Brown, are exempt from the Expansion Draft.
  2. Joffrey Lupul, Milan Michalek, Colin Greening, Brendan Leipsic, Seth Griffith, Josh Leivo, Steve Oleksy, and Andrew Campbell have not met the 40/70 skater exposure requirement.
  3. The NHL released a list of LTIR players who are not required to be protected by their NHL teams, including Nathan Horton and Stephane Robidas.
  4. Only three Leafs goaltenders meet the goalie exposure requirements: Frederik Andersen, Garret Sparks, and Antoine Bibeau.

Let’s get on with that list, shall we?

DO:

  • Use the 7F-3D-1G format

The Leafs don’t have a plethora of defensemen they would want to protect, so going with this format versus the eight skaters / one goalie format makes a lot more sense.

  •  Protect Brendan Leipsic.

Leipsic hasn’t gotten his shot at the big league just yet, but his chance is coming. He’s proven to be an impact player in the AHL year after year. He should be in the Leafs future plans, and there should be no reason not to protect him. I can guarantee he’s the front-runner for whichever Leaf the Golden Knights snatch up if he’s left unprotected.

  • Protect Connor Carrick.

The Leafs lucked out in the sense that Nikita Zaitsev is exempt from the Expansion Draft, because now they can protect their fourth defenseman in Carrick. Yes, Matt Hunwick and Roman Polak may slot in ahead of Carrick in the lineup, but neither are likely to be apart of the Leafs future. Leaving Carrick unprotected gives Vegas better options. So don’t.

DON’T:

  • Protect pending 2017 UFAs.

Why on earth would you protect a player who isn’t under contract for next season? The Toronto Maple Leafs may love Matt Hunwick and Brian Boyle, but there is absolutely no point to protecting either of them when there are so many more important core players to protect. (If the Toronto Maple Leafs protect Hunwick over Connor Carrick I may quit on this team.

  • Protect Matt Martin over Josh Leivo.

Leivo probably isn’t in the Leafs future plans, but if it came down between the two players, the Golden Knights are probably going to take Leivo over Martin any day. You would get more value for Leivo if you were to trade him, rather than lose him to the expansion draft. Just don’t.

  • Protect Matt Martin, period.

Management is probably going to protect Martin, but I think I speak for the majority of Leafs fans  who are strongly against this.

Final Thoughts on Toronto Maple Leafs and Expansion Draft

Here is the full list of players I would protect:

  • Forwards: Kadri, JVR, Bozak, Komarov, Brown, Leipsic, Leivo
  • Defensemen: Rielly, Gardiner, Carrick
  • Goalie: Andersen

The following players left exposed would meet the 40/70 requirement for skaters and RFA 2017/under contract through 2018 requirement for goaltenders:

  • (Must Have 2) Forwards: Martin, Fehr, Smith
  • (Must Have 1) Defensemen: Polak, Hunwick, Marchenko, Marincin,
  • (Must Have 1) Goalies: Sparks, Bibeau

If I were the Golden Knights, based on the players left exposed, I’d probably take Marincin.

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Let me know what you would do differently, what you would add to the list, and what you think the Leafs will do.

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