Toronto Maple Leafs: Redrafting The 2017 Vegas Expansion Draft
The Toronto Maple Leafs were fresh off their first playoff appearance in what seemed like forever in the 2016-17 season.
It created a sense of optimism for the future of the Leafs organization.
It was also the year of the Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft and before sitting down and actually reading how it worked, I feared that one of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, or William Nylander would be taken away from the youthful Toronto Maple Leafs team.
Then once I realized that was not the rules, I was relived.
Redrafting The 2017 Vegas Expansion Draft
This created so much excitement for me to watch. I have never seen something like this during my years as a hockey fan. Going back and looking at who was available during the 2017 expansion draft it was a true blast from the past seeing players like Shane Doan, Patrick Sharp, the Sedin twins all still in the NHL.
One thing I noticed when it came to researching who was available and who was protected during the expansion draft was how much the Anaheim Ducks and Florida Panthers helped the Knights build the squad that helped them go to the Cup Final in their inaugural season. Reilly Smith, Johnathan Marchessault, and Shea Theadore were all key players on this squad, and were part of the reason that they ended up winning the Stanley Cup this past season.
Another thing of note, the Knights didn’t do their best work when it came to drafting in the expansion draft, rather, their trades were what made them a good team as they were in their first season in the league. Some teams like the Arizona Coyotes really had slim picking when it came to who they left unprotected, then you have teams like Florida, Anaheim, and Minnesota who had fantastic talent available to be taken for free (info for original draft).
It is quite hard to redraft a team that was practically flawless. A group of misfits coming together and going all the way to the final was unheard of. Unfortunately for Vegas, they fell short of to the Washington Capitals who won their first ever Stanley Cup.
Now it’s time for me to put my GM hat on and go back to 2017 and see what picks I would have made in the 2017 expansion draft. I want to make it clear that this will be picks only, therefore in this scenario there are no trades made like there was on the actual expansion draft night
Anaheim Ducks
My Pick: Josh Manson
Original Pick: Clayton Stoner
Arizona Coyotes
My Pick: Louis Domingue
Original Pick: Teemu Pulkkinen
Boston Bruins
My Pick: Colin Miller
Original Pick: Colin Miller
Buffalo Sabres
My Pick: William Carrier
Original Pick: William Carrier
Calgary Flames
My Pick:Brett Kulak
Original Pick: Deryk Engelland,
Carolina Hurricanes
My Pick: Joakim Nordstrom
Original Pick: Connor Brickley
Chicago Blackhawks
My Pick: Trevor van Riemsdyk
Original Pick: Trevor van Riemsdyk
Colorado Avalanche
My Pick: Carl Soderberg
Original Pick:Calvin Pickard
Columbus Blue Jackets
My Pick: William Karlsson
Original Pick:William Karlsson
Dallas Stars
My Pick: Jamie Oleksiak
Original Pick: Cody Eakin
Detroit Red Wings
My Pick: Tomas Nosek
Original Pick: Tomas Nosek
Edmonton Oilers
My Pick: Laurent Brossoit
Original Pick: Griffin Reinhart
Florida Panthers
My Pick: Jonathan Marchessault
Original Pick: Jonathan Marchessault
Los Angeles Kings
My Pick: Brayden McNabb,
Original Pick: Brayden McNabb,
Minnesota Wild
My Pick: Matt Dumba
Original Pick: Erik Haula
Montreal Canadiens
My Pick: Alex Radulov
Original Pick: Alexei Emelin
Nashville Predators
My Pick: James Neal
Original Pick: James Neal
New Jersey Devils
My Pick: Jon Merril
Original Pick: Jon Merril
New York Islanders
My Pick: Ryan Strome
Original Pick: Jean-Francois Berube
New York Rangers
My Pick: Jesper Fast
Original Pick: Oscar Lindberg
Ottawa Senators
My Pick: Mark Borowiecki
Original Pick: Marc Methot
Philadelphia Flyers
My Pick: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
Original Pick: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
Pittsburgh Penguins
My Pick: Marc-Andre Fleury
Original Pick: Marc-Andre Fleury
San Jose Sharks
My Pick:Barclay Goodrow
Original Pick:David Schlemko
St.Louis Blues
My Pick: David Perron
Original Pick: David Perron
Tampa Bay Lightning
My Pick: Yanni Gourde
Original Pick:Jason Garrison
Toronto Maple Leafs
My Pick: Brian Boyle
Original Pick: Brendan Leipsic
Vancouver Canucks
My Pick: Luca Sbisa
Original Pick: Luca Sbisa
Washington Capitals
My Pick: Nate Schmidt
Original Pick: Nate Schmidt
Winnipeg Jets
My Pick: Ben Chiarot
Original Pick: Chris Thorburn
Next. Former Leafs Defenseman Signs PTO. dark
Now, obviously, the Knights are coming off a Stanley Cup, and so it would be hard for them to do better than they did, even with the power of hindsight. This is, therefore, just an interesting exercise and not meant to re-write history.