who can easily start 50-60 games and give the Golden Knights chances to win

Here 's a projection of who the inaugural Golden Knights might snap up by Wednesday night: GOALTENDERS (MINIMUM 3) SURE BET: Three-time Stanley Cup champion Marc-Andre Fleury seems like the most reliable pick on the board, a recognizable face of the franchise who can easily start 50-60 games and give the Golden Knights chances to win. Fleury waived his no-movement clause so the Pittsburgh Penguins didn t have to force another trade ", and the 32-year-old can go back to being a clear No. WORTH THE GAMBLE: Fleury 1 goalie. hockey hockey jersey for cheap could be joined by an established 20-something backup like Philadelphia s Michal Neuvirth Detroit", "s Petr Mrazek, Colorado s Calvin Pickard or New' York 's Antti Raanta. McPhee and Vegas goaltending coach Dave Prio R have connections to Neuvirth and Washington s Philipp Grubauer from drafting "them with the Capitals. McPhee described Neuvirth as" almost technically perfect. "It" was just about him growing up and maturing McPhee said at the scouting combine. "We thought THF" Here’s a projection of who the inaugural Golden Knights might snap up by Wednesday night: GOALTENDERS (MINIMUM 3) SURE BET: Three-time Stanley Cup champion Marc-Andre Fleury seems like the most reliable pick on the board, a recognizable face of the franchise who can easily start 50-60 games and give the Golden Knights chances to win. Fleury waived his no-movement clause so the Pittsburgh Penguins didn’t have to force another trade, and the 32-year-old can go back to being a clear No. 1 goalie. WORTH THE GAMBLE: Fleury could be joined by an established 20-something backup, like Philadelphia’s Michal Neuvirth, Detroit’s Petr Mrazek, Colorado’s Calvin Pickard or New York’s Antti Raanta. McPhee and Vegas goaltending coach Dave Prior have connections to Neuvirth and Washington’s Philipp Grubauer from drafting them with the Capitals. McPhee described Neuvirth as ”almost technically perfect.” ”It was just about him growing up and maturing,” McPhee said at the scouting combine. ”We thought that when that happened, he’d be an outstanding goaltender. And he’s at that point now. He can be really good.” ROLLING THE DICE: Maybe Vegas wants to groom its starter of the future, in which case Grubauer, Boston’s Malcolm Subban, Detroit’s Jared Coreau or Toronto’s Antoine Bibeau could fit the bill. DON’T SLEEP ON: Vegas controls the trade market and can make some extra picks to flip a goalie or two. Arizona and Philadelphia are in need of starters. DEFENSEMEN (MINIMUM 9) SURE BET: Assuming Anaheim has already worked out a trade to keep Vegas away from Sami Vatanen and Josh Manson – perhaps at the cost of a first-round pick – there are still plenty of young, affordable defensemen to choose from along with some veterans. Dion Phaneuf refusing to waive his no-movement clause forced Ottawa to protect him and expose 31-year-old Marc Methot. Minnesota’s plethora of blue liners made Matt Dumba, 22, and Marco Scandella, 27, available unless the Wild is willing to fork something over, and 25-year-old right-shooting Trevor van Riemsdyk from Chicago seems ticketed for the Golden Knights. WORTH THE GAMBLE: With speed, skating and puck-moving skills a priority, Detroit’s Xavier Oullet (23), Washington’s Nate Schmidt (25) and Montreal’s Nikita Nesterov (24) all could fit well. Want some more size and physicality? Vegas could look at Boston’s Colin Miller (24), Edmonton’s Griffin Reinhart (23) and Buffalo’s Zach Bogosian (26). ROLLING THE DICE: Pending free agent Kevin Shattenkirk of the Capitals wants to be a No. 1 defenseman and could get that role in Vegas. ”It’s a very interesting situation,” Shattenkirk said. ”Usually, you’re talking to teams or thinking of teams and you have some sort of idea of how they’re built or their history or whatever it may be, and they are completely fresh.” DON’T SLEEP ON: The Golden Knights will be young, but San Jose’s David Schlemko (30) and Paul Martin (36) and New Jersey’s Ben Lovejoy (33) are veteran options. FORWARDS (MINIMUM 14) SURE BET: This is where elite talent already under contract is hard to find, outside of maybe Nashville’s James Neal, a 10-time 20-goal scorer, and 32-year-old Minnesota center Eric Staal. Vegas could use free agency to stock its top forwards, as it already has by signing Vadim Shipacyhov out of the KHL. WORTH THE GAMBLE: Among established NHL forwards, Vegas has the pick of .

 

 

Two 26-year-olds from Florida: right winger Reilly Smith and center Jonathan Marchessault, who set career highs with 30 goals, 21 assists and 51 points last season and is the biggest bargain in the League at $750000. With so many Cup teams built down the middle, Dallas' Cody Eakin (who McPhee also drafted Minnesota s Erik Haula "). And St. Louis Jori Lehtera could help both" present and future. ROLLING THE DICE: Vegas can build a young nucleus with some intriguing possibilities, assuming Columbus has persuaded McPhee not to take 17-goal scorer Josh Anderson and the New York Islanders have worked out a way to keep 56-point producer Josh Bailey. One-time prospects Marko Dano from Winnipeg, Mikhail Grigorenko from Colorado and Nail Yakup OV from St. Louis might benefit from bigger opportunities under coach Gerard Gallant. DON T SLEEP ON: If Vegas "is indeed getting Blackhawks center Marcus Kruger, he s a nice depth player 'at and Montreal' s Tomas 27, Plekanec 34, who is, satisfies a veteran t two 26-year-olds from Florida: right winger Reilly Smith and center Jonathan Marchessault, who set career highs with 30 goals, 21 assists and 51 points last season and is the biggest bargain in the league at $750,000. With so many Cup teams built down the middle, Dallas’ Cody Eakin (who McPhee also drafted), Minnesota’s Erik Haula and St. Carolina Hurricanes jerseys wholesale Louis’ Jori Lehtera could help both present and future. ROLLING THE DICE: Vegas can build a young nucleus with some intriguing possibilities, assuming Columbus has persuaded McPhee not to take 17-goal scorer Josh Anderson and the New York Islanders have worked out a way to keep 56-point producer Josh Bailey. One-time prospects Marko Dano from Winnipeg, Mikhail Grigorenko from Colorado and Nail Yakupov from St. Louis might benefit from bigger opportunities under coach Gerard Gallant. DON’T SLEEP ON: If Vegas is indeed getting Blackhawks center Marcus Kruger, he’s a nice depth player at 27, and Montreal’s Tomas Plekanec, who is 34, satisfies a veteran component and could fit perfectly as the franchise’s first captain. — AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow in Buffalo, New York contributed. — Follow Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/SWhyno . — For more AP NHL coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockeyVegas Golden Knights hold cards as NHL expansion draft nears George McPhee is spending a fleeting moment as The Godfather of the NHL during the Vegas Golden Knights’ expansion window. He holds the cards for a significant chunk of the league’s talent, fielding calls from fellow general managers willing to trade something to keep McPhee from plucking certain players from their rosters, or to take someone from another team to flip in a deal. All trade roads run through Vegas. And every move has its price ahead of Wednesday night’s official announcement of the Vegas roster. ”Whatever you want to give us has to be better than what we can claim from that club,” McPhee said in Las Vegas on Sunday. ”Then we’re going to go to that club and say: `We have interest in this player, there’s another club that has interest in this player. How do we want to do this? How can we protect your roster? You can negotiate your way out of this if you wish.”’ He emphasized that each team will be contacted and given the opportunity to have a say in protecting its roster. But he said Monday was the final day for GMs to make pitches and hold negotiations because Vegas was planning to pick its team Tuesday. ”It’s going to take us a while to pick the team (Tuesday), because one change in this matrix affects everything – with your cap now, with your cap going forward, with the cap that you have done for this expansion draft, with the cap that you need for the regular season,” McPhee said. ”Is the player under contract? Not under contract? Does he fit the positional requirements? So that’s why you can’t get too cute and try to complicate it too much.” Beyond building what could be the most competitive expansion team in NHL history, McPhee has the golden opportunity to play some desperate teams against each other and build a collection of draft picks and other assets. Vegas must pick one player from each of the existing 30 teams, but there’s only so much room on the roster next season even with some minor league prospects thrown in. ”The expansion draft, I think the way it’s set up now is quite interesting,” said Capitals assistant .

 

GM Ross Mahoney, who worked under McPhee for 17 years. m really interested "I" to see how much movement that there s going to Vegas "be." could easily get its franchise goaltender in Pittsburgh s Marc-Andre Fleury a ", top-line scoring winger with 10 20-goal seasons in Nashville s James Neal and a" top-pairing defenseman in Ottawa "s Marc Methot while also picking up some potentially high draft picks for staying away from young talent from Anaheim, Columbus and the New York Islanders. Shortly after protected lists were released Sunday morning, GMs began calling McPhee to try to poach available players from other teams. Opportunistic GMs can feed the Golden Knights future to get a player who" otherwise wouldn t be on the trade m " Arket., Everybody, s, going, to, have, conversations, Brad, of, the, Calgary, Flames, said., Treliving, The, staring, contest, ends... Now, you, start, to, have, and, see, if, there, s, in, there, that, can, help., The, expansion, draft, rules, made, things, it, so,, that, Vegas, discussions, would, UPN, wind GM Ross Mahoney, who worked under McPhee for 17 years. ”I’m really interested to see how much movement that there’s going to be.” Vegas could easily get its franchise goaltender in Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury, a top-line scoring winger with 10 20-goal seasons in Nashville’s James Neal and a top-pairing defenseman in Ottawa’s Marc Methot while also picking up some potentially high draft picks for staying away from young talent from Anaheim, Columbus and the New York Islanders. Shortly after protected lists were released Sunday morning, GMs began calling McPhee to try to poach available players from other teams. Opportunistic GMs can feed the Golden Knights’ future to get a player who otherwise wouldn’t be on the trade market. ”Everybody’s going to have conversations,” Brad Treliving of the Calgary Flames said. ”The staring contest ends. … Now you start to have discussions and see if there’s things in there that can help.” The expansion draft rules made it so that Vegas would wind up with strong enough goaltending to be competitive even in its inaugural season. There’s also a surplus of young goaltending talent, including Detroit’s Petr Mrazek, Washington’s Philipp Grubauer, the New York Rangers’ Antti Raanta and Colorado’s Calvin Pickard. Need a goalie? McPhee might be able to help. That’s what Arizona Coyotes GM John Chayka was thinking after trading veteran goalie Mike Smith to Calgary on Saturday. Sure, he could sign a free agent July 1, Jordan Staal Premier Third jersey or he could take advantage of this rare circumstance. ”There’s a lot of unprotected goalies out there,” Chayka said. ”Vegas doesn’t need 10. They only need a couple, and there’s opportunities for trades from that perspective. … Goalie’s one position where there’s a lot of good goaltenders out there right now and not a whole lot of spots.” Just two years ago, the Senators got a first-round pick from Buffalo for goaltender Robin Lehner, Boston a first-round pick from San Jose for Martin Jones and New York second- and third-round picks from Edmonton for Cam Talbot. McPhee plans to finalize the Golden Knights’ roster Tuesday night, check with the NHL to make sure everything’s good to go, sleep on it and submit it Wednesday morning before the deadline. ”We can put a good team on the ice and accumulate draft picks and be in a surplus situation here in the next couple of years so that we can start with a real good team and then build it with these draft picks to a team that can win a Cup,” said McPhee, who figures three or four new players will be in Vegas for the reveal show Wednesday night. By the time the initial Vegas roster is unveiled, he might be smiling even bigger than he was Sunday when he saw the options in front of him. — For more AP NHL coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockeyBuffalo Sabres Have Acquired Nathan Beaulieu from Montreal The Buffalo Sabres Have Acquired Restricted Free Agent Nathan Beaulieu from Montreal for a Third Round Draft Pick.Saturday has been a busy day, to say the least, a few trades and some re-signings have definitely made the day go by much quicker. The Buffalo Sabres have bolstered their defense with the acquisition of Nathan Beaulieu from Montreal for their third round draft pick in this years entry draft.More from Puck ProseSan Jose Sharks Re-Sign Defenseman Joakim Ryan1 h agoArizona Coyotes and Calgary Flames Complete Massive Deal1 h agoEdmonton .