Home
Navigating the Expansion Draft and Looking at the Expendable Canes Players
We are continuing with Part III in a Five-Part Series: The first one looked at the common misconception that goaltending is the primary reason for the Canes struggles this season. The second article evaluated what I believed to be the most concerning issues surrounding the Canes currently.
Today, we are going to be looking at how the expansion draft might affect the Canes this summer. Furthermore, I wanted to take a look at the current roster and discuss who is expendable at this point into the season and heading into the trade deadline. The past few days, I have been playing around with the expansion draft simulator —if you haven’t had a chance to play around with it, I encourage you to check it out.
As I have been looking at different teams, I strongly believe that the Canes are in the best position of almost any NHL franchise heading into the expansion draft. There are two reasons that they are in a great position. The first is that only one player on the roster “must be protected,” Jordan Staal has a “No-Movement Clause (NMC).”
The first is an obvious advantage as some teams have numerous NMC’s, such as Chicago who has four forwards, three defensemen and a goaltender. This really allows the Canes flexibility in deciding who they would like to cover, as well as moving any pieces they deem necessary pre-draft or at the trade deadline. Given the Canes amount of draft picks this off-season, as well as young players, they are in a position to make a big move if the right offer came along.
The second advantage for the Canes is the amount of players automatically exempt that currently play an important role on the roster—Pesce, Slavin, Hanifin, Ryan and Aho are the five most notable names. This is huge because the Canes’ blue-line is very secure heading into next season. The fact that Pesce (22), Slavin (22) and Hanifin (19) are exempt allows the Canes to focus on using the “7F-3D-1G” protection method rather than the “8F/D and 1G.”
If you are familiar with the Canes, then you know that Pesce, Slavin and Hanifin all play a significant role in protecting the blue-line. Faulk will obviously be one of the three defensemen that is covered which will essentially have the Canes “Top 4” defenders protected, with two more allowed for protection. Most teams that are looking to cover their “Top 4” will be required to go with the “8F/D, 1G” option.
Based on using the “7-3-1,” the Canes should easily have their “Top 9” forwards protected, as well as potentially their entire NHL blue-line for next season. Whether the Canes look at a trade or the free agency market, they will have the cap space and security to make a “smart” move, rather than an impulsive purchase.
Unlike most NHL teams, the Canes actually are in a predicament on meeting the conditions required for the defensemen that must be left available to Vegas. Per the rules, they must leave one defensemen available who is signed through 2017-18 and either has played 40 games in 2016-17 or 70+ games through 2015-16 and 2016-17.
There are a total of eight Canes defensemen that are eligible for the expansion draft. If you look at them, only two are signed through 2017-18 (Faulk and Murphy) and only three meet the game requirement (Faulk, Hainsey and Dahlbeck). Granted, Tennyson will most likely hit the game-requirement (pending he doesn’t get injured), however, he would need to be re-signed before the expansion draft for the Canes to meet the requirements.
Based on this, the only player who currently meets both of the requirements is Justin Faulk. Let’s just be blunt, the Canes will not be leaving him available for Vegas. So, this begs the question of who do the Canes re-sign and who will they choose to protect with Faulk? At this point, I don’t think anyone could predict this without literally spinning a wheel and guessing.
The forward picture is a little more clear IMO. As stated, Staal will be required to be covered by the Canes—however, regardless of the NMC, I don’t think the Canes would leave him available anyways. Skinner, Rask, Lindholm, Teravainen and McGinn are pretty much guaranteed to be protected. Given that Aho and Ryan are automatically exempt, the Canes should have their “Top 9” covered easily.
Based on the list above, there is one forward slot remaining to be protected. However, based on the fact that two forwards must be left available who meet the requirements for games and contract, only Stempniak and Nordstrom remain that fit that bill. I don’t think the loss of either of them would be too catastrophic and they both are easily replaceable with younger guys, trade or a free agency acquisition.
Personally, I imagine GM Francis envisioned leaving Stempniak available and that is precisely why the Canes signed him to a two-year contract. As for the potential loss of Nordstrom, he has 37 points (14g, 23a) in 158 games and is in his fourth season. He has proven to be “bottom 6” NHL level forward with potential for the 2nd line, however, he really is expendable to the Canes.
If the Canes management disagrees with that stance and wanted to cover him with the remaining forward slot, then they would have to re-sign someone or bring in someone. I don’t believe it is a good strategy for the Canes to trade for an asset they plan to lose in the off-season, so the best option would be to re-sign someone.
If they were to pursuit this option, McClement, Stalberg and Nestrasil would be their options. Di Guiseppe could also fall into this category if he plays 11 more games this season. The risk of giving any of those four an extension would be that Vegas doesn’t select them and then they are on the Canes team next season.
I would be surprised if management would re-sign McClement or Nestrasil until at least free agency. Given the youth that could be ready next season and the amount of returning forwards, I think the Canes will want to be patient in deciding if/when they re-sign someone. That being said, I would place my bet on either Di Giuseppe or Stalberg getting re-signed if the Canes were to want to protect Nordstrom.
If you look further at the automatically exempt list, you will notice that there are many players who could potentially be NHL ready next season too. The amount of talented players in the Canes system that are exempt is astounding actually: Gathier, Saarela, Roy, Zykov, Fleury, McKeown and Chelios are probably the most “promising” developing prospects. Overall, the group of exempt players combined with those most likely to be protected is very encouraging for the Canes in terms of what the roster may look like next season.
The final component is determining the goaltending situation. Based on Ward’s play, as well as his history with the Canes, I personally would be shocked if he isn’t protected. Eddie Lack is younger, however, he would have to show something significantly impressive or see Ward have a catastrophic injury or major decline in play. Regardless, the one place that the Canes need to make more stable is between the pipes.
Now that we have looked at the Canes expansion situation, the question is who is expendable? I would believe that the most expendable players for the Canes to move would be Murphy, Hainsey, Stalberg, Nestrasil, McClement and Di Giuseppe. I doubt Stempniak or Nordstrom would fall onto the list, unless they were receiving a forward who met the requirements for the expansion draft.
Regardless of what GM Francis decides to do, the Canes are primed to be a dangerous team next season. Canes fans should be excited about the future, even if this season doesn’t see them break their playoff drought.
I think the most interesting question is who will the Canes protect as their seventh forward? Personally, I would rather them trade some of their expendable pieces for a forward who is similar to Staal—this meaning, excels at face-offs, puck possession and can provide a strong physical/defensive presence. Part IV will discuss this more in depth. Thanks for reading!
We are continuing with Part III in a Five-Part Series: The first one looked at the common misconception that goaltending is the primary reason for the Canes struggles this season. The second article evaluated what I believed to be the most concerning issues surrounding the Canes currently.
Today, we are going to be looking at how the expansion draft might affect the Canes this summer. Furthermore, I wanted to take a look at the current roster and discuss who is expendable at this point into the season and heading into the trade deadline. The past few days, I have been playing around with the expansion draft simulator —if you haven’t had a chance to play around with it, I encourage you to check it out.
As I have been looking at different teams, I strongly believe that the Canes are in the best position of almost any NHL franchise heading into the expansion draft. There are two reasons that they are in a great position. The first is that only one player on the roster “must be protected,” Jordan Staal has a “No-Movement Clause (NMC).”
The first is an obvious advantage as some teams have numerous NMC’s, such as Chicago who has four forwards, three defensemen and a goaltender. This really allows the Canes flexibility in deciding who they would like to cover, as well as moving any pieces they deem necessary pre-draft or at the trade deadline. Given the Canes amount of draft picks this off-season, as well as young players, they are in a position to make a big move if the right offer came along.
The second advantage for the Canes is the amount of players automatically exempt that currently play an important role on the roster—Pesce, Slavin, Hanifin, Ryan and Aho are the five most notable names. This is huge because the Canes’ blue-line is very secure heading into next season. The fact that Pesce (22), Slavin (22) and Hanifin (19) are exempt allows the Canes to focus on using the “7F-3D-1G” protection method rather than the “8F/D and 1G.”
If you are familiar with the Canes, then you know that Pesce, Slavin and Hanifin all play a significant role in protecting the blue-line. Faulk will obviously be one of the three defensemen that is covered which will essentially have the Canes “Top 4” defenders protected, with two more allowed for protection. Most teams that are looking to cover their “Top 4” will be required to go with the “8F/D, 1G” option.
Based on using the “7-3-1,” the Canes should easily have their “Top 9” forwards protected, as well as potentially their entire NHL blue-line for next season. Whether the Canes look at a trade or the free agency market, they will have the cap space and security to make a “smart” move, rather than an impulsive purchase.
Unlike most NHL teams, the Canes actually are in a predicament on meeting the conditions required for the defensemen that must be left available to Vegas. Per the rules, they must leave one defensemen available who is signed through 2017-18 and either has played 40 games in 2016-17 or 70+ games through 2015-16 and 2016-17.
There are a total of eight Canes defensemen that are eligible for the expansion draft. If you look at them, only two are signed through 2017-18 (Faulk and Murphy) and only three meet the game requirement (Faulk, Hainsey and Dahlbeck). Granted, Tennyson will most likely hit the game-requirement (pending he doesn’t get injured), however, he would need to be re-signed before the expansion draft for the Canes to meet the requirements.
Based on this, the only player who currently meets both of the requirements is Justin Faulk. Let’s just be blunt, the Canes will not be leaving him available for Vegas. So, this begs the question of who do the Canes re-sign and who will they choose to protect with Faulk? At this point, I don’t think anyone could predict this without literally spinning a wheel and guessing.
The forward picture is a little more clear IMO. As stated, Staal will be required to be covered by the Canes—however, regardless of the NMC, I don’t think the Canes would leave him available anyways. Skinner, Rask, Lindholm, Teravainen and McGinn are pretty much guaranteed to be protected. Given that Aho and Ryan are automatically exempt, the Canes should have their “Top 9” covered easily.
Based on the list above, there is one forward slot remaining to be protected. However, based on the fact that two forwards must be left available who meet the requirements for games and contract, only Stempniak and Nordstrom remain that fit that bill. I don’t think the loss of either of them would be too catastrophic and they both are easily replaceable with younger guys, trade or a free agency acquisition.
Personally, I imagine GM Francis envisioned leaving Stempniak available and that is precisely why the Canes signed him to a two-year contract. As for the potential loss of Nordstrom, he has 37 points (14g, 23a) in 158 games and is in his fourth season. He has proven to be “bottom 6” NHL level forward with potential for the 2nd line, however, he really is expendable to the Canes.
If the Canes management disagrees with that stance and wanted to cover him with the remaining forward slot, then they would have to re-sign someone or bring in someone. I don’t believe it is a good strategy for the Canes to trade for an asset they plan to lose in the off-season, so the best option would be to re-sign someone.
If they were to pursuit this option, McClement, Stalberg and Nestrasil would be their options. Di Guiseppe could also fall into this category if he plays 11 more games this season. The risk of giving any of those four an extension would be that Vegas doesn’t select them and then they are on the Canes team next season.
I would be surprised if management would re-sign McClement or Nestrasil until at least free agency. Given the youth that could be ready next season and the amount of returning forwards, I think the Canes will want to be patient in deciding if/when they re-sign someone. That being said, I would place my bet on either Di Giuseppe or Stalberg getting re-signed if the Canes were to want to protect Nordstrom.
If you look further at the automatically exempt list, you will notice that there are many players who could potentially be NHL ready next season too. The amount of talented players in the Canes system that are exempt is astounding actually: Gathier, Saarela, Roy, Zykov, Fleury, McKeown and Chelios are probably the most “promising” developing prospects. Overall, the group of exempt players combined with those most likely to be protected is very encouraging for the Canes in terms of what the roster may look like next season.
The final component is determining the goaltending situation. Based on Ward’s play, as well as his history with the Canes, I personally would be shocked if he isn’t protected. Eddie Lack is younger, however, he would have to show something significantly impressive or see Ward have a catastrophic injury or major decline in play. Regardless, the one place that the Canes need to make more stable is between the pipes.
Now that we have looked at the Canes expansion situation, the question is who is expendable? I would believe that the most expendable players for the Canes to move would be Murphy, Hainsey, Stalberg, Nestrasil, McClement and Di Giuseppe. I doubt Stempniak or Nordstrom would fall onto the list, unless they were receiving a forward who met the requirements for the expansion draft.
Regardless of what GM Francis decides to do, the Canes are primed to be a dangerous team next season. Canes fans should be excited about the future, even if this season doesn’t see them break their playoff drought.
I think the most interesting question is who will the Canes protect as their seventh forward? Personally, I would rather them trade some of their expendable pieces for a forward who is similar to Staal—this meaning, excels at face-offs, puck possession and can provide a strong physical/defensive presence. Part IV will discuss this more in depth. Thanks for reading!
» utube 11/19/24 MM&C Report-Census-Global Transparency-Budget-Trade-Banking-Delete the Ze
» Barzani: The relationship with Baghdad is good and no problem can be solved by force
» Al-Mashhadani: The international system today is “fluid and in crisis” and the Middle East crisis is
» Legal Center: Iraq is the fourth Arab country in child labor and there is a need to legislate a law
» Democratic: The new regional government is a coalition and one step away from negotiations to form i
» Parliament resumes its sessions next week... and clarification of the mechanism for extending its le
» A member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan stresses the need to pass the Kurdistan budget law, whi
» Framework warns: Agreement with Washington will be at stake if Iraq is bombed
» Protecting Iraq is an American duty: Security agreements are not just ink on paper
» Moderate leaders...are they able to guide the path at a regional crossroads?
» Politician reveals political agreements to vote on personal status law
» US report shows the importance of the population census in Iraq: It will reshape this map
» Dollar-Dinar Exchange Rate Gap: Causes and Treatments
» The Fifth Forum for Peace and Security in the Middle East kicks off in Dohuk with the participation
» Planning for / Nina /: The census results will be announced at this time and we implemented the proj
» Former MP: Worrying circumstances accompanied the population census process in Basra
» MP Hassan Al-Asadi brings good news to a group of those covered by Article 140
» Economist: Total cost of general population census reached 951 billion dinars
» Israel's complaint against Iraq.. a prelude to an expected military action - Urgent
» Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani: What is happening today in the Middle East is a “vital area for the second Na
» The complex of forming the regional government is exacerbated by the adherence to the “old faces”
» Bitcoin hits new record
» Prime Minister's Advisor: National Development Plan 2024-2028 depends on census results
» Al-Abadi responds to Senator Lindsey Graham's statement: Incites new conflicts and wars
» War developments portend danger in Iraq.. Israeli threatening messages arrived via a regional state
» Controversy over Kurdish citizens entering Kirkuk before the population census.. What's the story?
» MP reveals date of passing general amnesty and personal status laws
» Economist: The census will lead to an increase in the share of some governorates in regional develop
» Al-Sudani directs to equip border forces with modern weapons and secure all their requirements
» Iraqi government: We are making great efforts to control the influence of factions inside Iraq
» utube 11/18/24 US President Donald Trump Statement About Iraqi Dinar New RateIraqi Dinar News
» Mazhar Saleh: Population census is the basis for achieving optimal development
» Setting the date for announcing the preliminary results of the population census
» Kurdish MP: Population census will affect all governorates financially
» Between Israeli accusations and Baghdad's position: Is Iraq heading towards an international confron
» Al-Sudani renews his directives on the necessity of completing service projects within the previousl
» Political movement calls on parliament to strike dens of corruption
» MP criticizes the Foreign Ministry's performance towards the Turkish occupation
» Parliamentary Economy Committee criticizes the government’s withdrawal of the Public-Private Partner
» Before the vote... Washington moves its agendas to prevent the approval of the personal status law
» Al-Maliki: The Zionist entity seeks to strike Iraq through its expansionist war
» MP identifies 3 black images of the American role in the Middle East
» Where is the Baghdad-Washington agreement? The Zionist entity provokes Iraq and threatens to bomb it
» Durable goods are an open option for citizens.. Planning indicates a high response to the population
» Parliamentary Legal: The regional government is trying to change the demographics of Kirkuk to regai
» Arrest warrant issued for Anbar Council member for involvement in corruption and terrorism cases
» Al-Sudani directs continued payment of wages to workers on a "daily wage" during the two days of the
» What is the relationship between the population census and the national development plan? Al-Sudani’
» Iraq's seaborne crude oil exports decline
» Will the population increase the number of representatives in Iraq?
» In cooperation with the United Nations Population Fund.. The first population census in Iraq in more
» Jordanian company completes strategic submersible pumps project in Iraq
» Rasool: The government is pursuing anyone involved in activities that threaten Iraq's security
» US military creates air bridge from Iraq to Syria
» Al-Sudani, Putin discuss Middle East issues amid unprecedented escalation of tension in the region
» Know the secrets of the Iraqi house.. Baghdad demands that Washington deter Israel
» On the second day of the curfew, Al-Sudani tours Baghdad and “meets citizens”
» Planning: Slums are counted as a fact in the population census
» Despite problems, Iraq and Turkey agree to increase trade exchange
» Iraqi regions detect drones.. and Washington informs Baghdad of "exhausting" its pressure on the ent
» Bitcoin breaks $97,000 barrier for the first time in its history
» A difference of more than two million people: Iraqi or international estimates? Who will prove the a
» In numbers.. UAE exports to Iraq grow significantly
» Problems with the lists and the minister’s travel.. Baghdad to send salaries to Kurdistan employees
» Al-Awadi: Iraq will demand a UN resolution under Chapter VII to immediately cease fire
» How will the census reflect on drawing the economic map of Iraq? An expert answers
» Al-Hakim and Al-Amiri at one table to discuss these files
» Government Advisor: Population Census is an Essential Tool for Building Effective Strategic Economic
» A legal expert explains the extent of the Security Council's response to the Zionist entity's compla
» MP: The remaining time of the government’s term may not allow for a ministerial change
» MP: Iraq has dealt a qualitative blow to international drug trafficking mafias
» During 2024.. Iraq achieves a record in fuel oil exports
» Calls to issue a parliamentary decision binding the government to cancel the agreements with Egypt a
» Central Bank of Iraq sales exceed $6 billion in a month
» Planning: Iraq will apply international standards in the general census in coordination with the Uni
» Trade: Government measures to ensure continued food flow during census days
» The Prime Minister stresses the importance of the collection sector within the system of providing e
» Iraq produces more than 6 million m3 of wastewater daily
» Prime Minister's Advisor: National development plans depend on census results
» Investment extends the grace period for Bismayah residents to enter through electronic gates
» Trade: The general population census will be a starting point for important economic transformations
» Al-Sudani confirms the government's determination to proceed with organizing tax collection in a fai
» Al-Sudani visits the headquarters of the Ministry of Planning
» The Ministry of Oil announces the resumption of work in the production line of the North Gas Company
» Christian discontent with 'alcohol ban': It opposes freedoms and causes financial losses
» Al-Mashhadani stresses the importance of the Russian role in supporting Iraq at the regional and int
» Iraqi government issues new decisions - Urgent
» Legal expert details the extent of the impact of the population census on the controversial Article
» Al-Mashhadani directs the preparation of reports on the performance of ministers, governors and head
» Minister of Labor: More than 4 million children covered by the social protection system
» Al-Sudani chairs emergency meeting of the Ministerial Council for National Security
» Directive from Al-Sudani regarding meter readers on a contract basis in electricity
» Iraq borrows $390 million from Japan to develop Basra refinery
» Iraq and the "Israel-Iran" War.. Serious Government Measures to Secure the Launching Areas of Attack
» Iraqi oil recovers and exceeds the $70 barrier
» Integrity Commission Recovers Corruption Convict From Egypt.. Who Is He?
» utube 11/18/24 MM&C IQD News Report - Contracts - Projects - Non Oil Revenue Streams - Activating
» North Gas announces resumption of production line (1000) after maintenance is completed