I just really hope that Angus Crookshank becomes a star in the league. What a name.

If Melnyk is willing to take out his cheque book this team could be a contender in the future.

Thats a massive if. Also recent events have told me that its also highly unlikely.

So who do you protect/loose in expansion draft?

He did make a public promise that starting next year, this will be a team that spends to the cap so it will be interesting to see if he doesn't do it after exposing himself like that (which wouldn't surprise me). But even with this 30 man roster I have here and the big guys are all signed, they still aren't even close to the cap. Maybe a big free agent signing or more likely a trade is in the future to get a big name with a big cap hit? With all these assets, there's not room for all of them so a package trade to make an upgrade seems like a smart play.

***close to*** is what I believe the quote was

Because most of these players would have less than 2 years of experience at the point of the expansion draft, they are not eligible to be selected. Therefore we can protect mostly everyone, similar to Toronto during the Vegas draft. Maybe Zaitsev or Duclair?

Yeah he never specified how close.... kind of suspicious.

I was more referring to you dumping Zaitsev and Ryan and literally having no one to expose, which you need to

Also what happened to Hogberg? I don't think Larsson is ready by this time maybe the following season?

I don't see a star, but he has some good middle 6 potential. He brokeout last year at UNH. For a 5th round pick, not bad at all. The name just makes it THAT much better hahahah

I'm sure we would have a couple depth veterans added to this roster aswell and one of them can be taken. Hogberg is a very good AHL goalie but he doesn't have much NHL upside. Maybe Gustavsson can pull a Matt Murray or Jordan Binnington and make the jump. I see Sogaard as the goalie of the future though.

I don't believe a word that he says. I also don't think a big FA would willingly come here even with the young talent because Melnyk is so volatile and unpredictable. It took one bad season for the organization to take a complete nosedive, that doesn't exactly instill confidence in anybody, and if it does then that person is naive.

If I'm wrong, I think trading 1 or 2 of them would be a solid idea if we get a good player for the top 6 who isn't on the ass end of their career. I guess we will have to suffer, wait, and see.