Expansion draft - who might be exposed?

[jRuutu 2,464]

 

Expansion draft is being held just before the S65 draft, each team can protect seven players and their GM player, so eight in total. Today I´m going to take a look on each team and pick one player that could be exposed and thrown into the mix. The reasons vary and should not be taken too seriously, but I´m available to be hired as a consultant if some teams are interested.

 

Let´s start with:

 

Calgary
Nice amount of younger players, but a few older ones as well. Aksel McKnight and Jasper Canmore are two of the older guys in the roster at the moment, but I doubt Canmore is exposed, so Aksel is my pick. One year left after this year and he is Swedish.

 

Quebec
Tougher one I´d say, multiple young players who are also active, the older guys are retiring after the ongoing season, so not so many easy options in Meute. Toby Fitzgerald is one, a defender with just under 250 TPE. He has 17 points in 62 games so far, solid puck-moving bottom pair guy for any team.

 

Davos
Davos is an interesting team, a lot of guys in the roster, they, for example,  have three goalies at the moment, but Stoffiday announced his retirement not so long ago, which leaves two goalies for the team next year, interesting to see if they expose Mertz or one of the forwards,  Sobeck and DiMirio Jr, for example, both have contracts running out though.

 

Helsinki
Talk about exposing players, holy shit they have a lot of players and prospects, even after three guys retire after this year, but young prospect like Divaani Sohva could be among the names getting exposed, talented Finnish goalie who has been struggling little bit lately in the updating, but since Helsinki has Pepper in goal, journey to Titans net is rocky.

 

New York
Among the hardest decisions on who expose, exactly eight guys in the pros at the moment and another four in the juniors, talented guys - if I have to guess, Sven Hitz is getting exposed. Americans have King and Willinsky as right-wingers in the show already.

 

Seattle
A little bit like New York, Seattle has eight guys in the roster now that could be protected, Bears also have Komarov in the juniors, the question is who to expose? Thompson has his contract running out, so the number to protect could go higher, Mountain Thunderfist´s name comes up as a potential player getting exposed, the enforcer has racked up wild 296 penalty minutes in 134 games, protector, but also takes a fair amount of pims in the process.

 

Riga
Reign has a lot of talented players in the roster, all the forwards signed for next year and one defender retiring, Pajari as a center is an interesting option, Riga has Cast in the middle, but also young Gary in the juniors and even Dabarno could serve as a middle six option for Riga, so Pajari could be a player heading into expansion draft.

 

Toronto
Perhaps the oldest team in the league, seven players retiring between now and s68. Luc-Pierre Lespineau-Lebrunette as an older player and with his physical mentality could be   solid candidate on getting exposed, just imagine blueline of LPLL and Thunderfist! 

 

There you have it, not 100% sure on the rules and of course moves can still happen with retirements, trades etc, but overall I´d say the expansion team is able to put together a decent team right away, multiple fun options, defensive pair of LPLL and Thunderfist perhaps the cherry on top, would love to see how that pair would work.