Erik Erlendsson’s Golden Knights Picks
| Team | Position | Name | Age | Cap Hit | Status | ||||
| Anaheim | D | Sami Vatanen | 26 | $4.88 | Under contract | ||||
| Arizona | C | Peter Holland | 26 | RFA | |||||
| Boston | G | Malcolm Subban | 23 | RFA | |||||
| Buffalo | D | Zach Bogosian | 26 | $5.142, 857 | Under contract 2021 | ||||
| Calgary | C | Lance Bouma | 27 | 2.2 million | Under contract 2019 | ||||
| Carolina | C | Andrej Nesrasil | 26 | RFA | |||||
| Chicago | C | Trevor van Riemsdyk | 25 | $825 | Under contract 2018 | ||||
| Colorado | C | Mikhail Grigorenko | 23 | RFA | |||||
| Columbus | C | Matt Calvert | 27 | $2.200 million | UFA 2018 | ||||
| Dallas | C | Cody Eakin | 26 | $3.85 million | UFA 2022 | ||||
| Detroit | G | Petr Mrazek | 25 | $4 million | RFA 2019 | ||||
| Edmonton | D | Griffin Reinhart | 26 | RFA | |||||
| Florida | D | Jason Demers | 29 | $4.5 million | UFA 2021 | ||||
| Los Angeles | RW | Dustin Brown | 32 | $5.875 million | UFA 2022 | ||||
| Minnesota | D | Matt Dumba | 22 | $2.25 milliion | RFA 2018 | ||||
| Montreal | C | Torrey Mitchell | 32 | $1.2 million | UFA 2018 | ||||
| Nashville | C | Colton Sissons | 23 | $625,00 | RFA 2019 | ||||
| New Jersey | RW | Beau Bennett | 25 | RFA | |||||
| NY Islanders | D | Calvin DeHann | 26 | RFA | |||||
| NY Rangers | RW | Michael Grabner | 29 | $1.65 million | UFA 2018 | ||||
| Ottawa | D | Mark Borowiecki | 27 | $1.1 million | UFA 2018 | ||||
| Philadelphia | LW | Michael Raffle | 28 | `$2.35 million | UFA 2019 | ||||
| Pittsburgh | RW | Bryan Rust | 25 | $640,000 | RFA 2018 | ||||
| San Jose | G | Aaron Dell | 28 | $625,000 | UFA 2018 | ||||
| St Louis | RW | Dmitrij Jaskin` | 24 | $1 million | RFA 2018 | ||||
| Tampa Bay | D | Salter Koekkoek | 23 | RFA | |||||
| Toronto | LW | Brandon Leipsic | 23` | RFA | |||||
| Vancouver | D | Luca Sbisa | 27 | $3.6 million | UFA 2018 | ||||
| Washington | G | Philip Grubauer | 25 | RFA | |||||
| Winnipeg | C | Marko Dano | 22 | $850,000 | RFA 2018 | ||||
| Min Cap Hit: | Max Cap Hit: | ||||||||
Here is explanation:
Forwards – Not a whole lot of scoring line opportunities among the available forward selections, so knowing how Vegas is going to have to try to win games during the inaugural season, I wanted to find a mix of forwards who have potential scoring line skill to go with some experience and grinding ability. The leadership ability of a guy like Dustin Brown offers some of all the above while Cody Eakin is a grinding two-way center that can be a presence in all areas of the game. After that, I wanted a good mix of youth with potential, such as Bryan Rust who brings some Stanley Cup championship experience to the roster. Brandon Leipsic is an interesting player left unprotected, a winger with scoring line potential who was unable to crack the talented young Maple Leafs roster. It’s a mix with enough experience and youth to give Vegas plenty of options to work with either to fill out the opening night roster or trade options to fill out other spots on the roster.
Defense – This was an interesting look at who was made available and who to choose from with the available players. In the role of George McPhee, I wanted to find as many potential puck movers as I could find, knowing how much of a commodity they can be in today’s game. So in pouring through the list of available players, not only did I want to find players who could be in my lineup, but who I might be able to move somewhere else for draft picks. That’s why I steered toward the likes of Zach Bogosian, Jason Demers, Sami Vatanen and Luca Sbisa. None of the selected defensemen are over the age of 30, which offers plenty of options on whatever route McPhee chooses to goes with the defense.
Goaltender – Many speculate that Marc-Andre Fleury is the natural pick here to fill the role as the No. 1 goaltender for the Golden Knights, I chose not to go down that route, Instead I opted for the younger Petr Mrazek from Detroit who has one year left on his contract before becoming a restricted free agent. A former Calder Cup champion, Mrazek does not have the pedigree of Fluery, but gives a shorter lease. So by bringing in both Aaron Dell and Philipp Grubauer, it provides options in the short term while Malcolm Subban, the second goaltender taken in the 2012 draft, provides the long-term potential of a young netminder capable of growing in to a No. 1 role at some point in the near future.
