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Breaking down some expansion draft challenges
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Photo credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Ryan Pike
Jun 18, 2017, 11:36 EDTUpdated: Jun 18, 2017, 13:19 EDT
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Heading towards the 2017 Expansion Draft, the big question for the Calgary Flames was “Who’s going to play goal?” Brad Treliving answered that question on Saturday, leaving the “big” dilemma for today’s official unveiling of the protected lists being “They’re not silly enough to protect Troy Brouwer, are they?”
No, they’re not.
But a lot of other clubs faced even tougher challenges than Calgary, with many of them facing some big, big hurdles. With the expansion protection lists out, here’s a brief skim of the challenges other teams are facing over the next few days.

Teams hoping bad deals get taken

There are plenty of teams hoping that Vegas undoes some of their pricey mistakes and gives them the gift of cap relief rather than going for a more strategic route for their selections.
  • Calgary: Lance Bouma ($2.2 million)
  • Carolina: Eddie Lack ($2.75 million) and Cam Ward ($3.3 million)
  • Chicago: Marcus Kruger ($3.1 million)
  • Dallas: Antti Niemi ($4.5 million) and Kari Lehtonen ($5.9 million)
  • Edmonton: Benoit Pouliot ($4 million)
  • Florida: Jussi Jokinen ($4 million)
  • Los Angeles: Dustin Brown ($5.88 million)
  • NY Islanders: Nikolai Kulemin ($4.2 million) and Jaroslav Halak ($4.5 million)
  • Ottawa: Bobby Ryan ($7.25 million)
  • Tampa Bay: Jason Garrison ($4.6 million)

Teams hoping bad deals protect players

There are a lot of exposed players with hefty deals that their teams probably hope are big enough to scare Vegas away from taking them. These guys are all considered useful by their teams, but they’re all probably paid a bit much for their roles.
  • Boston: Matt Beleskey ($3.8 million)
  • Buffalo: Matt Moulson ($5 million)
  • Calgary: Troy Brouwer ($4.5 million)
  • Dallas: Cody Eakin ($3.85 million) and Dan Hamhuis ($3.75 million)
  • Florida: Roberto Luongo ($5.3 million), Reilly Smith ($5 million) and Jason Demers ($4.5 million)
  • NY Rangers: Kevin Klein ($2.9 million)
  • Ottawa: Marc Methot ($4.9 million)

Teams hoping Vegas is willing to make deals

“Please don’t take our good players. We’ll give you whatever you want.” All of these clubs could lose one really useful player unless they get creative.
  • Anaheim: Sami Vatanen, Josh Manson and Clayton Stoner
  • Columbus: Joonas Korpisalo, Jack Johnson and William Karlsson
  • Detroit: Xavier Ouellet, Riley Sheahan and Petr Mrazek
  • Florida: Jonathan Marchessault
  • Minnesota: Matt Dumba and Marco Scandella
  • Nashville: James Neal
  • NY Islanders: Josh Bailey, Calvin de Haan, Brock Nelson and Ryan Strome
  • NY Rangers: Antti Raanta
  • Tampa Bay: J.T. Brown and Slater Koekkoek
It’s going to be an interesting three days for a lot of teams.

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