As the expansion draft nears, the Rangers are primed to take advantage or a rare opportunity. It’s been covered a few times here, but the Rangers only need to protect two defensemen out of their three allowed in the expansion draft. Ryan Lindgren and Jacob Trouba will be protected. K’Andre Miller and Adam Fox are exempt. That means the third protection spot, as of now, would go to Libor Hajek, which is less than optimal. Given this, the Rangers can probably use their spot to protect another team’s defenseman, for a price of course.
To review that approach once more: The Rangers would acquire a defenseman and an additional asset, and then trade that defenseman back –without the asset– to the original team. Using Tampa as an example, the Rangers would acquire Ryan McDonagh for a 2021 7th, and then trade him back to Tampa for a 2022 4th. The Rangers would essentially be trading a 7th for a 4th for 3 days of sheltering McDonagh. Consider them the Cayman Islands of the 2021 Expansion Draft, offering shelters for a price.
There are a few teams that could use this to their advantage. That is, if teams are creative enough to do so. But let’s be real, GMs aren’t creative. Still, it’s fun to discuss. As a reminder, teams can protect 7F/3D or 8 skaters.
Tampa Bay Lightning
As mentioned, Tampa has a quartet of defensemen –McDonagh, Victor Hedman, Erik Cernak, Mikhail Sergachev– to protect in the expansion draft. Up front, they have many different paths to protect seven forwards. Given they’ve won a pair of Stanley Cups in a row, they will likely want to keep that core intact.
Playing Devil’s Advocate for a second, Tampa could protect 8 skaters, using the spots on those four plus Steven Stamkos (NMC), Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, and Anthony Cirelli. That ensures Seattle takes Yanni Gourde. I’m sure there is potential for a trade for someone to take Tyler Johnson as well. GMs can’t help themselves when it comes to helping Tampa.
Washington Capitals
The defensemen in question are John Carlson, Dmitriy Orlov, Nick Jensen, Brendan Dillon, and Justin Schultz. I’d guess that Carlson and Orlov are protected, but the third is anyone’s guess. Unlike Tampa, protecting 8 skaters over the 7F/3D route is likely a no-go, given some their depth up front.
The Caps will likely lose a defenseman in the expansion draft, and now it’s a matter of which one they want to lose. As for which is the fourth, that I don’t know.
St. Louis Blues
Justin Faulk, Torey Krug, Marco Scandella, Colton Parayko, and Vince Dunn are the defensemen to watch here. Dunn has been shopped around, so even if there’s a taker, there’s still four defensemen left. The catch here is that the Blues can actually protect eight skaters –thus protecting their four defensemen– and not really bat an eye about losing a forward to the expansion draft. I mean, there’s not much there up front.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Canes are another deep team with a problem. They have too many forwards to protect, plus have four defensemen under contract. Now all this depends on how they view Brady Skjei. If they are looking to shed the contract, expect Skjei to be exposed. Otherwise, that’s a pretty pickle for them.
Update – Forgot about Montreal
Montreal Canadiens
Brett Kulak is the target here, and this may not even be expansion draft protection. It could be a straight up trade.
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I don’t necessarily see the Rangers, or any team, getting this creative. After all, if GMs weren’t boring then we’d see more offer sheets. But they are, thus we are left with the very likely scenario that the Rangers waste their 3rd spot on a 9D in their system.
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