You should notice an increase in FanPosts over the next week or two. We’ve got a nice list of folks who want to jump aboard the crew at OTF and they will be auditioning their talents by posting various articles. Be sure to give them an audience and feel free to comment on any posts that seem comment-worthy.
(For those of you still waiting to hear from us, we are still compiling applications. The rest of the notices should go out this week… maybe even today!)
NHL Reveals Preds Protection List for Expansion Draft
Amid the news about Calle Jarnkrok, it’s worth mentioning that they didn’t try to do anything funny with the 7+3 route. They knew it would be way to difficult to keep that 4th defenseman–be it Ellis or Ekholm–on the team without giving up the farm. So, there’s that.
NHL Expansion Draft protected list revealed
And here’s the full protection lists by every NHL team. Side note: remember when the NHL was thinking about keeping all these a secret?
Golden Knights Expansion Draft: Pick Your Team
A super neat drafting tool brought to you by the weirdos at SB Nation.
McPhee ready for bidding war on exposed players – Article – TSN
Uh-oh. McPhee is using terms like “redistribution” and “harvest of assets” when referring to the rest of the league. Unsettling.
Ten intriguing names ‘available’ to Vegas Golden Knights – Sportsnet.ca
James Neal makes the list. Also, I think Jonathan Marchessault is as easy a pick for Vegas as anyone. A 26-year-old 30 goal scorer to go with a 29-year-old 30 goal scorer?
NHL expansion draft: 12 biggest surprises on Vegas protected lists
Yeah, Florida’s list doesn’t make much sense. Also, how about the Islanders protecting five defensemen! I don’t even know who these guys are.
Breaking down the Blackhawks’ expansion draft protection list – Second City Hockey
Those final three selections are pretty underwhelming.
Defending Jonas – Hockey Wilderness
And if any of this Neal/Jarnkrok hand-wringing leads to anything positive, it’s that plenty of teams are going through almost the exact same thing. Take the Wild, who essentially had to pick between Matt Dumba and Jonas Brodin.
NHL salary cap set at $75 million US for 2017-18 – NHL on CBC Sports – Hockey news, opinion, scores, stats, standings
This increase in cap coincides nicely with the Predators‘ current payroll situation. This should give them a little more room to make the moves they need to make.