The NHL unanimously approved Las Vegas expansion Wednesday afternoon meaning Sin City will officially enter the league for the 2017-18 season.
Adding Las Vegas means the League has moved to a total of 31 teams which further indicates two things. First there will obviously be an expansion draft next summer and second there will probably be another expansion team added within the next few seasons to give the League an even number of franchises.
But lets not get ahead of ourselves too much, there’s still plenty for teams to contend with now… like that expansion draft that’ll happen on June 20th of 2017. So with that in mind, lets take a look at some of the rules surrounding it.
- Teams will turn in their ‘protected lists’ on June 17, 2017 prior to June 20th’s expansion draft
- Teams can protect as few as eight skaters and one goaltender or ten skaters and one goaltender. This could mean teams would be looking to protect seven forwards and three defensemen.
- Teams must protect players with no-movement clauses.
- Las Vegas must select at least one unprotected player from each of the other 30 teams. Teams however will not lose more than one unprotected player from their roster.
- There will be rules put in place so teams will not lose recently drafted players.
- Bill Daly has stated that Las Vegas will be subjected to the salary cap rules in their first season and must select at least $48.3 million dollars worth of contracts during the expansion draft.
- The NHL will allow Las Vegas to conduct transactions prior to the expansion draft. This hasn’t been allowed in other years where an expansion draft was held.
- Las Vegas will participate in the entry draft. They can pick as high as one or as low as six.
Here’s a more detailed list of the expansion draft rules via NHL.com:
The following rules were approved for the 2017 Expansion Draft:
Protected Lists
* Clubs will have two options for players they wish to protect in the Expansion Draft:a) Seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender
b) Eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goaltender
* All players who have currently effective and continuing “No Movement” clauses at the time of the Expansion Draft (and who to decline to waive such clauses) must be protected (and will be counted toward their club’s applicable protection limits).
* All first- and second-year professionals, as well as all unsigned draft choices, will be exempt from selection (and will not be counted toward their club’s applicable protection limits).
Player Exposure Requirements
* All Clubs must meet the following minimum requirements regarding players exposed for selection in the Expansion Draft:i) One defenseman who is a) under contract in 2017-18 and b) played in 40 or more NHL games the prior season OR played in 70 or more NHL games in the prior two seasons.
ii) Two forwards who are a) under contract in 2017-18 and b) played in 40 or more NHL games the prior season OR played in 70 or more NHL games in the prior two seasons.
iii) One goaltender who is under contract in 2017-18 or will be a restricted free agent at the expiration of his current contract immediately prior to 2017-18. If the club elects to make a restricted free agent goaltender available in order to meet this requirement, that goaltender must have received his qualifying offer prior to the submission of the club’s protected list.
* Players with potential career-ending injuries who have missed more than the previous 60 consecutive games (or who otherwise have been confirmed to have a career-threatening injury) may not be used to satisfy a club’s player exposure requirements, unless approval is received from the NHL. Such players also may be deemed exempt from selection by the League.
Regulations Relating to Expansion Franchise
* The Las Vegas franchise must select one player from each presently existing club for a total of 30 players (not including additional players who may be acquired as the result of violations of the Expansion Draft rules).* The Las Vegas franchise must select the following number of players at each position: 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goaltenders.
* The Las Vegas franchise must select a minimum of 20 players who are under contract for the 2017-18 season.
* The Las Vegas franchise must select players with an aggregate Expansion Draft value that is between 60-100% of the prior season’s upper limit for the salary cap.
* The Las Vegas franchise may not buy out any of the players selected in the Expansion Draft earlier than the summer following its first season.
The 30 NHL clubs must submit their Protected Lists by 5:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 17, 2017. The Las Vegas franchise must submit its Expansion Draft selections by 5:00 p.m. ET on June 20. The announcement of their selections will be made on June 21.
2017 NHL Draft Lottery
The Las Vegas franchise will be given the same odds in the 2017 NHL Draft Lottery as the team finishing with the third-fewest points during the 2016-17 regular season.
The Las Vegas franchise’s First Round selection in the 2017 NHL Draft will be determined in accordance with the 2017 NHL Draft Lottery and, as a result, the Las Vegas franchise will be guaranteed no lower than the sixth overall selection.
The Las Vegas franchise then will select third in each subsequent round of the 2017 NHL Draft (subject to trades and other potential player transactions).
Considering the NHL will have an odd number of teams it may not be a bad idea to keep these rules in mind since the League may very well add another team run a total of 32 total franchises. Keep in mind the last time the NHL expanded they added a total of four teams over the course of three seasons. This expansion included Nashville in 1998, Atlanta in 1999 as well as Columbus and Minnesota in 2000.