krsmith17

It doesn't matter who we draft at 9, they won't be ready this coming season. Best case scenario, they're ready to start the 2018-19 season in Detroit. That gives us a full season to make room on the roster. If Liljegren is as good as he's been advertised, we shouldn't have any problem making room for him on our blueline. It's very possible that Kronwall could decide to hang them up after this season, with the last season of his contract only being worth $1.75M. Or maybe we decide to buy-out the remaining two years of Ericsson's contract. We can always trade a couple pieces as well. There are always options. We desperately need help on the back end, you don't not take an elite defenseman because there are too many mediocre defensemen on the team right now... Don't get me wrong, we need centers just as bad as defensemen, so I'd be okay with either, but if we get Liljegren at 9, I'd be ecstatic.

Heiskanen is another player that would be at the top of my list, but also another player I don't see dropping to us at 9.

No. NMC's had to be protected (Nielsen), not NTC's... Yes

Vilardi would be number one on my list as well, but unfortunately, I don't see any chance he falls to 9.

Mrazek is as good as gone...

The bolded is where you're wrong though. Vegas, in theory, could take half a dozen goalies and flip two or three of them. There has been a lot of credible sources speculating that McPhee may do this. Maybe not to the extreme that some have mentioned, but I think they will take at least four goalies, and then flip one or two. Whether they choose to flip the one they feel is the weakest or the one that brings back the biggest return. I do think this would be a great option for McPhee, because as I said, they should be looking to take best player available. You're right in that there won't be many teams looking to trade for a goaltender, but there would be guaranteed to be at least a couple teams looking to upgrade. Like I said, it's going to be very interesting to see how all of this plays out...

Hilarious that you menation me, because I couldn't disagree more with your picks. Those are two of the handful of guys I would be disappointed if we pick. It looks like you're basing your picks too much on size. We need skill with our 9th overall pick. If you've read anything I've written in this thread, you'd know I'm totally fine with taking centers or defensemen, because both are massive needs now and in the future. My picks based on who I think could potentially be available at 9 are Glass, Tippett, Liljegren, Makar. There are quite a few others I'd be okay with as well, but if we take Rasmussen or Vesalainen at 9 I'd be pretty disappointed...

Bottom line is, we don't even know at this point if Mrazek truly is available to Vegas. Maybe there is some sort of deal in place that Mrazek is protected, or McPhee has to select a specific player. I certainly hope this is the case... One thing I cannot understand though is why there are so many people saying that it's highly unlikely they take Mrazek (if he is available). Sure it's possible they'd go a different route, but I would say if anything, that would be the highly unlikely scenario. Regardless, it's going to be interesting to see how all of this plays out. One thing I will say though, there is absolutely no excuse for going into next season with the exact same team (minus expansion loss). Holland needs to make some moves, and I'm not talking about moves for the sake of making moves. He needs to make a big trade or two to really improve this team for the now and future of this organization...

Or go back to Vezina form and never look back. I admit, that may be unlikely, but so is the scenario you mention. I think Mrazek will end up falling somewhere in between the two extremes and be a very good starting goaltender. People seem to forget that he just turned 25 at the end of last season, and is still very young for a goaltender. Inconsistency is very common in young goaltenders, and I'm confident he will eventually get it figured out.

If this were to happen, Mrazek would likely steal the starter role by mid season.

Not really. The list of forwards they had to expose was pretty underwhelming.

Why surprised? Protecting young players on good contracts is what smart GM's are doing. And then there's GM's that will elect to protect older players on worse contracts. Protecting Jarnkrok over Neal is very similar to protecting Sheahan over Abdelkader, except Holland did the exact opposite, while also protecting the older, more injury prone, more expensive goaltender...

Agree with the first part. As for the second part, terrible way to get his attention if he's no longer part of the organization...

Again, Mrazek has more value in a trade than any other player on our unprotected list. That is why you protect Mrazek. McPhee would be very wise to take the best player available from every team and work the phones after. Sure, he could take Ouellet and put him on his 2nd pair, or he could take Mrazek and shop him and likely get a better defenseman than Ouellet. Matter of opinion I guess, and I've made it very clear in the past that I'm not very high on Ouellet, and I still believe the sky is the limit with Mrazek. Agree to disagree. I'd be shocked if Mrazek is not picked up by Vegas, unless there is some other sort of side deal... *fingers crossed*

I think Mrazek is more valuable than any of our other unprotected players, and it's not even close. Next closest may be Ouellet, and I can only hope they take him at this point. I think Mrazek would be a HUGE loss to this organization. As for the second part, put yourself in McPhee's shoes. If you thought there was a possibility that a GM was planning on exposing a certain player, and he called you up and asked you, what do you think of this player? Would you tell him, you'd definitely like to have him? Or would you play it cool in hopes that you could get him? There are GM's wheeling and dealing to keep specific players. If Ken Holland sits back and allows McPhee to take Mrazek, he truly is an idiot...

This doesn't matter. Vegas will take best player available, and use some as trade chips after the draft. Mrazek is our best player available, and I'd be shocked if he's not taken. This.

St. James is the absolute worst... There is no way Vegas takes Sheahan or Ouellet over Mrazek, unless there is something going down under the table that we don't yet know about. She's trying to spin it as if they won't take him because they're taking Fleury and won't want a $4M backup. Even if they didn't want that much tied up in a backup, Mrazek is a big enough trade chip, that they could easily take him and flip him to another team... Vegas will take best player available from every team, as long as they're within the parameters, 14F, 9D, 3G, players under contract and salary cap.

Like has been mentioned in the other thread, hopefully Holland already has a deal in place for Vegas to select a specific player, making this protection list irrelevant... Side note: are Aubry and Almquist still property of the Red Wings?

Yes he did... It's not easy, but really trying to give the man the benefit of the doubt here...

Now I guess it is possible that Holland already has a plan in place... Maybe McPhee has already accepted the offer of pick and / or prospect to take Ericsson, making his protection list irrelevant... He decided to protect Howard "out of loyalty", when it really doesn't matter which goalie he protected because they're both safe... Maybe... Let's hope this is the case...

I agree. Any side deal should have been saved for, we'll give you a pick if you take Ericsson, not we'all give you a pick in order to protect both goalies... If Mrazek actually is exposed, there's zero chance Vegas don't take him, and if Mrazek is taken in the expansion draft, this place will erupt, and for good reason...

Here comes LGW meltdown... Hopefully Holland has some sort of side deal with McPhee...

The big reveal is pushed back a half hour. 10:30 EST.

A reminder: some of the players you will see exposed today may already be protected in another fashion by a side deal with Vegas. Pierre LeBrun

I'm not very high on Russo either. I think he's a right handed version of Ouellet, if not slightly worse. I don't see him becoming anything more than a 5/6 guy. I'm hopeful of Hronek and Saarijarvi but who knows where they will be in their development in the next couple years (if they're even still in the organization).