Rangers lose Libor Hajek in way too early mock expansion draft 1.0
By Ed Stein
This is the first installment of EWB’s mock expansion draft for the New York Rangers. We predict which player the Blueshirts will lose in the 2021 Seattle Expansion Draft.
Welcome to EWB’s first “way too early” New York Rangers expansion draft forecast. This is where we predict which player the Blueshirts will lose in the 2021 Seattle Expansion Draft. Our predictions were made using capfriendly.com‘s expansion draft tool. We went through current NHL rosters and conducted a mock draft with no trades. It’s a little more complicated than it sounds.
The rules for Seattle’s entry will be the same ones used by the Vegas Golden Knights used in 2017. Of course, Vegas had the most successful expansion season in the history of sports, so Seattle General Manager Ron Francis will have plenty to live up to.
Difficulty predicting protected players
It is very hard to predict player on various team’s protected list due to the rules of this draft. It will become much easier after free agency this summer. Especially since there will most definitely be a few rounds of goalie musical chairs beginning next summer.
Because there is no way to predict who signs where and for how much, we have to go with current contracts. So for example, Taylor Hall wasn’t protected but after he signs his new deal this summer, whatever team that signs him will definitely protect him.
Just like the Vegas draft, there will be lots of wheeling and dealing. One thing an expansion team needs is lots of draft picks. Teams will make trades to cover more of their own players than initially protected. By giving incentives in the way of young players and picks, to Seattle, the other teams can control who they lose in the draft.