Tampa Bay Lightning lose a defenseman as Vegas Golden Knights make their expansion picks

By Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
June 21, 2017

The Vegas Golden Knights are official.

The 2017 expansion draft selections were revealed on Wednesday during the NHL Awards show as the 30 selected players to form the initial roster of the league’s newest franchise were made know, just over 72 hours since the protected list of players were announced.

Every team in the league were affected by the expansion draft in some capacity. Vegas general manager George McPhee spent plenty of time wheeling, dealing and, of course, selecting players.

And, of course, this had an impact on the Tampa Bay Lightning, who were among the teams to pull off a deal with the Golden Knights to influence the selection of the player off the Lightning roster.

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Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman ensured that Vegas selected veteran defenseman Jason Garrison in a trade consummated during the expansion process with the Knights. In exchange for agreeing to select Garrison, Tampa Bay sent its second-round pick in 2017 and Pittsburgh’s fourth-round pick in 2018 along with the rights to Nikita Gusev.

Garrison, 32, is in the last year of his contract that carries salary cap hit of $4.6 million but has an actual salary of $2.5 million this season. By losing Garrison, the Lightning opened up a large chuck of salary cap space that Yzerman said offers Tampa Bay salary cap flexibility and the ability to make additional moves. And keep in mind – see all the defenseman Vegas selected below – that there is a roster freeze that remains in effect until 8 a.m. EDT on Thursday and more moves are expected to be announced after the freeze is lifted.

Tampa Bay is in the market for a defenseman, which was the case even before losing Garrison to the expansion draft and that is something to keep a close eye on over the next few days with the draft set to take place in Chicago Friday and Saturday. Yzerman seems primed to make his mark and revamp the blueline.

And with the move made on Wednesday, Tampa Bay has approximately $23 million in salary cap space, some of which will be used to sign restricted free agents such as Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Jake Dotchin and Slater Koekkoek.

Now, here is how the expansion draft went down, with a handful of trades pulled off to ensure certain players left unprotected were not selected by the Golden Knights.

Here were the Vegas selections, announced in reverse order of the regular season standings:

Goalies (3): Calvin Pickard (Col), J-F Berube (NYI), Marc-Andre Fluery (Pittsburgh)

Defenseman (13): Brayden McNabb (L.A.), Luca Sbisa (Van), Jon Merril (NJ), Jason Garrison (TBL), Deryk Engeland (Calg), Marc Methot (Ott), Colin Miller (Bos), Dave Schlemko (SJ), Alexei Emelin (Mon), Griffin Reinhart (Edm), Clayton Stoner (Ana), Nate Schmidt (Wash), Trevor van Riemsdyk (Chi)

Forwards (14):Teemu Pulkkinen (Ariz), William Carrier (Buf), Cody Eakin (Dal), Tomas Nosek (Det), Jonathan Marchessault (Fla), James Neal (Nash), Connor Brickley (Car), Chris Thorburn (Wpg), Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (Phi), Oscar Lindberg (NYR), Brendan Leipsic (Tor), David Perron (StL), William Karlsson (CLB), Erik Haula (Min)

There were also awards handed out, which seemed almost like an afterthought as to the actual focus of the night. But below are the awards and what my ballots were as part of the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association:

Selke Award: Winner Patrice Bergeron – Boston Bruins

My top five votes: 1. Patrice Bergeron, Boston; 2. Ryan Kesler, Anaheim; 3. MIkko Koivu, Minnesota; 4. Mark Stone, Ottawa; 5. Ryan O’Reilly, Buffalo.

Norris Trophy:Winner Brent Burns – San Jose Sharks

My top five votes: 1. Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay; 2. Erik Karlsson, Ottawa; 3. Brent Burns, San Jose; 4. Ryan Suter, Minnesota; 5. Shea Weber, Montreal.

Calder Trophy: Winner Auston Matthews – Toronto Maple Leafs.

My top five votes: 1. Auston Matthews, Toronto; 2. Zach Werkenski, Columbus; 3. Patrick Laine, Winnipeg; 4. Matt Murray, Pittsburgh; 5. Mitch Marner, Toronto.

Lady Byng Trophy: Winner Johnny Gaudreau – Calgary Flames

My top five votes: 1. Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary; 2. Mikael Granlund, Minnesota; 3. Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis; 4. Marian Hossa, Chicago; 5. Oscar Klefbom, Edmonton.

Hart Trophy: Winner Connor McDavid – Edmonton Oilers

My top five votes: 1. Connor McDavid, Edmonton; 2. Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus; 3. Brent Burns, San Jose; 4. Erik Karlsson, Ottawa; 5. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh.

Other awards handed out, which are not voted on by the PHWA:

General Manager of the Year: David Poile – Nashville Predators

Vezina Trophy: Sergei Bobrovsky – Columbus Blue Jackets

Jack Adams Trophy: John Tortorella – Columbus Blue Jackets

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