There are a number of rules governing who Vegas can select (they have to take somebody from every team, they have to take a certain number at each position, and the total cap space must be within a certain range). It's also by no means their final roster. The Golden Knights have already signed a number of players and still have the draft, trades and free agency.
NHL teams are also limited to 23-man rosters during the regular season, so we know that at least seven of the players chosen in the expansion draft won't be on the Golden Knights' roster come their opening game. And they know that too, which makes the direction they decide to go with their selections very interesting.
But you know some of the players chosen on Wednesday will skate for Vegas in 2017-18. That's because the Golden Knights also have some really good players available to them. One player who's almost certain to be picked is Marc-Andre Fleury, who waived his no-movement clause. Pittsburgh could only protect one goalie, so they chose to keep Matt Murray, who's 2-for-2 on Stanley Cup wins during his career. Which means the Golden Knights are getting a franchise goalie who's been a member of three Cup winners (even if he is somewhat shaky as a No. 1).
In fact, goalie seems to be the one position where the Golden Knights will be set. Because there are plenty of quality goalies who were left unprotected, one of whom will be a solid backup to Fleury. My guess is the Flyers' Michal Neuvirth, but there are a lot of ways Vegas could go on the backup goalie front. Either way, it seems likely Fleury will be the starter.
We'll also probably see the Golden Knights choose their first-ever captain in the expansion draft. There are a ton of available veterans who'd be great in the role. A lot of experts are saying that James Neal will be their selection from the other finalist, Nashville, and if Vegas does take him, I wouldn't be surprised to see Neal wearing a "C" on his jersey. It's hard to say who other candidates to be captain might be, though, since we don't know who's going to be on the Golden Knights' roster. We don't even know if they're gonna take Neal.
As a result of the sheer number of quality talent available to them, I think the Golden Knights are going to be able to put a pretty good team on the ice. Will they be playoff-caliber? Probably not. But they're not going to be your typical expansion walkovers either. I don't think it'll take very long for Vegas to be competitive, either. Which is probably the whole point of the expansion draft being set up the way it was.
While it's impossible to know who Vegas will take in the expansion draft, it's still fun to think about, so I decided to give it a shot. Here's my mock draft:
Goalies: Anton Forsberg (Columbus), Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburgh), Michal Neuvirth (Philadelphia), Peter Budaj (Tampa Bay)
Defensemen: Sami Vatanen (Anaheim), John-Michael Liles (Boston), Trevor Van Riemsdyk (Chicago), Fedor Tyutin (Columbus), Nicklas Kronwall (Detroit), Andrei Markov (Montreal), Ben Lovejoy (New Jersey), Calvin de Haan (N.Y. Islanders), Matt Hunwick (Toronto), Kevin Shattenkirk (Washington)
Forwards: Radim Vrbata (Arizona), Matt Moulson (Buffalo), Troy Brouwer (Calgary), Lee Stempniak (Carolina), Cody Eakin (Dallas), David Desharnais (Edmonton), Jussi Jokinen (Florida), Devin Setoguchi (Los Angeles), Eric Staal (Minnesota), James Neal (Nashville), Michael Grabner (N.Y. Rangers), Viktor Stalberg (Ottawa), Joel Ward (San Jose), Nail Yakupov (St. Louis), Derek Dorsett (Vancouver), Chris Thorburn (Winnipeg)
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