Last night a report by Larry Brooks of the New York Post

surfaced with details about the Expansion Draft process. Over time we’ve heard

about many aspects of the draft before, but one new tidbit has raised alarms.

Edmonton might be about to take one in the teeth over Andrew Ference’s contract.

The former Captain of the Edmonton Oilers came to his

hometown in goodwill. He arrived ready to be a veteran presence on a team that

needed it. At the time of his arrival the management thought he could play on

the 2nd pairing and they gave him the security he was looking for on

what would likely be his final NHL contract.

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Andrew Ference signed with the Oilers on a four year deal

with a No Movement Clause that would come to a close July 1st 2017.

That he would be named Captain upon his arrival is neither here nor there. That

he has now been ravaged by time and lost the step that still allowed him to be

an NHL player does matter.

The most important take-away from that is that if because

Ference needs surgery and may not be eligible to be bought out, then in June of

2017 he might still be an Oiler with a technically active NMC. You might see

where we’re going with this, because Larry Brooks appears to have come across some relevant information. This is directly from his article:

Second, Slap Shots has learned that rules for the 2017

expansion draft that will precede Las Vegas’ anticipated 2017-18 admission to

the league as its 31st franchise (“Done deal,” we’re told), will compel teams

to protect players with no-move clauses even if they or the contracts themselves

expire at the end of 2016-17. This means if the expansion draft is held, say, on June 21,

2017, teams will be obligated to protect players who, a) would become

unrestricted free agents 10 days later; or, b) would be able to be waived or

traded 10 days later.

If the expansion process is not delayed past June of next

year, the Edmonton Oilers will be compelled to protect Andrew Ference should he

still be on the team.

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As a reminder, Andrej Sekera is also sporting a NMC. This

means that if the team wanted to opt for the 7 Forward, 3 Defender, 1

Goaltender option then they will be forced to choose only one member of the

defense not named Sekera or Ference.

We would assume that name, today, would be Oscar Klefbom.

However, should the Oilers meaningfully address the defense, as they need to,

then that could mean the new player they spend important assets acquiring is

protected and it’s Klefbom who is exposed.

The Expansion Draft rules for eligibility, as I understand

them, are that anyone in their first or second year of NHL or AHL play are exempt. This would mean Nurse ought be exempt as a second year player at the

end of next season. If Expansion is delayed until 2018 then he will need to be

protected, but then at least Ference is off the books for sure. This still doesn’t help any player the Oilers add between now and then.

If Ference cannot be bought out this summer because of his

injury, then Edmonton might be relying on his voluntary retirement this year or

perhaps hopefully after next season but before the Draft occurs. If he does retire

officially before next season then he’s going to forego 3.25 million dollars in

salary. If the plan is he files official papers June 20th 2017

before a Draft June 21st 2017 then maybe this plan is too risky to rely on.

In any event, the NHL’s Expansion process appears to be preparing

to punish teams like Edmonton who were foolish enough to hand out NMCs to

players that weren’t part of their core. It’s not Andrew Ference’s fault he was

offered the contract he took, and I don’t blame him one iota for taking it. But

based on recent reports, the Oilers are going to be in a bad way if they can’t

get out from under it.



