EXPANSION DRAFT RULES Protected Lists



* Clubs will have two options for players they wish to protect in the expansion draft:



(a) 7 forwards, 3 defencemen and 1 goaltender



(b) 8 skaters and 1 goaltender



* All players who have currently effective and continuing no-movement clauses at the time of the expansion draft (and who to decline to waive such clauses) must be protected (and will be counted toward their club's applicable protection limits).



* All first and second-year professionals, as well as all unsigned draft choices, will be exempt from selection (and will not be counted toward their club's applicable protection limits).



Player Exposure Requirements



* All clubs must meet the following minimum requirements regarding players exposed for selection in the expansion draft:



i) One defenceman who is (a) under contract in 2017-18 and (b) played in 40 or more NHL games the prior season OR played in 70 or more NHL games in the prior two seasons.



ii) Two forwards who are (a) under contract in 2017-18 and (b) played in 40 or more NHL games the prior season OR played in 70 or more NHL games in the prior two seasons.



iii) One goaltender who is under contract in 2017-18 or will be a restricted free agent at the expiration of his current contract immediately prior to 2017-18. If the club elects to make a restricted free agent goaltender available in order to meet this requirement, that goaltender must have received his qualifying offer prior to the submission of the club's protected list.



* Players with potential career-ending injuries who have missed more than the previous 60 consecutive games (or who otherwise have been confirmed to have a career-threatening injury) may not be used to satisfy a club's player exposure requirements, unless approval is received from the NHL. Such players also may be deemed exempt from selection by the league.



Regulations for Golden Knights



* Vegas must select one player from each presently existing club for a total of 30 players (not including additional players who may be acquired as the result of violations of the expansion draft rules).



* Vegas must select the following number of players at each position: 14 forwards, 9 defencemen and 3 goaltenders.



* Vegas must select a minimum of 20 players who are under contract for the 2017-18 season.



* Vegas must select players with an aggregate expansion draft value that is between 60 to 100 per cent of the prior season's upper limit for the salary cap.



* Vegas may not buy out any of the players selected in the expansion draft earlier than the summer following its first season.

The first rule of mock drafts is there is no such thing as mock drafts they are purely for fun.

Light, best-guess speculation — even more so in this case.

Unlike a mock entry draft, we won’t have a clue which players will even be made available to George McPhee and the Vegas Golden Knights come 5 p.m. ET on June 17, when the other 30 clubs must submit their protection lists to McPhee (and the hockey-loving masses).

We expect plenty of trades and signings between now and the deadline to reshape the draft picture.

We do know the official protected list based on no-movement clauses, but even in those cases, a crafty GM could persuade their veteran to waive that clause so they can protect another player more likely to get plucked.

McPhee said pitches for side deals from competing GMs (i.e., “We’ll give you X prospect or entry draft pick if you promise to not take Y off our existing roster”) began prior to March.

“Other teams want to do more than we want to do,” owner Bill Foley told Vegas radio. “They want to lock up some of their players for the playoff run and after the playoff run.

“George is a deal maker, especially in hockey. If we give up the right to draft a good player, we are going to get something good for it.”

Based on current NHL rosters and some no-brainer side deals — Matt Murray, for example, would need to be exposed if the draft were today, but the Penguins won’t let that happen — here’s a stab at the player Vegas will steal from your favourite team this off-season.

Take your own shot at an expansion draft via the excellent CapFriendly.com.

“Based on the rosters fans are drafting and fiddling with the tool myself, the Vegas team will have trouble scoring goals, but they’ll be a strong defensive team and strong in net,” says CapFriendly’s lead developer, Jamie Davis.

We’ll find out how off-base this mock draft is on June 21, when the Knights announce Reid Duke‘s teammates during a televised event in Vegas.