Assuming the NHL announces an expansion draft for the pending Las Vegas franchise in the near future, what does that mean for the Toronto Maple Leafs?

By what does that mean, I don’t mean who the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to protect – I mean how will it affect the trade market.

Say the Toronto Maple Leafs want to get rid of Tyler Bozak. Is a team really going to give up assets for a non-rental player they may not want to protect? Probably not.

That eliminates a lot of teams around the NHL that could be interested in acquiring a player like Bozak, with term remaining after the 2016-2017 season.

It also doesn’t help the Toronto Maple Leafs deal Joffrey Lupul, for the same reason as Bozak.

Teams are going to have to think about protecting players they acquire in trades before actually pulling the trigger on a deal. Someone looking at bringing in James van Riemsdyk in a deal is probably going to want to protect him, so he’s bumping a player out.

For goaltenders, the market is expected to be wide open.

There are a few teams who have young goalies ready to take over, and solid veterans who will be forcefully left unprotected in an expansion draft because of the youngster in front of them on the future list.

Teams like Pittsburgh, Tampa and Detroit are three teams that will want to get some return on Fleury, Bishop and Howard before potentially losing them for nothing.

The expansion draft is going to make the goalie market very buyer friendly.

For the Toronto Maple Leafs, that makes any hopes of dealing Jonathan Bernier almost imaginary.

The rental market should remain unchanged, as that has no bearing on the expansion draft with players being pending unrestricted free agents. That’s good for Toronto if they want to bring in a guy like Lee Stempniak, who will generate a nice rental return at the deadline like he always does.

The trade market is going to be interesting this year if the league does, in fact, announce expansion. For players with term it’s either going to be a protected player for a protected player, exemption players, excess goalies or rentals.

Most of the top teams aren’t going to be interested in taking on a player like Tyler Bozak or Joffrey Lupul, and most of the bottom teams aren’t going to want their salaries. That could leave the Toronto Maple Leafs standing on the side of the dance floor drinking non-alcoholic punch.