2017 NHL expansion mock draft: Who should the Golden Knights pick?

The first step in the 2017 NHL expansion draft process went down Sunday with the reveal of the protection lists for all 30 teams. It’s now just a few days until the Vegas Golden Knights announce their selections Wednesday at the NHL Awards show.

GM George McPhee is going to have his hands full over the next few days, particularly after the Golden Knights said Saturday in a statement that they’re open to trades from all 30 teams. Teams will be making offers to Vegas to try to retain unprotected players, and it’ll be interesting to see who can put together trades to shake up the expansion draft.

The cards are all in the Golden Knights’ hands now, though, because if a player is unprotected, they can just take him if there’s not a compelling enough trade offer. There are unprotected guys out there now who will end up staying with their current teams, and Vegas will be thrilled about it when it walks away with a bevy of draft picks.

But before we can get into how trades might shake up the process, it’s time to take a look at what the Golden Knights might look like if they go through the expansion draft. Three of SB Nation’s writers are making their own picks, taking the players they think will put Vegas in the best position going forward.

You can also build a roster yourself with our fancy expansion mock draft tool.

Here’s a quick rundown of the rules:

With just a few days until we find out the Golden Knights’ picks, here’s who we think they should go after.

Total cap hit: $52.8 million (but need to sign Schmidt, Burmistrov, Grigorenko, Reinhart, Bennett, and Gaunce to new deals)

F1: James Neal — Vadim Shipachyov — Lee Stempniak
F2: David Perron — Jonathan Marchessault — Michael Grabner
F3: Michael Raffl — Ryan Strome — Marko Dano
F4: Mikhail Grigorenko — Cody Eakin — Beau Bennett

D1: Nate Schmidt — Josh Manson
D2: Marc Methot — Mathew Dumba
D3: Brandon Davidson — Colin Miller

G1: Marc-Andre Fleury
G2: Joonas Korpisalo

The Golden Knights are actually shaping up better than I expected. You can fairly assume that at least some of these players won’t end up in Vegas, but the Golden Knights will get assets for that, so it’s still a good situation to be in.

The defense in particular is where Vegas fans should get excited. Schmidt, Manson, Dumba, and Miller will all be 26 years old or younger next season. We’ve seen impressive flashes from these guys in smaller roles, and seeing what they can do as key players in Vegas’ top four would be exciting. Methot gets tossed in there, too, as the veteran leader for an otherwise young group. His $4.9 million cap hit is a bit much, but it’s only a two-year commitment.

At forward, things don’t look as exciting, but it’s actually not that terrible of a unit. Shipachyov is the big wild card here as he makes the transition from the KHL. If he can be a proper No. 1 center for Vegas right out of the gate, the forwards should be in pretty good condition.

I mean, look! They’ll be able to snag a foursome of forwards (Neal, Marchessault, Perron, Grabner) who combined for 98 goals last season. They also get a couple of interesting two-way centers in Strome and Eakin, a couple of young lottery tickets in Dano and Grigorenko, and a couple of fine bottom-six veterans in Raffl and Bennett.

And in goal, the Golden Knights can trot out Fleury as their starter and then decide between Korpisalo and Petr Mrazek as their backup. I’d go with Korpisalo and try to use Mrazek as trade bait, but either way, the Golden Knights’ goaltending depth should be solid. Korpisalo ideally is the goalie of the future, eventually replacing Fleury as starter when his contract expires in two years.

Total cap hit: $64.5 million (but need to sign Subban, Ouellet, Reinhart, Noesen, Boucher, and Schmidt to new deals)

F1: James Neal — Vadim Shipachyov — David Perron
F2: Joakim Nordstrom — Cody Eakin — Michael Grabner
F3: Matt Calvert — Matt Stajan — Marko Dano
F4: J.T. Brown — Marcus Kruger — Eric Fehr

D1: Brenden Dillon — Jason Demers
D2: Nate Schmidt — Sami Vatanen
D3: Brayden McNabb — Matt Dumba

G1: Marc-Andre Fleury
G2: Calvin Pickard

Neal is the big prize here, unless the Predators convince the Knights to stay away. Reports over the weekend indicated that quest was going nowhere. Eakin, Stajan, and Kruger are all bottom-six centers at best but the best quality Vegas is going to get. They’ll have to ride it out. At least they have Vadim Shipachyov.

You could do worse on the wings, though. Perron, Grabner, and Nordstrom provide speed and two-way ability that should help Vegas.

Vegas comes out like gangbusters with these defensemen. I get that the Ducks would like to keep Sami Vatanen and Josh Manson, but that would require a king’s ransom of picks to keep the Knights away. Until that’s confirmed, I have Vatanen sneaking away. Schmidt is a McPhee favorite from his Capitals days. Dumba’s cap hit is more palatable than Marco Scandella’s. This would be a decent group.

Fleury is all but a Knight already. Calvin Pickard almost won gold for Canada at the World Championships; he could be their goalie of the future. And Subban still has room to grow in the AHL.

Again, I am right in my analysis.

Total cap hit: $63.2 million (but need to sign Burmistrov, Chiasson, Reinhart, De Haan, Griffith, and Schmidt to new deals)

F1: James Neal — Vadim Shipachyov — Dustin Brown
F2: David Perron — Jonathan Marchessault — Seth Griffith
F3: Mikkel Boedker — Alexander Burmistrov — J.T. Brown
F4: Alex Chiasson — Joe Colborne — Michael Grabner

D1: Sami Vatanen — Colin Miller
D2: Nate Schmidt — Calvin De Haan
D3: Matt Dumba — Griffin Reinhart

G1: Marc-Andre Fleury
G2: Michal Neuvirth

Neal is the steal here for Vegas if Nashville can’t lure the Knights away with a side deal. Shipachyov was an incredible signing for the Golden Knights, and he’ll slide right into the first center spot with ease I think.

And yes, I know Dustin Brown is a pipe dream for all you Kings fans, but let’s live a little today.

Teams like the Blues and Panthers missed out on protecting solid players in Perron and Marchessault, so I think Vegas makes them pay by picking them up. Of course, some of these players could very well not be on Vegas by mid-week, but that middle-six for Vegas is more than many could have hoped for.

And, like Satchel and Pat before me, the defense is actually shaping up to be a real surprise. Schmidt has come off a great showing for Washington last postseason, and I don’t see why Vegas won’t pick up a defenseman from the Islanders when all is said and done. Sami Vatanen could be protected by a handshake deal, but it’s either him or Josh Manson who likely gets saved by the Ducks, and it’s not a done deal yet.

Fleury is the obvious choice in net, but Neuvirth sneaks in because Vegas general manager George McPhee is extremely high on the Flyers backup.