Devils select Swiss center Nico Hischier with No. 1 pick

Fading into the background behind Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and other prominent Penguins was never a problem, but that’s not going to be possible in Vegas.

They could attempt to re-sign Johnson on July 1 – if he hasn’t already inked a deal with the Coyotes, whom acquired his rights in the Smith trade and are protecting him in the NHL Expansion Draft – or find a suitable back-up like Mike Condon, Jonathan Bernier or Anders Nilsson.

All of the attention last night was on the former Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury, he wasn’t the steal in the expansion draft. The former undrafted player has appeared in 360 National Hockey League games scoring 87 points with 114 penalty minutes and career plus seven rating split between Phoenix/Arizona, Dallas, Calgary, New Jersey, and San Jose. The Vegas Golden Knights selected Methot in the expansion draft, Wednesday, June 21.

New Jersey Devils get the first overall pick and as per NHL’s Kimelman and Morreale, Brandon center Nolan Patrick (QMJHL) (6-foot-2, 198 pounds) will be the first pick. There was the awkwardness, like when Golden Knights owner Bill Foley screwed up the draft order when he skipped over Detroit, to Dallas.

The rules were simple: Each of the existing 30 teams could protect either seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender or one goaltender and eight skaters regardless of position.

Not by a long shot.

Goalie Calvin Pickard was the first selection in the expansion draft.

Vegas, which selected 30 players in its expansion draft Wednesday night, now has three picks in each of the first two rounds.

“I didnt know that was coming, ” Fleury said about his new fans enthusiasm. I would not call him a sleeper but a little undervalued since he is a pure sniper who looks a lot like Phil Kessel.

“I believe we’ve put together a great team from the net out”, Foley said.

ROLLING THE DICE: Vegas can build a young nucleus with some intriguing possibilities, assuming Columbus has persuaded McPhee not to take 17-goal scorer Josh Anderson and the New York Islanders have worked out a way to keep 56-point producer Josh Bailey. Will it work? Well, McPhee said, “time will tell”.

After choosing Deryk Engelland from Calgary, the Golden Knights announced a deal with the veteran defenseman, who still lives in Las Vegas during the offseason after playing for the ECHL’s Las Vegas Wranglers a decade ago. Vegas is taking risks here, but that’s what they need to do. It remains to be seen what happens with Washington’s Nate Schmidt, Ottawa’s Marc Methot, Chicago’s Trevor van Riemsdyk and San Jose’s David Schlemko, any of whom could be traded as soon as Thursday. James Neal from the Nashville Predators, giving Vegas a sniper to use or flip.

During the 2016-2017 season, Glass recorded 94 points in 69 games for the Winterhawks and was a first-team All-Star for the Western Hockey League’s Western Conference.

He is looking forward to many more games in Sin City. In one such example, Vegas did not select Matt Dumba, Marco Scandella or Eric Staal from the Minnesota Wild and got in return prospect Alex Tuch and a conditional third round pick. 6-13-15 with two from Winnipeg and the New York Islanders. Smith has a $5 million cap hit through the 2022 season, but it’s unclear why the Panthers were so desperate to shed the 26-year-old’s salary.

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