The first step to our mock draft is to establish the list of players that will be available for the Las Vegas franchise to draft. To do this, we decided to have a blogger from each team represent their own franchise and select the players that will be protected from the Mock Expansion Draft available player pool. To see the rules which were followed to protect players, hit this link.
Next up, we have the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks are being represented by Carol Schram from HockeyBuzz.com and BleacherReport.com.
Protected Players
- G –Jacob Markstrom
- F – Daniel Sedin
- F – Henrik Sedin
- F – Radim Vrbata
- F – Bo Horvat
- F – Jared McCann
- F – Jake Virtanen
- F – Brandon Sutter
- F – Jannik Hansen
- F – Derek Dorsett
- D – Alex Edler
- D – Chris Tanev
- D – Dan Hamhuis
- D – Luca Sbisa
- D – Ben Hutton
Analysis from Carol Schram:
The first priority for the Vancouver Canucks in the expansion draft will be protecting their up-and-coming young players.
Jacob Markstrom’s expected to be the goalie of the future in Vancouver—by 2017-18, Ryan Miller will be 37 years old.
On defense, top pair Alex Edler and Chris Tanev will be retained, as will Luca Sbisa and rookie Ben Hutton. Dan Hamhuis is headed towards free agency, but has been a long-time anchor of the team. It’s more likely that Yannick Weber and Matt Bartkowski would be made available.
Up front, Brandon Sutter and Bo Horvat are the building blocks down the middle, supported by impressive prospects Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann. Sven Baertschi is a talented scorer, but has yet to produce since joining the Canucks, so he’s a young player that could find himself on the hot seat.
With their elite skill level, the Sedin twins and Radim Vrbata would be retained, as would younger two-way forces Derek Dorsett and Jannik Hansen. By 2017-18, Alex Burrows will be 36, Chris Higgins will be 34, Brandon Prust will be 33 and Adam Cracknell will be 32—leaving them all at the tail ends of their careers and thus, exposed for the expansion draft.
The entire list of unprotected players that will be available for Team Lane and Team Pothier to select from can be found here.
To see more team explanations just like this one, check out The Sin Bin Mock Expansion Draft Landing Page.
Special thanks again to Carol Schram from HockeyBuzz.com and BleacherReport.com. Be sure to follow @pool88 on Twitter, and heck, throw us (@SinBinVegas) a follow too while you’re at it.
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