LAS VEGAS -- Vegas Golden Knights general manager George McPhee has
informed the other NHL general managers that Monday is the last day he
will negotiate with teams looking to protect players eligible to be
drafted in the expansion draft.
"The last 24 hours have been
similar to the last three to four days in that we are having discussions
with clubs about what they want to do and how they can protect their
rosters if they want to do that," McPhee said. "What we've told everyone
today is that today will be the last day we're going to have those
discussions. We are going to pick our team tomorrow. We want to have a
discussion with the league tomorrow night about what our team is going
to look like and make sure we meet all the requirements, and if
everything is OK, I'll sleep on it and send it in Wednesday morning. But
today is the last day for discussions."
McPhee
said he has not completed any trades with teams looking to protect
players, but he is currently talking to several teams. He has set a
deadline for midnight ET Monday to complete any deals.
"We have things lined up," McPhee said. "But nothing is final until everything is final."
Teams
are calling McPhee not just to negotiate a deal for them to pass on
players they were forced to leave unprotected for the expansion draft
but also to inquire about trading for a an opposing player who was left
unprotected.
"There have been a lot of inquiries about players on
other teams," McPhee said. "All the GMs have looked at the list, and
they see players on the other teams and have asked us what it would take
for you to claim that player for us. Our response is we're either going
to claim that player for us and keep him, or the value you give to us
has to be better than something else we could have claimed from that
team."
With all the wheeling and dealing McPhee will be doing this
week, it might be smart for Vegas Golden Knights fans to wait a few
weeks before purchasing a jersey of their favorite new player.
"Will there be some players that are announced on Wednesday that aren't with us in a couple weeks?" McPhee said. "Maybe."
The
discussions taking place over the next 24 hours in the Golden Knights'
offices, located 15 miles north of the Las Vegas Strip, center on
building a competitive team for this upcoming season while also
factoring the long-term benefits of the trade offers, with many of those
including draft picks and prospects.
"The
balance is whatever feels right for our team," McPhee said. "We just
had that discussion 30 minutes ago on one particular transaction that
may happen, where there's a player that would be really good for our
team, and another offer has come in on that player that is really a nice
healthy offer that we also like, but what's best for our team? And
what's best for our team is keeping the player, so that's how we measure
things."
McPhee's Monday night deadline is to get everything in
order with the other 30 teams in the league before he sits down with his
team and drafts the first incarnation of the Vegas Golden Knights on
Tuesday. He expects that action to take up most of the day. He will then
submit the final selections to the league Wednesday morning.
"This
is a complicated process," McPhee said. "One of the reasons we want to
complete the dialogue today and pick our team tomorrow is it's going to
take us a while to pick our team tomorrow. One change in this matrix
affects everything with your cap now and your cap going forward. You
can't get too cute and try to complicate it too much, and we're being
real direct with players. When we call general managers back, we're
basically saying, 'Do you want to hear what's going on with your team,
or are you just content to sit and we're going to do what we want to
do?' Most of them want to talk about it, and then we tell them exactly
what's going on and if they want to do something about it or not."
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