Seattle Hockey: Way too early mock expansion draft version 1.0
Sam Montembeault, Florida Panthers.
Goalies
Going back to Vegas, the key to their entire Stanley Cup Finals run was goalie Marc-Andre-Fleury. If Seattle hockey fans are looking for hope of a hot start to the franchise, look no further than this cadre of backstops. Among them, there is starting material, backups, reliable third options, and future mainstays. It’s also not hard to envision Francis trading at least one, and more likely two of them for good draft picks and young players. Not bad for a group of only six men.
- Jack Campbell – Toronto, 28, one-year, $1.65M
- Casey DeSmith – Pittsburgh, 28, one-year, $1.25M
- Ville Husso – St. Louis, 25, $750K
- Samuel Montembeault – Florida, 23, RFA
- Cal Petersen – Los Angeles, 25, one-year, $858K
- Vitek Vanecek – Washington, 24, one-year, $717K
Outlook
Campbell has the best NHL track record so far. After struggling early in his career, he found his game, the past few seasons in Los Angeles and Toronto. The Michigan native has earned his chance to be the number one goaltender. It’s his job to lose. Husso will push Campbell and has the talent to force a timeshare. He’s the odd man out of the goalie situation in St. Louis. The Blues’ loss can be Seattle’s gain.
DeSmith and Petersen are borderline second/third-string NHL netminders. Both have managed to hold their own in limited appearances. The big battle, however, will be between Montembeault and Vanecek to see which one is the team’s goalie of the future. One of them is behind an unmovable contract, which is too expensive to buy out. The other is in the middle of an all-star and the “next big thing.”
One other thing to watch for, going forward, is how much value does the organization place on players who grew up in the area or played for the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds. Vegas did very well with Deryk Engelland, as their captain. He played for the Las Vegas Wranglers in the ECHL at the outset of his career. Someone like TJ Oshie, who grew up in Everett and is a former Team USA star, would give a huge PR boost to the Seattle hockey organization.