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Canes Country Live: 2017 NHL Awards and Expansion Draft Results

The homework is done, and now it’s time to see who will comprise the inaugural Vegas Golden Knights roster.

By Brian LeBlanc Updated
NHL: T-Mobile Arena Views Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to our live coverage of the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft and Awards Gala, live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The show gets underway at 8:00 our time, and we’ll have all the details covered.

Of course, plenty of details have already been covered. According to the unofficial tally from our partners in SBN crime at Knights on Ice, 18 picks have already been leaked: nine forwards, eight defensemen, and a goaltender. But what’s more interesting is who hasn’t been taken, especially in goal where Philipp Grubauer, Antti Raanta and Michal Neuvirth are apparently staying put.

So does that mean that Ron Francis has successfully offloaded Eddie Lack to the Golden Knights, likely by tempting them with a draft pick? Possibly. This being Vegas, I handicapped the odds earlier this afternoon:

That was a reaction to a report that Vegas has chosen the minimum 14 forwards, likely meaning a 14/12/4 split.

So, keep it here, and we’ll update both the awards winners - don’t forget, Derek Ryan is up for the Masterton - and the expansion draft results throughout the night.

7:45 p.m.: Three more names have come out in the last few minutes: William Carrier (F, BUF); Clayton Stoner (D, ANA, with Shea Theodore also heading to Vegas in a side deal); and Jon Merrill (D, NJD). That gets us up to 10 forwards, 10 defensemen, and a goaltender. The Islanders’ Jean-Francois Berube may be a second goaltender, but that isn’t confirmed yet.

7:50 p.m.: In case you need a refresher course on the rules:

8:00 p.m.: “Welcome to the NHL Awards! Here’s some band you’ve never heard of to introduce the likes of Ted Lindsay, Bernie Parent, Marcel Dionne, etc.”

8:05 p.m.:

8:15 p.m.: Here’s the rules for the expansion draft, which we aren’t going to actually start yet, because let’s do a trophy first.

And the Ted Lindsay Award (players’ MVP) goes to Connor McDavid. Likely not his last time on stage tonight.

8:20 p.m.: Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun says that Calvin Pickard may be the answer to the trivia question “who did the Golden Knights announce as their first selection”. Which means Lee Stempniak is now the odds-on favorite to be the Canes’ sacrificial lamb.

8:25 p.m.: Everyone is waiting for the expansion draft results, so let’s hand out another award instead. And the Selke Trophy goes to...Patrice Bergeron! There’s a surprise. Ryan Kesler was all but anointed for the past few weeks.

8:28 p.m.: Are we going to do all the awards before we get to any of the expansion picks? The Norris Trophy is next, and this should be Brent Burns in a walk...

...and that’s exactly who it is, despite Erik Karlsson being the best defenseman in the league, Lidstrom-style. Must be something with Swedish defensemen.

8:30 p.m.: Finally, some expansion picks!

  • Avalanche: Calvin Pickard
  • Canucks: Luca Sbisa
  • Coyotes: Teemu Pulkkinen
  • Devils: Jon Merrill
  • Sabres: William Carrier, plus a 2017 6th-rounder as a bounty. (Why?)
  • Stars, which was announced out of order by Vegas owner Bill Foley because why the heck not: Cody Eakin
  • Red Wings: Tomas Nosek
  • Panthers: Jonathan Marchessault, plus Reilly Smith. In exchange, the Golden Knights send a 2018 4th-rounder back to the Panthers.
  • Kings: Brayden McNabb, who is the first NHL player ever to put a Golden Knights jersey on.

And there’s this:

8:45 p.m.: Finally, a chance to catch your breath: also known as an NHL 18 preview.

8:50 p.m.: Bobby Carpenter introduces Denna Laing, the NWHL player who was paralyzed in an accident at the 2016 Winter Classic. She gets a video tribute and a standing ovation. Cool moment.

And now Laing and Carpenter announce the awards that were given out yesterday: Travis Hamonic with the NHL Foundation Award, and Nick Foligno with the Mark Messier Leadership Award and King Clancy Memorial Trophy.

8:57 p.m.: My wife, watching this godawful magazine cover thing: “This is awful.”

And with that, let’s give out the Calder Trophy! This should be Auston Matthews in a walk...and it is. No surprise. If you’re scoring at home, Sebastian Aho finished eighth: four votes for fourth place, 14 for fifth.

9:02 p.m.: More expansion picks, including the Canes up first in this round.

Connor Brickley? Seriously?

  • Hurricanes: Connor Brickley (!) plus a fifth-round pick as a bounty.
  • Jets: Chris Thorburn. This is getting really freaking weird all of a sudden.
  • Flyers: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
  • Lightning: Jason Garrison, plus Nikita Gusev, a 2017 2nd rounder and a 2018 4th rounder. Garrison is in the building.
  • Islanders: Jean-Francois Berube, plus Mikhail Grabovski, Jake Bischoff, a 2017 1st rounder and a 2019 2nd rounder.
  • Predators: James Neal
  • Flames: Deryk Engelland, who has signed a new contract with Vegas

9:25 p.m.: OK, so let’s recap what happened while my daughter was trying in vain to keep from going to bed:

  • Nashville’s David Poile was named GM of the Year.
  • The Blue Jackets’ John Tortorella won the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year.
  • And something is up, because Winnipeg apparently traded Carolina’s fifth round pick to Vegas:

Not sure what’s going on. Stay tuned.

9:30 p.m.: And it’s time for the Masterton Trophy. Let’s see where Derek Ryan finished...

...well, they don’t release the voting totals for the Masterton. Craig Anderson won, #asexpected.

9:35 p.m.: More expansion picks!

9:50 p.m.: A really awkward handoff from Aly Raisman to an obviously intoxicated Marcel Dionne, doing his best Joe Namath, leads us into the Lady Byng Trophy nominees. Johnny Gaudreau wins. Let us never speak of this again.

9:55 p.m.: Here’s the promised tribute to Bryan Bickell, likely as an olive branch to the fact that he would have won the Masterton going away had he returned to the ice before the voting deadline. Really cool video. Here, watch it for yourself:

And he gets to go up on stage to a standing ovation, bringing his wife with him. Never mind the awards and the expansion draft; this is the moment of the night here.

10:05 p.m.: And now, somehow, they have to follow that, which they’ll do by sending old friend Kevin Weekes and Bernie Parent out to award the Vezina Trophy. Which goes to Sergei Bobrovsky, in a thoroughly unsurprising development.

10:10 p.m.: We’re down to the final six expansion picks:

  • Ducks: Clayton Stoner, plus Shea Theodore as a bounty
  • Wild: Erik Haula, plus Alex Tuch in exchange for Vegas sending a third-round pick back to Minnesota in either 2017 or 2018
  • Blue Jackets: William Karlsson, plus David Clarkson, a 2017 1st rounder and a 2019 2nd rounder as a bounty
  • And before we get to the last few picks: Vegas gets a 2017 1st rounder and a 2019 3rd rounder from Winnipeg in exchange for the Blue Jackets’ 1st rounder that they acquired a few seconds before.
  • Blackhawks: Trevor van Riemsdyk, who may be on the move tomorrow:
  • Penguins: Marc-Andre Fleury, plus a 2020 2nd round pick as a bounty
  • Capitals: Nate Schmidt

And we’re done with the draft. One more award to go...

10:25 p.m.: Wayne Gretzky is out to present the Hart Trophy. Connor McDavid led off the night...and he finishes off the night. Not a bad haul for the kid.

And with that, we’re done here. Thanks for following along. We’ll be back tomorrow with what should be an adventure of a day.