NHL Expansion Draft: Vegas Golden Knights Select Connor Brickley From the Carolina Hurricanes

If you predicted this, maybe Vegas is the place for you, too.

We knew the Carolina Hurricanes would be losing at least a player to the Vegas Golden Knights, but hardly anyone could have predicted that Connor Brickley would be the one to go. After his fourth professional season and one year with the Charlotte Checkers, Brickley finished fourth on the team with 15 goals, and led the team (fourth in AHL) in the category that became somewhat of a trademark for him: six game-winning goals. He also has 23 NHL games under his belt, with one goal and four assists in that span.

The Golden Knights also receive a 2017 fifth-round pick from the Canes in exchange for leaving Lee Stempniak, Joakim Nordstrom, Eddie Lack, and Cam Ward in Raleigh (#ForNow). The release from the team follows below.

VEGAS SELECTS BRICKLEY IN EXPANSION DRAFT

Hurricanes deal a fifth-round pick to Golden Knights

RALEIGH, NC – Ron Francis, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has traded a fifth-round selection in the 2017 NHL Draft to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for considerations during the NHL Expansion Draft. Vegas selected forward Connor Brickley from the Hurricanes in the expansion draft.

Brickley, 25, totaled 26 points (15g, 11a) in 69 American Hockey League (AHL) games with the Charlotte Checkers in 2016-17. The Hurricanes acquired Brickley on Oct. 11, 2016, in exchange for Brody Sutter.

The fifth-round draft pick (142^nd overall) acquired by Vegas from Carolina originally belonged to the Boston Bruins. Carolina acquired the pick along with a third-round selection in the 2016 NHL Draft (Jack LaFontaine) and Anthony Camara in exchange for John-Michael Liles on Feb. 29, 2016.