The Golden Knights are Las Vegas' first franchise in a major professional sport.
Nashville forward James Neal, who has scored at least 20 goals in all nine of his National Hockey League seasons, including 40 in 2011-12, highlighted the next eight selections, which also included 35-year-old Calgary Flames defenseman Deryk Engelland, a Las Vegas resident and former member of the Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL.
George McPhee can't wait to fill the white board, the one in the Vegas Golden Knights' expansion draft room.
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Marc-Andre Fleury took the stage at T-Mobile Arena in a brand-new Vegas Golden Knights jersey, and his new fans welcomed him to town with raucous cheers. Though he had to prepare for the expansion draft, he didn't have a team to manage and could watch players.
It was only 10 days ago that Fleury was celebrating that back-to-back Stanley Cup victory in Nashville, Tenn., which marked quite the end to his career with the Penguins.
Goalie Calvin Pickard was the first selection in the expansion draft.
Fleury gave the move his blessing when he waived the no-movement clause in his contract in January or February for the purposes of being exposed in the expansion draft.
Not by a long shot.
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Teams could protect seven forwards, three defencemen and one goaltender from exposure or eight skaters and a goalie.
Fleury's response: "I love you, too!"
The event is expected to be much more fun as the awarding and the announcement of the expansion draft will both be showcased. The netminder is an instantly recognizable name to anyone who's familiar with the game, a three-time Stanley Cup champion who is coming off of an inspiring effort in the first two rounds of the past post-season and a player with an affable, charming personality that is ideal for a burgeoning market. Vegas received first-round picks from the New York Islanders and the Columbus Blue Jackets in complicated transactions created to protect some assets and dump other financial albatrosses.
"I'll give it everything I've got to win some games", Fleury said.
"I didn't know that was coming", Fleury said about his new fans' enthusiasm. Fading into the background behind Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and other prominent Penguins was never a problem, but that's not going to be possible in Vegas. In exchange for not selecting certain players, Vegas also nabbed top prospects in defenseman Shea Theodore and forward Alex Tuch.
The Golden Knights also chose forward David Perron, who had 18 goals with the St. Louis Blues, and New York Rangers forward Oscar Lindberg and Edmonton Oilers defenseman Griffin Reinhart, the fourth overall pick of the 2012 draft. They also signed former ECHL Las Vegas Wranglers player and adopted local Deryk Engelland, formerly of the Calgary Flames, to a $1 million, one-year deal.
It was a savvy move by McPhee, who made 10 trades leading up to the expansion draft. McPhee said assistant GM Kelly McCrimmon had spoken to Marc Methot about his future, a hint that he could be traded, but shot down the idea of parting with Nate Schmidt.
As evidenced by the work he did against Sidney Crosby in the Eastern Conference finals, Methot is as tough as they come and would make an excellent captain if McPhee and the Knights don't trade him. Neal is a proven 40 goal scorer, when he is with the right guy, and now Vegas needs to find that guy as soon as they can, If they want to be competitive immediately. Few players in the National Hockey League have a release as quick as Neal, who has scored 20 or more goals in six straight seasons, including 31 two seasons ago and 40 in 2011-12.
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