It was suggested at Wednesday’s general managers meetings that some intriguing details surrounding the NHL’s hotly anticipated expansion draft may be smothered under a shroud of secrecy.
We’ll believe it when we don’t see it.
It makes perfect sense, as Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reports, that the GMs would rather not have their lists of protected and exposed players go public when they submit those papers to the league by 5 p.m. ET on June 17. Why alienate the unprotected but unchosen ones? Why invoke fan criticism for controversial decisions?
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Shortly after deputy commissioner Bill Daly suggested that the only formal announcement around the Golden Knights’ draft would be the 30 players selected to move to Vegas on June 21, the reaction by fans and journalists on social media was, um, less than favourable. (We see you, Seans Gentille and McIndoe.)
Gosh, it's almost as if GMs worry about shielding themselves from criticism and scrutiny far more than what's actually best for the league.
— Down Goes Brown (@DownGoesBrown) March 8, 2017
OF COURSE GMs don't want it known which players they protect. League should overrule so that expansion draft can be a TV event. $$$
— Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) March 8, 2017
Perhaps Daly was floating a trial balloon — one that got popped on sight.
Later in the day, an NHL spokesperson gave this statement on the issue to Arizona Sports’ Craig Morgan:
“Protected lists must be submitted on June 17. They will be vetted by Central Registry and made available to all clubs the next day. No formal plan has been established regarding whether or when those lists would be made public.”
Plenty of wiggle room there. And if all 31 teams have the lists, you can bet on them leaking.
Also: The NHL’s chief content officer Steve Mayer told Yahoo!’s Josh Cooper that the league will look to televise the announcement of the Knights’ roster in Las Vegas around the same time as the NHL Awards.
It’s a slam dunk. Canadian basketball fans of a certain age can still remember sitting glued to the TV in 1995, when the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies drafted their first rosters.
That hockey fans want access to the unprotected lists is indisputable.
Tom Poraszka, founder of salary site General Fanager, created an expansion draft simulator for fans that was so successful, the Knights hired him.
When Fanager shut down, CapFriendly launched its own expansion draft tool due to popular demand and watched user engagement skyrocket.
One of this site’s most-read hockey stories this season is Johnston’s piece on the expansion draft’s official exempt list.
For what it’s worth, there is precedent for making the unprotected lists public. They were published in 1998 in advance of the Nashville Predators‘ draft.
True, the GMs won’t like their business floated out there for public debate, and some available players might catch feelings if/when they discover management was willing to let them go.
“Where are you in your career? Are you looking for a fresh start?” player-turned-analyst Nick Kypreos told Sportnet 590 The Fan Thursday. “It’s such a personal matter in terms of what’s the best situation for you.”
But the buzz-stirring debates around those lists will conjure up invaluable fan interest, a commodity the NHL would be wise to milk for all its worth.
“George McPhee needs some signature names to start selling right away,” Kypreos said. “He needs ambassadors. It’d be a no-brainer to get Marc-Andre Fleury right away and make him the face of the franchise.”
And a no-brainer to let fans know whom Fleury was chosen over.
UPDATE:
