Vegas Golden Knights General Manager George McPhee had a media availability today and he revealed several interesting things about the state of trades with the other 30 NHL teams. He had imposed a deadline of yesterday to get deals done, but travel delays have kept talks going into today.
Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Lou Lamoriello is one of several GMs delayed by airline issues.
The #leafs are one of the teams still working on a potential trade with Vegas. Lou Lamoriello had travel issues.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 20, 2017
Chris Johnston of Sportsnet is now reporting that there is some kind of deal in the works between the Leafs and Vegas.
George McPhee says he has "at least" six trades completed.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 20, 2017
The rumoured teams to have deals already done with Vegas so far are: Columbus, the Islanders, Tampa Bay and Anaheim.
Ottawa is said not to have managed to make a deal to protect their defenders.
While McPhee is looking to build the core of the team out of this expansion draft, he’s also taking players with the sole intention to trade them.
George McPhee: "We're going to have to move some defencemen because we're going to claim a bunch."
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 20, 2017
He confirmed that some of the picks that are going to be announced are going to be traded the next day.
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) June 20, 2017
So. Lou’s getting a defender. That’s what that adds up to (or Jonathan Marchessault).
Now I ask you, do you want Lou to concentrate on protecting players or on acquiring better ones?
What should be the focus of a deal with Vegas?
| Protecting prospects like Bendan Leipsic | 83 |
| Dumping salary like the Lupul and Horton deals | 360 |
| Getting a defenceman | 2671 |
| Getting any good player available | 773 |