I would have fired Kitchen too, dude has a rat face.
You sure you're not thinking Keenan?
Hartman vs TVR might have become a more narrow decision than it seemed in March.
I think if you look at years of control...I mean I don't know but I would guess that tips the scale in Hartman's favor.
We can expose TVR, Jurco, Kruger, Lehtonen or something? Probably Clyde and Lord know, I don't have the patience to go figure it out.
They would be smart to outbid us for Darling outright, and/or go after Bishop.
The way the expansion draft works in terms of protection is this: You can either protect 8 skaters and 1G, or you can protect 7 fwds, 3 D, and 1 G. All NMC contracts, regardless of whether they're modified by a L-NTC *have* to be protected unless the player waived, and the player is under no obligation to do so.
The way the expansion draft works in terms of exposure is this: You need to expose 2 FWDs, 1D, and 1G. The FWDS and D have to have played in at least 40 games this season or at least 70 games since the start of the 2016 season--I know there's a exemption for rookies and 2nd year players as well (exempts Panarin). Both Goalies and skaters have to be signed through the 2018 season to meet exposure. Goalies can also be an RFA come the end of 2017.
So, for the 'hawks, here's how it sits:
They are protecting (fwds) Toews, Kane, Hossa, and Anisimov; (D) Seabrook, Keith and Hjammer; and (G) Crawford.
They *have* to expose 2 of Kruger, Hartman, and Tootoo, 1 of Rosival or VanReimsdyk, and Glass meets the Goalie exposure requirement.
So, right now the 'hawks have 4 FWDs protected by default, 1G protected by default, and 3D protected by default. You have to figure Tootoo, Rosie, and Glass are going to be exposed no matter what.
Like you said, the choice is Protect TVR, and that's all we can protect, or protect Hartman exposing TVR, and we get 2 more FWDs we can protect.
Dejardins, Oduya, Campbell, Jurco, Panik, and Darling are all FA's. They can be protected but they don't meet exposure requirements. If the 'ahwks protect Hartman and expose TVR, they can also protect 2 of Dejardins, Jurco, and Panik (or all three of the UFA's exposing Hartmand and TVR). Protecting Oduya or Campbell exposes TVR and Hartman (along with the FWD FA's). Protecting Darling would require Crawford to waive his NMC. They can all be taken by Vegas if not protected.
Once all of the teams submit their protection lists on June 17th, Vegas has a 72 hour window to negotiate with *all* UFA's. If Vegas comes to a deal with that UFA, they can't pick a player from the host team (i.e. Vegas could sign Darling, and there goes their Chicago pick). If they can't negotiate a term with a UFA from a team, they can pick an unprotected player. If the player is an RFA, they have all negotiating rights and compensation if they walk. If they are a regular player...welcome to Vegas.
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So, how do the 'hawks play it?
Protecting Hartman gives them options for protecting other FWDS. Protecting TVR means they risk losing one of their FWDs. The craptacular playoffs changed a lot of things. TVR was arguably one of the best and most consistent D-men we iced. Hartman petered off. However, If you protect Hartman and risk TVR...you can also protect Panik--while we can't afford him on the surface, could be trade fodder.
The elephant in the room, though, is Darling. Assuming Crawford is not gone by the 17th of June, I would say he's far and away the most likely candidate to be taken by Vegas--he can be had for cheaper than Bishop, "Luganis" Smith, or the Varmint. He's also probably better than 2 of those 3 and could probably be tucked in for under 4M (3M is more likely) as opposed to the 5+m on the books for Smith and Varlamov--and the 5M+ Bishop will command. It's also possible Vegas could sign Bishop and Darling to 1 yr deals and see if one sticks.
Not 100% on that, but if I'm Vegas' GM, I'm giving Darling a long-hard look. If you can't make it work, you can pick someone else.
Of the rest of the players I think the most likely pics would be Kruger, TVR, Hartman, and Panik. Kruger's expensive, but defensively sound and made Toews look like Arkhipov in the playoffs. There's also a leadership factor there. Panik disappeared, but broke 20 goals. Hartman came close, and also disappeared. TVR was nothing special in the season but made Keith look like Quint in the playoffs. (Granted Toews and Keith looking like Arkhipov and Quint was more due to them playing like ass, not anything really special like Kruger and TVR--even though they both showed more heart).
Personally, I'd go with Hartman. I think Darling is going to be the one taken, and on the off chance he's not, Panik's rights could net more than TVR when trying to offload a larger contract.
