Stan Bowman: Too early for trades anticipating expansion draft
With Wednesday's announcement of the NHL expanding to Las Vegas in 2017-18, the upcoming expansion draft is on the minds of general managers ... sort of.
While some trade speculation insists teams could deal players for fear of losing them for nothing, Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman gave his two cents on the expansion draft - slated for next June - and he feels teams aren't stressing over it yet.
"It's a little bit early to be making moves strictly for an expansion draft," Bowman said, according to Chris Hine of the Chicago Tribune.
Bowman said he thinks there will be a lot of moving parts just before the expansion draft happens.
— Chris Hine (@ChristopherHine) June 23, 2016
Each team will be able to protect seven forwards, three defenseman, and a goalie, or eight skaters (defenseman or forwards) and a goalie, while teams can only lose a maximum of one player.
"Discussion I've had with other managers, they haven't mentioned the expansion draft," said Bowman.