Vegas GM expects trades to start happening this week

It appears to be just a matter of time before the Vegas Golden Knights announce their first trade as a franchise.

General manager George McPhee was in Buffalo for the NHL Combine this past weekend where he was able to pick the brains of many teams regarding potential trade opportunities with the expansion draft a mere weeks away.

Talks with several teams appear to have gone very well, so much so that McPhee feels trades may start happening this week.

"We're far enough along with a few teams that my plan is to sit on the phone all day Monday, Tuesday to see what we can accomplish," McPhee said this weekend, according to NHL.com's Dan Marrazza.

"We've had some real good discussions and I expect some things will start happening next week."

Teams can make trades with the Golden Knights so that they don't chose a certain player in the draft or with the promise that they will select a certain player over another. This ability gives the Golden Knights a lot of power heading into the expansion draft.

"There are teams that really want to protect some people and protect their rosters, and they're willing to pay a pretty fair price to get us to lay off certain people and go in a different direction," McPhee said.

"Most of the guys have been really forthright in what they want to do, who they'll probably expose and who they'd like to protect," McPhee said. "We're trying to find ways to accommodate each other. We won't be able to do that with everyone."

Teams must submit their lists of protected players to the league by June 18, meaning the next two weeks could get very interesting.