2017 NHL expansion draft

George McPhee and Gerard Gallant respectively served as the team's first general manager and head coach.

In the off-season before the 2015–16 NHL season, the NHL opened a window for ownership groups to bid for expansion teams for the first time since 2000.^[1] Two ownership groups submitted bids to the league: one each from Las Vegas and Quebec City. The Vegas bid would make the NHL the first "Big Four" major professional sports league to place a franchise in Las Vegas,^[2] though the league previously had a limited presence in the city with annual pre-season games, beginning with an outdoor game in 1991 and the Frozen Fury series held each year since 1997. Quebec City was previously home of the Quebec Nordiques, a team that had moved in 1995 and became the Colorado Avalanche; it has hosted occasional preseason games since that time,^[3][4] and has constructed a new ice hockey arena to receive a potential NHL team. Due to political delays, a bid was not submitted from Seattle despite the presence of three different ownership groups publicly campaigning to start an NHL team; a number of other potential expansion sites, such as Kansas City and Saskatchewan, declined to place bids because of cost concerns.^[3] Expansion to Seattle was later approved in 2018,^[5] with the franchise entering the league in 2021.

Las Vegas was approved for the 2017–18 NHL season on June 22, 2016; at the same time the Quebec City bid was deferred, largely because of concerns over the Canadian dollar's value and the geographic balance of the league's conferences.^[6] Former Washington Capitals general manager George McPhee was named Las Vegas' first general manager on July 13,^[7] with the team's name revealed as the Vegas Golden Knights on November 22.^[8] Five days after formally entering the league on March 1, 2017,^[9] the Golden Knights signed Canadian center Reid Duke to a three-year, entry-level contract, making him the franchise's first player.^[10] A month later, on April 13, recently-fired Florida Panthers head coach Gerard Gallant was named Vegas' first head coach.^[11] The same month, the NHL announced that the Golden Knights' expansion draft selections would be announced alongside the annual NHL Awards ceremony at T-Mobile Arena, the Golden Knights' home arena.^[12]

The initial proposal of the rules for the draft was decided upon by the NHL in March 2016.^[13] They allowed each team to either protect seven forwards, three defencemen, and one goaltender or one goaltender and eight skaters regardless of position. Because the NHL wanted to ensure the competitive viability of the new team, the number of protected players allowed was lower than in the 2000 NHL expansion draft which populated the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets, when each team could protect nine forwards, five defencemen, and one goalie, or two goalies, three defencemen, and seven forwards. Under these rules, each of the 30 teams would lose one top-four defenceman or third-line forward per number of new teams.^[13] Only players with more than two years of professional experience — NHL or AHL as defined in the collective bargaining agreement—were included in the draft.^[14]

Teams had to submit their list of protected players by June 17, 2017. They had to expose at least two forwards and one defenceman that had played at least 40 games in the 2016–17 season or more than 70 games in the 2015–16 season and 2016–17 seasons combined, and had to still be under contract for the 2017–18 season. The exposed goaltender had to either be under contract for the 2017–18 season or have become a restricted free agent following the 2016–17 season. At least 20 of the 30 players selected by Vegas had to be under contract for the 2017–18 season, and they were required to select a minimum of 14 forwards, nine defencemen and three goaltenders.^[15] Vegas was granted a 48-hour window prior to the draft to sign any pending free agent (restricted or unrestricted, one per team) that was left unprotected. If a team lost a player to Vegas during this signing window they did not have a player selected from their roster during this draft.^[16]

Teams were required to protect any contracted players with no move clauses (NMCs) with one of the team's slots for protected players, unless the contract expired on July 1, 2017, in which case the NMC was considered void for the draft.^[17][18] Players whose NMCs had limited no trade clauses had to still be protected, and any players with NMCs were able to waive the clause and become eligible for the expansion draft.^[17]

Any player picked in the expansion draft could not have their contract bought out until after the completion of the 2017–18 season. Vegas was guaranteed the same odds in the draft lottery as the third–lowest finishing team from the 2016–17 NHL season for the 2017 NHL entry draft; after their first season they were subject to the same draft lottery rules as the other teams in the league. The NHL's deputy commissioner, Bill Daly, said that teams that did not follow the expansion draft rules would face penalties, saying "It's a loss of draft picks and/or players."^[17][19]

The protected players' list was published on June 18, 2017.^[20]

Key: LW = Left wing, C= Center, RW = Right wing, D = Defenseman, G = Goaltender

In return for agreeing to select certain unprotected players, the Golden Knights were granted concessions by other franchises in the form of draft picks or other players.^[26][27]

Four of the seven players acquired via concession trades eventually played for Vegas. Alex Tuch played four seasons with Vegas before being traded to the Buffalo Sabres during the 2021–22 season,^[23][38] while Reilly Smith played six seasons and won the Stanley Cup with Vegas in 2023 before being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in June 2023.^[23][39] Shea Theodore remains with the team as of 2026,^[23] while Smith returned to Vegas via trade in March 2025.^[40] Additionally, Jake Bischoff played four games for Vegas during the 2019–20 season,^[23][41] and remained in Vegas' organization through the 2024–25 season.^[42]

Nikita Gusev was signed by Vegas during the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs,^[43] but was traded to the New Jersey Devils due to salary cap constraints before playing a game for the franchise.^[44] Mikhail Grabovski had missed the entirety of the 2016–17 season with post-concussion syndrome; though he attended his physical with Vegas with the intention of returning,^[45] he ultimately did not play a game for the team during his one year under contract.^[23] Meanwhile, David Clarkson had not played since the 2015–16 season due to injury, with it being widely believed upon his acquisition that he would never play again; he subsequently remained on injured reserve until his contract was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 23, 2019.^[46]

Not all players selected by the Golden Knights in the Expansion Draft remained with the team. Some players were traded in the following days, unrelated to the prior draft-concession trades. On June 22, the day after the draft, Trevor van Riemsdyk was traded alongside a seventh-round pick in 2018 to the Carolina Hurricanes for Pittsburgh's second-round pick in 2017;^[47] meanwhile, David Schlemko was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for a fifth-round pick in 2019.^[48] Four days later, on June 26, Marc Methot was traded to the Dallas Stars for Dylan Ferguson and a second-round pick in 2020.^[49] Several days after the July free agency period opened, Alexei Emelin was traded to the Nashville Predators for a third-round pick in 2018.^[50] First overall pick Calvin Pickard was originally intended to serve as the backup goaltender to Marc-Andre Fleury;^[51] however, after Vegas claimed Malcolm Subban off waivers on October 3,^[52] Pickard was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 6 for a sixth-round draft pick in 2018 and Tobias Lindberg.^[53]

Three expansion draft selections were unrestricted free agents and were not re-signed by Vegas before free agency opened. Connor Brickley signed a one-year contract with the Florida Panthers on July 1,^[54] while Chris Thorburn signed a two-year contract with the St. Louis Blues on the same day.^[55] Finally, Jean-Francois Berube signed a two-year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks, also on July 1.^[56]

Of the remaining 22 players selected by Vegas, 19 played at least one game for the team.^[23] Teemu Pulkkinen and Griffin Reinhart spent their entire tenures with the franchise in the American Hockey League before departing in free agency, while Clayton Stoner spent the remainder of his contract on injured reserve before joining Vegas' organization as a junior team coach in 2019.^[57][58] As of the start of the 2025–26 season, the ninth season after the draft, only William Karlsson and Brayden McNabb remain with Vegas.^[23]

• 2016–17 NHL transactions
• 2017 NHL entry draft
• 2017–18 NHL season
• 2021 NHL expansion draft