Garth Snow Played The Expansion Draft Game And Won
So after what seemed like weeks of speculation, Vegas’ roster has finally been announced and JF Berube was their selection from the Isles. With that, the Islanders are sending Grabo [and his $5M cap hit] this year’s 1st round pick, a 2nd round pick in 2019, and Defensive prospect Jake Bischoff.
In comparison to the other trades made this looks like a hefty load to be sending Vegas’ way but in reality, with what it allows the Isles to do and the message it sends, this was just about as good as it could get given the situation.
With teams like Nashville losing Neal, the Rangers losing Lindberg, and the Penguins having to pay just to give up Fleury, Garth having to pay a 1st, a 2nd, and a bottom-tier prospect in order to not only protect all of next year’s roster, not only force Vegas to pick a UFA in Berube, who wasn’t in next year’s plan, but also dump Grabo’s hefty cap-hit is a dream scenario by any means.
Among all the expansion draft speculation has been the talk that Garth is looking to make a huge splash once the trade freeze is lifted, and by huge I mean, possiblly going after both Matt Duchene and Jordan Eberle, with Galchenyuk’s name getting thrown into the mix as well; most likely as a plan-b.
Friedman, Mckenzie, and Seravalli, have all mentioned they’ve been hearing Garth is in deep talks for both forwards numerous times, while reports out of Edmonton have even hinted towards it being a 3-team deal.
Garth clearly didn’t pay Vegas to take Grabo’s contract for no reason – the man has a plan and if everything falls in the right direction [these are the Islanders we’re talking about, mind you] we might be staring at a blockbluster in the works.
The first act of what seems to be Garth’s masterpiece went according to plan, but there is still a boatload of work to be done if this summer is going to be a success. Once again, I warn you all, hold on, brace for impact, and godspeed, things are going to get bumpy.