Tim Haggerty- Michael Grabner
This June, the New York Rangers will expose Michael Grabner and the Las Vegas Golden Knights will take him.
This is going to be hard for the Rangers to swallow. However, they are one of the deeper teams in the league that is seriously hurt by the expansion draft.
Grabner is being exposed by process of elimination. The seven forwards the Rangers will be protect will likely be Stepan, Nash, Zibanejad, Hayes, Miller, Zuccarello, and Kreider. Grabner is the odd man out.
For Las Vegas, this decision couldn’t be any easier. A 30 plus goal scorer with a very affordable contract, on a team that doesn’t have many other assets to snag. Antti Raanta wouldn’t be a terrible pick, but there are other goalies around the league they could take.
The only thing that could steer Las Vegas away from Grabner would be a trade bribe. However, it seems unlikely the Rangers would give away a draft pick to save Grabner.