What Ron Hextall’s 2017 expansion experience means for the Pens

Ron Hextall runs a tight ship, so beyond speculation no real information about the Penguins’ actual plans for the Seattle expansion draft are known.

But the past perhaps provides a reference, given that Hextall has already been the general manager of an NHL team during a recent expansion, in 2017 when he was with Philadelphia and Vegas was coming into the league.

Turns out, we might be able to learn quite a bit, as there is a really interesting parallel for the recent contract extension that the Pens gave to Teddy Blueger.

First and foremost, here’s who the Flyers protected and exposed in 2017:

FORWARDS (7)

Sean Couturier
Valtteri Filppula
Claude Giroux
Scott Laughton
Brayden Schenn
Wayne Simmonds
Jakub Voracek

DEFENSEMEN (3)

Shayne Gostisbehere
Radko Gudas
Brandon Manning

GOALTENDER (1)

Anthony Stolarz

Per the NHL Press Release, the following is the list of AVAILABLE players from the Philadelphia Flyers for the 2017 Expansion Draft:

FORWARDS (13)

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
Greg Carey
Chris Conner
Boyd Gordon
Taylor Leier
Colin McDonald
Andy Miele
Michael Raffl
Matt Read
Chris VandeVelde
Jordan Weal
Dale Weise
Eric Wellwood

DEFENSEMEN (7)

Mark Alt
TJ Brennan
Michael Del Zotto
Andrew MacDonald
Will O’Neill
Jesper Pettersson
Nick Schultz

GOALTENDERS (2)

Steve Mason
Michal Neuvirth

Alright, so what to make of the decisions?