Expansion draft: Five teams hurt most by Golden Knights' picks

Whether you believe the Vegas Golden Knights did a good job with individual picks  in the expansion draft likely corresponds to the degree to which you believe the other 30 NHL teams were hurt by the selections.

Each team lost at least one player — more than one meant a draft-day trade — though not every team will feel the pain to the same extent.

MORE EXPANSION:

Golden Knights: Five of the biggest surprises from NHL expansion draft

Vegas Golden Knights have potential thanks to shrewd moves in NHL expansion draft

Here are five teams hurt the most by their expansion-draft loss (alphabetical by team):

Florida Panthers (Jonathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith via trade). Goals (30) and an inexpensive salary ($750,000). Marchessault provides both, and yet the Panthers left him exposed. Smith was acquired through a trade, and at $5 million a year, he’ll need to replicate a 25-goal season from two seasons ago to be worth the money. Still, these two players comprised 22% of the Panthers scoring, which ranked 23rd in the league. Marchessault is the real gem as a low-risk, high-upside selection, especially considering the Golden Knights can trade him this season in the last year of his contract.

Nashville Predators (James Neal). The Predators went the eight-skater, one-goalie protection route because they had four defensemen to protect. Neal is a consistent, 20-plus goal scorer and volume shooter whom the defending Western Conference champions will sorely miss. Aside from younger players Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson, who else can Nashville count on to score?

Ottawa Senators (Marc Methot). Methot has played on the Senators’ top pair with Erik Karlsson for the past four seasons. Even if Karlsson was the engine, Methot’s physical, stay-at-home style complemented Karlsson’s aggressiveness. The 32-year-old won’t put up a lot of points and won’t drive an offense, but he’s sound in his own zone, respected enough that he will be a leader on Vegas — that is, if they don’t trade him before the season starts.

Pittsburgh Penguins (Marc-Andre Fleury). Matt Murray’s emergence and Fleury’s salary made the latter a prime candidate to be left unprotected. The Penguins will be fine between the pipes, though Fleury’s presence can’t be underestimated. To have a 1B in net like Fleury was a nice perk. Fleury won three Stanley Cups with the Penguins and has a career .912 save percentage. 

Washington Capitals (Nate Schmidt). Defensemen Karl Alzner and Kevin Shattenkirk are unrestricted free agents and are unlikely to return, meaning Schmidt was likely heading for a top-four role. The Capitals might have to redirect resources to their defense, complicating their efforts to re-sign T.J. Oshie, who was tied with Alex Ovechkin for a team-high 33 goals this past season. Schmidt has been a bit of a late bloomer — he turns 26 in July — but it isn’t uncommon for defensemen to peak later.