2017 NHL expansion draft

The 2017 NHL expansion draft took place from June 18 to 20, 2017, with the Vegas Golden Knights selecting players to build their roster for the 2017–18 season. The picks were made public on June 21 at the NHL Awards ceremony held at T-Mobile Arena. After the league approved Las Vegas’ expansion bid in June 2016, the Golden Knights started formal operations in March 2017. Vegas chose one player from each of the 30 existing NHL franchises; 19 of those selections actually played for the team during its first season. Three more players who suited up for Vegas that year were acquired through trades involving the Golden Knights’ draft picks. Before the 2015–16 season, the NHL opened a window for expansion bids for the first time since 2000. Two ownership groups applied: one from Las Vegas and one from Quebec City. A Vegas franchise would make the NHL the first major professional sports league to put a team in Las Vegas, though the league had held preseason games there annually since 1991, including an outdoor game that year and the Frozen Fury series starting in 1997. Quebec City had previously hosted the Quebec Nordiques, who moved in 1995 to become the Colorado Avalanche; the city had hosted occasional preseason games since then and built a new arena in hopes of landing an NHL team. No bid came from Seattle due to political delays, despite three ownership groups publicly campaigning for a team. Other potential sites, like Kansas City and Saskatchewan, declined to bid because of cost concerns. (Seattle’s expansion was later approved in 2018, with the team joining in 2021.) Las Vegas was approved for the 2017–18 season on June 22, 2016; the Quebec City bid was postponed, mainly due to concerns about the Canadian dollar’s value and conference geography. Former Washington Capitals general manager George McPhee became Vegas’ first GM on July 13, and the team name—Vegas Golden Knights—was revealed on November 22. Five days after officially joining the league on March 1, 2017, the Golden Knights signed center Reid Duke to a three-year entry-level contract, making him the franchise’s first player. On April 13, recently fired Florida Panthers head coach Gerard Gallant was hired as Vegas’ first head coach.