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CanucksArmy Top 25 of 2020: #6 — How Re-Signing Tyler Toffoli Affects The 2021 Expansion Draft

Photo credit: © Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
By Zach Laing
Dec 21, 2020, 19:33 ESTUpdated: Dec 21, 2020, 19:38 EST
Welcome to the yearly wrap up of the top read articles over the last year!
The pending expansion draft next year will have big impacts on the NHL, much like the Vegas expansion did.
And on April 7th, Stephan Roget took a look ahead at how it will affect the Canucks.
It was the sixth most-read article this year.
At the time, Roget said Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, JT Miller, Tyler Toffoli and Bo Horvat were locks to be protected. With Toffoli leaving, it leaves a number of other of options available.
Here’s some of what he wrote:
If Vancouver re-sign Tyler Toffoli, the most likely outcome of the 2021 Expansion Draft is that the Canucks lose a valuable player to Seattle – certainly, a more valuable player than Luca Sbisa.As of now, the most likely to be protected outside of those five guarantees are Jake Virtanen and Adam Gaudette, which would leave all of Zack MacEwen, Kole Lind, and Antoine Roussel for the taking. Those would represent difficult losses, but not insurmountable.Of course, there’s also the possibility that Seattle doesn’t choose a forward at all – which becomes significantly more likely if the Canucks hang on to both Jacob Markstrom and Thatcher Demko into the 2020/21 season.In short, a new contract for Tyler Toffoli will definitely have some impact on the Canucks’ plans for the 2021 Expansion Draft – but not enough of an impact to dissuade them from extending him.
On Twitter: @zjlaing
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