When Colleagues Collide : The Brayden McNabb Debate

Why Leaving Brayden McNabb Unprotected Was Necessary – by Augie Loya

(LAKings.com)

The National Hockey League opened a window for ownership groups to bid for expansion teams during the 2015 offseason. Two ownership groups submitted bids to the league, one from Las Vegas and the other from Quebec City.

On June 22, 2016, Las Vegas was awarded an NHL franchise to begin to play in the 2017–18 NHL season. The Golden Knights were born but needed to build a roster. The initial proposal of the rules for the draft was decided upon by the NHL back in March 2016.

The Los Angeles Kings left 22 players exposed in the NHL Expansion Draft. Las Vegas chose defenseman Brayden McNabb, the 6-4, 216-pounder from Davidson, Saskatchewan who had just completed his 3rd full NHL season with the Kings after being acquired back in 2014 from the Buffalo Sabres, along with prospect Jonathan Parker and two draft picks in exchange for then Kings prospects Hudson Fasching and Nicolas Deslauriers.

The master plan back in the 2014-15 preseason was for McNabb to challenge other Kings defensive prospects for the void left by the departure of fan favorite Willie Mitchell and a declining, but serviceable Robyn Regehr.

When the Slava Voynov situation occurred, McNabb’s development was put on a fast track and considering the variables in play, he responded well to his trial by fire. McNabb’s forte on the ice was being a physical presence with hard, but legal hits. Off the ice, he had a reputation for putting in work and constantly trying to improve his game. His performance under those difficult circumstances and a solid follow-up season in 2015-16 were good enough for Kings’ General Manager Dean Lombardi to sign McNabb, a Restricted Free Agent to a 2 year $3.4 Million contract in June 2016. McNabb’s salary during the 2016-17 season was $1.6M (with a $50K signing bonus built in) and $1.8M in the 2017-18 for a cap hit of $1.7M per season.

On October 29, 2016, in a game at St Louis, McNabb collided with the Blues 6’6” 230lb defenseman, Colton Parayko and took a nasty spill into the end boards which resulted in a broken collarbone for the Kings blueliner.

His 2-month absence resulted in an opportunity for the Kings 2010 1st Round Draft Pick, Derek Forbort to see more minutes. Forbort’s main partner was none other than Drew Doughty. Under Doughty’s tutelage, Forbort began to establish himself in the Kings’ top defensive pairings.

McNabb returned to the Kings on December 29th and appeared to regress. His slow footspeed and inability to escape certain situations when he would get trapped in the defensive zone with the puck indicated that he was perhaps thinking too much instead of reading and reacting to the play. This resulted in reduced ice time and healthy scratches.

Kings blue-liners Forbort, Kevin Gravel, and Paul LaDue all had limited NHL experience yet they filled in admirably and at a much lower cap hit than McNabb. Here are the 2016-17 Post All-Star Game statistics for all 4 players with an emphasis on Games Played (GP), Goals (G), Assists (A), Points (P), +/-, Production (PROD), and each players Salary Cap hit for the 2017-18 season.

The main statistic above is the Production (PROD) number, which is the total time on ice divided by points, resulting in an average time for a player to score a point. For instance, a player who has 10 points with a total of 100 minutes of ice time. His production would be 10:00, an average of 1 point every ten minutes spent on the ice.

As you can see, the 2016-17 post All-Star game version of Brayden McNabb was not very productive for a player earning $1.8 Million a season, especially when compared to a couple of other NHL defensemen such as Damon Severson of the New Jersey Devils and Jacob Slavin of the Carolina Hurricanes.

NAME GP G A P +/- PROD Salary

What do all 3 of these D-Men have in common? More money forthcoming in the form of contract extensions and pay raises.

McNabb (VGK): 4 years, $10M ($2.5M per year)

Severson (NJD): 6 years, $25M ($4.166M per year)

Slavin (CAR): 7 years, $37M ($5.3M per year)

The key consideration in all of the players mentioned above is money, and the associated salary cap hit that comes with each player. The cap situation that the Los Angeles Kings are in is well documented, and the looming free agency of their all-world defenseman Drew Doughty after the 2018-19 season weighs heavily on the minds of Kings’ fans and NHL General Managers.

The Kings as of this writing on January 8, 2018, have approx $8.1M in cap space, which is a mirage because of Jake Muzzin’s $4M salary temporarily sitting on IR along with Jeff Carter’s $5.2M.

The deadweight money that hurts the Kings cap situation is Matt Greene’s $833K buyout along with Mike Richard’s $1.32M Recapture Penalty along with the $250K Termination cost that comes along with it.

The NHL Salary Cap for this season is $75M, the Kings are sitting at just over $3M in cap space, which means that every dollar saved is crucial.

Based on the statistics, the salary cap implications, and other options within the organization that are available, exposing Brayden McNabb to the expansion draft was the right move by the Kings. A strong case has been made that the production of Gravel and LaDue last season, at substantial savings to the salary cap, could be viewed as addition by subtraction.

These factors along with the rise of Kurtis MacDermid gives the Kings a bit of breathing room under the cap. MacDermid also brings along an element that McNabb did not have, and that is legitimate toughness! There were a few liberties taken last season by King’s opponents on their stars, the incidents that stand out are the elbow to Doughty’s head by the Flames Matthew Tkachuk, and the fight instigated by the Ducks’ Ryan Kesler on Carter. MacDermid’s presence this season has made opponents think twice about taking such liberties. With that said, McNabb did step up and engage Tkachuk last season, but it was more symbolic than an actual deterrent because of the fact that McNabb does not strike fear into the hearts of the opposition’s tough guys, whereas MacDermid is viewed by the league as someone who can actually fight, and someone who will make you pay a price for a taking a run at one of his teammates.

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And there you have it! Who do you think won the debate, #TeamEllis or #TeamAugie??? Let us know in the comments below, and tell us what side YOU are on and why when it comes to the Kings letting go of Brayden McNabb?

Until next time everyone,

GO KINGS GO!!!

Jim Ellis is a writer, producer, author, speaker, as well as a full-time contributor to CaliSports News, who focuses on topics of importance to him: liberty, love, the LA Kings, and lava cake … but not necessarily in that order.

Augie Loya is a part-time contributor to CaliSports News, a long time Los Angeles Kings’ fan, a photographer, a connoisseur of hockey jerseys, a former Pro Wrestler/Sports Entertainer and is a Co-Host (and sometimes Host) of LA Kings Road Talk Radio.

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