Golden Knights complete draft, now look to trade Marc-Andre Fleury

DEER LODGE, Mont. — During the latter stages of the NHL draft Wednesday, a camera inside the Golden Knights’ war room zoomed in on Bob Lowes.

The team’s assistant director of player personnel removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes for several seconds. The scene poignantly summed up an exhausting second day of the event that took nearly eight hours to complete.

“I think if the day didn’t go so long, it would have been perfect,” Lowes said. “We really enjoyed it.”

The Knights wrapped up their work from Rock Creek Cattle Company, selecting five players to round out their haul after they nabbed forward Brendan Brisson in the first round Tuesday.

Now, their attention turns to free agency, which begins at 9 a.m. Friday. Trade rumors continue to swirl around goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, as the Knights try to unload his $7 million salary cap hit to clear room for a possible big-name signing.

The Knights have been trying to find a team, or teams, to take on a portion of Fleury’s salary, but must pay a steep price as teams know they’re over a barrel.

Other players also could be moved with the Knights looking to shed salary. They are nearly $3 million over the cap of $81.5 million, according to CapFriendly.com, though they’re allowed to exceed that number by 10 percent during the offseason.

“Many of our discussions have already happened. We’ll be able to get through it,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “In terms of what to expect on Friday, I think that’s the question that everyone is asking. … We’re curious to see what Friday looks like as well.”

With the draft taking place online over the two days, the Knights set up shop at owner Bill Foley’s 28,000-acre ranch in big sky country.

Rather than working on the crowded draft floor at an arena, Lowes and his staff had an entire meeting room to themselves.

That allowed scouts to communicate freely about prospects without the risk of a rival team overhearing. Lowes also said there were video screens set up to watch highlights of potential picks.

“The whole setup was very interesting with having more of a war room-type feel to it, like some other sports,” Lowes said. “We really enjoyed it because you had stuff at your access while it was going on that our hockey (operations) had set up.”

The Knights selected two forwards, two defensemen and one goaltender, and they spanned the globe with players from the United States (2), Canada, Russia and Sweden.

Defenseman Lukas Cormier went in the third round (No. 68 overall), and at 5 feet 10 inches tall, gives the Knights a mobile puck mover.

He posted six goals and 36 points in 44 games for Charlottetown of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and was compared to Colorado’s Samuel Girard by NHL Central Scouting.

“I like to join the play,” Cormier said. “Just an offensive defenseman that likes to take care of the D zone as well and a great skater with a great hockey IQ.”

The Knights considered moving down at No. 91 to add a pick in the fourth or fifth round that was earmarked for a goaltender. But with high school standout Jackson Hallum still on the board and the Knights not scheduled pick again until the sixth round, they didn’t want to risk losing out and took the Michigan recruit.

McCrimmon then traded for Detroit’s fifth-round pick and used it to select Jesper Vikman of Sweden, the goaltender they were eyeing all along.

In the sixth round, the Knights took defenseman Noah Ellis. The Iowa native grew up shooting pucks in his garage at a dry erase board with a drawing of Fleury on it.

Forward Maxim Marushev, a 21-year-old who could make the move from Russia to North America soon, was the team’s final pick.

“The organization got better over the last two days,” McCrimmon said. “These are two of the more important days of the year, maybe the most important two days of the year. I was really pleased that we were able to come away with the players that we did.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.