The Biggest Storylines to Follow in the 2017 NHL Offseason

Welcome to a fascinating NHL offseason.

The Pittsburgh Penguins ended the playoffs by accomplishing the seemingly impossible, becoming the first team in the salary-cap era to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

They've had their parade—that part's normal. But saying goodbye to a beloved player like 13-year goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury just days after winning a championship is far from usual. Does a title make it easier or harder for Fleury to accept that Wednesday's expansion draft has all but put an end to his time in Pittsburgh?

Fleury has waived his no-movement clause to join the Vegas Golden Knights, per Renaud Lavoie of TVA, starting a brand-new chapter in his NHL career. He's likely just one of many players whose lives will take significant turns this summer.

With the entry draft and free-agency period falling hot on the heels of the presentation of the Stanley Cup, late June and early July are always intriguing months in the NHL calendar. This year, the introduction of the new franchise in Las Vegas adds an extra wrinkle.

Buckle up. Here are the storylines you should be watching during the 2017 NHL offseason.

This year's top draft picks, born in 1998 and 1999, have no recollection of a National Hockey League with any other than 30 teams. 

A generation has passed since the last NHL expansion, when four franchises were added over the course of three years—the Nashville Predators in 1997-98, the Atlanta Thrashers in 1998-99 and then the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild in 1999-2000.

The only change in league structure this millennium happened when the Thrashers relocated and became the Winnipeg Jets, version two, in 2011. That changes on Wednesday, when the Vegas Golden Knights will announce their inaugural roster as part of the annual NHL Awards.

Vegas has already brought in one free agent, KHL veteran Vadim Shipachyov. They'll have an exclusive chance to sign NHL free agents in the three days leading up to the expansion draft. They'll also be able to make trades between Sunday and Thursday, per Bob McKenzie of TSN. Other teams won't be able to trade with anybody but Vegas until the day after the expansion draft once the leaguewide trade freeze begins at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday.

After the expansion draft, the Golden Knights will have 31 NHL-ready players on their roster. They'll only be able to keep 23 with the team once the regular season begins in October, so general manager George McPhee is expected to follow up with trades that will help him stock his cupboard with draft picks and young prospects who will start building a foundation of long-term depth.

This summer, the road to most player movement will be taking a detour through the desert.

Sidney Crosby has already had an incredible year, captaining the Pittsburgh Penguins to his third Stanley Cup and becoming only the third player in NHL history to win back-to-back Conn Smythe Trophies as playoff MVP.

Crosby's 44 regular-season goals also earned him his second Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL's top goal scorer, and he could add even more hardware to his trophy case at Wednesday's NHL awards ceremony. He's up against Art Ross winner Connor McDavid and Vezina nominee Sergei Bobrovsky for the Hart Trophy as the season's most valuable player, and Crosby is up against McDavid and Norris Trophy nominee Brent Burns for the Ted Lindsay Award—the league MVP as voted by the players.

Bobrovsky won the Vezina in 2013, and he will be going up against 2016 winner Braden Holtby and 2015 winner Carey Price.

Burns finished third in Norris voting for best defenseman last season and will be competing against two Swedes—two-time winner Erik Karlsson of the Ottawa Senators and Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who's a first-time finalist.

Another interesting category to watch will be the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year, which pits 2004 winner John Tortorella against two potential first-time winners—Mike Babcock of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Todd McLellan of the Edmonton Oilers.

Calder Trophy winners are always first-timers since they're rookies. Though goaltender Matt Murray just completed an unprecedented double by winning two Stanley Cups while still considered as much, he wasn't named a finalist in this category, which pits Toronto's Auston Matthews against sniper Patrik Laine of the Winnipeg Jets and Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski.

The 2017 draft isn't offering up generational talents like we've seen over the past couple of years. There's no player on par with McDavid, Jack Eichel, Matthews or Laine.

But NHL drafts aren't two picks long. They go seven rounds—217 selections this year with Vegas added to the mix. And all 31 teams will be taking their best shots at finding the future stars that will shape their teams for years to come.

At No. 1, shifty center Nico Hischier is striving to become the first Swiss player to be selected first overall. He's up against the stocky but injury-prone Canadian Nolan Patrick in a virtual dead heat, according to Ryan Kennedy of the Hockey News. The rest of the top 10 is filled with skilled centers like Gabe Vilardi of the Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires and U.S. high school prospect Casey Mittelstadt, along with promising defensemen like Miro Heiskanen of Finland and Alberta's Cale Makar.

Adding another wrinkle in a draft that's not supposed to be especially strong, will any teams decide to trade a top pick for more immediate help on their rosters?

The Dallas Stars are scheduled to pick third overall, but general manager Jim Nill told SiriusXM Radio on May 18 that he'd be more than happy to deal that draft choice if he can get an established player back in return (via Sean Shapiro at NHL.com). The Stars are looking for help on their blue line, in particular.

Finally, it's no secret Vegas GM McPhee covets draft picks. He could swap out one or more of his expansion draft assets just two days after acquiring them if it brings him a chance to choose more good young players.

Even as NHL teams are locking down their protected lists for the expansion draft and initiating player buyouts, no one knows what the salary cap will be next season.

The final number is being determined by the NHL Players' Association, which is voting on whether to invoke its escalator clause to push the cap ceiling up from where it would be if determined solely by hockey-related revenue.

On June 11, Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported the escalator would not be used this season and that the cap will remain virtually flat at $73 million in 2017-18. He also mentioned that income from the 2016 World Cup of Hockey has not been factored into hockey-related revenue for 2016-17 as the financial reporting has not been completed.

Conversely, James Mirtle of The Athletic reported on June 14 that the base number for 2017-18 would be $75 million—and could go higher if the full escalator is used.

According to John Shannon of Sportsnet, a vote to set the cap at $75 million is taking place and the result could be announced as early as Friday. Each team's player rep on the NHLPA's executive board will submit a vote, added Pierre LeBrun of TSN, who says the process could take some time and that the final result might not be announced until Monday.

Teams don't need to be cap-compliant until the first day of the regular season, but many will have big decisions to make on players and contracts well before that time. The sooner the general managers know what they're working toward, the easier it will be to take decisive action.

The final salary-cap number will also determine what kind of contracts teams can hand out to unrestricted free agents on July 1—or earlier, in the case of Vegas.

Players who are approaching free agency have the biggest incentive to push for the full 5 percent cap escalator. They want the pool of available money to be as large as possible when they get their chance to sign their biggest contracts.

This year, the top available free agent is defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, a native of New York state. As Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy explains, it's widely believed Shattenkirk wants a chance to play for the New York Rangers. It'll be a tight fit financially, but by buying out defenseman Dan Girardi, the Rangers have opened up a roster space where Shattenkirk could slot in.

The rest of CapFriendly's list of available unrestricted free agents skews pretty old, with players in their mid-to-late 30s like Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Patrick Sharp coming to the end of some big contracts and 40-somethings like Jaromir Jagr, Shane Doan and Matt Cullen open to the possibility of extending their careers.

Younger free agents who are looking to cash in will include forward Alexander Radulov of the Montreal Canadiens, winger T.J. Oshie of the Washington Capitals, defenseman Kris Russell of the Edmonton Oilers and two-time Stanley Cup winner Nick Bonino of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It wasn't draft day. It wasn't July 1.

The biggest day of the 2016 offseason was June 29. In the space of 23 minutes, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet documented, the NHL went through a phase that saw P.K. Subban become a Nashville Predator, Shea Weber join the Montreal Canadiens, Taylor Hall get moved to the New Jersey Devils and Adam Larsson head to the Edmonton Oilers. Oh yeah, and Steven Stamkos signed a $68 million contract that kept him a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning, defying the rumors he'd join his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs.

In the salary-cap era, it has become normal to see the biggest deals of the year happen in late June, around the time of the draft and free agency. The expansion draft shifts the rhythms a little bit this year—Montreal GM Marc Bergevin got the ball rolling again when he acquired forward Jonathan Drouin from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for defenseman prospect Mikhail Sergachev on Thursday.

B/R's Lyle Richardson offered a rundown of some of the strongest trade winds that are swirling as we head into the expansion draft. Will the biggest moves happen right away, or will we see the boldest trades happen after teams see where they are at once Vegas has selected its inaugural roster?

All stats courtesy of NHL.com.