Breaking down the fantasy impact of the losses the Eastern Conference teams incurred following the Las Vegas expansion draft.

There were fantasy ripples throughout the NHL following Wednesday's expansion draft. Here's a look at how Las Vegas' selections impacted the Eastern Conference teams.

Boston Bruins – Colin Miller

Not that Miller relocating was going to be needed for Charlie McAvoy to solidify a spot with the Bruins this fall, but it certainly helps. While Miller logged just 15:49 of ice time per game (1:42 on the power play) last season, he dressed for 61 games in an offensively tilted role that saw him begin 64.8 of his five-on-five shifts in the offense zone. 

McAvoy projects to play more minutes than Miller did, but if he gobbles up a chunk of those offensive-zone starts, it will help his fantasy floor and upside.

Brandon Carlo's emergence also softens the blow of losing Miller. Jakub Zboril and Jeremy Lauzon are both knocking on the door, too, so this was a minor loss for the Bruins.

Buffalo Sabres – William Carrier

The Sabres lost a project prospect that has shown limited offensive upside in the AHL and logged just 9:00 of ice time per game through 41 outings in the NHL last season. Posting 56 points through 127 career AHL games doesn't suggest there is mid-line potential moving forward. Additionally, there was no guarantee Carrier became a mainstay in the Buffalo lineup this season, and losing a fourth-line winger doesn't impact the team's fantasy outlook.

Carolina Hurricanes – Connor Brickley

Las Vegas selecting Brickley might have aligned with Carolina landing Trevor van Riemsdyk for a second-round selection in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. Brickley didn't play a single game with the Hurricanes last season, and the 25-year-old winger has just 27 goals and 53 points through his past 114 games in the AHL.

Van Riemsdyk, however, is a nice addition to round out a solid blue-line corps. His addition means Ryan Murphy and Klas Dahlback will be battling for playing time. Additionally, while van Riemsdyk is unlikely to make a major offensive impact, he will help defensively, which is another reason to target Scott Darling in the middle rounds this fall.

Columbus Blue Jackets – William Karlsson and David Clarkson

First, Clarkson is a salary dump and his career might be over because of a lingering back injury.

Karlsson was a solid bottom-six center for the Blue Jackets and logged 13:56 of ice time per game while suiting up for 162 of 164 contests the past two seasons. With Karlsson out of the picture, Lukas Sedlak, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Sonny Milano should battle for roster spots and ice time.

Obviously, Pierre-Luc Dubois could be the big winner with Karlsson out of the picture, but that's more of a wait-and-see situation. Dubois isn't a lock to stick with Columbus all season.

Detroit Red Wings – Tomas Nosek

The fantasy impact here aligns more with who Las Vegas didn't select than who it did. It was somewhat surprising to see Petr Mrazek left unprotected, but the Golden Knights passed on the talented netminder and went with Nosek instead.

With the Red Wings forward depth, Nosek wasn't likely to make a huge splash. He did post 41 points — 15 goals — through 51 games in the AHL this season, so there is upside, but his loss just improves the likelihood of Tyler Bertuzzi or Evgeny Svechnikov making the club out of training camp.

Florida Panthers – Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith

The Panthers just lost 45 goals off their roster from last season, or put another way, Florida just watched approximately 22 percent of their goals stroll away for free. There are now huge holes to fill up front. Nick Bjugstad is an obvious candidate to take a step forward, but his even-strength upside is capped because of his role behind both Aleksander Barkov and Vincent Trocheck.

With Smith out of the picture, Florida opened up the cap space to acquire a free agent to slot into its top-six mix. Additionally, the wide-open depth chart is encouraging for the chances of Jayce Hawryluk and Denis Malgin making the team and playing meaningful minutes.

Florida's fantasy outlook is still fluid with the likelihood of more moves ahead.

Montreal Canadiens – Alexei Emelin

Montreal shed 4.1 million off its books with Emelin gone, and then the Canadiens flipped a fifth-round selection to Vegas for David Schlemko. On the surface, it all looks up for the Montreal blue line.

Still, the Habs now have just a single defenseman under contract that's been on the roster for more than a year. That might not matter over the long haul, but it could mean that there's an adjustment period, which could cause Carey Price's fantasy stock takes a minor hit.

Additionally, that blue-line corps needs at least one more top-four defenseman, and adding two would be ideal.

New Jersey Devils – Jon Merrill

For fantasy purposes, Merrill is completely off the radar, and he's done very little to establish himself as anything other than a low-end depth option in the real game. The acquisition of Mirco Mueller eased the blow of losing Merrill, and Michael Kapla is also likely to have a say in how the blue-line depth chart looks on Opening Night. Steve Santini is also in the fold, but his fantasy value is tied to the peripheral categories (PIM, hits and blocked shots).

New York Islanders – Jean-Francois Berube, Mikhail Grabovski and Jake Bischoff

The Islanders aren't impacted by their losses to Vegas in the slightest. Berube has played 21 games over the past two seasons, and Grabovski is nursing a long-standing concussion. There is some promise for Bischoff following an excellent senior season at Minnesota (32 points through 38 games), but it's still going to be an uphill climb to fantasy relevance with the Golden Knights.

Shedding Grabovski's salary to ante up for the Jordan Eberle acquisition was the biggest takeaway for the Islanders.

New York Rangers – Oscar Lindberg

Antti Raanta would have been the best asset the Golden Knights could have acquired from New York, and it was widely speculated the backstop would be the pick. Alas, Raanta's fantasy value remains capped starting behind Henrik Lundqvist, and the forward ranks remain relatively unaltered.

New York has 15 forwards capable of playing in the NHL, including Nicklas Jensen and Tanner Glass, and they project to have three lines that can move the offensive needle. Where and how the pieces fit in and together will have more fantasy impact than anything this fall, and it's likely that a number of Rangers will struggle with offensive inconsistency throughout the year.

Ottawa Senators – Marc Methot

Methot is solid, but it's difficult to say just how good he is considering he's spent the majority of his five-on-five time with Erik Karlsson over the past few seasons. In fact, Methot has logged just 645:46 of ice time away from Karlsson since 2013-14.

Of particular interest here, is whether Karlsson will be impacted by the loss of his long-time partner. During that mentioned three-year span, Karlsson has a 53.2 Corsi For percentage and 2.5 goals per 60 minutes at five-on-five away from Methot compared to 49.7 and 2.7 marks with him. It's unlikely that Karlsson suffers without Methot — that didn't take long to determine.

However, it might hurt the team defense as a whole, and therefore exacerbate an already likely decline for Craig Anderson. Again, losing Methot might not be a significant factor in Anderson's fantasy results, but it's unlikely his replacement for the 20 minutes he logs a night is an upgrade.

Speaking of his replacements, Thomas Chabot now has a clearer path to regular playing time, and Fredrik Claesson and Chris Wideman will likely also be in the mix all year. Chabot is obviously the most coveted fantasy asset, and he could hit the ground running in a top-four role if everything breaks right.

Philadelphia Flyers – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare

Through three seasons and 237 games, Bellemare has 17 goals and 17 assists while averaging just 13:07 of ice time per night. He's a poor possession player and doesn't tilt the scales in any fantasy category.

Mike Vecchione and Taylor Leier should have a better shot to carve out roles with the big club now that Bellemare is out of the picture, but neither youngster is anything more than a wait-and-see talent at this stage. The Philadelphia top-nine group is pretty solidified, too, so offensive opportunities could be hard to come by.

Pittsburgh Penguins – Marc-Andre Fleury

Backing up the oft-injured Matt Murray has the potential to be a cushy fantasy gig, and Pittsburgh might opt to look outside of the organization to fill the current vacancy. Sean Maguire might be next in line right now, but he has just two games of experience in the AHL. Tristan Jarry could climb the depth chart, but the Pens might prefer for him to continue receiving full-time starts with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton — he's still just 22 years old.

The winner of the position battle will be a serviceable fantasy asset throughout the season, with the potential to be a high-end contributor for stretches, so it's a situation to monitor closely. 

Tampa Bay Lightning – Nikita Gusev and Jason Garrison

Starting with Gusev, he's clearly a candidate to post a solid season immediately with the Golden Knights, but that same opportunity wouldn't have been available in Tampa Bay. He was a valuable asset for the Lightning, and they utilized him as such to keep their young defense corps in tact while shedding Garrison's hefty salary.

Garrison enters his age-33 season next year following consecutive campaigns with declined possession numbers and point totals. He's probably not even a top-six option for the Golden Knights, so his loss is a blessing for the Lightning.

Behind Victor Hedman, Anton Stralman and Braydon Coburn, Tampa Bay has four open defense spots and Andrej Sustr, Mikhail Sergchev, Slater Koekkoek and Jake Dotchin will likely fight for seeding. The Lightning should score enough for Tampa Bay to have three and potentially four fantasy relevant defensemen this season, so this is a depth chart to keep an eye on.

Toronto Maple Leafs – Brendan Leipsic

The Maple Leafs lost a player from a position of strength, and while there is little doubt that Leipsic will be a serviceable middle-line winger, he might never be a reliable scorer. His fantasy value and outlook skyrockets in a weaker organization, whereas there is limited impact to the virtual outlook of the Maple Leafs. It's likely that Nikita Soshnikov and Josh Leivo now just have one less competitor to round out the roster.

Washington Capitals – Nate Schmidt

The Capitals took their medicine and lost a serviceable defenseman, and it's likely Washington will now have to look outside the organization to beef up its blue line. Currently, Madison Bowey and Taylor Chorney are candidates to see a larger role. With Karl Alzner and Kevin Shattenkirk both unrestricted free agents, it leaves just John Carlson, Matt Niskanen, Brooks Orpik and Dmitry Orlov in the fold.

Carlson, Niskanen and Orlov are obviously already worthwhile assets in the majority of virtual settings. So, unless the Capitals bring in a top-four defenseman through free agency, it's unlikely anyone ascends into fantasy relevancy from this collection of blue liners.