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Avalanche lose Goalie Calvin Pickard to Vegas Golden Knights in NHL expansion draft

With their first selection in the expansion draft, the Vegas Golden Knights picked Pickard. 

Apr 9, 2017; St. Louis, MO, USA; Colorado Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard defends the net against St. Louis Blues defenseman Colton Parayko during the second period at Scottrade Center. The Blues won 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

With their first selection in the expansion draft, the Vegas Golden Knights picked Pickard.

The Colorado Avalanche chose not to protect last year's starting goaltender Calvin Pickard, and he was the first name off the board to join the NHL's newest team in Las Vegas.

Pickard played in 50 games for the Avs last year, posting a 2.98 goals against average, a 0.904 save percentage and two shutouts.

Colorado selected the now 25-year-old goalie with the 49th overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft. He made his pro debut on Oct. 16, 2014.

After being sent back down to the Lake Erie Monsters and then called back up, Pickard earned his first NHL win on Nov. 22, 2014.

The Golden Knights got to pick 30 unprotected players Wednesday night, one from each team.

Before the draft, the Avs chose to protect the following players: Sven Andrighetto, Blake Comeau, Matt Duchene, Rocco Grimaldi, Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Nieto, Tyson Barrie, Erik Johnson, Nikita Zadorov and Semyon Varlamov.

Each NHL team can only protect one goalie, and the Avs chose to keep Varlamov safe, rather than Pickard.

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