Sunday’s expansion draft exposure lists from all 30 NHL clubs are like a mirage in the Mojave Desert: what appears isn’t necessarily what the Vegas Golden Knights will grab.

Vegas GM George McPhee is busy working the phones, arranging consideration deals with teams to allow them to keep their players.

“You can negotiate your way out of this if you wish,” McPhee said is his message to fellow managers.

Even if he has already pre-arranged deals with a few teams, McPhee admitted the Golden Knights ended up with perhaps a better crop of exposed players than he imagined.

“We were expecting this mass redistribution of players that really didn’t happen, which we were really happy about,” McPhee told reporters. “What it does is, some of the things we were worried about with no-move clauses and that sort of thing didn’t happen and I think the harvest of assets that we are going to have now will be what we were hoping for …We really like what we’re looking at right now.”

McPhee said he wants to build the Golden Knights through the entry draft, not the expansion draft, which in some ways is merely a means to an end to “harvest” assets like draft picks.

Bypassing that plan of attack for one minute, McPhee could actually ice a better team in 2017-18 by not conducting any side deals and simply picking from the exposure lists.

What would the Vegas Golden Knights look like in that case?

You can build your own Vegas Golden Knights roster using TSN’s Expansion Draft Simulator.

TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button and TSN Senior Hockey Reporter Frank Seravalli each picked mock Vegas rosters taking the exposure lists as-is, operating under the assumption no consideration trades will be made.

Here is what Vegas could ice in that case:

CRAIG BUTTON

GOALTENDERS (4)
Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT)
Philipp Grubauer (WSH)
Michal Neuvirth (PHI)
Calvin Pickard (COL)

DEFENCE (10)
Jake Dotchin (TBL)
Matt Dumba (MIN)
Tobias Enstrom (WPG)
Brett Kulak (CGY)
Josh Manson (ANA)
Marc Methot (OTT)
Colin Miller (BOS)
Griffin Reinhart (EDM)
Ryan Sproul (DET)
Trevor van Riemsdyk (CHI)

FORWARDS (16)
Josh Anderson (CBJ)
Josh Bailey (NYI)
William Carrier (BUF)
Cody Eakin (DAL)
Nic Dowd (LAK)
Luke Gazdic (NJD)
Michael Grabner (NYR)
Charles Hudon (MTL)
Jonathan Marchessault (FLA)
James Neal (NSH)
Joakim Nordstrom (CAR)
Magnus Paajarvi (STL)
Buddy Robinson (SJS)
Kerby Rychel (TOR)
Jack Skille (VAN)
Radim Vrbata (ARI)

BUTTON’S TEAM: Minimum Forwards (16/14), Defence (10/9), Goalies (4/3), 2017-18 Contracts (21/20), Cap Hit ($44.4M/$43.8M).

FRANK SERAVALLI

GOALTENDERS (3)
Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT)
Philipp Grubauer (WSH)
Calvin Pickard (COL)

DEFENCE (13)
Fredrik Claesson (OTT)
Brandon Davidson (MTL)
Brenden Dillon (SJS)
Jake Dotchin (TBL)
Matt Dumba (MIN)
Tobias Enstrom (WPG)
Brett Kulak (CGY)
Josh Manson (ANA)
Colin Miller (BOS)
Xavier Ouellet (DET)
Griffin Reinhart (EDM)
Luca Sbisa (VAN)
Trevor van Riemsdyk (CHI)

FORWARDS (14)
Josh Anderson (CBJ)
Beau Bennett (NJD)
William Carrier (BUF)
Cody Eakin (DAL)
Michael Grabner (NYR)
Peter Holland (ARI)
Dmitrij Jaskin (STL)
Jonathan Marchessault (FLA)
James Neal (NSH)
Brock Nelson (NYI)
Kerby Rychel (TOR)
Nick Shore (LAK)
Lee Stempniak (CAR)
Jordan Weal (PHI)

SERAVALLI’S TEAM: Minimum Forwards (14/13), Defence (13/9), Goalies (3/3), 2017-18 Contracts (20/20), Cap Hit ($45.4M/$43.8M).

Contact Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @frank_seravalli