No team is better equipped to emerge unscathed from the 2017 NHL expansion draft than the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have no fewer than seven regulars – including emerging stars Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner – exempt from consideration.
Under the terms of the expansion formula that will stock the new Vegas Golden Knights, first- and second-year pros, along with unsigned draft choices, are not eligible for selection.
Among established players that do need to be protected, the established 30 member clubs can elect one of two options: Protect seven forwards, three defencemen and a goaltender or eight skaters plus one goalie.
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Teams are obliged to make available one goaltender, one defenceman and two forwards who meet a minimum standard of playing experience.
In turn, Vegas must select one player from each established team – at least 14 of them forwards, nine defencemen and three goaltenders. The remaining four players can come from any position, so Vegas could theoretically draft as many as seven goaltenders and act as a broker for backup goalies next year. Players with no-movement clauses in their contracts must agree to waive them; if they refuse, teams are required to protect them.
Contractually, the players the Golden Knights select must have an aggregate dollar value of 60 to 100 per cent of the prior season's upper salary cap, which means teams are likely to dangle some high-profile, highly paid players in the hopes of shedding overpriced talent from their payrolls. The expectation is Vegas will strike multiple side deals with financially challenged teams in exchange for "expansion" considerations.
Teams that stand to lose high-end talent – such as the Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild – are expected to swap those players at the 11th hour rather than risk losing them for nothing, creating a flurry of last-minute deals that could rival the NHL trading deadline. Amid all the roster churning, Vegas general manager George McPhee may end up with the biggest cellphone bill in modern NHL history.
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Following is a projection of how the Canadian teams' protected lists may look (in alphabetical order):
Calgary Flames (7F-3D-1G)
Protected
Forwards: Mikael Backlund, Sam Bennett, Micheal Ferland, Michael Frolik, Johnny Gaudreau, Curtis Lazar, Sean Monahan
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Defencemen: T.J. Brodie, Mark Giordano, Dougie Hamilton
Goalies: Brian Elliott (UFA)
Exempt includes
Forwards: Mark Jankowski, Matthew Tkachuk
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Defencemen: Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington
Goalies: Jon Gillies, Tyler Parsons
AvailableGoalies: Tom McCollum, Chad Johnson (UFA)
Defencemen: Matt Bartkowski
Forwards: Lance Bouma, Troy Brouwer, Alex Chiasson, Matt Stajan
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Edmonton Oilers (7F-3D-1G)
Protected
Forwards: Leon Draisaitl, Jordan Eberle, Zack Kassian, Mark Letestu, Milan Lucic, Patrick Maroon, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
Defencemen: Oscar Klefbom, Adam Larsson, Andrej Sekera
Goalies: Cam Talbot
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Exempt includes
Forwards: Drake Caggiula, Connor McDavid, Jesse Puljujarvi, Anton Slepyshev
Defencemen: Darnell Nurse
Available
Goalies: Laurent Brossoit
Defencemen: Mark Fayne, Kris Russell (UFA)
Forwards: David Desharnais (UFA), Anton Lander, Iiro Pakarinen, Benoît Pouliot
Montreal Canadiens (7F-3D-1G)
Protected
Forwards: Paul Byron, Phillip Danault, Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher, Max Pacioretty, Alexander Radulov (UFA), Andrew Shaw
Defencemen: Alexei Emelin, Jeff Petry, Shea Weber
Goalies: Carey Price
Exempt includes
Forwards: Artturi Lehkonen, Michael McCarron
Defencemen: Mikhail Sergachev
Available
Goalies: Al Montoya
Defencemen: Nathan Beaulieu, Jordie Benn, Brandon Davidson, Andrei Markov (UFA)
Forwards: Brian Flynn, Dwight King, Torrey Mitchell, Tomas Plekanec, Chris Terry
Ottawa Senators (7F-3D-1G)
Protected
Forwards: Derick Brassard, Ryan Dzingel, Mike Hoffman, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Zack Smith, Mark Stone, Kyle Turris
Defencemen: Cody Ceci, Erik Karlsson, Dion Phaneuf
Goalies: Craig Anderson
Exempt includes
Forwards: Colin White
Available
Goalies: Chris Driedger, Andrew Hammond
Defencemen: Mark Borowiecki, Jyrki Jokipakka, Marc Methot, Chris Wideman
Forwards: Alex Burrows, Clarke MacArthur, Tom Pyatt (UFA), Bobby Ryan, Viktor Stalberg (UFA), Tommy Wingels (UFA)
Toronto Maple Leafs (7F-3D-1G)
Protected
Forwards: Tyler Bozak, Connor Brown, Nazem Kadri, Leo Komarov, Josh Leivo, Matt Martin, James van Riemsdyk
Defencemen: Connor Carrick, Jake Gardiner, Morgan Rielly
Goalies: Frederik Andersen
Exempt includes
Forwards: Frédérik Gauthier, Zach Hyman, Kasperi Kapanen, Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Nikita Soshnikov
Defencemen: Nikita Zaitsev
INJ: Nathan Horton, Stéphane Robidas
Availables
Goalies: Antoine Bibeau, Garret Sparks
Defencemen: Matt Hunwick (UFA), Alexey Marchenko, Martin Marincin, Roman Polak (UFA)
Forwards: Brian Boyle (UFA), Eric Fehr, Brooks Laich (UFA), Brendan Leipsic, Joffrey Lupul, Ben Smith
Vancouver Canucks (7F-3D-1G)
Protected
Forwards: Sven Baertschi, Loui Eriksson, Markus Granlund, Bo Horvat, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Brandon Sutter
Defencemen: Alex Edler, Erik Gudbranson, Chris Tanev
Goalies: Jacob Markstrom
Exempt includes
Forwards: Brock Boeser, Nikolay Goldobin, Jake Virtanen
Defencemen: Ben Hutton, Troy Stecher, Olli Juolevi
Available
Goalies: Richard Bachman
Defencemen: Luca Sbisa, Alex Biega
Forwards: Reid Boucher, Michael Chaput, Joseph Cramarossa, Derek Dorsett, Brendan Gaunce, Jayson Megna, Jack Skille
Winnipeg Jets (4F-4D-1G)
Protected
Forwards: Bryan Little, Adam Lowry, Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler
Defencemen: Dustin Byfuglien, Toby Enstrom, Tyler Myers, Jacob Trouba
Goalies: Connor Hellebuyck
Exempt includes
Forwards: Kyle Connor, Nikolaj Ehlers, Patrik Laine, Nic Petan, Brandon Tanev
Defencemen: Josh Morrissey
Goalies: Eric Comrie
Available
Goalies: Michael Hutchinson
Defencemen: Ben Chiarot, Paul Postma
Forwards: Joel Armia, Andrew Copp, Marko Dano, Shawn Matthias, Mathieu Perreault