How Canada’s teams could fare in the 2017 NHL expansion draft

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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.

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.

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

Defencemen: T.J. Brodie, Mark Giordano, Dougie Hamilton

Goalies: Brian Elliott (UFA)

Exempt includes

Forwards: Mark Jankowski, Matthew Tkachuk

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

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

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