Every NHL Team's Optimal Expansion Draft Protected List

NHL expansion no longer seems a matter of if but when. At some point in the near future, the owners of the world's best hockey league are going to be tempted beyond endurance by the opportunity to get a big pile of money they don't have to split with the players. When that happens, the NHL will expand beyond 30 teams.

What will that look like for current NHL clubs? 

To provide an outline, we've put together the optimal protected list for every NHL team in the event of an expansion draft this summer. We can't know what that draft will look like, but we've opted to use the rules of the 2000 Expansion Draft.

As detailed by SLAM! Hockey, in 2000, each NHL team was allowed to protect either nine forwards, five defencemen and a single goalie or seven forwards, three defencemen and two goalies. All players with a maximum of two years' worth of professional experience were considered exempt from the draft.

Additionally, each team had to make available two forwards and a single defenceman with recent NHL experience—either 40 games in the preceding season or 70 games over the last two seasons. Teams protecting two goalies had to make available one goalie with either 10 games' experience in the previous year or 25 games of experience in the previous two years.

In addition to providing optimal protected lists and highlighting notable unprotected players, we've included a special section on unrestricted free agents. Because we can't know which UFAs will be re-signed before the end of the year, we've made our best guesses and noted them here. 

Anaheim Ducks

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

Protected list:

• Forwards: Andrew Cogliano, Ryan Getzlaf, Carl Hagelin, Corey Perry, Rickard Rakell, Jiri Sekac and Jakob Silfverberg  
• Defencemen: Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm and Sami Vatanen  
• Goalies: Frederik Andersen and John Gibson

Notable unprotected: Ryan Kesler would in all likelihood be protected by the Anaheim Ducks in any expansion draft, but he shouldn't be as his new contract—which won't even kick in until next season—bears all the signs of becoming one of the worst deals in hockey.

The decision to protect two goalies means that defencemen Kevin Bieksa and, more critically, Simon Despres would be left exposed. Forwards Patrick Maroon and Nate Thompson, as well as prospect Max Friberg would also be available. 

Unrestricted free agents: None of the Ducks' pending unrestricted free agents really matter. Shawn Horcoff is too old to interest an expansion team, while Chris Stewart and Mike Santorelli haven't been able to convince coach Bruce Boudreau to play them regularly. Anton Khudobin is important as he would allow the Ducks to offer up a goalie who meets our hypothetical experience requirements.

Arizona Coyotes

Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

Protected list:

• Forwards: Mikkel Boedker, Martin Hanzal, Jordan Martinook, Brad Richardson, Tobias Rieder, Brendan Shinnimin, Viktor Tikhonov, Antoine Vermette, Joe Vitale
• Defencemen: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Klas Dahlbeck, Zbynek Michalek, Connor Murphy and Michael Stone
• Goalie: Louis Domingue

Notable unprotected: Goaltender Mike Smith's wretched contract makes him exposed despite his default status as the Arizona Coyotes' No. 1 goaltender. Outside of rarely used defenceman Stefan Elliott, the rest of the list is almost entirely pending free agents.

Unrestricted free agents: We've made the assumption here that Arizona will re-sign and protect both Boedker and Tikhonov. Other pending UFAs include Shane Doan, Steve Downie, Boyd Gordon, Kyle Chipchura and John Scott up front, Nicklas Grossmann on defence and Anders Lindback in net.

Boston Bruins

Winslow Townson/Associated Press

Protected list:

• Forwards: Matt Beleskey, Patrice Bergeron, Brett Connolly, Loui Eriksson, Landon Ferraro, Jimmy Hayes, David Krejci, Brad Marchand and Ryan Spooner
• Defencemen: Zdeno Chara, Torey Krug, Colin Miller, Joe Morrow and Zach Trotman
• Goalies: Tuukka Rask

Notable unprotected: Malcolm Subban was a tough player to leave unprotected, but with Rask holding the goaltending down for the foreseeable future, it seemed wiser to keep the blue line together than to insist on hanging onto the rights of the Boston Bruins' top goalie prospect. In reality, a better alternative would be to trade Subban to a team entirely lacking in goalies, such as Arizona or the Calgary Flames.

Even with five defenders protected, older veterans Dennis Seidenberg and Adam McQuaid were left unshielded.

Unrestricted free agents: It's assumed here that Eriksson will be re-signed and protected; it's possible the same will happen with Kevan Miller (bumping Morrow out of protection). Chris Kelly, Max Talbot and Jonas Gustavsson aren't important enough to the long-term picture to worry about.

Buffalo Sabres

Kathy Kmonicek/Associated Press

Protected list:

• Forwards: Nicolas Deslauriers, Tyle Ennis, Marcus Foligno, Zemgus Girgensons, Evander Kane, Johan Larsson, Jamie McGinn, Matt Moulson and Ryan O'Reilly, 
• Defencemen: Zach Bogosian, Cody Franson, Josh Gorges, Mark Pysyk and Rasmus Ristolainen
• Goalie: Robin Lehner

Notable unprotected: Virtually anyone of any significance is protected, owing in large part to the Buffalo Sabres' reliance on inexperienced players. The most notable exceptions are pending free agents. The one real break with this pattern is Brian Gionta, who will have one year left on his deal when this summer roles around and is likely to be too old to be of much interest to an expansion club. 

Unrestricted free agents: It has been assumed here that the Sabres will re-sign and protect McGinn, though we'll see about that. Goalie Chad Johnson, defencemen Mike Weber and Carlo Colaiacovo and centre David Legwand round out the significant UFA list.

Calgary Flames

Matt Slocum/Associated Press

Protected list:

• Forwards: Mikael Backlund, Lance Bouma, Joe Colborne, Micheal Ferland, Michael Frolik, Markus Granlund, Josh Jooris, Sean Monahan and Drew Shore
• Defencemen: T.J. Brodie, Mark Giordano, Dougie Hamilton, Kris Russell and Tyler Wotherspoon
• Goalie: Joni Ortio

Notable unprotected: Ignoring free agents, there are a bunch of Calgary Flames players on iffy contracts. Defencemen Dennis Wideman, Deryk Engelland and Ladislav Smid all count; pending UFA Russell is protected here because the loss of any of that trio might be deemed a positive. Up front, players such as Matt Stajan, Mason Raymond and Brandon Bollig deserve notice.

Unrestricted free agents: Jiri Hudler, David Jones and all of Calgary's goalies are heading to free agency; not one seems especially likely to stick around. Russell could go either way. 

Carolina Hurricanes

Nick Wass/Associated Press

Protected list:

• Forwards: Elias Lindholm, Jay McClement, Riley Nash, Andrej Nestrasil, Victor Rask, Jeff Skinner, Eric Staal, Jordan Staal and Brody Sutter 
• Defencemen: Justin Faulk, Ron Hainsey, Keegan Lowe, Ryan Murphy and James Wisniewski
• Goalie: Eddie Lack

Notable unprotected: Michal Jordan is a reasonably young, third-pair defenceman. There's really not much talent to work with for this on the Carolina Hurricanes.

Unrestricted free agents: It's been assumed for this exercise that Eric Staal will be re-signed, as much because it seemed silly to protect Joakim Nordstrom as for any other reason. Cam Ward, John-Michael Liles and Kris Versteeg are other pending free agents of note.

Chicago Blackhawks

Ann Heisenfelt/Associated Press

Protected list:

• Forwards: Artem Anisimov, Andrew Desjardins, Ryan Garbutt, Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane, Marcus Kruger, Mark McNeill, Andrew Shaw and Jonathan Toews
• Defencemen: Niklas Hjalmarsson, Duncan Keith, David Rundblad, Brent Seabrook and Viktor Svedberg
• Goalie: Corey Crawford

Notable unprotected: Bryan Bickell's cap-killing contract puts him at the forefront of the list; an expansion team could do the Chicago Blackhawks a favour by taking him off their hands. The same is true of Rob Scuderi on defence. The loss of goaltender Scott Darling would hurt somewhat more.

Unrestricted free agents: There really isn't anyone of particular note in this category from an expansion perspective.

Colorado Avalanche

David Zalubowski/Associated Press

Protected list:

• Forwards: Blake Comeau, Matt Duchene, Mikhail Grigorenko, Jarome Iginla, Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon, Cody McLeod, John Mitchell and Carl Soderberg
• Defencemen: Tyson Barrie, Francois Beauchemin, Brandon Gormley, Nick Holden and Erik Johnson
• Goalie: Semyon Varlamov

Notable unprotected: No matter how the Colorado Avalanche handle things, it will leave an important goalie unprotected. We've opted to protect Varlamov, but a case could be made for either Reto Berra or Calvin Pickard (or both) instead. Other than that position, stalled 2011 No. 11 pick Duncan Siemens is probably the most interesting name on this list. 

Unrestricted free agents: Alex Tanguay, Jack Skille and Nate Guenin are the most significant free agents on Colorado's roster.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Jay LaPrete/Associated Press

Protected list:

• Forwards: Cam Atkinson, Alex Broadhurst, Matt Calvert, Brandon Dubinsky, Nick Foligno, Scott Hartnell, Boone Jenner, Ryan Johansen and Brandon Saad
• Defencemen: Kevin Connauton, Jack Johnson, Ryan Murray, Dalton Prout and David Savard
• Goalie: Sergei Bobrovsky

Notable unprotected: Defenceman Fedor Tyutin is the most famous name, and he's still a plausible top-four option, though given his age and contract, the Columbus Blue Jackets are likely better off protecting younger defenders. Forwards David Clarkson, Gregory Campbell and Jared Boll are all overpaid to varying degrees for what they bring to the ice. 

Unrestricted free agents: Rene Bourque is a pending free agent, as are fringe NHL defenders Andrew Bodnarchuk and Justin Falk.

Dallas Stars

LM Otero/Associated Press

Protected list:

• Forwards: Jamie Benn, Cody Eakin, Radek Faksa, Valeri Nichushkin, Antoine Roussel, Tyler Seguin, Patrick Sharp Jason Spezza and Matej Stransky
• Defencemen: Jason Demers, Alex Goligoski, Patrik Nemeth, Johnny Oduya and Jamie Oleksiak 
• Goalie: Kari Lehtonen

Notable unprotected: The Dallas Stars have a lot of good forwards, and Ales Hemsky becomes a victim of his age and pricey ticket on a young team, though an expansion club might arguably be more interested in an AHL forward such as Brendan Ranford. Jyrki Jokipakka falls behind Nemeth and Oleksiak on this list; one of that trio is likely to be available, though which one is open to discussion. Goaltender Antti Niemi is on this list too. 

Unrestricted free agents: It's assumed that both Goligoski and Demers will be re-signed. Fellow defender Jordie Benn won't. Patrick Eaves, Vernon Fiddler, Travis Moen and Colton Sceviour are all pending UFAs up front.

Detroit Red Wings

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

Protected list:

• Forwards: Justin Abdelkader, Pavel Datsyuk, Darren Helm, Tomas Jurco, Gustav Nyquist, Teemu Pulkkinen, Riley Sheahan, Tomas Tatar, and Henrik Zetterberg
• Defencemen: Danny DeKeyser, Mike Green, Niklas Kronwall, Alexey Marchenko and Xavier Ouellet
• Goalies: Petr Mrazek

Notable unprotected: This one is going to hurt the Detroit Red Wings. Goalie Jimmy Howard is a necessary sacrifice and perhaps not even the most appealing player on this list; his contract might make him hard to deal in a hurry too. Jakub Kindl and Brendan Smith are decent young veterans on defence, while prospect Ryan Sproul is still stuck in the AHL. We've also said nothing of top-four defender Jonathan Ericsson, who in all likelihood would be undeservedly protected. 

Unrestricted free agents: We've assumed the re-signing and protection of Helm but not that of Brad Richards, Kyle Quincey or other less notable players.

Edmonton Oilers

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

Protected list:

• Forwards: Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, Matt Hendricks, Anton Lander, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Benoit Pouliot and Nail Yakupov
• Defencemen: Brandon Davidson, Oscar Klefbom and Andrej Sekera 
• Goalies: Laurent Brossoit and Cam Talbot

Notable unprotected: The Edmonton Oilers leave a pile of expensive defenceman for the taking, including Justin Schultz and Mark Fayne. Given what Schultz's qualifying offer will cost and the fact Fayne already cleared waivers this year, neither is a big concern. Up front, expensive depth pieces such as Lauri Korpikoski and Mark Letestu are available. 

Unrestricted free agents: Teddy Purcell could return to the Oilers—ditto for Eric Gryba and Nikita Nikitin. Goalie Cam Talbot is listed as protected with the assumption he'll turn things around, though it could easily be Anders Nilsson instead. If neither looks like a starter by the end of the year, Edmonton could shield a bunch more forwards and defencemen.

Florida Panthers

James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

Protected list:

• Forwards: Aleksander Barkov, Nick Bjugstad, Quinton Howden, Jonathan Huberdeau, Jussi Jokinen, Corban Knight, Brandon Pirri, Reilly Smith and Vincent Trocheck, 
• Defencemen: Erik Gudbranson, Steven Kampfer, Dmitry Kulikov, Dylan Olsen and Alex Petrovic
• Goalie: Roberto Luongo

Notable unprotected: Dave Bolland's terrible contract only has three more years on it after this one at a cap hit of $5.5 million. Veteran forward Derek MacKenzie makes this list too, though the most interesting names up for grabs from the Florida Panthers are probably those of fringe NHL forwards such as Logan Shaw and Greg McKegg.

Unrestricted free agents: Jaromir Jagr, Brian Campbell and Willie Mitchell are all notable players bound for free agency. 

Los Angeles Kings

James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

Protected list:

• Forwards: Jeff Carter, Kyle Clifford, Marian Gaborik, Dwight King, Anze Kopitar, Milan Lucic, Tanner Pearson, Nick Shore and Tyler Toffoli
• Defencemen: Drew Doughty, Derek Forbort, Alex Martinez, Brayden McNabb and Jake Muzzin 
• Goalie: Jonathan Quick 

Notable unprotected: Dustin Brown's awful contract makes him the most notable player on this list by a mile. Fourth-liner Jordan Nolan deserves a mention, so too does injured defenceman Matt Greene, who has two years after this one left on his deal at a modest $2.5 million cap hit. 

Unrestricted free agents: The Los Angeles Kings have a bunch of notable names to deal with here. We have assumed the club retains both Kopitar and Lucic, though that may prove difficult to pull off. Trevor Lewis, Christian Ehrhoff and Jhonas Enroth are also significant players bound for the open market. 

Minnesota Wild

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Protected list:

• Forwards: Charlie Coyle, Mikael Granlund, Erik Haula, Mikko Koivu, Nino Niederreiter, Zach Parise, Jason Pominville, Thomas Vanek and Jason Zucker
• Defencemen: Jonas Brodin, Christian Folin, Marco Scandella, Jared Spurgeon, Ryan Suter
• Goalie: Devan Dubnyk

Notable unprotected: Goaltender Darcy Kuemper is easily the most interesting name on the Minnesota Wild list. The 25-year-old brings size (6'5", 205 pounds), relative youth and decent results in the AHL and NHL. 

Unrestricted free agents: The Wild have a half-dozen pending free agents. Forward Ryan Carter, who has all of five points on the season, may be the most interesting.

Montreal Canadiens

Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

Protected list:

• Forwards: Sven Andrighetto, David Desharnais, Lars Eller, Brian Flynn, Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher, Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec, and Devante Smith-Pelly
• Defencemen: Nathan Beaulieu, Alexei Emelin, Andrei Markov, Jeff Petry and P.K. Subban
• Goalie: Carey Price 

Notable unprotected: Defenceman Jarred Tinordi has had trouble gaining traction with the Montreal Canadiens but combines youth and upside in a way that is sure to be tantalizing for any expansion team. Greg Pateryn is somewhat less interesting, but he's young, cheap and can play in a depth role on the blue line. Torrey Mitchell stands out up front while goalie Mike Condon may be worth considering too.  

Unrestricted free agents: Montreal has some important depth pieces bound for free agency. Dale Weise, Paul Byron and Tomas Fleischmann all see their contracts come to an end this year. The same is true of Tom Gilbert on the back end.

Nashville Predators

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Protected list:

• Forwards: Mike Fisher, Filip Forsberg, Calle Jarnkrok, James Neal, Mike Ribeiro, Colton Sissons, Craig Smith, Austin Watson and Colin Wilson
• Defencemen: Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Ellis, Seth Jones, Roman Josi and Shea Weber
• Goalie: Pekka Rinne

Notable unprotected: It's tempting to look at established veterans such as Barret Jackman, Cody Hodgson and Gabriel Bourque, but the most interesting names unprotected on the Nashville Predators roster might be depth pieces. Players such as Viktor Arvidsson and Miikka Salomaki might not be far away up front, and young defencemen such as Petter Granberg and Anthony Bitetto still have miles left to skate

Unrestricted free agents: Centre Paul Gaustad is easily the most notable free agent in Nashville, though backup goalie Carter Hutton and minor-league defenceman Victor Bartley share the same pending UFA status.

New Jersey Devils

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Protected list:

• Forwards: Reid Boucher, Mike Cammalleri, Adam Henrique, Jacob Josefson, Stefan Matteau, Kyle Palmieri, Lee Stempniak, Jiri Tlusty and Travis Zajac
• Defencemen: Eric Gelinas, Andy Greene, Adam Larsson, Jon Merrill and John Moore 
• Goalie: Cory Schneider

Notable unprotected: Backup goalie Keith Kinkaid is nothing to write home about, but outside of the pending free agents, pretty much everyone else of interest is exempt or protected. 

Unrestricted free agents: The New Jersey Devils have a bunch of expiring contracts, but most of them aren't going to be of interest to an expansion team. Patrik Elias, Tuomo Ruutu, Stephen Gionta, Jordin Tootoo, Tyler Kennedy and David Schlemko are all either too old or too minor to worry about. 

New York Islanders

RICH SCHULTZ/Associated Press

Protected list:

• Forwards: Josh Bailey, Casey Cizikas, Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin, Anders Lee, Brock Nelson, Kyle Okposo, Ryan Strome and John Tavares
• Defencemen: Johnny Boychuk, Calvin de Haan, Travis Hamonic, Thomas Hickey and Nick Leddy
• Goalie: Jaroslav Halak

Notable unprotected: Backup goalie Thomas Greiss has been splendid for the New York Islanders and is young enough that he should have years left in the NHL. AHL defenceman Scott Mayfield appeals because he's a 23-year-old, 6'4", right-shooting defenceman who has been on the cusp of NHL duty for a few seasons. Winger Taylor Beck is attractive for similar reasons. 

Unrestricted free agents: Okposo may or may not end up re-signing with the Islanders, but we have assumed here that they find a way to keep him. We have not made the same assumption for the wonderful two-way centre Frans Nielsen or for more minor players such as Matt Martin, Marek Zidlicky and Brian Strait.

New York Rangers

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Protected list:

• Forwards: Derick Brassard, Emerson Etem, Jesper Fast, Chris Kreider, Oscar Lindberg, J.T. Miller, Rick Nash, Derek Stepan and Mats Zuccarello
• Defencemen: Tommy Hughes, Kevin Klein, Ryan McDonagh, Dylan McIlrath, Marc Staal
• Goalie: Henrik Lundqvist

Notable unprotected: Dan Girardi's contract is awful, stretching out into the foreseeable future at an annual cap hit of $5.5 million. It's a reasonable bet the New York Rangers don't need to protect him, and if by some chance he's claimed, it frees up money to shop for an upgrade. More interesting to an expansion team is a player such as Antti Raanta, who has played well over short NHL stints. Tanner Glass is also available. 

Unrestricted free agents: It would be nice if the Rangers could find a way to keep Keith Yandle, but it's going to be hard to find the money for that. Dominic Moore, Viktor Stalberg and Dan Boyle are also pending free agents.

Ottawa Senators

Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

Protected list:

• Forwards: Mike Hoffman, Clarke MacArthur, Milan Michalek, Shane Prince, Matt Puempel, Bobby Ryan, Mark Stone, Kyle Turris and Mika Zibanejad
• Defencemen: Cody Ceci, Erik Karlsson, Marc Methot, Chris Wideman and Patrick Wiercioch
• Goalie: Craig Anderson

Notable unprotected: Jared Cowen is still young enough there's hope of him finding his game. At 24 years of age and 241 games into his NHL career, however, time is getting short. Goaltender Andrew Hammond would be an interesting option if he's left unprotected. Up front, players such as Zack Smith and Alex Chiasson have their own appeal.

Unrestricted free agents: Veterans Chris Neil and Chris Phillips are both pending free agents, but neither is a factor here. 

Philadelphia Flyers

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Protected list:

• Forwards: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Nick Cousins, Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux, Matt Read, Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds, Petr Straka and Jakub Voracek
• Defencemen: Mark Alt, Michael Del Zotto, Radko Gudas, Brandon Manning and Mark Streit
• Goalie: Steve Mason

Notable unprotected: The Philadelphia Flyers have a bunch of contracts it wouldn't mind clearing out. Expensive veterans such as Vincent Lecavalier, R.J. Umberger, Andrew MacDonald and Nick Schultz are all, to one degree or other, poor fits for a team struggling with the salary cap. Meanwhile, an expansion team not interested in helping the Flyers might look at goaltender Michal Neuvirth.

Unrestricted free agents: Up front, Sam Gagner and Michael Raffl are both useful players, while Luke Schenn and Evgeny Medvedev have value on the back end.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Adam Hunger/Associated Press

Protected list:

• Forwards: Beau Bennett, Nick Bonino, Sidney Crosby, Eric Fehr, Patric Hornqvist, Phil Kessel, Tom Kuhnhackl, Evgeni Malkin and Dominik Uher
• Defencemen: Ian Cole, Brian Dumoulin, Kris Letang, Ben Lovejoy and Olli Maatta
• Goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury

Notable unprotected: The Pittsburgh Penguins' most famous name, Crosby, is up front, but the best picks might be on the blue line. Chris Kunitz is exposed because he's no longer worth his $3.85 million annual cap hit; the Pens could easily protect him, but they'd do well to get out from under that contract. Likely more interesting to an expansion team, however, are players such as Adam Clendening and Tim Erixon. Also potentially of interest is pricey veteran Trevor Daley.

Unrestricted free agents: It is assumed here that the Penguins plan to re-sign Lovejoy over the summer. They are less likely to make the same decision about winger David Perron.

San Jose Sharks

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

Protected list:

• Forwards: Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, Patrick Marleau, Matt Nieto, Ben Smith, Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Joel Ward and Tommy Wingels
• Defencemen: Justin Braun, Brent Burns, Brenden Dillon, Paul Martin and Marc-Edouard Vlasic
• Goalie: Martin Jones

Notable unprotected: Defenceman Dylan DeMelo is the obvious target here. The right-shooting, 23-year-old is ready to graduate to the NHL and still has untapped potential; the Sharks will have to either leave him available or expose a veteran defenceman. 

Unrestricted free agents: Smith and Raffi Torres are the highest-profile free agents. For the sake of this exercise, it has been assumed the Sharks re-sign and protect Smith, but obviously that may not happen. 

St. Louis Blues

Jeff Roberson/Associated Press

Protected list:

• Forwards: Patrik Berglund, Dmitrij Jaskin, Jori Lehtera, Ty Rattie, Jaden Schwartz, Vladimir Sobotka, Paul Stastny, Alex Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko
• Defencemen: Robert Bortuzzo, Jay Bouwmeester, Joel Edmundson, Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk
• Goalie: Jake Allen

Notable unprotected: Goaltender Brian Elliott is a good starting candidate for an expansion team, having done a creditable job for the St. Louis Blues over the years. Winger Magnus Paajarvi remains an intriguing player as well. The most interesting player on this list, however, is probably Vladimir Sobotka should the Blues opt to make him available. 

Unrestricted free agents: The duo of David Backes and Troy Brouwer represent a significant challenge for St. Louis; both will be pricey, and if they leave, it will significantly diminish the strength of the team's forward corps. Carl Gunnarsson plays significant minutes on the back end, and there is a host of older bottom-six forwards also nearing the end of their contracts.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

Protected list:

• Forwards: Brian Boyle, Ryan Callahan, Valtteri Filppula, Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn, Nikita Kucherov, Vladislav Namestnikov, Ondrej Palat and Cedric Paquette
• Defencemen: Jason Garrison, Victor Hedman, Nikita Nesterov, Anton Stralman and Andrej Sustr
• Goalie: Ben Bishop

Notable unprotected: The Tampa Bay Lightning will have to expose some decent veterans up front, and we've chosen Erik Condra and J.T. Brown, both of whom would be nice additions to an expansion team. Diminutive forward Jonathan Marchessault is worth considering too; he's only 24 years old and has a decent AHL history. Matt Carle is a pricey option on defence but might not be a bad fit for a new team, either.

Unrestricted free agents: There has been some attention paid around the hockey world to the fact Steven Stamkos is a pending free agent. This scenario assumes the Lightning fail to re-sign him. Braydon Coburn on defence is another player worth keeping an eye on.

Toronto Maple Leafs

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Protected list:

• Forwards: Tyler Bozak, Byron Froese, Peter Holland, Nazem Kadri, Leo Komarov, Josh Leivo, Richard Panik, James van Riemsdyk and Daniel Winnik
• Defencemen: Jake Gardiner, Scott Harrington, Matt Hunwick, Dion Phaneuf, Morgan Rielly
• Goalie: Garret Sparks

Notable unprotected: The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to have some interesting defencemen available in an expansion draft. This setup leaves Frank Corrado and Martin Marincin exposed. Both are decent young rearguards. Others might prefer to protect one or both of them and make available some combination of Harrington, Hunwick and Phaneuf. Up front, it would be nice to dump Joffrey Lupul's contract, and goaltender Jonathan Bernier has fallenout of favour as well.

Unrestricted free agents: The Leafs are loaded with free agents, with eight different players of at least some significance spread across all positions. Toronto could certainly re-sign several of these, particularly up front, and protect them from the expansion draft.

Vancouver Canucks

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Protected list:

• Forwards: Sven Baertschi, Alex Burrows, Adam Cracknell, Alexandre Grenier, Jannik Hansen, Nicklas Jensen, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin and Brandon Sutter
• Defencemen: Alex Biega, Alex Edler, Dan Hamhuis, Andrey Pedan and Chris Tanev
• Goalie: Jacob Markstrom

Notable unprotected: Ryan Miller is another plausible starting goaltender for any franchise in need of one. Luca Sbisa on defence goes unprotected in this scenario because he's not worth his $3.6 million contract; the Vancouver Canucks could (and probably would) shield him, but getting out from under that contract would be a plus. There are a lot of similar situations up front, where Derek Dorsett and Chris Higgins in particular are overpaid relative to their recent contributions. Vancouver has the ability to hang onto these players, but money-wise it doesn't make sense. 

Unrestricted free agents: The Canucks have a number of free agents. We have assumed here that both Hamhuis (whom they need) and Biega (whom they don't need) will be re-signed. Players allowed to depart via free agency include Radim Vrbata, Brandon Prust, Matt Bartkowski and Yannick Weber.

Washington Capitals

Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports

Protected list:

• Forwards: Nicklas Backstrom, Jay Beagle, Marcus Johansson, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Michael Latta, T.J. Oshie, Alex Ovechkin, Nathan Walker, Justin Williams and Tom Wilson
• Defencemen: Karl Alzner, John Carlson, Connor Carrick, Matt Niskanen and Nate Schmidt
• Goalie: Braden Holtby

Notable unprotected: This list is going to rub some people the wrong way, but in fairness, that was going to happen regardless of the approach. Brooks Orpik is an extremely divisive player; the thinking here is he's a 35-year-old signed for lots of money and for a long time and that it wouldn't be a bad idea to offer him up. Brooks Laich is a much more obvious example of the same kind of thinking. The most appealing players here, however, are likely to be on the younger side of the spectrum, specifically defenceman Dmitry Orlov and goaltender Philipp Grubauer.

Unrestricted free agents: Outside of Jason Chimera, the Washington Capitals don't have a lot of significant free agents.

Winnipeg Jets

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Protected list:

• Forwards: Joel Armia, Alex Burmistrov, Bryan Little, J.C. Lipon, Adam Lowry, Mathieu Perreault, Mark Scheifele, Drew Stafford and Blake Wheeler
• Defencemen: Ben Chiarot, Toby Enstrom, Tyler Myers, Mark Stuart and Jacob Trouba
• Goalie: Michael Hutchinson

Notable unprotected: Outside of free agents, there aren't a lot of notable skaters on this list; people such as Chris Thorburn and Paul Postma are the Winnipeg Jets' representatives. That changes in net, where long-time starting goaltender Ondrej Pavelec was edged out by Hutchinson.

Unrestricted free agents: Free agents are going to be a big piece of Winnipeg's trade deadline/summer story. Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien are extremely important players to the franchise, and both are set to hit the open market on July 1.

Statistics courtesy of NHL.com, BehindtheNet.ca, Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com and war-on-ice.com. Salary information via General Fanager.