NHL Expansion Protections: Central Division

With the 2020-21 regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs in the rearview mirror, the 31 NHL clubs are prepping for the NHL Draft and the start of free agency later this month, but first will have to submit protection lists for the Seattle expansion draft on July 21.

A number of factors will go into who teams will protect, including players that have to be sheltered due to their no-movement clauses and those that might be exposed because of a side agreement made between a team and Seattle GM Ron Francis.

There is no way to know if those understandings have been made until the protection lists have been submitted to the league on Saturday, so we will take a look at who each team may lose based on which players are protected. (Note: The clubs released their protected lists on Sunday).

Here are the Central Division protection lists and who they will likely lose on Wednesday:

Arizona Coyotes

Protection List – Forwards(7) – Lawson Crouse, Christian Dvorak, Conor Garland, Clayton Keller, Phil Kessel, Johan Larsson, Nick Schmaltz

Defense(3) – Kyle Capobianco, Jakob Chychrun, Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Goalie(1) – Darcy Kuemper

Exposed – Tyler Pitlick, Christian Fischer

Arizona is not a deep club and has only four defensemen who played in the NHL last season under contract. Based on the players exposed, the 24-year-old Fischer (who has struggled the last two years after scoring 15 goals in 2018 and 11 in 2019) would be the best selection for Seattle.

Chicago Blackhawks

Protection List – Forwards(7) – Henrik Borgstrom, Alex deBrincat, Brandon Hagel, David Kampf, Patrick Kane, Dylan Strome, Jonathan Toews

Defense(3) – Caleb Jones, Connor Murphy, Riley Stillman

Goalie(1) – Kevin Lankinen

Exposed – Brett Connolly, Calvin de Haan, Nikita Zadorov, Adam Gaudette

The Hawks are depending on the Kraken avoiding players with a hefty price tag. De Haan has struggled with injuries since being acquired by Chicago in 2018. Zadorov is an intriguing option and the likely choice, but the big Russian is an arbitration-eligible RFA this season and a UFA in 2022.

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Colorado Avalanche

Protection List – Forwards(7) – Andre Burakovsky, Tyson Jost, Nazem Kadri, Nathan MacKinnon, Valeri Nichushkin, Logan O’Connor, Mikko Rantanen

Defense(3) – Samuel Girard, Cale Makar, Devon Toews

Goalie(1) – Philipp Grubauer

Exposed – Joonas Donskoi, JT Compher

The surprise of the Avs protection list is GM Joe Sakic including Kadri (who was suspended in the playoffs for third time in four years) with a year left on his over Compher with two years left at an economical $3.5 million cap hit. The presence of youngster Alex Newhook may make Kadri/Compher expendable.

Dallas Stars

Protection List – Forwards(7) – Jamie Benn, Radek Faksa, Denis Gurianov, Roope Hintz, Joe Pavelski, Alexander Radulov, Tyler Seguin

Defense(3) – Miro Heiskanen, John Klingberg, Esa Lindell

Goalie(1) – Anton Khudobin

Exposed – Ben Bishop, Joel Hanley, Julius Honka

With Bishop waiving his NMC, the Stars were able to protect Khoudobin, which leaves slim pickings for the Kraken. Francis will likely not take vets like Blake Comeau or Andrej Sekera and opt for the younger Honka, who went to Europe in 2019 before returning last season and playing in the AHL.

Minnesota Wild

Protection List – Forwards(7) – Joel Eriksson Ek, Kevin Fiala, Marcus Foligno, Jordan Greenway, Ryan Hartman, Nico Sturm, Mats Zuccarello

Defense(3) – Jonas Brodin, Matt Dumba, Jared Spurgeon

Goalie(1) – Cam Talbot

Exposed – Victor Rask, Carson Soucy, Nick Bjugstad, Kaapo Kahkonen

The buyout of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise enabled GM Bill Guerin to protect Sturm and Dumba, but the Wild still could potentially lose a solid defender in Soucy (with two years left at $2.75 million) or the 24-year-old Kahkonen, who was left unprotected instead of the aging Talbot.

Nashville Predators

Protection List – Forwards(3) – Filip Forsberg, Tanner Jeannot, Luke Kunin

Defense(5) – Mattias Ekholm, Dante Fabbro, Roman Josi, Philippe Myers, Alexandre Carrier

Goalie(1) – Juuse Saros

Exposed – Ryan Johansen, Matt Duchene, Colton Sissons

GM David Poile moved out defenseman Ryan Ellis to Philadelphia for Myers and flipped Nolan Patrick to Vegas for the exempt Cody Glass, and was the only team to protect five defensemen. The Preds are not happy with the production from their big-ticket forwards in Johansen and Duchene, but it is unlikely that Seattle will oblige them, making a Sissons or Nick Cousins the possible pick for the Kraken.

St. Louis Blues

Protection List – Forwards(7) – Ivan Barbashev, Jordan Kyrou, Ryan O’Reilly, David Perron, Brayden Schenn, Oskar Sundqvist, Robert Thomas,

Defense(3) – Justin Faulk, Torey Krug, Colton Parayko

Goalie(1) – Jordan Binnington

Exposed – Vladimir Tarasenko, Vince Dunn, Marco Scandella

The exclusion of Tarasenko from the protected list is not surprising, since the sniper has been sidelined for most of the last two seasons with shoulder problems and has two more years at $7.5 million. Dunn, who was frequently included in trade rumors all last season, is 24 and has offensive abilities.

Winnipeg Jets

Protection List – Forwards(7) – Kyle Connor, Andrew Copp, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Nikolaj Ehlers, Adam Lowry, Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler

Defense(3) – Josh Morrissey, Neal Pionk, Logan Stanley

Goalie(1) – Connor Hellebuyck

Exposed – Mason Appleton, Dylan Demelo

The Jets opted to protect big blueliner Stanley over the veteran DeMelo (who has three more years at $3 million) after a solid rookie season. Winnipeg is likely to lose Appleton, who was a presence on the Jets third line with Copp and Lowry and scored 12 goals last season.