2017 NHL expansion draft: Tracking the top unprotected players

All 30 teams submitted their protection lists for the 2017 NHL expansion draft Saturday, and the league officially revealed them Sunday morning to the public. Now it’s just a long wait until Wednesday to see what the Vegas Golden Knights do to populate their first roster.

Each current team can protect up to 11 players from the Golden Knights, which were detailed in the lists submitted to the league Saturday. Those players, along with anyone who has two or fewer years of NHL/AHL experience, cannot be picked in the expansion draft.

The remaining options will be available to the Golden Knights, who will announce their picks Wednesday at the 2017 NHL Awards Show. It’s not a guarantee they take any of these players, or that the Golden Knights haven’t already made side deals with other teams NOT to take certain players. For example, the Capitals could send assets to the Golden Knights to take someone other than Nate Schmidt.

Here’s a list of prominent players Vegas will be able to get its hands on this week if it wants.

Nobody is confirming that Schmidt went unprotected, but the Washington Post is reporting a protection list that doesn’t include him. The Capitals are going with the 7-3-1 format, which means they can only protect Matt Niskanen, John Carlson, and Dmitry Orlov on defense. Schmidt should look good in gold and black (or yield Vegas a nice return for leaving him alone).

Nashville needed to protect its top four defensemen, and that meant leaving some good forwards unprotected. Neal is at the top of that list as a former 40-goal scorer who is coming off his sixth straight 20-goal season. Vegas is either going to get a good scorer for its top six, or it’s going to get assets to leave one of the Predators’ top scorers alone.

Going the 7-3-1 route means Anaheim has two quality defensemen left unprotected for the draft. The Ducks reportedly have a deal already in place with the Golden Knights, so presumably they’re sending assets to Vegas in order to keep these two away.

In a somewhat unexpected move, Florida protected four defensemen without including Demers, who it signed to a long-term deal last year. The Panthers instead protected Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle, Alex Petrovic, and Mark Pysyk, leaving Demers and Marchessault (a 30-goal scorer) available to the Golden Knights.

Strome had a rough year, but he’s still a former No. 5 overall pick who recorded 50 points in his age-21 season. If the Golden Knights want to take a shot on someone who could help solidify their depth chart up the middle, Strome is a sensible choice.

He could go from partnering with Erik Karlsson to being on an expansion franchise, which would be quite the transition. Methot is one of the few experienced big-name defensemen available whose contract isn’t so onerous that it’s still conceivable Vegas picks him. They may prefer to go younger (and cheaper), though.

St. Louis protected Ryan Reaves instead of one of these guys. We can’t really explain it, either.

Few teams had as many tough choices as Minnesota, which has ended up leaving some pretty dang good players available. Staal is a veteran top-six center on a reasonable contract running through next season. Dumba is a young defenseman who would be a perfect addition for Vegas. This one worked out well for the Golden Knights.

One of just two players to waive his NMC (more on the other soon), Fleury is basically a lock to get picked by the Golden Knights. The biggest question might be whether they keep him or decide to deal him for assets. Hagelin, meanwhile, had a down year in 2016-17 with just 22 points in 61 games, but he’s not going to be an option for Vegas if the pick is Fleury.

The Kings’ protection list doesn’t include these two expensive forwards, which isn’t particularly surprising. They combined for 24 goals at a $10.75 million cap hit last season. Other available options from L.A. include defenseman Brayden McNabb and forwards Trevor Lewis, Kyle Clifford, and Nic Dowd.

San Jose had a lot of good forwards to protect, and opted to go with some younger guys over the more expensive Ward ($3.275 million) and Boedker ($4 million). Neither player was great during the past season, and they both play very different styles. On defense, Martin was the odd man out, although his $4.85 million cap hit may be too rich for the Golden Knights’ taste.

The Flames are already regretting the multi-year contract they signed Brouwer to last summer. They did not include him on its protection list, instead using spots on Micheal Ferland, Curtis Lazar, and Sam Bennett. Brouwer, who has a $4.5 million cap hit for the next three seasons, is an unlikely option for the Golden Knights, however.

It was reported Friday that Enstrom had agreed to waive his no-movement clause to be excluded from the Jets’ protection list. The favor by Enstrom allows Winnipeg to protect Dustin Byfuglien, Jacob Trouba and Tyler Myers on defense. Enstrom says he doesn’t want to go to Vegas, and it’s possible they don’t choose him with a good young forward like Marko Dano available.

Ouellet, a 24-year-old defenseman, is not on the Red Wings’ protection list. They went the 7-3-1 route and protected veterans Mike Green, Danny DeKeyser, and Nick Jensen as their three blue liners. Ouellet was serviceable with three goals and nine assists in 66 games with Detroit in 2016-17. The Wings also protected Jimmy Howard over Mrazek in a surprising decision.

A 2012 first-round pick, Gaunce has struggled in the NHL with just one goal and five assists in 77 games. He isn’t being protected as a result, despite the pedigree and good numbers (38 points in 46 games) during his last extended AHL stint in 2015-16.