NHL Expansion Draft - Los Angeles Kings

Expansion Draft Rules

All information from NHL.com

Protected Lists

• Clubs can protect one of two options:
• Seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goaltender
• Eight skaters and one goaltender
• All players with No-Movement clauses in their contract have to be protected unless they waive their clauses
• All first- and second-year pro players will be exempt from selections and don't have to be protected

Player Exposure Requirements

• Clubs must meet minimum requirements for exposure in the Expansion Draft:
• One defenseman who is under contract in 2017-18 and played in 40 or more games in 2016-17 or played in 70 or more games in two prior seasons.
• Two forwards who meet the same requirements as above
• One goaltender who is under contract in 2017-18 or will be a restricted free agent at the expiration of his current contract immediately prior to 2017-18.

Vegas Requirements

• Must select one player from each existing club for a total of 30 players
• Must select at least 14 forwards, 9 defensemen, and 3 goaltenders
• Must have a minimum 20 players under contract for the 2017-18 season
• Must reach the salary cap floor and cannot exceed the cap ceiling
• May not buy out any players selected in the Expansion Draft before the first summer following their first full season

Protection List

• NMC= No Movement Clause
• NTC= No Trade Clause
• Red = Who I would protect

Forwards

POS	Age	Name	Cap Hit	Expiration	40/70
C	29	NMC – Anze Kopitar	$10,000,000	UFA – 2024	X
RW	32	Dustin Brown	$5,875,000	UFA – 2022	X
C	32	Jeff Carter	$5,272,727	UFA – 2022	X
RW	35	Marian Gaborik	$4,875,000	UFA – 2021	X
RW	24	Tyler Toffoli	$3,250,000	UFA – 2020	X
RW	39	Jarome Iginla	$2,666,667	UFA – 2017	X
C	30	Trevor Lewis	$2,000,000	UFA – 2017	X
RW	31	Teddy Purcell	$1,600,000	UFA – 2017	X
C	26	Kyle Clifford	$1,600,000	UFA – 2020	X
LW	24	Tanner Pearson	$1,400,000	UFA – 2021	X
C	27	Jordan Nolan	$950,000	UFA – 2018	X
LW	24	Michael Mersch	$786,667	RFA – 2017	40GR
C	26	Nic Dowd	$640,000	UFA – 2018	X
RW	22	Justin Auger	$616,667	RFA – 2017	40GR
C	24	Andrew Crescenzi	$600,000	RFA – 2017	40GR
C	24	Nick Shore	$600,000	RFA – 2017	X
LW	25	Andy Andreoff	$587,500	RFA – 2017	X
RW	30	Devin Setoguchi	$575,000	UFA – 2017	X

Defensemen

POS	Age	Name	Cap Hit	Expiration	40/70
D	27	Drew Dougthy	$7,000,000	UFA – 2019	X
D	29	Alec Martinez	$4,000,000	UFA – 2021	X
D	28	Jake Muzzin	$4,000,000	UFA – 2020	X
D	33	Matt Greene	$2,500,000	UFA – 2018	14GR
D	26	Brayden McNabb	$1,700,000	UFA – 2018	X
D	38	Rob Scuderi	$1,130,625	UFA – 2017	2GR
D	26	Zach Trotman	$650,000	RFA – 2017	32GR
D	25	Derek Forbort	$650,000	RFA – 2018	X
D	23	Kurtis MacDermid	$578,333	RFA – 2017	40GR
D	28	Cameron Schilling	$575,000	UFA – 2017	40GR
D	27	Vincent Loverde	$575,000	UFA – 2017	40GR

Goaltenders

POS	Age	Name	Cap Hit	Expiration
G	31	Jonathan Quick	$5,800,000	UFA – 2023
G	29	Jeff Zatkoff	$900,000	UFA – 2018
G	25	Jack Campbell	$612,500	RFA – 2018

Exempt List

• LW Adrian Kempe
• C Jonny Brodzinski
• C Michael Amadio
• LW Spencer Watson
• LW Joel Lowry
• RW Patrick Bjorkstrand
• RW Matt Luff
• LW Austin Wagner
• LW Matt Roy
• D Paul LaDue
• D Alex Lintuniemi
• D Jacob Moverare
• D Kevin Gravel
• D Damir Sharipzyanov
• D Zachary Leslie
• D Kale Clague

Explanation of my Protection List

• The Kings have a lot of question marks going into the Expansion Draft.  Anze Kopitar is their only player with a NMC and they have a lot players with term left on their contracts.  I think that at forward, Jeff Carter, Tyler Toffoli, and Tanner Pearson will be the first ones to get protected despite the latter two being RFAs after this season.  Both are simply too important to the Kings for them to lose either for nothing.  I think they will also protect Kyle Clifford, who is still young and is on a really cost-effective contract, Nic Dowd, and Nick Shore.  On defense, there really aren't many options but to protect Drew Doughty, Alec Martinez, and Jake Muzzin, the team's three best defensemen.  Similarly, Jonathan Quick must be the goaltender the Kings protect.
• There will be a lot of forwards left exposed by the Kings including Dustin Brown, Marian Gaborik, Trevor Lewis, and Jordan Nolan, all with term left.  On defense, Brayden McNabb and Derek Forbort will be left exposed and they will have two goaltenders, in Jeff Zatkoff and Jack Campbell, who each have one more year left on their contracts who will be left unprotected.
• Although the Kings may end up losing a player of value to Vegas, it could benefit LA in the long run.  I think it is most likely that Vegas takes a player like Brayden McNabb, who is both young and has some value.  They could also take Trevor Lewis or Jordan Nolan who have controllable contracts.  What I think LA would most like to see happen is that perhaps they can offer Vegas a draft pick or a prospect in return for Vegas taking Dustin Brown or Marian Gaborik in the draft. This would free up a significant amount of cap space for LA next season, something they desperately need in order to re-sign Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson.

*All cap and salary information come from CapFriendly.com*