NHL Expansion Draft - Nashville Predators

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	22	Filip Forsberg	$6,000,000	UFA – 2022	X
LW	29	James Neal	$5,000,000	UFA – 2018	X
C	36	Mike Fisher	$4,400,000	UFA – 2017	X
C	27	Craig Smith	$4,250,000	UFA – 2020	X
C	24	Ryan Johansen	$4,000,000	RFA – 2017	X
C	27	Colin Wilson	$3,937,500	UFA – 2019	X
C	37	Mike Ribeiro	$3,500,000	UFA – 2017	X
C	25	Calle Jarnkrok	$2,000,000	UFA – 2022	X
RW	34	P.A. Parenteau	$1,250,000	UFA – 2017	X
C	36	Vernon Fiddler	$1,250,000	UFA – 2017	X
LW	32	Cody McLeod	$800,000	UFA – 2018	X
LW	23	Pontus Aberg	$780,833	RFA – 2017	9GR
LW	23	Viktor Arvidsson	$631,667	RFA – 2017	X
C	23	Colton Sissons	$625,000	RFA – 2019	X
C	32	Trevor Smith	$612,500	UFA – 2018	39GR
C	30	Cody Bass	$612,500	UFA – 2018	31GR
RW	24	Miikka Salomaki	$612,500	RFA – 2018	X
C	26	Adam Payerl	$575,000	UFA – 2017	40GR
LW	29	Harry Zolnierczyk	$575,000	UFA – 2017	5GR
LW	24	Austin Watson	$575,000	RFA – 2017	X

Defensemen

POS	Age	Name	Cap Hit	Expiration	40/70
D	27	P.K. Suban	$9,000,000	UFA – 2022	X
D	26	Roman Josi	$4,000,000	UFA – 2020	X
D	26	Mattias Ekholm	$3,750,000	UFA – 2022	X
D	26	Ryan Ellis	$2,500,000	UFA – 2019	X
D	24	Andrew O’Brien	$632,500	RFA – 2017	40GR
D	22	Jonathan-Ismael Diaby	$629,167	RFA – 2018	40GR
D	26	Anthony Bitetto	$612,500	UFA – 2018	X
D	24	Peter Granberg	$612,500	RFA – 2018	30GR
D	23	Jaynen Rissling	$606,667	RFA – 2017	40GR
D	28	Brad Hunt	$600,000	UFA – 2017	28GR
D	29	Matt Irwin	$650,000	UFA – 2018	X
D	28	Yannick Weber	$575,000	UFA – 2017	X

Goaltenders

POS	Age	Name	Cap Hit	Expiration
G	34	NMC – Pekka Rinne	$7,000,000	UFA – 2019
G	25	Marek Mazanec	$575,000	RFA – 2017

Exempt List

• LW Kevin Fiala
• C Vladislav Kamenec
• C Yakov Trenin
• LW Justin Kirkland
• C Anthony Richard
• C Frederick Gaudreau
• LW Michael Liambas
• D Frederic Allard
• D Samuel Girard
• D Jack Dougherty
• D Alexandre Carrier
• D Trevor Murphy
• D Adam Pardy
• G Juuse Saros
• G Jonas Gunnarsson

Explanation of my Protection List

• Nashville has just one player with a NMC, their goaltender Pekka Rinne, but they do have a lot of players, especially defensemen, that I am certain that would like to protect.  Regardless of having at least four defensemen that are vital to the team's success, I still think that they protect seven forwards and try to figure out their situation on defense.  At forward, they will protect Filip Forsberg, James Neal, Craig Smith, Colin Wilson, and Calle Jarnkrok, all of which are pretty obvious choices.  I also think that they will protect Ryan Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson despite both being RFAs after this season.  Both players are extremely important to the team's future success and Nashville will want to do everything they can to ensure that neither player leaves the franchise.  As I referenced before, Nashville has a plethora of quality defensemen that they would like to protect, similar to the situation Minnesota is in.  I would certainly protect P.K. Subban and Roman Josi.  With the third and final defensemen slot, I would choose to protect Mattias Ekholm over Ryan Ellis simply because Ekholm has five years of control left while Ellis only has two years left.  
• At forward, Colton Sissons and Miikka Salomaki will both be left exposed giving Vegas an opportunity to take a young forward.  At defense, Ryan Ellis and Matt Irwin will both be defensemen left unprotected and with term left on their contracts.  In net, Marek Mazanec will be the only goaltender who can be exposed.
• I think that with the current roster situation, Nashville will probably lose Ryan Ellis in the Expansion Draft, the most talented player that will be left exposed by the team.  However, I feel confident that GM David Poile will either make a deal with Vegas GM George McPhee so that he doesn't touch Ellis or Poile will end up trading Ellis before the Expansion Draft.  There have been a lot of rumors that perhaps Nashville will package Ellis together with a a prospect and draft picks in order to acquire Matt Duchene from Colorado.  I think that there is a really good chance that this happens, alleviating the problem of potentially losing Ellis.

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