NHL Expansion Draft - St. Louis Blues

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
RW	25	Vladimir Tarasenko	$7,500,000	UFA – 2023	X
C	31	Paul Stastny	$7,000,000	UFA – 2018	X
LW	33	Alexander Steen	$5,750,000	UFA – 2021	X
LW	24	Jaden Schwartz	$5,350,000	UFA – 2021	X
C	29	Jori Lehtera	$4,700,000	UFA – 2019	X
LW	28	David Perron	$3,750000	UFA – 2018	X
C	28	Patrik Berglund	$3,850,000	UFA – 2022	X
LW	29	Vladimir Sobotka	$3,500,000	UFA – 2020	28GR
RW	23	Nail Yakupov	$2,500,000	RFA – 2017	X
RW	30	Ryan Reaves	$1,125,000	UFA – 2018	X
RW	24	Dmitrij Jaskin	$1,000,000	RFA – 2018	X
LW	33	Scottie Upshall	$950,000	UFA – 2017	X
LW	25	Magnus Paajarvi	$700,000	RFA – 2017	X
C	25	Landon Ferraro	$700,000	RFA – 2017	2GR
RW	24	Ty Rattie	$650,000	RFA – 2017	31GR
LW	24	Kenny Agostino	$625,000	UFA – 2017	33GR
LW	26	Andrew Agozzino	$600,000	UFA – 2017	40GR
C	23	Jacob Doty	$575,000	RFA – 2017	40GR
C	27	Brad Malone	$575,000	UFA – 2017	13GR
C	26	Alex Firesen	$575,000	UFA – 2017	40GR
RW	26	Jordan Caron	$575,000	RFA – 2017	40GR

Defensemen

POS	Age	Name	Cap Hit	Expiration	40/70
D	27	Alex Pietrangelo	$6,500,000	UFA – 2020	X
D	33	Jay Bouwmeester	$5,400,000	UFA – 2019	X
D	30	Carl Gunnarsson	$2,900,000	UFA – 2019	X
D	23	Joel Edmundson	$1,050,000	RFA – 2018	X
D	28	Robert Bortuzzo	$1,150,000	UFA – 2019	X
D	23	Petteri Lindbohm	$636,667	RFA – 2017	33GR
D	30	Chris Butler	$600,000	UFA – 2017	39GR
D	24	Reid McNeill	$575,000	UFA – 2017	40GR
D	24	Morgan Ellis	$575,000	UFA – 2017	40GR

Goaltenders

POS	Age	Name	Cap Hit	Expiration
G	26	Jake Allen	$4,350,000	UFA – 2021
G	31	Carter Hutton	$1,125,000	UFA – 2018
G	23	Jordan Binnington	$600,000	RFA – 2017

Exempt List

• LW Mackenzie MacEachern
• C Robby Fabbri
• LW Zachary Sanford
• C Jordan Kyrou
• C Ivan Barbashev
• C Adam Musil
• C Conner Bleackley
• C Justin Selman
• LW Samuel Blais
• C Wade Megan
• C Tage Thompson
• D Jordan Schmaltz
• D Colton Parayko
• D Vince Dunn
• D Thomas Vannelli
• D Dmitrii Sergeev
• D Jake Walman
• G Ville Husso
• G Luke Opilka
• G Evan Fitzpatrick

Explanation of my Protection List

• The Blues have a plethora of forwards that they would like to protect and will try and keep as many of them as possible.  I am protecting seven forwards and three defensemen with this team understanding that they have several young defensemen that don't need to be protected.  At forward, I am protecting Vladimir Tarasenko, Paul Stastny, Alexander Steen, Jaden Schwartz, Jori Lehtera, Patrik Berglund, and Vladimir Sobotka.  Tarasenko, Stastny, Steen, Schwartz, and Lehtera are no-brainers and the Blues just extended Berglund so he has value to the team.  On defense, St. Louis has five players under contract beyond this season and I have just three spots available.  I am picking Alex Pietrangelo, Jay Bouwmeester, and Joel Edmundson for the three defensive slots.  In net, Jake Allen is the team's goaltender of the future and he needs to be protected.
• The Blues will let quite a bit of talent exposed in the Expansion Draft.  The forwards will be David Perron, Ryan Reaves, and Kyle Brodziak and the defensemen are Carl Gunnarsson and Robert Bortuzzo.  At goaltender, Carter Hutton is the only other player at the position apart from Jake Allen.
• The Blues are lucky in that a majority of their important skaters are all exempt from the Expansion Draft, including Robby Fabbri, Zach Sanford, and Colton Parayko.  The most valuable player that the Blues could probably lose in the Draft is Carl Gunnarsson, who is a quality defenseman and is under contract for two more seasons for just $2.9 million per season. 

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