Ducks Projected Protection List
By Michael Walters
Tomorrow the NHL will release the protection lists for the expansion draft at 7 AM PT. The Anaheim Ducks find themselves in a difficult spot.
Based the protection rules, players with no-movement clauses in their contract are automatically protected. The Ducks will have to protect Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler, and Kevin Bieksa. Also, first and second-year players are exempt from selection. So players like Brandon Montour, Shea Theodore, Nick Ritchie, and Ondrej Kase can’t be claimed by Vegas.
General Managers have two options to protect their players, which include Option A, seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goalie. Option B allows GMs to protect eight players regardless if they are forwards or defensemen and one goalie. It appears Bob Murray will likely go with Option A. Murray won’t have an issue protecting seven forwards, but the issue comes with the defense. If Murray protects Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, and Kevin Bieksa on defense, then that leaves Josh Manson and Sami Vatanen open to Vegas.
It’s been rumored that a trade with Sami Vatanen could be done soon. If that is the case, then Manson could still be exposed. Murray would then have to offer something up to like an unexposed prospect or draft pick to avoid losing Manson to Vegas. So with that, here is a projected protection list:
Anaheim Ducks projected protection list(7-3-1 Format):
Forwards (7)
Ryan Getzlaf
Corey Perry
Ryan Kesler
Jakob Silfverberg
Andrew Cogliano
Rickard Rakell
Antoine Vermette
Defensemen (3)
Cam Fowler
Hampus Lindholm
Kevin Bieksa
Goalie (1)
According to CapFriendly.com, the remaining forwards that might the exposure requirement and could be protected are Jared Boll, Logan Shaw, and Chris Wagner. Manson and Vatanen would be the exposed defensemen that could have been protected. Dustin Tokarski is the only goalie besides Gibson, that meets the exposure requirements. It is possible that Murray might protect Wagner over Vermette under this format as well.
If you want to explore other possible protection scenarios for the Ducks or any NHL team, then I highly encourage visiting the Cap Friendly expansion tool here: Expansion Draft Tool.
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June 17th, 2017
Filed under: Ducks News Tagged: Anaheim Ducks, ducksnpucks, expansion draft