Who Your Favorite Team Should Protect (But Won't): New York Islanders
In a fun swing of events, PuckLuck.com has you covered today for all of your expansion draft protection needs. Why today? Well, there are two key deadlines this Saturday afternoon that can affect the entire landscape of the NHL.
The first is a roster freeze at 3pm EST, which prohibits and trades, signings, and player movement ahead of Wednesday's expansion draft. This freeze allows the Seattle Kraken management to zero in on exact targets from each NHL team without any further ambiguity.
The second deadline, of course, is the 5pm EST deadline for all teams to submit their protected player lists. This is the final list of players (either seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goalie, or eight skaters and one goalie) that the Kraken cannot select in Wednesday's draft.
This also, of course, reveals who is exposed to Seattle, who is allow to select one player from each team. It is expected that side deals will by made to allow NHL GM's to protect an extra player or dictate who the Kraken take by giving up an additional asset, so things could get even more interesting.
Ahead of the protection list deadline, we will be revealing what our version of the protection lists should look like for each NHL team, based off of a player's GDV (Goal Differential Value), contract, and aging curves. GDV is a PuckLuck exclusive metric used to measure each player's value on goal differential for each game, allowing us to project each NHL game throughout the year with success.
We will be revealing one team every 15 minutes leading up to the 5pm deadline, so be sure to follow along throughout the day to see what we come up with for your favorite team!
Next up? The New York Islanders:
Protect (7-3-1): Josh Bailey, Mathew Barzal, Anthony Beauvillier, Michael Dal Colle, Jordan Eberle, Anders Lee, Brock Nelson, Scott Mayfield, Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock, Semyon Varlamov
Exempt: Noah Dobson, Oliver Wahlstrom, Ilya Sorokin
UFA: Casey Cizikas, Braydon Coburn, Andy Greene, Kyle Palmieri, Travis Zajac, Cory Schneider
Expose: Kieffer Bellows, Cal Clutterbuck, Thomas Hickey, Ross Johnston, Leo Komarov, Matt Martin, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Richard Panik
A possible scenario between free agency and expansion is that the Isles' fourth line being broken up in some capacity, with Cizikas a free agent and Clutterbuck and Martin likely exposed. Pageau is another big name exposed on our list, but it's tough to remove Dal Colle from protection at this point in his career.
The trade of Nick Leddy ensures Mayfield will be protected along with top pair Pulock and Pelech. Hickey posted strong GDV numbers in a limited sample against weaker competition, so Mayfield gets the clear nod.
Varlamov's starting position may be ceded to Sorokin this coming season, but Sorokin is exempt from expansion selection making this choice easy.
