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NHL Las Vegas: Expansion Draft Protection List Decisions Roundtable

By Ryan Ritchie

May 11, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; General view of the T-Mobile Arena adjacent to the Las Vegas strip. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
May 11, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; General view of the T-Mobile Arena adjacent to the Las Vegas strip. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 14, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Members of the Boston Bruins celebrate their victory over the Detroit Red Wings at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 14, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Members of the Boston Bruins celebrate their victory over the Detroit Red Wings at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports /

Tanner Rebelo (Contributor)

The NHL expansion draft is scaring a lot of fans around the National Hockey League in the fear of losing their favorite players. While teams are able to protect a good portion of their best players, there will still be solid players for Las Vegas to acquire.

Some teams have the chance to unload salaries in the expansion draft by allowing Vegas to pick a player with a fairly big cap hit.

In the NHL a good portion of veteran contracts include a no-trade clause or partial NTC – the expansion draft is a way to unload a player and not have to buy out the rest of his contract.

Feb 13, 2016; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Boston Bruins forward David Krejci (46) skates with the puck in the third period against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. The Boston Bruins beat the Minnesota Wild 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 13, 2016; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Boston Bruins forward David Krejci (46) skates with the puck in the third period against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. The Boston Bruins beat the Minnesota Wild 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports /

For example, the Boston Bruins are a team that may look to take advantage of this, they may allow Zdeno Chara and David Krejci to be unprotected in the hopes Vegas wants to take on their salaries.

Letting Chara be picked is smart move for the team to unload from his $4.25M contract that he simply cannot live up to at his advanced age of 39.

Krejci is actually a player I would protect but if the team resigns center Ryan Spooner they would most likely look to get Krejci of the roster if he cannot regain his prior form before he underwent two hip surgeries.

The Bruins will most likely protect:

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1. Patrice Bergeron
2. David Backes
3. Brad Marchand
4. Matt Beleskey
5. David Pastrnak
6. Torey Krug
7. Colin Miller
8. Adam McQuaid
9.Tuukka Rask

The black and gold will have a tough decision on whether to protect Adam McQuaid or Kevan Miller, but I think management will protect long-time player McQuaid barring him from having another unlucky injury-ridden season that has plagued his entire career. Protecting these players open up a couple of solid options that could be on Las Vegas’ radar.

1.David Krejci
2.Ryan Spooner
3.Zdeno Chara
4.Malcolm Subban
5.Jimmy Hayes

Bottom line is the Bruins could set up their protection around key long-term assets while allowing some of their higher priced under-performing players be available to NHL Las Vegas. If they do indeed let Krejci go unprotected it would be smart for Vegas to select him as long as he looks healthy this upcoming season. But at that point the Bruins are likely to protect him, at which point Vegas should select goaltending prospect Malcolm Subban from the Bruins in the hopes he is the future of their franchise in the net.

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