Here’s who the Wild will protect in the NHL Expansion Draft

Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher was resigned to the fact that his team was going to lose a talented player to the Vegas Golden Knights with the upcoming NHL Expansion Draft rapidly approaching.

Teams submitted their list of protected players at 4 p.m. Saturday. Those lists were announced to the public at 9:30 a.m. Sunday.

Teams can only lose one player in the NHL Expansion Draft and the Golden Knights will announce their roster at the NHL Awards Show at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Here’s a look at who the Wild decided to protect:

Forwards: Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu, Jason Pominville, Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter, Charlie Coyle, and Jason Zucker

Defensemen: Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon, and Jonas Brodin

Goaltender: Devan Dubnyk

That means the rest of the roster is left exposed, though the most notable names are veteran center Eric Staal and defensemen Matt Dumba and Marco Scandella.

As of last week Fletcher had no prearranged trades with Golden Knights general manager George McPhee, though conversations will surely be had over the next few days so that the Wild can try to dictate who the Golden Knights select.

Staal or Dumba would appear to be the obvious choice from the crop of Wild players if Fletcher and McPhee are unable to strike a deal. Staal led the Wild with 28 goals last season and also chipped in 37 assists, while Dumba had was third among defensemen with 34 points (11 goals, 23 assists). Scandella, meanwhile, finished last season with 13 points (4 goals, 9 assists).

Staal was left exposed partially because the Wild were forced to protect Pominville thanks to the no-movement clause in his contract. Parise, Koivu and Suter also have no-movement clauses in their contracts. It’s still unclear whether Fletcher asked Pominville to waive that no-movement clause last week. If he indeed made the ask, the result of the protected list would mean Pominville refused to waive that no-movement clause.

Staal being exposed also means the Wild ultimately decided to protect Zucker instead. Zucker is a native of Las Vegas and likely would’ve been selected had he been made available. He is fresh off a season in which he set new career highs in goals (22), assists (25), and points (47).

As for the blue line, the Wild had to protect Suter because of the no-movement clause and there was no way they were leaving Spurgeon exposed. That mean it came down to choosing one player between Brodin, Dumba, and Scandella.

Brodin is a talented player that fits the mobile identity of the Wild blue line. He likely has the highest floor of the trio, though Dumba might have the highest ceiling. (from)

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