As initially tweeted (and then confirmed) by the Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan, here is the list of players submitted to the NHL to be protected by the Caps in the upcoming expansion draft:
No real surprises here, as the Caps opted for the 7-3-1 protection (seven forwards, three defensemen, one goaltender) vs. protecting eight skaters at any position and one goaltender.
All rosters are now frozen until Thursday, with no teams allowed to make trades or sign/re-sign any players (except for Vegas).
For those keeping track, the following players have been left exposed for potential selection by former Caps’ GM George McPhee:
Forwards
Jay Beagle, Brett Connolly, Tyler Graovac (acquired via trade from MIN on 6/14), Justin Williams*, T.J. Oshie*, Daniel Winnik*
Defensemen
Nate Schmidt, Taylor Chorney, Brooks Orpik, Karl Alzner*, Kevin Shattenkirk*
Goaltender
Philipp Grubauer
*player set to be UFA on 7/1
The NHL will reveal the lists for each team at 10 a.m. tomorrow, and Vegas will be able to begin negotiating with any pending RFAs/UFAs left unprotected – any players signed to a deal at this time would be considered to be their selection from that team’s roster.
Vegas will then submit their full roster of picks to the NHL by 10:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday, with the roster to be revealed as a part of the NHL Awards Ceremony that night.
Obviously as far as the Caps are concerned, all eyes will be on Schmidt and Grubauer as the most tempting players for McPhee – and it will be interesting to see if the team works out some sort of incentive deal (picks/prospects) to ensure that Vegas doesn’t take either one.
…and now we wait.