Quoting: jcash08
Who would they protect over Greenway?
Assuming they go the 8 skaters route for 4 defenseman.
Suter
Spurgeon
Dumba
Brodin
Kaprizov (Not sure if he is exempt or not)
Parise
Zuccarello
Greenway
Fiala (If Krill doesn't need to be protected)
Joel Eriksson Ek is getting protected no matter what since he's 2nd on the team in goals, 5th in points, and a stud defensively. He's also a center which we have basically none of at the moment. Kaprizov is exempt so we don't have to worry about giving him a slot. Assuming nobody waives their NMC, here's who we will protect in each scenario:
7/3/1: Parise, Zuccarello, Eriksson Ek, Fiala, Greenway, Foligno, Sturm/Hartman, Brodin, Spurgeon, Suter, Kahkonen
8/1: Parise, Zuccarello, Eriksson Ek, Fiala, Brodin, Spurgeon, Suter, Dumba, Kahkonen
The Sturm/Hartman choice would depend on how likely it is we think Hartman will want to re-sign for a palatable number. His arbitration value is likely too high for us next year.
Personally, I'd go the 7/3/1 route. It allows us to protect more players that we want to keep. If Dumba is picked, it's $6 million in cap room that we can use going forward. Depending on who else Seattle decides to take, there's a slight chance they'd pick Talbot or Soucy from us over Dumba. If that were to happen, I'd trade Dumba for the best offer at the draft and hope to either get a decent top 6 center or a nice couple draft picks.