If Lucic waives though Backlund would be the player protected leaving Giordano, Gawdin, Kylington

I will make this very clear, I have a feeling you arent a hawks fan so I get why you wouldn't know this. But there is a 0% chance Brandon Hagel is left unprotected. He has been
an incredible revelation this season on the hawks. Hes tenacious, got great vision, elite forechecker who also is great on the PK and he never takes a shift off. He is imo the 4th forward we protect after Kane, Toews and Debrincat. Then we protect Strome and its a tossup between Borgstrom, Gaudette and Nylander for those last 2 spots.

Hawks 100% protect Hagel

Kane, Debrincat, Strome, Kubalik, Hagel, Kampf, Nylander
kieth, murphy, zadorov
Lankinen

toews should be exempt due to injury, but even if he isn't and we have to protect him too then we will expose eigther kampf of Nylander.
Left exposed will be Guadette, Carpenter, Dehaan, stillman, Subban.

I don’t think the pens will allow Tanev to be selected.

Thanks for the input!

Thanks for the input!

Here's hoping you have to protect Toews because he's back next season.

Who would be the other qualifying forward?

Lucic

I mean that's not confirmed,
But Hawks will protection list maybe: Toews-Kane-Strome-Debrincat-Hagel-Borgstrom-Either Gaudette, Nylander, or Kampf
I see Seattle taking de-haan and receiving a 3rd round pick for it
de Haan is a veteran defensemen with 1 year and could be flipped at the tdl (50% retained) for maybe a 3rd but I see Seattle either taking Gaudette if left unprotected or de Haan.

No, who would be the other qualifying forward besides Lucic? You have only 8 qualifying forwards right now, incl Lucic. My guess is that you'll re-sign Ritchie, who has to appear in only 6 more games to qualify.

Buffalo will be protecting both borgen and Asplund

Thanks for the input!

Note that you guys have to re-sign Gaudette or Kampf to have the required 2 qualifying forwards.

So will you be protecting Ristolainen or Jokiharju?

ah didn't know that thanks for telling me

We have carpenter and Connolly right now that fit that description so we dont need to sign Gaudette or Kampf before the expansion draft

I thought for sure that you'd be protecting Connolly over Gaudette or Kampf, but exposing him would indeed make the pre-draft preparations much simpler.

Conolly wont be protected, especially on that contract. I hope he turns it around here but hes had minimal impact so far

But note the exchange I had with your comrade @Tyler_A10 on this subject following ours.

Not to take away from a solid build, just wanted to provide a tad bit of insight:

The Gaudette trade which many people lost their minds over was made with two things in mind: 1. Gaudette was not happy here, and 2. He was the obvious exposure. The team is not done with Jake yet. Especially after seeing what Bennett just got in trade, it seems pretty evident that the team is going to try and get his stock up. He'll be protected (largely because there isn't really anyone else to worry about protecting).... MacEwan or Highmore are the probable best forward exposures.

Thanks as always for the usual intelligent and informative input.

I have them protecting Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel, Rust, Kapanen, McCann and Zucker. It seems to me that Tanev would only replace one of the latter two, and considering that just last year they paid a first for Zucker, it wouldn't be him. There's always the chance of a side deal, of course, but you guys have fewer draft picks than most teams and a pretty bare prospect cupboard to facilitate that.

I don’t mean Tanev would be protected. I mean that Zucker wouldn’t be and they likely take him. It was McCann but considering how great of a player McCann has blossomed into this year and he being on such a cheap contract, can’t see them exposing him anymore either. I see the pens protecting Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel, Kapanen, McCann, rust, and Blueger. There is no way they leave Blueger exposed either with the lack of center depth. The pens likely expose Zucker in hopes for 1. Cap space and 2. Because Poulin and Legare are pretty close. Hopefully Poulin at least will be ready to come in. I can see them swinging a deal of maybe trading Jankowski for them to take Zucker or one of the better prospects after Poulin/Legare/POJ. There are going to be a lot of bottom 6 guys like Tanev available and a pretty decent pickings of d and goalie. Finding a top 6 forward might be a little tough for them, outside of guys like Ry Jo and TJ

Dahlin, Borgen, and jokiharju

Trade miller and Risto before the draft.

You can't trade them both before the expansion draft. Those five are the only qualified defensemen you have, and at least one of them has to be exposed to Seattle.

Yes, okay, I misread what you were saying completely. I agree they’ll re sign Ritchie at the end of the season to meet the requirement.