We are less than a week from when the New York Rangers will have to reveal who they are protecting in the Seattle expansion draft. Final lists are due by 5pm on Saturday, July 17. The draft itself is scheduled for Wednesday, July 21. But it’s not who the Rangers are exposing that is important, it is who other NHL teams will be exposing that matters when it comes to the Blueshirts.
The Rangers’ protected list
The good news for the Blueshirts is that most of their young players are exempt as first or second year pros. Despite a number of players with No Movement Clauses who have to be protected, the final list of players who could go to Seattle is a short one.
All NHL teams have two options when it comes to protecting players. Option one is that they can protect seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie. Option two is they can protect eight skaters and one goalie. The Rangers will surely go with the former.
Forwards: Pavel Buchnevich, Filip Chytil, Chris Kreider (NMC), Artemi Panarin (NMC), Ryan Strome, Mika Zibanejad (NMC) and one of Julien Gauthier, Brett Howden, Kevin Rooney or Colin Blackwell.
Defensemen: Jacob Trouba (NMC), Ryan Lindgren, Libor Hajek
Goalie: Alexandar Georgiev
The Rangers can lose one player in the draft and right now, the consensus is that it will be Blackwell, Gauthier, Rooney or Howden. The team can protect only one of those four and there are good reasons for Seattle to take any one of them. It’s a matter of who the Rangers value most that will determine who they protect.
While the Rangers certainly like these four forwards, they are all bottom six players who can be easily replaced if the Rangers want to be a playoff contender next season. And that’s where the Rangers can make some moves.
While the Rangers’ exposure list is small, other teams are in a different situation.