Blueshirt Banter Expansion Draft: Pacific Division Protection Lists

The Blueshirt Banter team of writers are serving as general managers for the NHL, creating protection lists in preparation for the Blueshirt Banter NHL Expansion Draft. For a refresher on the rules of play, click here.

We wrap up the protection lists with Pacific Division.

Pacific Division

Anaheim Ducks (GM: Chip)

• Protection Plan: 8 Skaters-1 Goaltender
• Forwards
  • Mason McTavish
  • Troy Terry
  • Mikael Granlund
  • Frank Vatrano
  • Ryan Strome
  • Chris Kreider
  • Alex Killorn
• Defensemen
  • Jackson LaCombe
• Goaltender
  • Lukas Dostal

The Ducks wind up having to do the 8-1 protection plan because most of the players they would opt to protect are exempt from the draft. Cutter Gauthier, Carlsson, Drew Helleson, Olen Zellweger, and Pavel Mintuyov are all entering their second season. They just don’t have enough players eligible to protect seven skaters and three defensemen. 

Calgary Flames (GM: Tom Dianora)

• Protection Plan: 7F-3D-1G
• Forwards
  • Jonathan Huberdeau (NMC)
  • Nazem Kadri (NMC)
  • Mikael Backlund (NMC)
  • Matt Coronato
  • Connor Zary
  • Morgan Frost
  • Joel Farabee
• Defensemen
  • MacKenzie Weegar
  • Rasmus Andersson
  • Kevin Bahl
• Goaltender
  • Dustin Wolf

The goaltender and defensemen protection for the Flames were the easy categories. Rasmus Andersson is probably not going to be in Calgary beyond 2025-26, but he’s clearly worth holding on to as someone who can and should bring back value in a trade before the 2026 deadline. The forwards are where things were a bit trickier, and where I would have considered going with the 8-1 plan (with eight forwards) if Weegar and Andersson weren’t so valuable. After being forced to keep Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, and Mikael Backlund because of their NMCs, that left only four spots for six players I would have ideally kept. In the end, Blake Coleman is an exclusion mainly because of his age (33) on a team that should still be getting younger and building toward the future, and Yegor Sharangovich is the other notable casualty. While it’s tough to expose a player who is still only 27, Morgan Frost (26) and Joel Farabee (25) are both younger and probably have more upside. Matt Coronato and Connor Zary should be integral parts of the Flames’ core going forward, and were thus no-brainers to protect.

Edmonton Oilers (GM: Tom Dianora)

• Protection Plan: 7F-3D-1G
• Forwards
  • Connor McDavid (NMC)
  • Leon Draisaitl (NMC)
  • Zach Hyman (NMC)
  • Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (NMC)
  • Adam Henrique (NMC)
  • Trent Frederic (NMC)
  • Andrew Mangiapane
• Defensemen
  • Darnell Nurse (NMC)
  • Evan Bouchard
  • Jake Walman
• Goaltender
  • Stuart Skinner

The Oilers’ slew of star talent and NMCs made their list construction a fairly easy exercise. Adam Henrique and Trent Frederic having NMCs is unfortunate (great job by their agents, though), as it leaves Vasily Podkolzin unprotected. At the end of the day, though, newly-signed Andrew Mangiapane (insert Italian hand gesture here) should provide more immediate value to a team that is firmly in “win-now” mode.

Los Angeles Kings (GM: Roberto Solis-Byxbee)

• Protection Plan: 7-3-1
• Forwards
  • Kevin Fiala (NMC)
  • Anze Kopitar (NMC)
  • Quinton Byfield
  • Adrian Kempe
  • Alex Laferriere
  • Alex Turcotte
  • Trevor Moore
• Defensemen
  • Brandt Clarke
  • Mikey Anderson
  • Drew Doughty
• Goaltender
  • Darcy Kuemper

Los Angeles had some tough decisions to make. Letting go of Drew Doughty and his $11 million cap hit was a choice I debated, but putting myself into their GM’s position that felt like an unrealistic choice. On the other hand, letting go of a newly minted Cody Ceci is also an unrealistic event but necessary for this exercise and I’m doing the team a favor in the long run. 

For the forwards, it was tough deciding which bottom six forward to keep and which burgeoning prospect to keep. I went with Trevor Moore due to his consistent performance and Alex Turcotte because of the controlled cost of his contract for another two years. And, to be frank, I just haven’t given up hope on him, 2024-25 was his first big year in the NHL and he didn’t look terribly out of place. 

San Jose Sharks (Jake DiBlasio)

• Protection Plan: 8 Skaters-1 Goaltender
• Forwards
  • William Eklund
  • Tyler Toffoli 
  • Adam Guadette
  • Jeff Skinner 
• Defensemen 
  • Mario Ferraro 
  • Timothy Liljegren 
  • Dmitry Orlov
  • Shakir Mukhamadullin 
• Goaltender
  • Yaroslav Askarov

The San Jose Sharks are in a great spot if an expansion draft were to happen this year. Their young forwards Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith are both exempt from being selected by an expansion team due to playing less than two years in the NHL. This is why I went with the eight skaters protection plan for the Sharks. William Eklund and Tyler Toffoli are the obvious forwards to protect. On defense, I felt there was the case for a couple of different guys, but being able to protect more defensemen made that easier. I chose to protect Jeff Skinner, who was recently signed by the Sharks, and Adam Gaudette, who is expected to have a top-six role. 

Seattle Kraken

The Seattle Kraken are exempt from this expansion draft.

Vancouver Canucks (GM: Chip)

• Protection Plan: 8 Skaters-1 Goaltender
• Forwards
  • Elias Pettersson (NMC)
  • Brock Boeser (NMC)
  • Jake DeBrusk (NMC)
  • Filip Chytil
• Defensemen
  • Filip Hronek (NMC)
  • Marcus Pettersson (NMC)
  • Tyler Myers (NMC)
  • Quinn Hughes
• Goaltender
  • Kevin Lankinen (NMC)

NMC are killing Vancouver here. They have to go 8-1 because it’s the only way they can protect Quinn Hughes and because of that they will stand to lose either Chytil or Garland, the NMC given to Kevin Lankinen leaves Thatcher Demko on the outside. 

Vegas Golden Knights (GM: Chip)

• Protection Plan: 7F-3D-1G
• Forwards
  • Mitch Marner (NMC)
  • Jack Eichel (NMC)
  • Mark Stone (NMC)
  • Tomas Hertl
  • Ivan Barbashev
  • Brett Howden
  • Pavel Dorofyev
• Defensemen
  • Shea Theodore
  • Noah Hanifin
  • Zach Whitecloud
• Goaltender
  • Adin Hill

Technically Alex Pietrangelo has a NMC but as he’s unlikely to ever play in the NHL again, I see no reason why he wouldn’t waive it to help the Golden Knights out. Unless one of the teams wants to draft him as salary cap ballast, there’s no risk of him being unprotected. I’m leaving William Karlsson and Brayden McNabb unprotected because it wouldn’t be the worst thing to have their long-term contracts removed from the payroll given the roles they hold.

And that concludes our protection lists for the Blueshirt Banter Expansion Draft. Next up, Joe and Eric will draft for our two new NHL expansion teams.