Canadiens leave Plekanec, Emelin exposed for Vegas in expansion draft

After months of speculation, the NHL finally revealed the lists of protected and exposed players from 30 teams for Wednesday’s expansion draft.

The Canadiens will lose a good player to the Vegas Golden Knights, who must select one player from each team.

Protected:

Paul Byron (F)
Phillip Danault (F)
Jonathan Drouin (F)
Alex Galchenyuk (F)
Brendan Gallagher (F)
Max Pacioretty (F)
Andrew Shaw (F)
Jordie Benn (D)
Jeff Petry (D)
Shea Weber (D)
Carey Price (G)

Available:

Daniel Carr (F)
Connor Crisp (F)
Jacob De La Rose (F)
Bobby Farnham (F)
Brian Flynn (F)
Max Friberg (F)
Charles Hudon (F)
Dwight King (F)
Stefan Matteau (F)
Torrey Mitchell (F)
Joonas Nattinen (F)
Steve Ott (F)
Tomas Plekanec (F)
Alexander Radulov (F)
Chris Terry (F)
Brandon Davidson (D)
Alexei Emelin (D)
Keegan Lowe (D)
Andrei Markov (D)
Nikita Nesterov (D)
Zach Redmond (D)
Dalton Thrower (D)
Al Montoya (G)

The most notable names on the exposed list are Andrei Markov and Alexander Radulov, but both players are unlikely to be picked by Vegas as they are set to become unrestricted free agents.

Tomas Plekanec is another notable name, although he’s also not likely to be picked because of his hefty contract that carries a $5 million cap hit next season. The same could be said – to a lesser degree – with Alexei Emelin, who has a $4.1 million cap hit.

The most attractive pieces to Vegas GM George McPhee could be Charles Hudon and Jacob De La Rose, both 22-year-old forwards with potential.

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