The 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, scheduled for June of this year, will fill out the roster of the NHL’s newest team, the Vegas Golden Knights. Today, the league announced that, after some debate, each of the protection lists for the 30 teams will be made public to teams and fans. The NHL also announced that the lists will likely be released on June 18.
The NHL had previously been rumored to be making the lists private, which led to much outrage from fans and reporters. It appears that the NHL heard the criticisms and decided to reverse course.
The Columbus Blue Jackets will have tough decisions to make with regard to who they will protect in the expansion draft. In all likelihood, players such as Jack Johnson, William Karlsson, Josh Anderson, and Joonas Korpisalo will be exposed, meaning any one of them can be chosen by Vegas and removed from the Blue Jackets. ESPN released a mock draft of the expansion draft on Tuesday, with Karlsson and Korpisalo being named as the favorites for selection.
The selections for the expansion draft will be announced on June 21, 2017.