The Minnesota Wild opted to protect restricted free agent Nino Niederreiter as expected. Also not available to the Knights are Sven Andrighetto (Colorado Avalanche, RFA), Sven Bärtschi (Vancouver Canucks), Mirco Müller (New Jersey Devils), Roman Josi (Nashville Predators).
Yannick Weber, who recently signed a new one-year deal with the Predators, was not protected. The same applies to Joël Vermin (Tampa Bay Lightning, rumored to have signed with Lausanne HC), Reto Berra (Florida Panthers, signed with HC Fribourg-Gottéron), Mark Streit (Pittsburgh Penguins, unrestricted free agent) and Luca Sbisa (Vancouver Canucks, has another year left on his contract).
Players like Kevin Fiala, Timo Meier, and Denis Malgin do not have to be protected; they are exempt from the Expansion Draft (an explanation as to how the draft works can be found here). The Vegas Knights, the NHL's 31st team, will announce their roster for the upcoming season during the NHL Awards on June 21.
Last Update: 18 June 2017, 04:50 PM | mso
