When the NHL opened the door to expansion bids this year they also opened themselves up to a whole host of speculation about an NHL expansion draft. When Quebec City telecommunications company, Quebécor, and a prospective ownership group in Las Vegas successfully submitted first stage bids to the NHL Monday, things heated up.

If either one of these bids makes it through to the final stages, an expansion draft — which hasn’t occurred in the salary cap era — will take place to move depth players around and give the new franchise(s) a foothold in the NHL.

What are the rules surrounding an expansion draft?

Assuming the NHL bases its newest rules off those used in the 2000 expansion draft, each club will be allowed to protect either (i) up to five defensemen, nine forwards and one goaltender, or (ii) up to three defensemen, seven forwards and two goaltenders.

However, based on which set they choose to protect, each club will be required to expose for claim players who meet certain playing requirements.

If they choose to protect one goaltender, the one left exposed has no experience requirement. However, should a franchise choose to protect two, a third must be left exposed who has played either 10 games in the NHL the previous season, or 25 games played over the past two. In 2000 a goaltender was required to play a minimum of 31 minutes in a game (regular season or playoffs) for this to count, and we can safely assume this rule would carry over.

Clubs must also leave exposed one defenseman and two forwards, all of whom must have played either 40 NHL games the previous season, or 70 NHL games over the past two. Games from either the postseason or regular season count towards this total.

Exempt from the expansion draft were all first and second-year pros in 2000, so we’ve exempted all players on an ELC.

Assuming these rules are good going forward, who would the St. Louis Blues protect? We will look at the roster as it stands today to project who they might expose, who they might protect, and which combination they’ll choose overall.