Red Wings and expansion draft: Whom to protect, whom to expose

Helene St. James | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption On this day 20 years ago, Red Wings won 1997 Stanley Cup A look back at June 7, 1997, when the Detroit Red Wings broke a decades-long drought to win the Stanley Cup championship over the Philadelphia Flyers. By Brian Manzullo, DFP.

In two weeks, the Detroit Red Wings will know which one of their players will be wearing a Golden Knights uniform.

The clock is ticking for teams to decide whom to protect in the expansion draft, which will supply NHL newcomer Las Vegas with its roster. It’s on the agenda for Wings general manager Ken Holland, as he meets this week to fine-tune off-season plans with his pro scouts and Coach Jeff Blashill.

The list has to be submitted to Central Registry and the NHL Players Association by 5 p.m. June 17. Vegas has to submit its list of selections by 10 a.m. June 21, and results will be revealed 8 p.m. the same day. There’s a trade moratorium between June 17-22 (ending just in time for the draft in Chicago that weekend).

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The Wings chose the 11-player formula, enabling them to protect one goaltender, three defensemen and seven forwards. First- and second-year pros are exempt, so the Wings don’t have to protect Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi and Evgeny Svechnikov.

Here’s how the list likely will look, barring any trades (the Wings would like to package their excess wingers into an upgrade on defense, but they are far from the only team looking for a high-caliber defenseman).

Goaltender: Jimmy Howard played much better than Petr Mrazek this past season, including at the World Championship. Mrazek has lost the starting job two seasons running. However, Mrazek is 25 and Howard is 33, and he makes $4 million for one more season. Howard, who has two seasons left at $5.3 million, has been prone to injury. So, protect Mrazek, and expose Howard and Jared Coreau. Ultimately, it is unlikely that Vegas will pick a goalie from the Wings.

Defensemen: Protect Danny DeKeyser, Mike Green and Nick Jensen. Expose Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson, Xavier Ouellet and Ryan Sproul. Jensen is worth protecting because he is good at skating the puck out of his own zone, and that’s a high-value asset in today’s NHL. Vegas isn’t going to take Kronwall (he is playing on one good knee), nor do I see them taking Ericsson off the Wings’ hands. Ouellet is smart, but not a great skater. Sproul has a very small body of NHL work.

Forwards: Protect Henrik Zetterberg, Frans Nielsen, Justin Abdelkader, Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar, Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou. That would leave Riley Sheahan, Darren Helm and Luke Glendening exposed, along with prospects Tomas Nosek and Martin Frk. This is where I think the Golden Knights will poach, and grab Sheahan. Sure he went 81 games before scoring twice in the finale this past season, but would anyone take a bet that repeats? Sheahan is 6-foot-3, 220-plus pounds, and he makes just $2.1 million next season. There was good interest in him at the trade deadline. Sheahan could figure into a package trade, especially with Nosek almost certain to be a part of next season’s team in Detroit.

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.

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Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.