With two bids in for expansion, Las Vegas and Quebec City, the NHL will more than likely be growing in the near future. So which players would/should the Los Angeles Kings general manager Dean Lombardi protect if/when the expansion draft happens?

If we apply the rules that were in effect last time around when the NHL expanded back in 2000, the Kings could either protect one goaltender, five defensemen and nine forwards or they could protect two goaltenders, three defensemen and seven forwards.

For the sake of this article, let’s assume that the Kings will have the same roster as they have today and that a couple of prospects will have made the team. We will also assume they won’t have Mike Richards and Slava Voynov on the team.

Right off the bat it’s pretty clear that the Kings would opt to just protect one goaltender as Jonathan Quick is the only one in the system worth protecting. That leaves us with selecting five defensemen and nine forwards.

Drew Doughty is the first name that goes down when selecting defensemen. He is a franchise blueliner and a player that will be in Norris Trophy talks for years to come. Then you have Jake Muzzin, who has emerged as a good complement to Doughty. Keeping those two together would be smart business.

Then it gets a little more complicated.

Alec Martinez would have four years left on his deal with a $4 million cap hit. He’s a solid defenseman that will always have a special place in Kings’ fans hearts since scoring the Stanley Cup winning-goal against the New York Rangers in 2014. So he’s a keeper as well. But Lombardi should strongly consider not protecting Matt Greene.

Greene has declined significantly and has been injury prone. He will be 34 and have one year left on his deal, and if things progress in the downward slope as it has the past two seasons, then he’s not worth protecting.

With the Kings pressed up against the cap ceiling, not protecting Greene would allow them to get some cap space if he was selected. He’s been a great player for the team, but his best days behind.

Would the Kings even have to protect Jamie McBain if he’s still with the team? Maybe not, but protecting Brayden McNabb if he’s still around might be worth it. The Davidson, SK native has taken some big strides since joining the Kings and if he continues on that path he would be worth keeping around.

Derek Forbort will most likely be up with the Kings at that point as well. He’s one of the team’s top prospects now, and projects cleanly as a top-four defender. That makes him worth protecting.

When it comes to the forwards, there are a few obvious choices.

Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Tyler Toffoli, Milan Lucic and Tanner Pearson are all a given that they would be protected unless something drastic happens. Kopitar is the best player on the team and a true No. 1 center. Carter is an excellent second-line center he forms an excellent line Toffoli and Pearson.

Lucic is a great player when he’s on form and he will bounce back after a down year in Boston before signing a new deal with the Kings.

With four forward spots left, the Kings should protect Nick Shore, Jordan Weal, Dwight King and Kyle Clifford. Shore is the long-term replacement for Jarret Stoll, Weal has the potential to become a good NHL player, King and Clifford is a great bottom-six forward.

This leaves big names like Dustin Brown and Marian Gaborik unprotected. Brown’s trajectory has been pointing down and last season he was pretty awful. He has a cap hit of $5.75 million after getting paid for his good service, and it seems clear that he will not become the Brown Kings fans used to know and love.

He has a playing style that is very demanding and he looks to be following in the footsteps of Richards.

Gaborik will be 35 when it’s time for an expansion draft, and would still have four years left on his deal that carries a 4.875 million cap hit. It wouldn’t be shocking if he wasn’t living up to that cap hit at 35 and that it would be smart business for the Kings not to protect him.

It’s always difficult to predict what will happen in the future but if this was the roster that the Kings had going into an expansion draft, these are the players they should protect. Brown and Gaborik would be snatched up and the Kings would have some much needed cap space to try an re-tool the team and improve.