Fleury was left unprotected by the Pittsburgh Penguins after he agreed to waive the no-movement clause in his contract.
The team could have conceivably asked Seabrook to waive his no-movement clause to expose him in the draft, but it seems highly unlikely that Vegas would have wanted to deal with his almost $7 million cap hit. McPhee said Sunday that a team must offer the Golden Knights an asset "better" than the player he can claim in the draft.
Assuming that the Golden Knights select Dillon or Schlemko Wednesday night, DeMelo would slide onto the third pairing where he's acquitted himself well over the last two seasons when injuries have arisen. As for defensemen, Minnesota exposed both Matt Dumba and Marco Scandella, while Buffalo's Zach Bogosian and Dallas' Dan Hamhuis are also available. Along with Fleury, other goalies exposed are Florida's Roberto Luongo, Detroit's Petr Mrazek and Philadelphia's Michal Neuvirth.
National Hockey League teams had two options for putting together their protected lists for the draft: either protect a goalie and eight skaters, or a goalie, seven forwards and three defensemen.
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Minutes after coming on, he almost scored a great headed goal but Ochoa came up with a terrific save. There was later some doubt - and general confusion - over Soares' goal, which ultimately stood.
Nashville Predator James Neal was one surprise on the unprotected list, and Marian Gaborik of the Los Angeles Kings is also available, if Vegas is willing to take on his contract. That forced the team to also expose top-pairing blueliner Marc Methot. If the Knights were to sign one of those players, it would count as their draft selection for the Blackhawks.
Regarding Abdelkader, who's 30 years old and signed through 2023 with a cap hit of $4.25 million, it's likely the Wings valued his grit and leadership. The league's annual awards ceremonies will be held in Las Vegas on Wednesday and then teams will gather in Chicago for the two-day entry draft, which opens on Friday. He will become a restricted free agent on July 1. The Golden Knight can't select 10 goalies because they're required to use up 26 of their 30 picks in filling 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goalie spots.
Francis didn't say what his plans might be, saying, "We'll just see where we are and what happens" in the expansion draft.
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