The Islanders turned some heads on Sunday morning when it was revealed that they left Calvin de Haan, Ryan Strome and Brock Nelson unprotected heading into Wednesday’s expansion draft.
Instead of protecting four forwards and four defenseman Islanders general manager Garth Snow protected five defensemen, opting to shield Adam Pelech over Strome, Nelson or de Haan. Immediately after the protected player lists were released, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that the Islanders would give up a first round draft pick to keep the Vegas Golden Knights from taking a forward.
The Islanders name has been popping up throughout the week linked to several trade rumors, but no deal was ever made before the 3 p.m. trade freeze on Saturday.
Among the players also protected were Andrew Ladd, Anders Lee, John Tavares, Johnny Boychuk, Travis Hamonic, Nick Leddy, Ryan Pulock and Thomas Greiss. Aside from Pelech, the rest of the list was relatively unsurprising.
Below is the full list of players protected and available by the Islanders:
Available:
Josh Bailey (F)
Steve Bernier (F)
Eric Boulton (F)
Jason Chimera (F)
Casey Cizikas (F)
Cal Clutterbuck (F)
Stephen Gionta (F)
Ben Holmstrom (F)
Bracken Kearns (F)
Nikolay Kulemin (F)
Brock Nelson (F)
Shane Prince (F)
Alan Quine (F)
Ryan Strome (F)
Johan Sundstrom (F)
Calvin de Haan (D)
Matthew Finn (D)
Jesse Graham (D)
Thomas Hickey (D)
Loic Leduc (D)
Scott Mayfield (D)
Dennis Seidenberg (D)
Jean-Francois Berube (G)
Christopher Gibson (G)
Jaroslav Halak (G)
Protected:
Andrew Ladd (F)
Anders Lee (F)
John Tavares (F)
Johnny Boychuk (D)
Travis Hamonic (D)
Nick Leddy (D)
Adam Pelech (D)
Ryan Pulock (D)
Thomas Greiss (G)
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