After a slight delay for the lists to be revealed, hockey pundits slowly started “leaking” names for teams just before 10:30 a.m. ET/7:30 a.m. PT.
To no surprise, per TSN, here is who the Los Angeles Kings are protecting:
Jeff Carter (F); Anze Kopitar (F); Tanner Pearson (F); Tyler Toffoli (F); Drew Doughty (D); Derek Forbort (D); Alec Martinez (D); Jake Muzzin (D); Jonathan Quick (G)
Despite knowing in advance they were going to, it’s still disappointing to see the Kings protect Derek Forbort like he’s some hot commodity. He’s okay but there are surely better defensemen available out there; Colin Miller and Matt Dumba both come to mind, for example. Of course, that’d mean they would’ve had to protect two additional forwards and, outside of Nic Dowd, I’m not sure there was anyone worth it.
Kevin Gravel, Adrian Kempe, and Paul LaDue were among those exempt.
Jon Rosen also reports that the team has no current plans to make a deal with Vegas Golden Knights. Given the list of available players, it’s pretty much a wash if they decide to select someone from LA. Here’s the full list of who can be taken:
Available
Andy Andreoff (F); Justin Auger (F); Dustin Brown (F); Kyle Clifford (F); Andrew Crescenzi (F); Nic Dowd (F); Marian Gaborik (F); Jarome Iginla (F); Trevor Lewis (F); Michael Mersch (F); Jordan Nolan (F); Teddy Purcell (F); Devin Setoguchi (F); Nick Shore (F); Matt Greene (D); Vincent Loverde (D); Brayden McNabb (D); Cameron Schilling (D); Rob Scuderi (D); Zach Trotman (D); Jack Campbell (G); Jeff Zatkoff (G)
Fun fact: The Kings were one of seven teams who didn’t protect 10 skaters.
7 of the 30 teams went with the 8 skater option as opposed to the 7-3-1 format
AZ
FLA
LA
NSH
NJ
NYI
PITNYI the only team to protect 5 D
— Josh Bogorad (@JoshBogorad) June 18, 2017
You tell us: Did the Kings protect the right players? Is there anyone you wish they would’ve swapped out instead?