Minnesota Wild Available, Protected Players Heading into NHL Expansion Draft

The Seattle Kraken will enter the NHL for the 2021-22 season but are in need of players. Here are the players the Minnesota Wild has protected and those that are available.

Seattle will enter the expansion draft on Wednesday night (July 21) and will select 30 players. One player from 30 of the 31 teams will be drafted by Seattle to complete the expansion draft. The Las Vegas Golden Knights are the only team that will not have a player pulled from them as they entered the NHL just a couple of years ago.

Players that are ineligible for the expansion draft include first and second-year players and those that are unsigned draft picks. Any player that has a "No Movement" clause in their contract is also ineligible to be drafted.

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With the expansion draft rules in place, the NHL allowed the 30 teams to protect 11 players from the roster. The Minnesota Wild will keep seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goalie. One of the protected players includes Joel Eriksson Ek, who recently signed an eight-year contract extension with the Wild.

Joining Eriksson Ek in being protected at the forward position is Kevin Fiala, Marcus Foligno, Jordan Greenway, Ryan Hartman, Nico Sturm, and Mats Zuccarello.

Jonas Brodin, Matt Dumba, and Jared Spurgeon are the three defensemen that will stay with the Wild. Goalie Cam Talbot rounds out the list.

Minnesota Wild Players Protected from Expansion Draft

• Joel Eriksson Ek, F
• Kevin Fiala, F
• Marcus Foligno, F
• Jordan Greenway, F
• Ryan Hartman, F
• Nico Sturm, F
• Mats Zuccarello, F
• Jonas Brodin, D
• Matt Dumba, D
• Jared Spurgeon, D
• Cam Talbot, G

After protecting the roster and the other qualifiers, 21 players for the Minnesota Wild are available to be drafted by Seattle. Some notable names that are available include Victor Rask (F) and 25-year old goalie Kaapo Kahkonen. Kahkonen is the player mocked to be selected by Seattle in the latest from NHL.com.

List of Minnesota Wild Players Available in Expansion Draft:

• William Bitten (F)
• Nick Bjugstad (F)
• Nick Bonino (F)
• Joseph Cramarossa (F)
• Gabriel Dumont (F)
• Marcus Johansson (F)
• Luke Johnson (F)
• Victor Rask (F)
• Kyle Rau (F)
• Mason Shaw (F)
• Dmitry Sokolov (F)
• Matt Bartkowski (D)
• Louie Belpedio (D)
• Ian Cole (D)
• Brad Hunt (D)
• Ian McCoshen (D)
• Brennan Menell (D)
• Dakota Mermis (D)
• Carson Soucy (D)
• Andrew Hammond (G)
• Kaapo Kahkonen (G)

The NHL Expansion Draft will be broadcasted live on ESPN 2 on Wednesday night (July 21) starting at 7:00 PM.

Sources: Minnesota Wild, DKNation