The Nashville Predatos protected three forwards, a goalie and five defenseman for this weeks NHL Expansion Draft with Tanner Jeannot being the biggest surprise on the list.
The 24-year old Jeannot came out of nowhere last season to score 5 goals in only 15 games for Nashville. The Preds went 9-5-1 in those games and Jeannot made quite an impression on general manager David Poile with his size (6-2, 210) and physical style of play.
The rest of the Predators list of protected players went about as expected after the trade of Ryan Ellis Saturday.
Predators Protected Players
Filip Forsberg – Forward
Luke Kunin – Forward
Tanner Jeannot – Forward
Juuse Saros – Goalie
Roman Josi – Defense
Mattias Ekholm – Defense
Alexandre Carrier – Defense
Dante Fabbro – Defense
Phillippe Myers – Defense
Myers (6-5, 210) was acquired in the deal that sent Ellis to the Philadelphia Flyers and is look at as another effort to make the Predators a bigger team under John Hynes.
The NHL Expansion Draft is Wednesday night with the new Seattle Kraken selecting one player from each team except for the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Predators chose not to protect center Ryan Johansen and forward Matt Duchene who both come with price tags over $8-million a season making them unattractive options for Seattle.
Forwards Colton Sissons, Calle Jarnkrok and Yakov Trenin are all considered favorites to go to Seattle unless Poile works out some kind of trade to protect them.
