Blackhawks release lists of protected and unprotected players ahead of NHL's expansion draft

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The list of Blackhawks protected from the expansion draft was revealed Sunday morning, and it comes as no surprise that there weren’t really any surprises on it.

The Blackhawks went the 7-3-1 route with their protected players:

Jonathan Toews
Patrick Kane
Marian Hossa
Artem Anisimov
Richard Panik
Ryan Hartman
Tomas Jurco
Brent Seabrook
Duncan Keith
Niklas Hjalmarsson
Corey Crawford

When it came to protected players, much of the Blackhawks’ situation was easy to figure out due to their contract situations. Any player with a current/continuing no-movement clause was exempt, and eight of the Blackhawks’ 11 protected players have one (Toews, Kane, Hossa, Anisimov, Keith, Seabrook, Hjalmarsson and Crawford).

Hartman is coming off a great rookie season during which he recorded 19 goals and 12 assists, and considering that work the Blackhawks were going to do what was necessary to protect him. They also wanted to protect Panik, whose new two-year deal ($2.8 million cap hit per season) kicks in this fall. Panik set career highs in goals (22), assists (22) and points (44) last season.

As for Jurco, when the Blackhawks acquired him in February, general manager Stan Bowman said, “We’ll be patient with him, but we really think there’s a good fit there, looking at his skills and the style of hockey we play.” Jurco was in and out of the lineup as the regular season ended and did not play in the Blackhawks’ four playoff games.

Artemi Panarin, by the way, was exempt from expansion draft exposure. The same goes for Nick Schmaltz.

Those Blackhawks exposed to the expansion draft include forwards Marcus Kruger, Jordin Tootoo, defensemen Trevor van Riemsdyk and Michal Rozsival and goaltender Jeff Glass.

Frank Seravalli of TSN reported weeks ago that it’s possible the Vegas Golden Knights end up with both Kruger and van Riemsdyk.

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