Sharks Protected List Revealed Ahead of Seattle Expansion Draft + My Expansion Draft Prediction

 The protected players lists for 30 teams have been released ahead of Wednesday's Seattle Expansion Draft. The Sharks went with protecting seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie rather than eight skaters (combination of forwards and defensemen) and a goalie. Here's the Sharks' list of players they have protected from being taken by the Kraken: 

• Logan Couture (F) 
• Tomas Hertl (F) 
• Evander Kane (F) 
• Kevin Labanc (F) 
• Timo Meier (F) 
• Rudolfs Balcers (F) 
• Jonathan Dahlen (F) 
• Brent Burns (D) 
• Erik Karlsson (D) 
• Marc-Eduoard Vlasic (D) 
• Adin Hill (G) 

On the flip side, here are the Sharks players left protected that the Kraken can choose from on Wednesday: 

• Ryan Donato (F) 
• Kurtis Gabriel (F) 
• Dylan Gambrell (F) 
• Jayden Halbgewachs (F) 
• Maxim Letunov (F) 
• Patrick Marleau (F) 
• Matt Nieto (F) 
• Marcus Sorensen (F) 
• Alexander True (F) 
• Christian Jaros (D) 
• Radim Simek (D) 
• Nicolas Meloche (D) 
• Jacob Middleton (D) 
• Greg Pateryn (D) 
• Martin Jones (G) 

A few other things to note regarding the Seattle Expansion Draft: the Vegas Golden Knights are exempt since they've only played four full seasons so far, and players with less than two years of NHL experience aren't eligible to be selected in the expansion draft. 

As for my thoughts on the Sharks' protected list, there aren't any surprises in there. They protected the players everyone expects them to protect, and that's the way it should be. 

Now for my Seattle Expansion Draft prediction: I think the Seattle Kraken will select Dylan Gambrell from the Sharks come Wednesday. He is the the type of player that the Kraken are looking for, and age is on his side when it comes to the current stage of his career. 

I am expecting a few surprises during the Seattle Expansion Draft on Wednesday, but we will have to wait and see when it goes down. I don't expect the Kraken to have to same amount of success early on that the Golden Knights have had thus far, but they definitely have the potential to shock everyone in their first season depending on what kind of roster they put together. I couldn't be more excited to find out who the Kraken roster will consist of and how they will perform starting next season. 

Watch this space to find out who the Kraken select from the Sharks along with Seattle's complete roster in a few days.

Sources: The Athletic, NHL Discussion via Instagram