Defending Stanley Cup champions reveal protection list for Wednesday's expansion draft

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T. Tadi
July 18, 2021 (10:31)

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The 2020-21 Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning have released their protection list ahead of next week's Seattle Kraken expansion draft. Although there aren't any real big surprises, they were forced to leave several key players unprotected that the Kraken could select this coming Wednesday. The Lightning decided to go with the eight skaters and one goaltender route, so let's take a look at their list.

Forwards (4): Anthony Cirelli, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos.

Defencemen (4): Victor Hedman, Mikhail Sergachev, Ryan McDonagh, Erik Cernak.

The Lightning left Yanni Gourde, Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn, Mathieu Joseph, and Jan Rutta exposed. Tampa is looking to shed salary before next season begins, so they're probably hoping that the Kraken will take a long look and potentially take Tyler Johnson off their hands.

Official #TBLightning protection list (4-4-1)

Protected: Cirelli, Kucherov, Point, Stamkos, Cernak, Hedman, McDonagh, Sergachev, Vasilevskiy.
Available: Gourde, Palat, Johnson, Killorn, Joseph, Rutta.� Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) July 18, 2021

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