UPDATE: More players have been added to the exposed list as of 11:20AM CST.

After pushing the release of the lists back by thirty minutes, the NHL officially allowed us commoners to see who teams protected… and who they did not. By no surprise, the great debate between James Neal and Calle Jarnkrok has left the Real Deal exposed along with a few others that were expected.

Exposed Players:

• James Neal
• Matt Irwin
• Colton Sissons
• Craig Smith
• Colin Wilson
• Cody McLeod
• Yannick Weber
• Marek Mazanec
• Pontus Aberg
• Cody Bass
• Vernon Fiddler (UFA)
• Mike Fisher (UFA)
• P.A. Parenteau (UFA)
• Adam Payerl
• Mike Ribeiro
• Miikka Salomaki
• Trevor Smith
• Austin Watson
• Harry Zolnierczyk
• Taylor Aronson
• Anthony Bitetto
• Stefan Elliott
• Brad Hunt
• Andew O’Brien
• Adam Pardy
• Petter Granberg
• Jaynen Rissling
• Scott Valentine

Protected Players:

• Viktor Arvidsson
• Filip Forsberg
• Calle Jarnkrok
• Ryan Johansen
• Mattias Ekholm
• Ryan Ellis
• Roman Josi
• P.K. Subban
• Pekka Rinne

If you are freaking out about Neal (or anyone else) being exposed, as I mentioned in my previous post, that doesn’t automatically mean he’s headed to Vegas. Now that the exposed players have been released, teams can negotiate trades between the Golden Knights to attempt to protect these particular players. However, David Poile will more than likely have an uphill battle when it comes to negotiating with Las Vegas General Manager George McPhee (see Erat/Latta for Forsberg trade).

Wondering about Nashville’s other players? Here’s the list of the Predators’ exempt players from the Expansion Draft:

• Kevin Fiala
• Frederick Gaudreau
• Vladislav Kamenev
• Juuse Saros

UPDATE: It has now been acknowledged that Pontus Aberg, Mike Fisher, P.A. Parenteau, Vernon Fiddler, and Petter Granberg are not exempt from the expansion draft. It is important to note that Fisher, Fiddler, and Parenteau are all free agents, which means Vegas could go ahead and sign these players (the rest of the league has to wait until July 1st). However, if Vegas were to sign one of Nashville’s free agents, that would count as their expansion draft pick leaving the rest of the exposed players (like Neal, Watson, and Aberg) to stay with Nashville.

To see who the other teams in the league protected and exposed, here is the list from the NHL. So, what are your thoughts? Do you think GMDP can manage to work out a deal to save Neal? Whatever the case, there is no denying that George McPhee has the best seat in the house for this expansion draft and is soaking up every second of it.

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