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Well, as soon as it was announced that Calle Jarnkrok was protected by Nashville to leave Neal exposed to the Expansion Draft, we knew it would be coming. We could easily argue both sides of the coin, but let’s be honest: losing James Neal is a difficult pill to swallow. Even with young guns like Pontus Aberg and Colton Sissons out in the water, exposing a veteran power forward with a ton of gas still left in the tank was just too tempting to pass up for the Vegas Golden Knights. The loss of James Neal will free up $5M in cap space for the Predators, but that doesn’t take the sting out, does it?

We will have more information from the organization once it becomes available.