NHL distributes exempt list for Golden Knights expansion draft: Report

There are a total of 66 NHL players with no-move clauses who are currently exempt from next June’s Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft, according to a report by Sportsnet.

The expansion draft rules state that a player with a no-move clauses at the time of the draft must be protected by his team, provided the player doesn’t waive his clause. Per the story by Chris Johnston, on Tuesday night the NHL released a memo to its member clubs saying which players fell into this category.

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Here is the list of players:

Anaheim Ducks
Kevin Bieksa
Ryan Getzlaf
Ryan Kesler
Corey Perry

Arizona Coyotes
Alex Goligoski

Boston Bruins
David Backes
Patrice Bergeron
Zdeno Chara
David Krejci

Buffalo Sabres
Kyle Okposo

Carolina Hurricanes
Jordan Staal

Columbus Blue Jackets
Sergei Bobrovsky
David Clarkson
Brandon Dubinsky
Nick Foligno
Scott Hartnell

Chicago Blackhawks
Artem Anisimov
Corey Crawford
Niklas Hjalmarsson
Marian Hossa
Patrick Kane
Duncan Keith
Brent Seabrook
Jonathan Toews

Colorado Avalanche
Francois Beauchemin
Erik Johnson

Dallas Stars
Jamie Benn
Jason Spezza

Detroit Red Wings
Frans Nielsen

Edmonton Oilers
Milan Lucic
Andrej Sekera
Cam Talbot

Florida Panthers
Keith Yandle

Los Angeles Kings
Anze Kopitar

Minnesota Wild
Mikko Koivu
Zach Parise
Jason Pominville
Ryan Suter

Montreal Canadiens
Jeff Petry
Carey Price

Nashville Predators
Pekka Rinne

New Jersey Devils
Ryane Clowe

New York Islanders
Johnny Boychuk
Andrew Ladd
John Tavares

New York Rangers
Dan Girardi
Henrik Lundqvist
Rick Nash
Marc Staal

Ottawa Senators
Dion Phaneuf

Philadelphia Flyers
Claude Giroux

Pittsburgh Penguins
Sidney Crosby
Marc-Andre Fleury
Phil Kessel
Kris Letang
Evgeni Malkin

Tampa Bay Lightning
Ryan Callahan
Valtteri Filppula
Victor Hedman
Steven Stamkos

Toronto Maple Leafs
Nathan Horton

Vancouver Canucks
Loui Eriksson
Daniel Sedin
Henrik Sedin

Winnipeg Jets
Dustin Byfuglien
Tobias Enstrom

The Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues and Washington Capitals did not have players that required protection from the expansion draft.

The story noted that New York Rangers forward Rick Nash maintained the no-move part of his contract when it came to being waived or loaned even though his no-trade clause was lessened to a 12-team list in June of 2015. This means that the Rangers will not be able to expose Nash and his $7.8 million salary cap hit. It was previously believed that Nash could be available for Vegas.

Also, Johnston reported that Ottawa Senators forward Bobby Ryan can be exposed to the draft because his no-move meant no movement to the minors and involved a modified no-trade clause. The piece points out that Carolina Hurricanes center Jordan Staal held a previously unreported no-move clause in his contract.

This list could change, since some players could waive their no-move clauses. Also, some players, such as Nathan Horton, David Clarkson and Ryane Clowe, are suffering from long-term injuries and are unlikely to play again.

As part of the expansion draft rules, all first and second-year professionals, as well as all unsigned draft choices, will be exempt from selection and won’t count toward their club’s applicable protection limits.

Teams will have two options for how to proceed with players they wish to protect in the draft.

They can keep either seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender or eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goaltender.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper