Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher
Don't think Poirier and Shinkaruk have done enough to be protected ahead of actual NHLers.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MattyC
People are freaking out a little too much IMO. Yes we can only protect those players, but that doesn't mean the other players are necessarily taken...
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This is a pretty important point that I think people are missing, and which will clearly affect which players a team will choose to protect vs. those they expose. I don't think it is at all likely that players like Poirer, Shinkaruk, or Kyllington make this list, and not because they are not among the most valuable players to the Flames moving forward.
The Flames will be making this decision based on all the other protected lists of every other team, and projecting whom they believe are most likely to be selected by an expansion team. In all likelihood, given the size of the pool of available players, AHL/NHL 'tweeners like these three will be pretty far down on an expansion team's list. I think the Flames could very reasonably leave them all exposed and not lose a single one of them.