The Rangers announced their expansion draft protected list without much surprise. As expected Jesper Fast, Michael Grabner, Oscar Lindberg, Antti Raanta, Matt Puempel and Kevin Klein were left exposed for Las Vegas to draft.
As I’ve previously mentioned, losing any of the three unprotected forwards or Raanta would be a tough loss for the Rangers. And, unfortunately, based on reports from Rangers beat writers, the Rangers don’t apear willing to give up a first round pick (the going rate) for Vegas to select either Puempel or Klein.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that Rangers GM Jeff Gorton hasn’t been in talks with Golden Knights GM George McPhee about a side deal.