Calgary Flames Protected & Unprotected Players List Released

The NHL has released the protected and unprotected lists for every NHL team and below is the Flames list. There aren’t too many surprises on the Calgary Flames list, with one notable veteran in Mark Giordano being left unprotected, which isn’t a surprise at all. One name that is protected that could be a quasi-surprise is Mikael Backlund. Backlund had a pretty down season and is a decent cap hit for the Flames, so there was some speculation that he could have been left unprotected, but alas the Flames chose to keep him as one of their seven protected forwards. Defence wise, no shocking bodies there either. Here’s the list:

Available

Byron Froese (F)

Glenn Gawdin (F)

Justin Kirkland (F)

Josh Leivo (F)

Milan Lucic (F)

Joakim Nordstrom (F)

Matthew Phillips (F)

Zac Rinaldo (F)

Brett Ritchie (F)

Buddy Robinson (F)

Derek Ryan (F)

Dominik Simon (F)

Mark Giordano (D)

Oliver Kylington (D)

Nikita Nesterov (D)

Alexander Petrovic (D)

Michael Stone (D)

Louis Domingue (G)

Tyler Parsons (G)

Protected

Mikael Backlund (F)

Dillon Dube (F)

Johnny Gaudreau (F)

Elias Lindholm (F)

Andrew Mangiapane (F)

Sean Monahan (F)

Matthew Tkachuk (F)

Rasmus Andersson (D)

Noah Hanifin (D)

Christopher Tanev (D)

Jacob Markstrom (G)

Again, there aren’t many shocking omissions as the Flames certainly weren’t going to leave Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, Jacob Markstrom or Noah Hanifin unprotected. Seeing some young, talented players like Glenn Gawdin and Matthew Phillips on there may be a little tough to swallow, but it’s part of the business and there’s no guarantee they’ll be selected. If the Seattle Kraken go the way of Vegas (which worked), they may build a veteran roster that can compete immediately.

The NHL Expansion Draft will take place on July 21st.

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