The NHL expansion draft is Wednesday, and the Wild's list of protected players was official as of Sunday. Las Vegas can't touch forwards Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu, Jason Pominville, Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter, Charlie Coyle and Jason Zucker; defensemen Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin and goalie Devan Dubnyk.
That left several key players exposed, including forwards Eric Staal and Erik Haula as well as defensemen Matt Dumba and Marco Scandella.
It was obviously a tough decision for Wild executives to make, but that's probably to be expected with a team that has good depth and has made the playoffs for five consecutive seasons.
But it leads to a hypothetical as well: what if the NBA, NFL and MLB also were having expansion drafts this year — which players would the Timberwolves, Vikings and Twins want to protect?
For the NFL and MLB, let's say teams also could protect 11 players, while for the NBA's smaller rosters let's cut it off at five (various previous expansion drafts in those sports have had various different formats). For the hypothetical baseball expansion draft, I considered players both on the Twins' 40-man roster and in the minor league system.
Here are my lists of players I would protect:
• Vikings (11): Anthony Barr, Sam Bradford, Danielle Hunter, Everson Griffen, Harrison Smith, Eric Kendricks, Dalvin Cook, Xavier Rhodes, Stefon Diggs, Linval Joseph, Trae Waynes.
Notable players not protected: Alex Boone, Kyle Rudolph, Adam Thielen, Teddy Bridgewater, Riley Reiff, Mackensie Alexander, Brian Robison.