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:

Elaine Thompson • Associated Press
Left fielder Eddie Rosario might be the odd man out if the Twins could only protect 11 players.

• 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.

Rationale: Bradford over Bridgewater is based on health at the moment plus Bradford's solid 2016 season … Rudolph was a tough omission, but making a list shouldn't be easy. … Eight of the 11 players were on defense, as it should be.

• Twins (11): Joe Mauer, Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Jose Berrios, Brian Dozier, Fernando Romero, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, Nick Gordon, Royce Lewis, Stephen Gonsalves.

Notable players not protected: Several minor league relief pitchers, Adalberto Mejia, Jason Castro, Eddie Rosario.

Rationale: Much like Zach Parise, Jason Pominville and Mikko Koivu with the Wild, the Twins would presumably need to protect Mauer in an expansion draft because of his no-trade clause. Gonsalves, Romero and Berrios are the only pitchers on the list, but they are absolutely worth it. Buxton, Sano, Kepler and Polanco should be Twins for a long time, while Lewis and Gordon are their top two prospects already.

• Timberwolves (5): Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine, Ricky Rubio, Kris Dunn.

Notable players not protected: Gorgui Dieng, Shabazz Muhammad.

Rationale: Towns and Wiggins are obvious. LaVine is close to obvious even after last year's injury. Rubio is still a valuable player, and the kind of guy you would hate to lose without at least getting value in return. Dunn, as uneven has his rookie year was, is just a year removed from being the No. 5 overall pick. This question would get a lot harder in one week if it happened after the Wolves picked No. 7 in Thursday's draft.