I recently read an article by The Athletic that projected who each National Hockey League team would protect if an expansion draft took place after the 2026-27 season is in the books. With all the talk of the league seriously considering expanding to places like Houston and Atlanta, amongst others, I guess the hockey writers are thinking about what things would look like if those rumours quickly turned into action. With the league at a nice round number like 32 franchises, it would make sense to consider trying to add a couple new clubs….so maybe both of those cities could find a way into the NHL?
It seems like The Athletic followed the rules from the NHL’s most recent expansion to make their protection lists, so lets remind ourselves what those were:
I certainly didn’t agree with the decision The Athletic‘s author made for the Manitoba-based franchise…and I hope that GM Kevin Cheveldayoff would go a different route as well. That got me to pondering how other Jets’ fans would handle things if they were in charge of things…….so using the above rules to determine exactly who from the Winnipeg Jets would be eligible for selection in an expansion draft next summer, I came up with the list below.
Now there are some potential unknowns like Morgan Barron, who will be an unrestricted free agent (UFA) after this season if the True Northers’ GM doesn’t get him to ink an extension. If they do, then the Bear would have to be added. Also, there are some players that are heading for Group 6 UFA status after the upcoming campaign, so unless Parker Ford or Isaak Phillips see a serious amount of NHL action in 2026-27, they likely will be part of the UFA pool that the expansion team(s) would get first crack at. Fortunately, any prospects from the same draft as Brayden Yager would fall a season short of qualifying for eligibility, so the majority of the Jets’ prospects would escape unscathed.
Then there is the whole “will he get traded?” thing involving Connor Hellebuyck, so it impossible to nail things down right now….but that won’t stop us from trying, right?
* = no movement clause, must be protected or have them waive NMC
There are a few other rules to consider when compiling your list though, as every NHL club needs to make 2 forwards, 1 defenseman, & 1 goalie eligible that are either under contract or a restricted free agent (RFA) and have played 40 NHL games the previous season or 70 games over the past 2 campaigns. Should an expansion draft come quickly, the signing of Stuart Skinner would turn out advantageous since he would meet the requirement for tenders. The Jets shouldn’t have a problem at the forward or defense positions either, so if the NHL makes the move to expand next summer, the True Northers are in a pretty good place heading in.
Now that you are in the GM’s seat, the first decision you have to make is whether you will go the 11 or 9 player route when it comes to Winnipeg’s protection list. With Mark Scheifele & Hellebuyck’s no movement clauses switching to no trade lists next season, I am assuming they wouldn’t have to be protected (though likely still would be). That leaves just Kyle Connor and Adam Lowry as “must protects“, unless you are going to try to get them to waive their protection clauses.
That addition of the Jets’ captain could potentially throw a wrench into your plans if you were thinking the 4F/4D/1G route, since it is likely the big center won’t be one of your top 4 Winnipeg forwards. Though to be honest, unless one of the bottom 8 on the list above has a great season in 2026-27, there might really only be a 5 players maximum that deserve protection anyways. The upside of that route of course is being able to protect 4 of the 8 Winnipeg defensemen listed above, at the cost of 3 less forwards.
The full 11 option is great for squads that have solid forward depth, which is not something the Jets can really lay claim to at this point. Players like Alex Iafallo & Cole Koepke can be useful, but I am not really sure they are the type of players you need to protect in an expansion draft. If younger prospects like Brad Lambert, Isak Rosen, Nikita Chibrikov, & Danny Zhilkin explode onto the scene this season, then the True Northers might have a need to protect 7 forwards. Guess it comes down to who you place more value on, the 3 extra forwards you get to protect or the 1 extra defenseman you get to keep.
The Athletic opted to use the “waive protection” option when it came to Lowry, which I am not sure the Jets would do, nor whether the long-time Jet would agree if they did. That allowed them to go for the 4-4-1 route with Dylan DeMelo getting to nod over Neal Pionk to join Josh Morrissey, Dylan Samberg, & Elias Salomonsson as protected Winnipeg defensemen. That left their selected forwards, which were Scheifele, Connor, Gabriel Vilardi, & Cole Perfetti, leaving goaltender Hellebuyck wrapping things up.
So, lets hear it in the Comment section. In the unlikely scenario the NHL moves quickly to expand the league, do you agree with The Athletic’s choices or would you go a different route? Might as well add your thoughts on expansion too, is it the right time to capitalize on hockey’s popularity south of the border (it is always high in the True North) by going back to cities that have already had their shot at high end professional hockey? Of course, Atlanta has lost NHL franchises before, the Flames & Thrashers, while Houston only got a shot at a WHA franchise with the Aeros way back in the 1970’s.