Blues release protected list for expansion draft

ST. LOUIS - After more than a full year of planning, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong has decided on a list of players he won't make available to the Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL Expansion Draft, which will be held Wednesday at 7 p.m. CT during the NHL Awards at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (NBCSN).
Teams were given the option to protect either seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender - or eight skaters and one goaltender.
Armstrong choose the first option, which allowed him to protect 11 players.

"It's been a process we've gone through for the whole year, something we knew was going to happen," Armstrong said in an exclusive interview with stlouisblues.com last week. "We're going to lose a player we don't want to lose, but that's the price for having an additional team in the NHL."

All first- and second-year professional players are exempt from the expansion draft, so players such as Robby Fabbri and Colton Parayko, who just completed their second seasons, did not have to be protected and do not count towards the Blues' protected list.
Below is the list of Blues who won't be joining the Vegas Golden Knights.

Protected List

Jake Allen, Patrik Berglund, Jay Bouwmeester, Joel Edmundson, Alex Pietrangelo, Ryan Reaves, Jaden Schwartz, Paul Stastny, Vladimir Sobotka, Alexander Steen, Vladimir Tarasenko

Exempt List

Ivan Barbashev, Robby Fabbri, Colton Parayko, Zach Sanford, Jordan Schmaltz

Prospect Exempt List

Samuel Blais, Conner Bleackley, Vince Dunn, Evan Fitzpatrick, Ville Husso, Jordan Kyrou, MacKenzie MacEachern, Wade Megan, Adam Musil, Luke Opilka, Justin Selman, Dmitrii Sergeev, Tage Thompson, Thomas Vannelli, Jake Walman