Expansion Draft Buzz: Golden Knights receive protected lists

Welcome to the NHL Expansion Draft Buzz. On Wednesday, the Vegas Golden Knights will reveal the players they have chosen from the other 30 NHL teams in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft presented by T-Mobile.
NOTE: The expansion draft trade/waiver freeze for all NHL teams (excluding the Golden Knights) began Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.
Here's a look around the League at the latest doings as the expansion draft approaches:

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4:25 p.m.Golden Knights ready to deal

Now that the Vegas Golden Knights know who's available in the NHL Expansion Draft, they are ready to deal.
General manager George McPhee made it clear Sunday that he's prepared to make trades before he decides on the 30 players, one from each team, who will make up the first edition of the NHL's 31st team.
"We're going to go to that club and say, 'We have interest in this player. There's another club that has interest in this player. How do we want to do this? And how can we protect your roster?'" McPhee said. "You can negotiate your way out of this if you wish. Every team in this league has a chance to protect their roster. We will not make a claim with any club before we talk to the club."
McPhee has already started talking to free agents during the Golden Knights' 72-hour exclusive negotiating window. He said he was surprised that there weren't many trades Saturday before the NHL's roster freeze for the other 30 teams.
"We were expecting this mass redistribution of players that really didn't happen, which we were really happy about," he said. "I think the harvest of assets that we're going to have now will be what we were hoping for."
McPhee wouldn't comment on any particular player who's available, but did say he's likely to make multiple trades that will bring back more first-round draft picks in order to take or not take certain players.
"We've got a lot of things lined up," he said, "but until we see everything, we don't have anything."

1:15 p.m.

Islanders will trade first-round pick to keep Vegas from taking forwards: report

The New York Islanders protected five defensemen and three forwards from the Vegas Golden Knights for the NHL Expansion Draft. TSN reported Sunday the Islanders will give up a first-round pick to keep Vegas from taking one of the forwards they didn't protect.
Vegas general manager George McPhee and Islanders GM Garth Snow have lots of history together; McPhee was working as a special adviser to Snow when he was hired as GM of the Golden Knights on July 23. He also was Snow's agent in the 1980s.
The Islanders protected forwards John Tavares, Anders Lee and Andrew Ladd, along with defensemen Johnny Boychuk, Travis Hamonic, Nick Leddy, Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock.
The Golden Knights said Saturday they were willing to work with teams to allow them to keep players they wanted in exchange for draft picks.

11:55 a.m.

Protected lists released

The Vegas Golden Knights are on the clock.
The Golden Knights received the protected lists from the NHL's other 30 teams Sunday. They will have until 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday to
select one player from each team
. Vegas must take a minimum of 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goaltenders.
The Golden Knights will have
plenty to choose from
. The other 30 teams protected either seven forwards, three defensemen and a goaltender, or eight skaters and a goalie. Seven teams opted for the latter approach; one of them, the New York Islanders, were the only team to protect five defensemen.

Among the hundreds of players made available to Vegas were goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and forward Bryan Rust from the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins, as well as forward James Neal of the Nashville Predators, who lost to the Penguins in the Final.
The Golden Knights' selections will be revealed at the 2017 NHL Awards and NHL Expansion Draft presented by T-Mobile at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN).