But 7-3-1 was always the expectation for the Wild, especially after the club cut ties with Ryan Suter and Zach Parise in contract buyouts on Tuesday.
All players with no-movement clauses in their contracts are required to be protected (no-trade clauses are not).
Both Suter and Parise had no-moves in their deals, so when they were bought out, that opened up an additional forward spot and an additional spot for another defenseman to be kept in the mix.
Because Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin each have no-move clauses, each was always going to be protected. But with more flexibility after Tuesday's move, the Wild accomplished one of GM Bill Guerin's primary goals of expansion, which was to keep Matt Dumba.
Dumba, who turns 27 next weekend, is coming off a six-goal, 21-point campaign in 2020-21, but is also a crucial cog for the Minnesota power play. Just two seasons removed from scoring 12 goals in just 32 games before a season-ending injury short-circuited what looked to be a breakout campaign, the Wild hopes Dumba can regain that form next season.
With Brodin, Spurgeon and Dumba protected, Carson Soucy is the most prominent blueliner available for the Kraken. Soucy has been outstanding the last two seasons for Minnesota, scoring a combined eight goals and 31 points in 105 games, but posting a plus-38 during that stretch.
It seems likely that with the current makeup of the Wild's roster, Soucy could be in line for a boost in minutes if the Kraken decide to go a different direction with Minnesota's roster.
Guerin could also offer Seattle GM Ron Francis additional compensation to steer the Kraken away from Soucy, or any other player Guerin is intent on keeping.
One of those guys could be goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen. With the emergence of veteran Cam Talbot in his first season with the Wild, Kahkonen was the goaltender left unprotected.
He could be a valuable asset too, just 24 years old, and coming off a rookie season in which Kahkonen went 16-8-0 with a 2.88 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage, numbers that are a little inflated in large part to two late-season games against the St. Louis Blues.
Without those two games, Kahkonen's goals-against would have been 2.41, a number that was much more indicative of how the former AHL Goaltender of the Year played for a bulk of his first full season in the League. Minnesota likes his future and liked the tandem he and Talbot formed last season, their first together.
The Kraken have a number of quality veteran options available to them in the goaltending category, including Montreal's Carey Price, Dallas' Ben Bishop, Los Angeles' Jonathan Quick, Ottawa's Matt Murray, Pittsburgh's Casey DeSmith, Vancouver's Braden Holtby and Washington's Vitek Vanecek.
Up front, the Wild had just one no-movement clause (Mats Zuccarello), so it was able to protect several of its younger, middle-six forwards.
Last season's leading scorer, Calder Trophy winner Kirill Kaprizov, is ineligible to be selected by Seattle and did not need to be protected.
After Zuccarello, the Wild chose to protect Joel Eriksson Ek, Kevin Fiala, Marcus Foligno, Jordan Greenway, Ryan Hartman and Nico Sturm.
Eriksson Ek and Sturm are quality young centers the Wild really coveted, while Foligno, Greenway and Hartman are each versatile forwards who can move up and down the lineup.
Fiala is one of the club's best players, so keeping him protected was a no-brainer.
Among Wild forwards left unprotected are centerman Victor Rask, who was drafted by Francis in the second round of the 2011 NHL Draft, when he held the same position with the Carolina Hurricanes, as well as the recently re-signed Nick Bjugstad, who inked a one-year extension with his hometown team on July 5.
The NHL's roster and trade freeze also went into effect on Saturday, putting a halt to any offseason deals Guerin may be working with other clubs, a stoppage that will last until Thursday.
Clubs can still make deals with the Kraken to protect players, but those won't be announced until Wednesday night's draft, which will be televised on ESPN beginning at 7 p.m. CT. The Golden Knights are exempt from the Expansion Draft and will not lose a player.
So, to review, the Wild has protected:
