Today the list of players the Toronto Maple Leafs will not be exposing in the 2017 expansion draft was released. Before we get to them, let’s make sure we know which players were protected from the draft because they hadn’t played enough NHL seasons.

Players exempt from expansion draft

PLAYERAGEPOSCAP HITEXPIRY
Nathan Horton32RW$5,300,000UFA (2020)
Auston Matthews19C$925,000RFA (2019)
Carl Grundstrom19LW$925,000RFA (2020)
Trevor Moore22LW$925,000RFA (2019)
Miro Aaltonen24C$925,000RFA (2018)
Mitch Marner20C$894,167RFA (2019)
William Nylander21C$894,167RFA (2018)
Frederik Gauthier22C$863,333RFA (2018)
Kasperi Kapanen20RW$863,333RFA (2019)
Jeremy Bracco20RW$842,500RFA (2020)
Andreas Johnson22LW$750,833RFA (2018)
Nikita Soshnikov23RW$736,667RFA (2018)
Tobias Lindstrom21LW$693,333RFA (2018)
Dmytro Timashov20LW$693,333RFA (2020)
Sergeri Kalinen26RW$800,000RFA (2017)
Zach Hyman25C$900,000RFA (2017)
Nikita Zaitsev25D$4,500,000UFA (2024)
Calle Rosen23D$925,000RFA (2019)
Andreas Borgman22D$925,000RFA (2019)
Travis Dermott20D$863,333RFA (2020)
Rinat Valiev22D$778,333RFA (2018)
Andrew Nielsen20D$697,500RFA (2020)
Justin Holl25D$742,500RFA (2017)
Ksimir Kasiksuo23G$925,000RFA (2018)

So you can see it’s at least half the Leafs line up, which, go Maple Leafs.

Now, for the big reveal. Here are the players the Toronto Maple Leafs put on their protection list. Hands off Vegas!

Protected players

PlayerAgePositionCap HitContract
Nazem Kadri26C$4,500,000UFA (2022)
James Van Riemsdyk28LW$4,250,000UFA (2018)
Tyler Bozak31C$4,200,000UFA (2018)
Leo Komarov30C$2,950,000UFA (2018)
Matt Martin28LW$2,500,000UFA (2020)
Connor Brown23RW$686,667RFA (2017)
Josh Leivo24LW$612,500RFA (2018)
Morgan Rielly23D$5,000,000UFA (2022)
Jake Gardiner26D$4,050,000UFA (2019)
Connor Carrick23D$750,000RFA (2018)
Frederik Andersen27G$5,000,000UFA (2021)

There you go Leafs fans. Which of these players would you have exposed?

Let us know, and you can check out the list of exposed players here.

Who on this list would you have exposed?

Nazem Kadri54
James van Riemsdyk32
Tyler Bozak74
Leo Komarov66
Matt Martin1039
Josh Leivo352
Connor Brown22
Connor Carrick168
Morgan Rielly10
Jake Gardiner59
Frederik Andersen34