Canadiens expected to leave pair of forwards exposed for expansion draft
Today at 5 p.m. eastern time, 30 of the league's 31 teams have to submit their protection lists for the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. One of those teams to keep an eye on is the Montreal Canadiens.
Earlier this week it was reported by Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports that the Habs will leave captain Shea Weber exposed for the expansion draft due to the fact he could miss all of the 2021-22 season because of multiple injuries.
Now, according to Pierre LeBrun of TSN, he expects the Canadiens to leave forwards Jonathan Drouin and Paul Byron exposed for the expansion draft on July 21st.
My money's on Byron and Drouin being exposed but I'm not 100 percent sure...— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) July 17, 2021
Drouin missed the last several games in the regular season and all of the playoffs after taking an indefinite leave of absence for personal reasons. Prior to leaving the Habs, Drouin had 23 points (2 G, 21 A), 20 penalty minutes, and was a -8 in 44 regular season games.
As for Paul Byron, he's set to enter his third year of a four-year contract he signed with Montreal back in September of 2018. Byron's AAV of $3.4 million is quite high for someone who spends most of his time on the third and fourth line. Although he brings energy and leadership to the Canadiens, I'm sure they won't be too upset if the Kraken select him on Wednesday evening.
The protection lists are due at 5 p.m. ET as mentioned above, and they'll become public at some point on Sunday.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Seth Jarvis | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| Zach Hyman | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Sebastian Aho | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Leon Draisaitl | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Jonathan Huberdeau | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Nazem Kadri | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Mikael Granlund | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Brady Skjei | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Filip Forsberg | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Barrett Hayton | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Alexander Killorn | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Mason McTavish | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Jackson Blake | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Brock Boeser | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Filip Chytil | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Kirby Dach | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Mario Ferraro | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Adam Fox | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Kent Johnson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Dylan Larkin | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Capitals | 48 | 33 | 10 | 5 | 71 | |
Jets | 49 | 32 | 14 | 3 | 67 | |
Golden Knights | 48 | 30 | 14 | 4 | 64 | |
Oilers | 48 | 30 | 15 | 3 | 63 | |
Hurricanes | 49 | 30 | 16 | 3 | 63 | |
Maple Leafs | 49 | 30 | 17 | 2 | 62 | |
Wild | 48 | 28 | 16 | 4 | 60 | |
Devils | 50 | 27 | 17 | 6 | 60 | |
Stars | 47 | 29 | 17 | 1 | 59 | |
Panthers | 49 | 28 | 18 | 3 | 59 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||