why was everyone saying Oshii wouldn’t get protected ?
The logic behind exposing Oshie is mostly centered on his age, his contract, and his ties to Seattle. Oshie is 34 and still has four more years remaining on his deal at $5.75M per. If Washington wants to get out of that contract before his play drops off a cliff (and free up some money for the Ovechkin contract in the process), exposing Oshie makes sense. Oshie is also a native of Everett, Washington (just north of Seattle), and has been honored at Seahawks games in the past. So he would be a natural fit as the first face of the Kraken franchise and presumably their first captain. It's a potential win-win scenario, if the Capitals are looking to be proactive about Oshie's contract rather than trying to milk every single game of quality hockey out of him before giving up his contract.