AP and AL broke down the likely protected lists for the Blue Jackets.
G
Exempt: Elvis
Protected: Korpisalo
Exposed: Kivlenieks
D
Exempt: Peeke, Berni
Protected: Jones, Werenski, Gavrikov
Exposed: Kukan, Harrington, Carlsson
Likely to be left as UFA with possible new contract after the draft: Savard
F
Exempt: Texier, Bemstrom, Foudy
Protected: Dubois, Atkinson, Bjorkstrand, Nyquist, Domi, Jenner, Robinson
Exposed: Stenlund, Gerbe
Likely to be left as UFA with possible new contract after the draft: Foligno (and I suppose Nash, Koviu, Grigorenko)
They went with 7-3-1.
But my question is, what happens with the games played requirement for those being exposed? I assume the league will have to come up with some sort of prorated fix. But as is, the player needs to be under contract for the '20-'21 season *and* have played either 40 games in '20-'21 or 70 games in the '19-'20 and '20-'21 season.
That means, in the scenario above, Nathan Gerbe needs to play 38 more games and Kevin Stenlund needs to play 36 more games to meet the exposure requirements. Btw, the Jackets have similar issues on defense if they go 4-4-1 (Harrington would need to play 30 games to hit the requirement, as opposed to Kukan's 28).
I haven't been able to find anything on the league reducing/prorating the games played requirement. So that'll be something to watch. The above scenario/s assume Jarmo does not sign anyone to a new deal (e.g. Savard/Foligno) prior to the draft. The protected list could change if he does or if he makes a trade, of course.
EDIT - by prorating (if they go that route) the requirements become that teams must expose at least two forwards and one defenseman who:
-are under contract in '21-'22 AND
-played in 27 NHL games in '20'21 OR
-played in 59 NHL games in the last two seasons
(of course, Seattle can take anyone who's not protected.)
Jarmo will likely have to get creative to meet the exposure requirements, which is an upgrade from getting creative to protect Jack Johnson (LOL), Josh Anderson, and Joonas Korpisalo.