So...
O'Reilly
Tarasenko
Schenn*
Thomas
Perron
Schwartz
Kyrou
Pietrangelo*
Parayko
Dunn
Binnington*
*Assuming they're signed
Leaves Bozak, Edmundson, Barbashev, Sundqvist as the most likely candidates
I know Perron is very popular right now, and Edmundson certainly is not but ... I don't know. I am also questioning Perron over Sundqvist. Lots of tough decisions there.
Or you protect Sunny and leave a 32 year old Perron exposed, potentially making him the only player in NHL history taken from the same club twice during expansion drafts.
Perron will be 33 with bad injury history and only 1 year left on his contract. Obviously much can change in 2 years, but he is probably more likely than not to be exposed.
A big deal is made about protection lists by every fan base but at the end of the day Seattle can only take one player from us and it doesn't usually end up being a big deal UNLESS your GM decides to pay assets to protect a guy. That's how Vegas cashed in and hopefully DA just makes his list and lets Seattle pick. I've been guilty of hand wringing in the past along with a bunch of other people but I think I'm going to sit out worrying about this particular expansion.
Blues will have a chance to trade a player they dont need so that Seattle doesn't choose someone that is unprotected. That, or they could deal away a draft pick so Seattle chooses a random "bad" player instead of an Edmundson/Perron/etc.
This is so long away it will be hard to predict. When Seattle comes in 2021-2022, the only known thing for sure with the Blues are the following (Unless trade or something else happens):
O'Reilly & Tarasenko still have 2 years left at 7.5 AAV and will be protected.
Thomas & Kyrou are RFA and will be protected no doubts (Less sureness on Kyrou than Thomas).
Scheen if resigned will be protected
Schwartz is a UFA at time of expansion draft and if signed will be protected.
Bozak is a UFA at time of expansion.
Perron has 1 year left at 4 mill. LIKELY candidate to be exposed with his injury history and etc but depending on his play could be protected.
Steen is UFA
After that you have so many players such as Sanford, Blais, Barbashev, Sundqvist, Fabbri, & MacEachern who in couple years who knows if they are still here or not.
So Forwards 4 will be protected most likely for sure. O'Reilly, Tarasenko, Thomas, & Kyrou
Defense wise:
Pietrangelo if we resigned him is a no-brainer.
Parayko is in last year of current deal and no-brainer.
Dunn is in his RFA years so I believe Blues protect him.
Edmundson is where things will get interesting. Will he get protected or not? Depends on the Pietrangelo situation.
Bortuzzo will be exposed.
Right now the 3 I protect are Pietrangelo (if he resigns) Parayko Dunn & IF Pietrangelo isn't back, Parayko, Dunn, Edmundson
Goalie is another interesting situation.
Allen has 1 year left that is if he isn't traded.
Binnington has played well so far but could fall off face of the planet.
Husso is suppose to be the goalie of the future for us.
Right now I will go Binnington but I could see Husso easily getting protected.
I definitely can see us doing a trade with them especially with us having a crap load of forwards to protect an extra player.
I.E. Say we want to protect Edmundson we give them Sanford & low pick and they take Fabbri as well something like that.
I don't see Army going Florida stupid with trading anyone.