The Florida Panthers protected their defensive core from the upcoming NHL expansion draft — but they left some scorers available to the Vegas Golden Knights.
In the list of protected players made public Sunday morning, the Panthers opted to protect eight skaters and a goalie instead of 10 players (seven forwards and three defensemen) to save one of their defensemen.
Florida kept Keith Yandle and Aaron Ekblad as expected but also held onto both Mark Pysyk and Alex Petrovic.
The Panthers also protected four of their core forwards in Jonathan Huberdeau, Sasha Barkov, Nick Bjugstad and Vincent Trocheck.