Let’s remind ourselves the rules of the Expansion Draft. You have two options when it comes to protecting your own players. Firstly, you can go with seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goaltender. Or secondly, you can protect eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goalie. For the Cats, the first option makes much more sense and is likely the decision they will make.
In terms of Reilly, he had a disappointing season this year. Now this isn’t to say that he was the only one who had a bad year. Many others were disappointing as well.