Wild general manager Bill Guerin can breathe. At least a few days.

After highlighting which players the Wilderness might lose in the upcoming NHL expansion draft this week throughout the offseason, Guerin submitted his protection list, the most notable of which was the exposure of goalkeeper Kaapo Kahkonen and defenders. Carson Soucy.

It is assumed that the Seattle Sea Monsters will choose Kakonen or Susie in the draft on Wednesday night, unless the Wild team reaches an agreement to let them choose someone else. In terms of logistics, Kraken will select a player from 29 of the 30 NHL teams. The Vegas Golden Cavaliers are the only exempt team.

As for Wild, their protection list is as follows:

• Forward: Joel Eriksson Eck, Kevin Fiala, Marcus Foligno, Jordan Greenway, Ryan Hartman, Nico Sturm, Mats Zuka Relo
• defender: Jonas Brodin, Matt Dunbar, Jared Spurgeon
• goalkeeper: Cam Talbot

It is worth mentioning that star rookie forward Kirill Kaprizov did not participate in the extended draft and therefore does not need to be protected.

Last week, when Guerin made the shocking decision to acquire veteran stars Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, the protection list began to materialize. Both players have a non-movement clause in their contracts, which, according to the rules, requires the wilderness to protect them.

If Kraken wants a young goalkeeper, then the 24-year-old Kahkonen will be the obvious choice. He has grown into a reliable choice. Although he struggled in the game last season, he still finished 16-8-0 with 2.88 goals and 0.902 save rate.

If Kraken wants a young defensive player to stabilize their defense, then the 26-year-old Soucy makes sense. Although he spent most of last season with the bottom line partner, Susie still completed his career-high 17 points (1 goal and 16 assists) with Ian Cole’s stable third defensive partner , And at the same time brought size and courage to the wild blue line.

Susie led the team with a plus or minus value (plus or minus 22), and both assists (16 times) and points (17 times) set a career high.

In addition to Kahkonen and Soucy, some of the other famous Wild players that have been exposed are forwards Victor Rask and Nick Bjugstad.