Simulating Montreal’s Expansion List

Speculation around the National Hockey League expanding to 34 teams is ramping up. Gary Bettman announced in June following a meeting of the Board of Governors that the League will open a six-month process to evaluate the possibility of expanding to either Houston or Austin, Texas. What might that mean for the Montreal Canadiens?

Once the league approves expansion, general managers will start thinking about protection lists. In the last two expansion drafts, the Canadiens lost Alexei Emelin to Vegas Golden Knights, and Cale Fleury to the Seattle Kraken.

Today, we’ll put ourselves in Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton’s shoes and project what the Canadiens’ list would look like if submitted today. We’ll assume the protection rules remain unchanged:

Along with one goalie, clubs have the option to protect seven forwards, three defencemen or eight skaters.
All first and second year pros, along with unsigned draft picks, are exempt and cannot be selected.

Forwards

Protected: Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Zachary Bolduc, Oliver Kapanen, Jake Evans, Alex Newhook
Exempt: Ivan Demidov
Exposed (notables): Kirby Dach, Alexandre Texier, Philip Danault, Josh Anderson,

Overall, the exposed forward group is not particularly attractive for an expansion team.

Defencemen

Protected: Noah Dobson, Lane Hutson, Mike Matheson
Exposed (notables): Kaiden Guhle, Alexandre Carrier, Jayden Struble, Arber Xhekaj

Mike Matheson’s extension, beginning in 2026–27, includes a full no‑movement clause through 2028–29, which requires the Canadiens to protect him. The blue line is where the interesting options are. Kaiden Guhle and Arber Xhekaj would definitely get a close look.

Goalies

Protected: Jakub Dobes
Exempt: Jacob Fowler
Exposed (notables): Samuel Montembeault

Unlike the last expansion draft, the goaltending situation is straightforward this time. When the Seattle Kraken were entering the league, Carey Price waived his no movement clause to make himself available for selection. As a result, this allowed the Canadiens to protect Jake Allen and expose Price to the Kraken.