On the eve of the expansion draft it appears that Bill Guerin and the Wild will stand pat with their protection list as it is today. That said there is always a possibility that something comes up and Guerin makes something happen.
Either way Guerin is working his plan to make the Wild a legitimate contender in the near term as well as beyond the upcoming season. The Wild prospect pool has been replenished after being decimated by all the draft pick traders Chuck Fletcher had made before he was let go after the 2018 playoff loss to Winnipeg.
Seattle is going to get an asset from the Wild roster, whether it be Carson Soucy or Kaapo Kahkonen, Guerin will have to make a move to replace whichever player is lost.
The decision to protect Cam Talbot over Kahkonen was a bit of a surprise as most of the year it was thought that it would be the other way around. Talbot is on a very reasonable contract and is a proven veteran coming off an outstanding first season in the Wild net. There also is a school of thought that the Wild brass do not see Kahkonen as their number 1 of the future, which also may have played into the decision. Combine thatvwith the availability of backup goalies on the market and Talbot became the obvious choice.
As for the possibility of losing Soucy, that would mean that the Wild would have at least two new blueliners in their top six after parting ways with Ryan Suter last week.
Both Soucy and Suter played the left side but the fact that the pool of available defenseman is also fairly deep, not to mention some of the Wild's own prospects getting their shot to make the club, including Calen Addison, Louis Belpedio, and Brennan Menell.
The draft on Friday provides another tremendous opportunity to add to the Wild talent pool with two first round picks and five picks in the first three rounds. It should be an exciting week here and then we have free agency next week, wow it is the Summer of Wild...
Minnesota Wild Blogger • 
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