from Chris Johnston of Sportsnet,

OK, Vegas, take your picks.

There are plenty of intriguing names available.

Marc-Andre Fleury, James Neal, Bobby Ryan, Eric Staal, Niklas Kronwall, Mike Cammalleri, Matt Dumba and Petr Mrazek were among the names left unprotected by their NHL teams for the Golden Knights expansion draft. Sami Vatanen, Josh Manson, Marc Methot, Brock Nelson, Jori Lehtera, Jack Johnson and Roberto Luongo, too.

Only it won’t be simple to handicap what the NHL’s 31st team might look like while general manager George McPhee and his staff spend the next 72 hours finalizing their selections. That’s because McPhee is already believed to have deals in place with Columbus, Anaheim and Chicago about who he’ll select from those teams.

Hint: It’s not likely to be the best player available from each.

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