from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

No doubt the league is aware that fans are eager for the information. But if the majority of clubs do indeed want confidentiality for the protective lists, the league may decide that's the route to go.

Perhaps even more intriguing to me is the possibility -- which another GM alerted me to on Monday -- that the protected lists might also not be shared among teams before the draft, meaning they would be shut out just like the rest of us.

The issue here, I think, is that some GMs are hesitant to let everyone else in the league see how they are ranking or otherwise valuing their own players.

I would argue that they already do show their cards when they reveal how they compensate the players in terms of salary. But I suppose that, if lower-paid players end up getting protected over higher-paid players in some cases, teams might not want that kind of naked truth being blatantly blasted out there for posterity.

Perhaps the information could affect future trade negotiations, if a team now knows how a competitor truly feels about a certain player its trying to move?

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