Breaking down the Wings' likely protected list

Each NHL team must submit its 11-player protected list for the upcoming expansion draft to stock the Las Vegas Golden Knights by Saturday at 5 p.m. “We have decisions to make,… Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland recently acknowledged. “I think every team has decisions to make. You can only protect seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie. “We’ve been talking about this for the last year, watching players. Over the course of the season, we’d sit with our staff and at the January (scouting) meetings we went over the other 29 teams, trying to predict what they were going to do. “It’s not like all of a sudden you show up and we’ve got these decisions to make. Internally, we’ve been discussing it and over the course of the last year.… Players with no-movement clauses in their contract must be protected, while players with less than three years of pro experience are exempt from the draft. Who will the Wings protect? Well, that officially won’t be revealed until 10 a.m. EST Sunday morning, but it shouldn’t be all that hard to decipher who will likely be on that list, and who will be left to sweat until the June 21 expansion draft takes place. Detroit’s list should look something like this: Goal Petr Mrazek Yes, Jimmy Howard played better last season. Yes Mrazek has been inconsistent for more than a year, and his attitude has caused problems within the team structure at times. But he’s also eight years younger than Howard, makes significantly less money, and hasn’t encountered the injury woes that have sidetracked Howard in recent years. Defense Mike Green The Wings have to protect Green, and not just because he’s about the only defender they suit up with any semblance of offensive skill. He’s entering the last season of a three-year contract, and will prove to be very attractive bait at next season’s NHL trade deadline. If he were unprotected, the Golden Knights would be all over Green for that very reason, so the Wings would be foolhardy to expose such an asset. Danny DeKeyser DeKeyser endured a major downturn in performance last season and is the first to admit it. “I can’t really put my finger on why I had the struggles I had,… DeKeyser said. “Sometimes as a player you go through . . . you have slumps in your game, or you go through lulls where you’re not playing your best and you know that you can play better.… The Wings know that DeKeyser can be better as well and aren’t about to cast him adrift after one poor season. Nick Jensen Jensen didn’t make the Wings out of training camp last season but once he was called up, played a steady game. “He can really skate and get the puck up the ice,… Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. By season’s end, Jensen was a top four defender for the Wings. They won’t risk losing him. Forwards Henrik Zetterberg There’s no way the Wings are going to expose their captain, even though he’s near the end of his career. Besides, Zetterberg remains their best player, and still sets the tone in the room. They can’t afford to be without him. Frans Nielsen This one’s a no-brainer. Nielsen has a no-movement clause in his contract, so under the draft rules, must be protected. Anthony Mantha The Wings have big plans for their 2013 first-round pick, and after he scored 17 goals in 60 games last season, there’s reason to believe Mantha can deliver on his long-awaited promise. Andreas Athanasiou Perhaps the fastest skater in the NHL, Athanasiou netted 18 goals in 64 games, yet some hockey sites actually speculated he might not be protected. That’s just foolish thinking. This guy is a keeper. Tomas Tatar He began to resemble the sniping Tatar of previous years over the last quarter of the 2016-17 NHL season, finishing with a team-leading 25 goals. Enough said. Gus Nyquist It’s easy to scoff at Nyquist, especially since he accounted for just 12 goals last season. But he was also second on the team with 48 points, and the Wings aren’t exactly an offensive juggernaut. Justin Abdelkader Yes he has a terrible contract ($4.25 million cap hit for six more years), and he’s coming off a horrendous season (7-14-21 totals in 64 games) but Abdelkader has an important factor in his corner. On a team full of Fancy Dans, he’s one of the few willing and capable of going into the dirty areas to make plays or to reacquire the puck. And when you consider that this last spot comes down to a choice between him and Darren Helm, Riley Sheahan and Luke Glendening, Abdelkader almost wins by default. Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer