Protected Lists Released For NHL Waiver Draft

Does you budget have room for an $8-million goalie with a sore ankle? Do you think Pavel Bure might have a little hockey left in him? Does Robert Reichel still strike you as a legitimate NHL center? If so, you can have them. Reichel, Bure and Curtis Joseph are among the players available in Friday's NHL Waiver Draft. The list of protected and unprotected players is online at NHL.com. There are always a few surprises - the Philadelphia Flyers protected AHL vet John Slaney and exposed nine-year defenseman Chris Therien - but the waiver draft is mostly a fire sale of the aged, the overpriced and the just plain not good enough. If you want to know more, here's an explanation of the somewhat convoluted waiver draft process. But it's usually one of the more uneventful events on the NHL calendar. After all, if anyone wanted Joseph and his contract, they would have already given Detroit the token draft pick required to make the trade.