The Expansion Draft can be a fun exercise, but it’s also a stressful time for fans who have become attached to certain players.

Each team is only allowed to protect 7 forwards, three defencemen and one goalie, so there’s bound to be a couple players out there that fans will be upset about. Every fan base has something to say about who they would protect but there are certain players who have drawn more attention than others.

These six players have fan bases freaking out.

James Neal

James Neal has been a highly regarded forward in the NHL for a long time now, but the Nashville Predators were forced to expose him in the draft.

There has been rumours of Nashville trying to work something out to keep him from getting selected, but ultimately Nashville will lose out on a pretty big asset no matter what. Fans are not pleased.

Kerby Rychel

Realistically, this could be Kerby Rychel or Brandon Leipsic. Both players have put up great numbers in the AHL and have Leafs fans excited about the potential carrying that scoring prowess into the NHL. The Leafs chose to protect Matt Martin instead, so some fans aren’t pleased.

Bobby Ryan

Three months ago, nobody would have batted an eye at Bobby Ryan being exposed in the expansion draft. However, Ryan looked spectacular in the Playoffs and was a clutch performer in the Sens’ ECF run. Fans have become attached again and are hoping that Ryan is still on the team  by next year. Although, if Vegas does take him, that could free up a lot of cap space for the Sens.

Petr Mrazek

At the beginning of this season, this would have been unthinkable. Mrazek was considered the goalie of the future for the Red Wings and Jimmy Howard was a big cap hit that was sitting on the bench for most of the year. However, Howard had a resurgent performance and took back the lion’s share of the starts.

Still, at 33 years old, it is a bit peculiar to protect Howard over the 25-year-old Mrazek.

Matt Dumba

Maybe the most attractive name in the draft appears to be Matt Dumba. Fans of basically every team are hoping that this could somehow mean their team gets a shot at the stud young defenceman.

Minnesota will no doubt try to work out a deal to protect their young defenceman, but with Eric Staal and Marco Scandella also exposed, they’re another team that will definitely lose an asset through this process.

Charles Hudon

This one had Habs fans freaking out so much that Hudon started to trend on Twitter.

Hudon was almost a point-per-game player in the AHL last year, so if he can even come close to that in the NHL, he would be an absolute steal for Vegas. Obviously, on the other end of the spectrum, Habs fans were not too happy.

Ryan Strome

The Islanders have taken one of the more bizarre strategies into the draft.

They have decided to protect five defencemen and three forwards.

Even with that said, Islanders fans are still pretty scared to see Strome’s name on that list. He didn’t seem to have his best year last year, but a player with that much talent has a lot of potential to grow in the NHL.

Another big name is Sami Vatanen, but fans don’t seem too concerned because it’s been reported that there will be a deal in place that should prevent Vatanen from getting picking.