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The votes are in and our list is complete.

We've made some tough decisions and some easy ones. We've angered some people, but hey, that's part of the business. The following players are eligible to be plucked away from the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2010 SB Nation Mock NHL Expansion Draft:

G: Brian Boucher

D: Matt Walker, Sean O`Donnell, Oskars Bartulis

F: Jody Shelley, Dan Carcillo, Darroll Powe, Blair Betts, Greg Moore

The draft will take place today, on Thursday, and the results will be announced next Tuesday, after the Labor Day holiday. Gabe Desjardins of Behind The Net is running the new Winnipeg franchise, while James Mirtle of The Globe & Mail is running the new Quebec franchise.

After the jump, let's look at which Flyers players were protected and which players were exempt from this process.

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Lisa Hillary's farewell at CSN DC was slightly emotional. (And that dude does NOT like Philly.)

Recall our story from the other night, where we shared the news that Lisa Hillary would be leaving CSN Washington to cover the Flyers at CSN Philly. We had a chance to speak with Hillary on Wednesday afternoon about a ton of different things, from her career thus far to her decision to come to Philly to her dislike of Toronto. Oh, and the rat. We talked about the rat.

On her career before CSN Washington:

Lisa Hillary: I did news and I was the Assistant PR Director for the Ottawa Senators. I did a bunch of different things before I actually got into sports broadcasting. When I left TSN I went I actually went back to my home town of Ottawa. I wasn't a big fan of Toronto to be honest with you. It's kind of an impersonal city. It was sort of like a mini New York. I wasn't a huge fan, not to mention, you know, my schedule didn't allow me to have much of a life.

On moving to the United States and deciding to cover the Capitals:

LH: [Leaving TSN] was a personal decision. It had nothing to do with the things I did there. Working in Calgary, first of all, was fantastic. Then they promoted me to SportsCentre anchoring in Toronto, which was great. But in hindsight, I love reporting and were I to do it again I probably would've stayed in Calgary. It's a great city.

Eventually, I just got the itch to get back into sports again. With Alex Ovechkin getting the drafted, you knew he was going to be such a huge star, so when the opportunity to come here to Washington to cover who was, to me, the best player in the world -- and I still believe he is -- you know, it was a no brainer.

That's why I decided to come and it's been a wonderful three years.

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More photos » Gene J. Puskar - AP

Look at that form (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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Today's open discussion thread, complete with your daily dose of Philadelphia Flyers news and notes...

• Hey, did you hear Bill Guerin skated with the Flyers yesterday? [Flyers] [CSNPhilly] [NHL.com]
• Great story on Traktor Chelyabinsk honoring Dmitry Tertyshny with an annual tournament: [NHL.com]
  
• Is the NHL circumventing the CBA? Seriously: [Jewels From the Crown]
• Jonathan Willis returns, explaining why Janne Niinimaa is his favorite post-dynasty Oiler: [The Copper & Blue]
• Hey, locker pictures of Jody Shelley [NHLFlyers] and Andrej Meszaros [NHLFlyers]
• The exterior officially reads Wells Fargo Center [NHLFlyers] and the ice is painted inside [Flyers]
• Lastly, how many points can Henrik Sedin be expected to score after putting up 112 last year? [Behind The Net]
  

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We have to protect one goalie in the Mock Expansion Draft. Don't everybody go and jump up all at once, now.

Players who have played less than 50 games in the NHL are exempt and automatically protected, so guys like Sergei Bobrovsky, Nicola Riopel and Johan Backlund are automatically protected.

Basically, this exercise is simple: who do you want, Michael Leighton or Brian Boucher?

Compare them completely and totally. I'm not going to sit here and list the different accolades because I don't want to editorialize and sway anybody in any particular direction (although, as Geoff has learned, that doesn't work that well), but you've probably made up your mind already anyway. You have a favorite. Pick him.

Michael Leighton

#49 / Goalie / Philadelphia Flyers

Height: 6-3

Weight: 186

Born: May 19, 1981

Brian Boucher

#33 / Goalie / Philadelphia Flyers

Height: 6-2

Weight: 200

Born: Jan 02, 1977

Pick a goalie to keep: Brian Boucher or Michael Leighton? (It's not like the other is getting taken in the draft anyway.)

More photos » Bruce Bennett - Getty Images

The Wolf will attack if you don't vote for him.

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The votes are in and the polls are closed.  Distinguished BSH members have rejected my argument and sided with Ben, protecting Ian Laperriere and Scott Hartnell.  That's fine, it's tough to break the habit of being snuggled up against the cap.  We'd be lost without that problem.  Just like if the Flyers found a franchise goalie: we wouldn't know what to do.

So with that, the honorable Messrs. Mirtle and Desjardins will be choosing from Darroll Powe, Blair Betts (surely gone), Greg Moore, Jody Shelley, and Dan Carcillo.

But now it's time to turn to the defense:

Protected: Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, Matt Carle, and Braydon Coburn

Exempt: Marc-Andre Bourdon, Kevin Marshall, Joonas Lehtivuori, Erik Gustafsson, Tyler Hostetter, and Dan Jancevski

That leaves four players battling for immunity.

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UPDATE: Craig Custance of The Sporting News says he got a text from Guerin that says he's "just in town" and "not hoping for a tryout, just skating." According to his agent in the same article, "he simply needed needed a place to skate" and that they've "had discussions with a couple of teams." Still, you have to assume the Flyers are one of those teams, given that they've let him train in Flyers orange at their practice facility.

Bill Guerin is interested in playing for your Philadelphia Flyers. This is both a good thing and a bad thing, for many different reasons. Let's stop messing around and get into them, because that's what Bill Guerin would do. (See, one good reason to sign him already.)

It should be noted, of course, that the Tim Panaccio article linked above says that Guerin simply wants a tryout contract with the Flyers. He was officially, publicly cut loose by the Penguins a few days ago, and now he's skating and working out at the Skate Zone in Flyers gear. I'm sure he needed team permission to do that anyhow, so it's clear the Flyers are looking at him hard as we speak.

Let's set one thing straight: there are literally no cons to bringing a guy like Guerin in on a tryout contract. Try to find one. They aren't there. He's been around, he's won the Cup, he'll push other guys hard. It'll be like having another coach in the room, except this coach can steal your job.

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Brad Meier just told Chris Pronger he didn't vote in the BSH Mock Expansion draft.

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Today's open discussion thread, complete with your daily dose of Philadelphia Flyers news and notes...

• Voting on the Flyers protected forwards ends soon.  Don't forget to read Ben and my arguments: [BSH]
• The Flyers released their promotional schedule for the year: [Flyers]
• NHL veterans don't understand the CBA, or the nature of their line of work: [Lighthouse Hockey]

That's it.  Seriously.  Look for the defensemen's protected poll later today.

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Remember me? Yes? No? Vaguely?

In any event, I'm here today to share with you a conversation I recently had with the more recently visible Geoff Detweiler about which forwards should be protected in the upcoming SB Nation Mock Expansion draft.

After you read our conversation, make your own voice heard in the comments and the poll below.

*****

Ben: I can't believe you want to keep Lappy over Hartnell.

Geoff: If we're going to lose somebody for nothing - as we would in an expansion draft - I want to have a better consolation prize than just "he's old and replaceable."  I want ~$4 million in cap space so we can say, "yeah, that sucks we lost such a talent, but at least we have room to replace him"

Ben: You want to lose the offensive production? Lappy, likeable as he is, is utterly replaceable.

Geoff: Is he?

Ben: Sure. This league is full of grit guys. Plus, he's one concussion away from retirement.

Geoff: Jody Shelley is no Lappy.  Powe is no Lappy. Nodl is no Lappy.

Ben: Nodl is no Flyer. Not yet, anyway

Geoff: Right. But if you're keeping Hartnell over Lappy, why not Lappy over Betts? He's one faceoff away from never being able to lift a hockey stick again.

More of the conversation, with the poll after the jump.

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Jakub Kovář shares his thoughts about the preseason so far and comments his new situation as a starting goaltender now that previous starter, NHL veteran Roman Turek, has retired.

České Budějovice concluded a preseason tournament that was held in Switzerland last week. Kovář says the tournament was demanding because of the travel, but it also offered high quality games and prepared the team well for the upcoming season.

"I enjoyed the tournament, it was beneficial for me. I like games where I get shots frequently."

"They were definitely good enough games to prepare us. It was no different from the Czech league playoffs and it was good for us to get that kind of a test already now. It definitely benefitted us."

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