NHL Salary Cap Questions > Protected Picks
Protected Picks
Asked Mar 18, 2022 by Dan H
How do protected draft picks work? Like a first round protected pick. What does that mean?
Answer
Mar 18, 2022
A "protected" pick just means there's a condition on the pick that if it ends up being in a certain slot, that pick is not traded. For example, if a first round pick is Top 10 Protected, it means that if the pick ends up being in the Top 10, that pick isn't traded, and instead a different pick is traded. The most common example would be that the first round pick the following year is traded instead.
