A year ago, the Minnesota Swarm stood alone in protecting two goaltenders for the National Lacrosse League's expansion draft.

The Swarm did it again this year, covering both Nick Patterson and Matt Disher, but this time, three other teams -- the Portland LumberJax, San Jose Stealth and Toronto Rock -- did likewise.

As in past season, clubs had the choice of protecting either ten runners and two goaltenders, or thirteen runners and one goaltender. Historically, most teams have chosen the latter option.

There's a bit less risk in exposing a backup goaltender this year, though, with only one team -- the still-unnamed NLL Boston -- drafting rather than last year's two (New York and Chicago).

Also, because it's only Boston entering the league for 2008, existing teams can only lose one player in the draft.

This year's draft includes the novelty of returning to a city which lost its last NLL team, the Boston Blazers, a decade ago, so there are a handful of players available who played against the Blazers.

The well-travelled Chris Panos, meanwhile, played for the Blazers, appearing in four games in 1997.

Other notable players who have been exposed include Buffalo's Cory Bomberry, Colorado's Brian Langtry, and Minnesota's Scott Stewart.

A full list of protected players follows, along with unprotected players who finished the 2007 season on an active roster (unlisted players who are on injured reserve, holdout list, etc. are also eligible to be drafted).

ARIZONA STING
 Protected Players:
  Blasdell, Rob
  Brown, Matt
  Codd, Bruce
  Conn, Craig
  Dawson, Dan
  Lough, Peter
  MacDonald, Brad
  Malawsky, Derek
  McKay, Chris
  Murray, Bruce
  Plunkett, Lindsay
  Secore, Andy
  Self, Scott
  Veltman, Peter
 Unprotected Players:
  Atherton, Brandon
  Attwood, Mike
  Beisel, Brian
  Grimes, Mike
  Hinman, Greg
  Lazore, Andrew
  Malawsky, Curt
  Seller, Chris
  Tinning, Mark


BUFFALO BANDITS
 Protected Players:
  Bucktooth, Brett
  Dostie, Kevin
  Greenhalgh, Sean
  Laverty, Kyle
  McCready, Pat
  Powless, Delby
  Sanderson, Phil
  Smith, Billy Dee
  Steenhuis, Mark
  Tavares, John
  Teat, Dan
  Thompson, Mike
  Vyse, Roger
  White, Chris
 Unprotected Players:
  Bomberry, Cory
  Bonterre, Troy
  Hill, Clay
  Kilgour, Rich
  Sams, Daniel
  Seymour, Daryl
  Thenhaus, Brenden


CALGARY ROUGHNECKS
 Protected Players:
  Couling, Kyle
  Dietrich, Steve
  Gelsvik, Craig
  Heavenor, Nolan
  Hinton, Luke
  Kelusky, Tracy
  Llord, Ian
  McBride, Andrew
  Moleski, Jeff
  Ranger, Scott
  Ratcliff, Lewis
  Shattler, Jeff
  Toth, Kaleb
  Wray, Devan
 Unprotected Players:
  Anderson, Scott
  Avery, Ryan
  Cable, Shawn
  Corrigan, Pat
  Francey, Tyler
  Gillespie, Travis
  Goundrey, Kyle
  Leyshon, Andrew
  McNish, Ryan
  Oglivie, Andy
  Phillips, Jesse
  Susheski, Kerry
  Tom, Derek


CHICAGO SHAMROX
 Protected Players:
  Clark, Jason
  Dupont, Kyle
  Gibson, Darryl
  Giles, Mat
  Hobbins, Mike
  Jacobs, Cody
  Kazarian, Bryan
  Kirk, Mike
  Leveille, Kevin
  McGlone, Bill
  Miller, Brandon
  Montour, Tom
  Wasson, Josh
  Woods, Cam
 Unprotected Players:
  Candy, Drew
  Collins, Derek
  Derks, Jonas
  Gallagher, Ryan
  Harasym, Jon
  Heffner, Zach
  Kruger, Rusty
  Panos, Chris


COLORADO MAMMOTH
 Protected Players:
  Bloom, Jason
  Carey, Dan
  Carlson, Nick
  Catton, Rich
  Ethington, Tom
  Gajic, Nenad
  Gallant, John
  Leveque, Matt
  Moss, Jim
  Nash, Gee
  Prout, Gavin
  Shewchuk, Jamie
  Sims, Josh
  Taylor, Matt
 Unprotected Players:
  Cornfield, Jordan
  Coyle, Pat
  Davidson, Scott
  Hanford, Jamie
  Langtry, Brian
  Law, Mike
  Levis, Chris
  Stilley, Dave


EDMONTON RUSH
 Protected Players:
  Accursi, Mike
  Allen, Mac
  Daly, Randy
  Finck, Dan
  Gill, Chris
  Glaves, Rory
  McElroy, Chris
  Palidwor, Curtis
  Prepchuk, Ben
  Quinlan, Jim
  Shannon, AJ
  Stroup, Dan
  Turner, Andrew
  Wulder, Jason
 Unprotected Players:
  Bowen, Jamey
  Bergman, Cam
  Hillier, Darren
  Howard, Kevin
  Jenner, Ted
  Melville, Cory
  Roy, Jamie
  Stobart, Buck
  Wagar, Kurtis
  Welsh, Daryl
  Williams, Rob


MINNESOTA SWARM
 Protected Players:
  Beirnes, Kasey
  Cousins, Ryan
  Culp, Chad
  Disher, Matt
  Hill, Dean
  Hominuck, Mike
  Pacey, Eric
  Patterson, Nick
  Pollock, Sean
  Sharp, Ryan
  Sullivan, Jon
  Ward, Ryan
 Unprotected Players:
  Boyle, Brock
  Biers, Andrew
  Hill, Travis
  Kemp, Riley
  Kilby, Mike
  Martin, Spencer
  McDade, Rory
  McLean, Ashton
  Ross, Kyle
  Stewart, Scott
  Talbot, Noah


NEW YORK TITANS
 Protected Players:
  Alrich, Matt
  Barrett, Bryan
  Boyle, Ryan
  Brzeski, Rich
  Kelly, Anthony
  Maddalena, Pat
  McLellan, Mike
  Mundorf, Brendan
  Orsen, John
  Park, Jarett
  Peyser, Greg
  Powell, Casey
  Vinc, Matt
  Zash, Matt
 Unprotected Players:
  Galbraith, Keevin
  Ghedina, Joe
  Horsey, Bobby
  Miller, Erik
  Schindler, Gewas
  Schroeder, Nick
  Spano, Jeff
  Tower, Brian
  Zummo, Tom


PHILADELPHIA WINGS
 Protected Players:
  Christmas, Jon
  Cromwell, Keith
  Crosbie, Jason
  Fiat, Kyle
  Hajek, Tom
  Iannucci, Athan
  Marohl, Dan
  Nadelen, Shawn
  Roik, Matt
  Snider, Geoff
  Sweeney, Kyle
  Van Beek, Rob
  Wailes, Kyle
  Wray, Taylor
 Unprotected Players:
  Bergey, Jake
  Burke, Zach
  Davis, Damien
  Jacobs, Peter
  Montour, Ken
  Morley, Marc
  Preece, John
  Ratcliffe, Jeff
  Rosenburger, Ian


PORTLAND LUMBERJAX
 Protected Players:
  Bateman, Ryder
  Crashley, Ian
  Eliuk, Dallas
  Hall, Kelly
  Holman, Matt
  Jones, Pat
  King, Matt
  Merrill, Brodie
  Morgan, Peter
  Morgan, Richard
  Powell, Ryan
  Stapleford, Scott
 Unprotected Players:
  Alexander, Bruce
  Bysouth, Adam
  Driscoll, DJ
  Guze, Ray
  Halladay, Del
  Heavenor, Tyler
  Marshall, Ryan
  Mazuran, Scott
  Palmer, Graham
  Prossner, Jed
  Reisig, Darren


ROCHESTER KNIGHTHAWKS
 Protected Players:
  Abrams, Marshall
  Chapman, Sandy
  Ditzell, Scott
  Evans, Scott
  Evans, Shawn
  Forget, Luke
  Grant, John
  Greer, Bill
  Hoar, Stephen
  O'Toole, Pat
  Reid, Jack
  Schiller, Chris
  Toll, Steve
  Williams, Shawn
 Unprotected Players:
  Brown, Dave
  Cougevan, Pat
  Crawley, Grant
  Croswell, Brian
  Dutton, Patrick
  Millin, Ken
  Thorpe, Regy
  Wetherup, Phil


SAN JOSE STEALTH
 Protected Players:
  Bold, Aaron
  Cosmo, Anthony
  Crawford, Callum
  Doyle, Colin
  Hawksbee, Ian
  Hodgson, Curtis
  Martin, Eric
  Rosyski, Gary
  Sedgwick, Cam
  Sorensen, Kyle
  Wiles, Luke
  Zywicki, Jeff
 Unprotected Players:
  Booth, Tim
  Burkholder, Andrew
  Dawson, Paul
  Green, Wes
  Guindon, Andrew
  Halls, Darren
  Holmes, Steve
  Mitchell, Sterling
  Santos, Shaydon
  Wiles, Jason
  Williams, Shawn


TORONTO ROCK
 Protected Players:
  Benesch, Ryan
  Carroll, Matt
  Driscoll, Chris
  Fines, Kevin
  Manning, Blaine
  Marshall, Rob
  Poulin, Mike
  Sanderson, Josh
  Suddons, Derek
  Veltman, Jim
  Watson, Bob
  Wilson, Aaron
 Unprotected Players:
  Campbell, Scott
  Ladouceur, Dan
  MacArthur, Brad
  McLeod, Mike
  Merrill, Patrick
  O'Brien, Tim
  Rubel, Ian
  Shearer, Matt
  Stewart, Chris
  Taylor, Jamie