The Seattle Kraken are closing in on a 3-year deal with Chris Driedger, Elliotte Friedman reports.
On the DFO Rundown Podcast, Frank Seravalli mentioned that Florida might also send Frank Vatrano to the Kraken. Seattle can negotiate with UFAs like Driedger in the days leading up the the expansion draft, but could wait to sign him until free agency open in the absence of a deal like Seravalli is suggesting.
According to Andy Strickland, the Montreal Canadiens are expected to explore signing Mike Hoffman again this summer.
Hoffman, though he provides little at even-strength, will likely be pursued by a number of teams looking to improve their powerplay.
On the DFO Rundown Podcast (12:00) Frank Seravalli reports that he believes that the Seattle Kraken are “all over Dougie Hamilton”, potentially giving him $8 million per year for 8 years.
Seravalli suggests that Seattle might use this period to negotiate a deal with Hamilton, but might ultimately wait until free agency opens, so they can also claim a player from Carolina in the expansion draft. He suggests young defenseman Jake Bean would be a good pick for Seattle.
If Seattle does wait until free agency opens, they would not be able to offer Hamilton the 8th year, so their contract offer would be limited to 7 years.
On the DFO Rundown Podcast, Frank Seravalli says (39:00) that the Philadelphia Flyers are hard at work to try to get the Kraken to take Jakub Voracek in the expansion draft, and there might be a first round pick in play.
He goes on to say there have been rumblings that Philadelphia is talking with Seattle to get them to take Vladimir Tarasenko and flip him to Philadelphia. He speculates that this might involve Seattle taking Robert Hagg from Philadelphia and Tarasenko from St. Louis, and then the Kraken trading Tarasenko to Philadelphia for Voracek and a 1st.
Tarasenko has two seasons left on his contract with a cap-hit of $7.5 million. Voracek has three seasons left at a cap-hit of $8.25 million.
Robert Hagg played under Kraken coach Dave Hakstol in Philadelphia.
Back in May, NHL Trade Rumors released a Mock Expansion Draft including pre-draft and post-draft trades. A lot of that mock still holds, but a lot of it doesn’t after the protection lists have been released.
Now that there’s a clearer picture of what will be available to Seattle, another kick at the can was in order.
Here are the picks, with thanks to Cap Friendly:
A couple pre-pick deals to report:
Tampa Bay sends G Hugo Alnefelt and their 2022 1st round pick to Seattle in exchange for the Kraken taking Tyler Johnson over Yanni Gourde.
Seattle signs G Chris Driedger to a 3 year contract with an AAV of $4 million prior to the selection.
In the May mock, there was a great opportunity for Seattle to take on good value in net, so they took five goalies and traded two elsewhere. The abundance in net didn’t develop, thus they only took three goaltenders this time around.
And for some post-draft trades:
To Boston: RW Vladimir Tarasenko ($2.5 million retained)
To Seattle: BOS 2021 1st round pick (21st overall)
To Colorado: LD Marc Giordano ($3.375 million retained)
To Seattle: RD Conor Timmins, NYI 2021 2nd round pick
To N.Y. Rangers: LD Carson Soucy
To Seattle: LD Zac Jones, OTT 2021 4th round pick
To Vancouver: LD Jeremy Lauzon
To Seattle: RD Jett Woo
To Ottawa: LW Brendan Lemieux
To Seattle: OTT 2022 4th round pick
As Ron Francis says, cap space is his most valuable weapon, and he uses it to increase the return on two high-ticket trades.
After it all the dust settles, the Kraken’s depth chart looks like this:
Seattle has a world of options in front of them and it should make for an interesting three days ahead.
Pierre Lebrun reports the Kraken are giving serious consideration to claiming Carey Price in the expansion draft.
I’d be surprised to see it. Price has a cap hit of $10.5 million for the next five seasons and his contract would expire at age 39. He’s recent playoff performance is notable, but in the regular season he’s eclipsed a 0.910 SV% once in the past four seasons.
I’d guess that Seattle is getting this message out there to rattle the cage of Montreal to try to get them to pay for the Kraken not to take the face of their franchise.
Andy Strickland suggests there’s a strong possibility that Nick Foligno signs in Minnesota to play with his brother Marcus.
The consensus around the league seems to be that Nick will either return to Columbus, or join his brother in Minnesota.
Andy Strickland reports that Ryan Strome is drawing trade interest from around the league.
One would have to think that the Rangers would need to add another center if they trade Strome, unless they view Barclay Goodrow as a full-time center moving forward.
Strome has one more season left at a $4.5 million cap hit.