The Carolina Hurricanes have left forward Nino Niederreiter unprotected in the expansion draft, reports Frank Seravalli.
Niederreiter has a cap hit of $5.25 million and will be a UFA after 2021-22.
Carolina protected seven forwards, including Warren Foegele and Jesper Fast. On defense, they protected Brady Skjei over Jake Bean.
Carey Price has waived his no-movement clause for the purposes of being exposed in the expansion draft.
Price has a cap hit of $10.5 million for the next five seasons. Even after the impressive playoff run, it’s very hard to see Seattle being tempted to take on that contract.
The move allows the Canadiens to protect Jake Allen, who was previously assumed to be the Kraken’s pick.
The Philadelphia Flyers have acquired Ryan Ellis from the Nashville Predators.
Elliotte Friedman reports that Miro Heiskanen is close to re-signing in Dallas.
An 8-year deal would cover four RFA seasons and 4 UFA seasons for Heiskanen.
In 205 career games with the Stars, Heiskanen has 28 goals and 67 assists.
Colorado’s Cale Makar is the other big RFA defenseman that figures to be in for a payday this summer. Adam Fox, whose contract expires after the 2021-22 season, can sign an extension after July 28.
According to Pierre LeBrun, the path the Blues take with Vince Dunn is still undecided.
In our Mock Expansion Draft, the Blues traded Vince Dunn to the Sharks for a 2nd round pick. Trading him still feels a likely scenario. There are presumably teams interesting in grabbing another defenseman, including the Rangers.
If he’s left unprotected by the Blues, he would appear to be an easy claim for Seattle.
The third scenario LeBrun mentions is protecting four defensemen, including Dunn. This would mean the Blues could only protect four forwards, who I would presume would include Ryan O’Reilly and Jordan Kyrou. That means the Blues could only protect two of Brayden Schenn, Robert Thomas, David Perron and Vladimir Tarasenko. This seems the least likely scenario of the three.
According to Darren Dreger, the Columbus Blue Jackets are expected to leave Max Domi exposed in the expansion draft, where it’s expected he’ll be claimed by the Kraken.
Domi has been a disappointment since coming over from Montreal for Josh Anderson last off-season. In 54 games last season, he had 9 goals and 15 assists.
Domi has a cap hit of $5.3 million and can be a UFA after 2021-22. Seattle will have a tough time finding centers that can play on their top two lines through the expansion draft, making Domi an intriguing prospect.
The Detroit Red Wings have acquired Nick Leddy from the New York Islanders.
Detroit is retaining 50% of Panik’s $2.75 million cap hit this year and next.
As Arthur Staple points out, the Islanders now don’t have a defenseman that meets the requirement for exposure beyond Pelech, Pulock and Mayfield, who will be protected. They will need to either sign Andy Greene or Brayden Coburn or trade for a defenseman that meets the requirement.