NHL Trade Rumors

The Seattle Kraken will get a chance to build their roster through the expansion draft on July 21.

They will get to select 30 players from each of the 30 NHL franchises that predate the Vegas expansion in 2017. Each of those teams will get to protect either 7 forwards, 3 defensemen and 1 goalie or 8 total skaters and 1 goalie. Generally, first and second-year pros are exempt and do not need to be protected.

Of the 30 players Seattle will select, 20 need to have contracts for 2021-22, at a combined cap-hit of between 60 and 100% of the salary cap. They must select a minimum of 14 forwards, 9 defenseman and 3 goalies. The full list of rules can be found here.

A wildcard for the expansion draft is how teams approach their unrestricted free agents. Teams can choose to leave them unprotected, assuming that Seattle will move on to pick a player they control through next season, and negotiate with them after the expansion draft is over. In most cases, that is what I assumed teams would do with their UFAs.

It is expected that there will be both:
– Pre-draft trades to manipulate teams’ expansion lists.
– Post-draft trades where Seattle distributes some of their excess players throughout the league.
Both are included in this mock draft.

Enough with the introduction, NHL Trade Rumors 2021 Mock Expansion Draft:

Nashville Predators
Exempt: Eeli Tolvanen
Protected
F: Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson, Calle Jarnkrok, Luke Kunin
D: Roman Josi, Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Ellis, Dante Fabbro
G: Juuse Saros

Kraken select: LW Tanner Jeannot

The Kraken pass up on the big contracts of Ryan Johansen and Matt Duchene to pick the 23-year year old Jeannot who had an impressive 15-game stint with the Preds this season.

TRADE:
To Calgary Flames: LW Zach Aston-Reese
To Pittsburgh Penguins: C Mathias Emilio Pettersen, CGY 2021 3rd round pick

The Penguins have a number of potential options for the Kraken: Zach Aston-Reese, Teddy Blueger, Brandon Tanev and Casey DeSmith. Trading one of them may seem counterintuitive as it assures they will be without two of them for next season. However, Aston-Reese is due for a raise this summer and moving him to get the talented young Pettersen increases their flexibility. The Flames have space to protect another forward and the reliable Aston-Reese is a worthy target.

Pittsburgh Penguins
Exempt: John Marino, Pierre-Olivier Joseph
Protected
F: Sidney Crosby (NMC), Evgeni Malkin (NMC), Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust, Kasperi Kapanen, Jason Zucker, Jared McCann
D: Kris Letang (NMC), Brian Dumoulin, Marcus Petterson
G: Tristan Jarry

Kraken select: C Teddy Blueger

Calgary Flames
Exempt: Juuso Valimaki
Protected
F: Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Matthew Tkachuk, Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangiapane, Dillon Dube, Zach-Aston Reese
D: Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Rasmus Andersson
G: Jakub Markstrom

Milan Lucic has confirmed he’s agreed to waive his no-move clause for the expansion draft, giving them another slot to pursue and eventually protect Zach Aston-Reese. Many believe the Flames will have a big roster turnover this season, if it happens before the expansion draft, it might change what Seattle is looking at drastically.

Kraken select: C Byron Froese
The Kraken also receive TOR’s 2022 3rd round pick for selecting Froese over Marc Giordano.

Ottawa Senators
Exempt: Tim Stutzle, Josh Norris, Artem Zub, Erik Brannstrom
Protected
F: Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, Connor Brown, Nick Paul, Colin White, Chris Tierney, Logan Brown
D: Thomas Chabot, Victor Mete, Nikita Zaitsev
G: Filip Gustavsson

Kraken select: G Joey Daccord

One of the few goalies available with some upside who won’t require waivers in 2021-22, Daccord as a third goalie option is more intriguing than Matt Murray at $6.25 million AAV or Evgenii Dadonov at $5 million.

Buffalo Sabres
Exempt: Dylan Cozens, Ukko-Pekka Luukonen, Mattias Samuelsson
Protected
F: Jeff Skinner (NMC), Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Victor Olofsson, Anders Bjork, Casey Mittelstadt, Tage Thompson
D: Rasmus Dahlin, Rasmus Ristolainen, Henri Jokiharju
G: Linus Ullmark

Kraken select: RD Will Borgen

Like Calgary, it’s expected that Buffalo will make some moves this off-season, but the question is when. Will Borgen represents a young depth option on defense for the Kraken.

Dallas Stars
Exempt: Jake Oettinger, Jason Robertson, Joel Kiviranta, Ty Dellandrea
Protected
F: Tyler Seguin (NMC), Jamie Benn (NMC), Alexander Radulov (NMC), Joe Pavelski, Denis Gurianov, Roope Hintz, Radek Faska
D: Miro Heiskanen, John Klingberg, Esa Lindell
G: Ben Bishop

Kraken select: C/LW Jason Dickinson

The Stars will presumably wait until after the expansion draft to re-sign Jamie Oleksiak, which many will expect they will.

Carolina Hurricanes
Exempt: Martin Necas
Protected
F: Jordan Staal (NMC), Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen, Nino Niederreiter, Vincent Trocheck, Andrei Svechnikov, Warren Foegele
D: Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, Jake Bean
G: Alex Nedeljkovic

Kraken select: LD Brady Skjei

The Hurricanes won’t like to lose Skjei, but it’s a necessary evil to keep the promising Jake Bean. They would put the $5.25 million in cap space to use, however.

Florida Panthers
Exempt: Spencer Knight, Owen Tippett, Aleksei Heponiemi, Matt Kiersted
Protected
F: Jonathan Huberdeau (NMC), Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett, Anthony Duclair, Carter Verhaeghe, Frank Vatrano
D: Keith Yandle (NMC), Aaron Ekblad, Mackenzie Weegar
G: Sergei Bobrovsky

Kraken select: G Chris Driedger after negotiating a 3 year deal with a $4 million AAV.

Florida will happily negotiate a deal with Driedger, who they would lose as a free agent anyways, to prevent them from losing another player.

Los Angeles Kings
Exempt: Quinton Byfield, Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Gabriel Vilardi
Protected
F: Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Alex Iafallo, Adrian Kempe, Trevor Moore, Andreas Athanasiou, Carl Grundstrom
D: Drew Doughty (NMC), Matt Roy, Sean Walker
G: Cal Petersen

Kraken select: C/LW Lias Andersson

TRADE:
To San Jose: LD Vince Dunn
To St. Louis Blues: SJ 2022 2nd round pick

The writing is on the wall with the Blues and Vince Dunn. Dunn has been in trade rumors this season and the Blues cannot protect him. They’ll take a second round pick from the Sharks, who can protect him.

St. Louis Blues
Protected
F: Ryan O’Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko, Brayden Schenn, Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, David Perron, Oskar Sundqvist
D: Colton Parayko, Torey Krug, Justin Falk
G: Jordan Binnington

Kraken select: LW Samuel Blais

San Jose Sharks
Exempt: Mario Ferraro, Alexander Barbanov, Artemi Kniazev
Protected
F: Logan Couture, Evander Kane, Timo Meier, Tomas Hertl, Kevin Labanc, Ryan Donato, Jonathan Dahlen
D: Erik Karlsson (NMC), Marc-Edouard Vlasic (NMC), Vince Dunn
G: Josef Korenar

Kraken select: RW Rudolph Balcers after signing a 1 year, $800,000 deal

The pickings are fairly slim with the Sharks, assuming the Kraken aren’t interested in picking up Brent Burns’ $8 million cap hit until he’s 40 years old. A couple of RFAs in Balcers and Dylan Gambrell could be of interest to the Kraken. They could let the Sharks pick which one goes in exchange for signing the player before the draft to help Seattle with the requirement to pick at least 20 players signed for 2021-22.

Toronto Maple Leafs
Exempt: Rasmus Sandin, Ilya Mikheyev, Nick Robertson
Protected:
F: John Tavares (NMC), Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander
D: Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin, Justin Holl, T.J. Brodie
G: Jack Campbell

Kraken select: LD/RD Travis Dermott

The Kraken take Dermott, who has 208 NHL games at the age of 24 but has been surpassed by others on the Leafs’ depth chart.

Anaheim Ducks
Exempt: Trevor Zegras, Max Comtois, Jamie Drysdale
Protected
F: Jakub Silfverberg, Richard Rakell, Danton Heinen, Isac Lundestrom, Max Jones, Sam Steel, Troy Terry
D: Cam Fowler, Josh Manson, Hampus Lindholm
G: John Gibson

Kraken select: LD Haydn Fleury

Washington Capitals
Protected
F: Alex Ovechkin, Niklas Backstrom (NMC), Evgeny Kuznetsov, Tom Wilson, Anthony Mantha, Lars Eller, Conor Sheary
D: John Carlson, Dmitry Orlov, Brenden Dillon
G: Ilya Samsonov

Kraken select: G Vitek Vanecek

Like in the Vegas expansion draft, when the Golden Knights had a choice between Phillipp Grubauer and Nate Schmidt, Washington offers plenty of options for the Seattle expansion franchise. The Kraken take 25 year old goalie Vitek Vanecek, who is signed through next season with a $716,667 cap hit, and has one more RFA season following that. RHD Justin Schultz makes Seattle think, but T.J. Oshie and his $5.75 million cap his through 2024-25 is too large a commitment.

Winnipeg Jets
Exempt: Ville Heinola
Protected
F: Blake Wheeler (NMC), Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Nikolaj Ehlers, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Adam Lowry, Andrew Copp
D: Josh Morrissey, Neal Pionk, Dylan DeMelo
G: Connor Hellebuyck

Kraken select: RW Mason Appleton

TRADE
To N.Y. Rangers: LD Nikita Zadorov
To Chicago: LD Tarmo Reunanen, 2022 3rd round pick

With Adam Fox and K’Andre Miller exempt and Tony DeAngelo exiled, the Rangers have only two defensemen worthy of protecting and can use this position to pounce on a defenseman that can’t be protected by his current club. Chicago can only protect three of Zadorov, Duncan Keith, Connor Murphy and Calvin De Haan. The Rangers like the rugged element Zadorov adds to their lineup.

New York Rangers:
Exempt: Alexis Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko, Igor Shesterkin, K’Andre Miller, Adam Fox
Protected
F: Artemi Panarin (NMC), Mika Zibanejad (NMC), Chris Kreider (NMC), Pavel Buchnevich, Ryan Strome, Filip Chytil, Brett Howden
D: Jacob Trouba (NMC), Ryan Lindgren, Nikita Zadorov
G: Alexandar Georgiev

Kraken select: RW Colin Blackwell

Chicago Blackhawks
Exempt: Kirby Dach, Adam Boqvist, Dominik Kubalik, Ian Mitchell, Phillipp Kurashev, Nicolas Beaudin, Pius Suter
Protected
F: Patrick Kane (NMC), Jonathan Toews (NMC), Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Strome, Alex Nylander, Brandon Hagel, Henrik Borgstrom
D: Duncan Keith (NMC), Connor Murphy, Calvin De Haan
G: Kevin Lankinen

Kraken select: LD Riley Stillman

Tampa Bay Lightning
Protected
F: Nikita Kucherov (NMC), Steven Stamkos (NMC), Brayden Point, Ondrej Palat, Yanni Gourde, Anthony Cirelli, Alex Killorn
D: Victor Hedman (NMC), Mikhail Sergachev, Ryan McDonagh
G: Andrei Vasilevskiy

Kraken select: C Tyler Johnson
The Kraken receive Tampa Bay’s 2022 1st round pick for taking Tyler Johnson over Cal Foote and Erik Cernak.

New York Islanders
Exempt: Ilya Sorokin, Noah Dobson, Oliver Wahlstrom
Protected:
F: Mat Barzal, Anders Lee, Brock Nelson, Jordan Eberle, Anthony Beauvillier, J-G Pageau, Michael Dal Colle
D: Ryan Pulock, Adam Pelech, Scott Mayfield
G: Semyon Varlamov

The Kraken select: Nick Leddy

Leddy and Josh Bailey are inviting for the Kraken, but they opt for the blueline help.

Montreal Canadiens
Exempt: Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Ryan Poehling
Protected
F: Brendan Gallagher (NMC), Josh Anderson, Jonathan Drouin, Tyler Toffoli, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Artturi Lehkonen, Jake Evans
D: Jeff Petry (NMC), Shea Weber, Joel Edmundson
G: Carey Price (NMC)

Kraken select: LD Ben Chiarot

Colorado Avalanche
Exempt: Bowen Byram
Protected
F: Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakovsky
D: Cale Makar, Sam Girard, Devon Toews, Ryan Graves
G: Pavel Francouz

Ryan Clark of the Athletic has suggested that Eric Johnson will waive his no-trade clause so the team can protect other defensemen.

Kraken select: RW Joonas Donskoi

Vancouver Canucks
Exempt: Quinn Hughes, Nils Hoglander
Protected
F: Elias Petterson, Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser, J.T. Miller, Tanner Pearson, Tyler Motte, Kole Lind
D: Tyler Myers, Nate Schmidt, Olli Juolevi
G: Thatcher Demko

Kraken select: C Jay Beagle
The Kraken receive VAN’s 2021 3rd round pick for taking on the contract of Jay Beagle.

Detroit Red Wings
Exempt: Filip Zadina, Joe Veleno
Protected
F: Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, Jakub Vrana, Adam Erne, Michael Rasmussen, Robby Fabbri, Evgeny Svechnikov
D: Filip Hronek, Troy Stecher, Dennis Cholowski
G: Thomas Greiss

Kraken select: RD Gustav Lindstrom

Boston Bruins
Exempt: Jeremy Swayman, Jack Studnicka
Protected
F: Patrice Bergeron (NMC), Brad Marchand (NMC), Charlie Coyle (NMC), David Pastrnak, Nick Ritchie, Jake DeBrusk, Trent Frederic
D: Charlie McAvoy, Matt Grzelcyk, Brandon Carlo
G: Daniel Vladar

Kraken select: LD Jeremy Lauzon

Craig Smith is tempting for the Kraken as well, but they opt for the young blueliner instead.

New Jersey Devils
Exempt: Jack Hughes, Ty Smith, Jesper Boqvist
Protected
F: Nico Hischier, Miles Wood, Jesper Bratt, Pavel Zacha, Yegor Sharangovich, Janne Kuokkanen, Michael McLeod
D: P.K. Subban, Damon Severson, Jonas Siegenthaler
G: Mackenzie Blackwood

Kraken select: RW Nathan Bastian

Columbus Blue Jackets
Exempt: Elvis Merzlikins, Alexandre Texier, Emil Bemstrom, Mikko Lehtonen, Liam Foudy
Protected
F: Cam Atkinson, Gustav Nyquist, Max Domi, Patrik Laine, Boone Jenner, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Jack Roslovic
D: Seth Jones, Zach Werenski, Vladislav Gavrikov
G: Joonas Korpisalo

Kraken select: RD Dean Kukan

Philadelphia Flyers:
Exempt: Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost
Protected
F: Claude Giroux (NMC), Kevin Hayes (NMC), Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny, Scott Laughton, Oskar Lindblom, Nolan Patrick
D: Ivan Provorov, Philippe Myers, Travis Sanheim
G: Carter Hart

Kraken select: RW Jakub Voracek
The Kraken also receive PHI’s 2021 2nd round pick for taking Voracek.

The Flyers may be in for a big shakeup this off-season, and shedding Voracek’s $8.25 million cap hit for the next three seasons will kick things off. The Kraken are happy to pick up someone with his star power, who also helps them select the minimum cap charge for 2021-22.

Arizona Coyotes
Exempt: Barrett Hayton
Protected
F: Phil Kessel (NMC), Clayton Keller, Conor Garland, Nick Schmaltz, Christian Dvorak, Lawson Crouse, Johan Larsson
D: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jacob Chychrun, Kyle Capobianco
G: Darcy Kuemper

Kraken select: G Adin Hill

The Coyotes have a decision to make before the expansion draft: do they trade Darcy Kuemper or let Adin Hill be exposed to Seattle? They may very well trade Kuemper, but the problem with trading him before the expansion draft is the market will be limited to the teams that have the space to protect him.

Edmonton Oilers
Exempt: Evan Bouchard, Ryan McLeod
Protected
F: Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Jesse Puljujarvi, Kailer Yamamoto, Zack Kassian, Josh Archibald, Dominik Kahun
D: Darnell Nurse, Oscar Klefbom, Ethan Bear
G: Stuart Skinner

Kraken select: LW Tyler Benson

The Oilers will presumably wait until after the expansion draft to re-sign Adam Larsson, allowing them to protect Ethan Bear. Otherwise they could expose Oscar Klefbom, depending on his injury status.

TRADE
To Vegas: RD Matt Dumba
To Minnesota: LD Nicolas Hague, NJ 2021 2nd round pick

Minnesota Wild
Exempt: Kirill Kaprizov
Protected
F: Zach Parise (NMC), Mats Zuccarello (NMC), Kevin Fiala, Joel Eriksson Ek, Jordan Greenway, Marcus Foligno, Ryan Hartman
D: Jared Spurgeon (NMC), Ryan Suter (NMC), Jonas Brodin (NMC)
G: Kaapo Kahkonen

Kraken select: G Cam Talbot

The Wild are in one team in real expansion draft danger. If they don’t trade Dumba prior to the expansion draft, they could elect to protect 4 forwards and 4 defensemen, but that would require them to leave Jordan Greenway and Marcus Foligno exposed. Parise and/or Zuccarello could waive their no-movement clauses to protect one or both of the young forwards, but it’s no slam dunk they do. Trading Dumba to Vegas allows them to protect 7 forwards while picking up a promising, expansion-exempt defenseman and a near first round pick. Vegas, who don’t have to worry about losing a player to the expansion draft and have Alec Martinez’ contract expiring, are never afraid of a big move.

In the end, the following 30 players are selected by Seattle, adding to just about $4.5 million over the minimum cap charge for 2021-22:

What is Seattle going to do with all these players? Well…

Post-draft trades:

To Boston: LD Haydn Fleury
To Seattle: C/RW Jack Studnicka

Boston’s blueline was already lighter than they would like before losing Lauzon. In Fleury, they get a big, young blueliner under team control for three more years. Studnicka has been a bit disappointing for the Bruins so far, but Seattle can afford to be patient. They can send the young forward to the AHL without waivers if needed.

To Washington: G Adin Hill
To Seattle: ARI 2021 3rd round pick

Seattle will be responsible for shuffling a few goalies throughout the league. After losing Vanecek, Washington would like an NHL-experienced option to work alongside Ilya Samsonov.

To N.Y. Rangers: RW Nathan Bastian
To Seattle: RW Lauri Pajuniemi

The Rangers continue their quest to get bigger and tougher. The Kraken pick up a prospect that can potentially score some goals for them down the road.

To Minnesota: G Vitek Vanecek
To Seattle: MIN 2021 2nd round pick

Minnesota is in a similar position to Washington, needing a goalie after losing one to Seattle. Even after trading their second round pick, they still have four picks in the first three rounds.

To Vancouver: LD Jeremy Lauzon
To Seattle: RD Jett Woo

With cap space at a premium with Quinn Hughes and Elias Petterson to sign this summer, the Canucks value having an established NHL defenseman signed for 2021-22 at a cap hit of $850,000. Woo provides the Kraken with a promising defense prospect.

After the dust clears, Seattle’s depth chart looks like this:

And they have picked up an additional six draft picks: