2021 NHL Expansion Draft: What Capital could be taken by Seattle? originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
It’s been a couple years in the making, but the NHL’s 32nd team, the Seattle Kraken, is almost here.
The NHL Expansion Draft is set to take place, where players will be selected as the newest members of the Kraken. The draft is set up the exact same way as it was for the Vegas Golden Knights, who entered the league as an expansion team in 2017.
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Here is everything you need to know about the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft.
When does the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft take place?
The creation of the Seattle Kraken’s roster will take place on Wednesday, July 21. The selections will begin at 8 p.m. ET and air live on ESPN2.
How many players are protected in the NHL expansion draft?
The Kraken will be picking one player from every team, with the exception of the Vegas Golden Knights, who are excused since they themselves are a newer expansion team. So that is 30 players, with at least 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goaltenders, that will be founding members of the Seattle Kraken after the draft.
When it comes to selecting players, Seattle doesn’t just get anyone. From the 30 teams the Kraken will be plucking a player from, each team gets to protect a certain amount of players from the expansion draft. A team can either choose to protect seven forwards, three defensemen and a goaltender, or eight skaters with any combination of forwards/defensemen and one goalie.
What are the NHL expansion draft rules?
All NHL teams must expose one defenseman and two forwards who are all under contract for 2021-22 and played in at least 40 NHL games in 2019-20 or played in at least 70 games from the last two seasons. They also must expose a goalie that is under contract for next season or will be a restricted free agent at the end of the 2021-22 season. Each team must submit their protection lists by Saturday, July 17 and all will be announced the following day, Sunday, July 18.
There are some exceptions. All first- and second-year players, and all unsigned draft choices, will be exempt from selection and will not be counted toward protection limits. So that rules out the Kraken being able to take a young star from a team. In addition, players with potential career-ending injuries who have missed more than the previous 60 consecutive games may not be considered one of the players that are exposed unless the NHL approves of it. These players may be determined to be exempt from selection and won’t count towards the protection list.
On the contrary, any player with a no movement clause in their contract that declines to waive it must be protected by their team. If the Kraken sign an impending free agent, that will count as the player selected from their previous team.
In total, from the 30 players the Kraken select, at least 20 of them must be under contract for the 2021-22 season and take up between 60-100% of the Kraken’s $81.5 million salary cap.
Who from the Capitals could be taken by the Seattle Kraken?
Every position is on the table for the Washington Capitals in the expansion draft. They could lose a defenseman to Seattle, lose a forward or worst-case scenario, be out of a young goaltender.
The three names that could be left unprotected along the blue line are Brendan Dillon, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Nick Jensen. All three bring experience to the table for the Kraken and will provide some depth on the back end. Dillon, although arguably the most talented of the trio, would leave less of a void on the D-core of the Caps than the other two, strictly because Washington’s left side on defense is littered with players that are NHL ready. The other two would be cheaper options for the right side on defense. Jensen is the more intriguing option considering he played a ton more last season than van Riemsdyk (53 games compared to 20), however he carries a higher price tag and is a year older.
At forward, Conor Sheary or Nic Dowd could be left unprotected. Sheary brings scoring depth while Dowd is a grit-and-grind fourth-liner. Both are very cheap options for the Kraken pick up and would
There is also the possibility of the Capitals losing Vitek Vanecek, assuming they protect Ilya Samsonov. Ultimately, they have Samsonov, along with Phoenix Copley, in their system, but Samsonov has yet to really prove he’s a No. 1 goaltender. A duo of Vanecek and Samsonov is a solid, young tandem to have in net. But if they lose Vanecek, that means they’re left with a more expensive and less talented backup in Copley.
What other players could be selected by the Seattle Kraken?
Looking at the best options for the Seattle Kraken to select in the expansion draft, it starts and stops with the Tampa Bay Lightning. There are a plethora of slam dunk options for the Kraken to take from the defending back-to-back champs. Tyler Johnson, who could be a second-line center on most any other team, could be available but carries a hefty $5 million cap hit. If he's protected, that means Yanni Gourde might be left available. He was one of their best players centering the third line in the playoffs. There is also Erik Cernak or Ryan McDonagh that would immediately be one half of Seattle’s top defensive pair.
There’s a duo of veteran Philadelphia Flyers who could be on the move -- James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek. Both carry high cap hits, but would become the Kraken’s No. 1 winger. Speaking of big cap hits, Matt Duchene of the Nashville Predators is rumored to possibly be available, although he has not lived up to his $8 million AAV contract of which he has five years left. There is a ton of value in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ bottom forwards who will most likely be unprotected -- Teddy Blueger, Jason Zucker or Brandon Tanev. Toronto Maple Leafs’ Alexander Kerfoot would be another very good depth center to add.
On the defensive side, St. Louis Blues’ Vince Dunn is a name that could that could be headed to Seattle. Dunn’s name has been in trade rumors for a couple of years now out of St. Louis. He’s coming off a one-year deal and will be an RFA this summer and it doesn’t appear likely that the Blues are interested in giving him the pay raise he’s due. At just 24 years old, he could be a key young piece for the Kraken that has proven NHL ability.
A name no one thought would be available is Montreal Canadiens' Shea Weber. It’s very unclear the extent of his injuries, but it’s rumored that they’re severe and he could miss all of next season, with his future in the NHL up in the air. If that’s the case, it would make sense for the Canadiens to leave him unprotected, but would the Kraken take that risk? He’s a top-four defenseman and would immediately be a shoe-in to be first captain, but if the rumors are true, they’d be selecting a player that may not even play a game for them.
Other defensemen that could be Kraken targets are Detroit Red Wings’ Troy Stecher and Edmonton Oilers’ Oscar Klefbom/
When it comes to the crease, there could be a veteran option in Vancouver Canucks’ Braden Holtby, as well as a younger option with pending RFA Adin Hill of the Phoenix Coyotes. The Kraken needs three goaltenders and it seems like for a veteran, Holtby makes sense to take over for the time being, or even as a backup role. Ben Bishop of the Dallas Stars has waived his no-movement clause and looks like he’ll be left unprotected. When healthy, Bishop is an elite goaltender but he missed all of last season. Chris Driedger, a UFA, is coming off a fantastic breakout year with the Florida Panthers and will have tons of teams calling up his agent, including possibly Seattle.
