As the picks and rumors start to leak out before Wednesday’s Expansion Draft, here’s a running list of all the players and rumors surrounding the Seattle Kraken — with a dash of #analysis. Read at your own peril — because, you know, spoilers.


3:16 p.m. – With Dennis Cholowski the pick out of Detroit and John Quennville the pick out of Chicago, all the picks are accounted for.

The Kraken didn’t make as big of a splash as some expected them to on Wednesday, steering away from high-cache players like Vladimir Tarasenko, Carey Price, James Van Riemsdyk, and Jakub Vorecek.

The Kraken’s biggest weapon at this juncture is flexibility. Not only with upcoming free agents — like Gabriel Landeskog and Taylor Hall — but with eating cap space in trades.

Stay tuned, folks.

10:34 a.m. – Not a huge surprise, but it appears William Borgen is the pick out of Buffalo.

Seattle is stockpiling good/interesting defensemen. It leaves one to wonder if there are some trades in the works flipping some of them to other teams…

10:04 a.m. – We have a pick from Anaheim and the New York Rangers (maybe).

Both Fleury and Blackwell were trendy choices for selection, so no surprises there.

Initial thoughts: The Kraken are prioritizing flexibility over anything else. GM Ron Francis passed on big names with big tickets attached. Additionally, Francis is wasting no time building out a deep and strong defensive corps.

However, Seattle’s 30 selections in the Expansion Draft won’t likely be the end of it. This tweet from Seravalli is perhaps some foreshadowing into that.

9:06 a.m. – A lot has happened in the last 50 minutes. Here’s what we know so far.

Seattle is taking at forward: Jared McCann (Toronto), Morgan Geekie (Carolina), Joonas Donskoi (Colorado), Calle Jarnkrok (Nashville), Nathan Bastian (New Jersey), Jordan Eberle (New York Islanders), Carsen Twarynski (Philadelphia), Brandon Tanev (Pittsburgh), Alexander True (San Jose), Kole LInd (Vancouver), Mason Appleton (Winnipeg), and Tyler Pitlick (Arizona).

At defense: Mark Giordano (Calgary), Gavin Bayreuther (Columbus), Jamie Oleksiak (Dallas), Adam Larsson (Edmonton), Carson Soucy (Minnesota), Cale Fleury (Montreal), Kurtis MacDermid (Los Angeles Kings), Jeremy Lauzon (Boston), and Vince Dunn (St. Louis).

In net: Chris Driedger (Florida), Joey Daccord (Ottawa), Vitek Vanecek (Washington).

We don’t know the picks from Anaheim, Buffalo, New York Rangers, Detroit, or Chicago. For Tampa Bay the Kraken are highly connected to forward Yanni Gourde, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet.

8:16 a.m. – The Kraken also have passed on Vladimir Tarasenko.

The prolific goal scorer carried a big cap hit at $7.5 million AAV, but many thought it was worth it for the year one offensive injection he could provide. Defenseman Vince Dunn is not a bad consolation prize, however. The pending restricted free agent was a trendy candidate for selection by Seattle.

8:10 a.m. – For those holding out hope for Carey Price, that isn’t happening.

The 34-year-old netminder and former Tri-City Americans star is a big name, sure. But many analysts, including several at Sound of Hockey, found his age (he’s 34 in August) and lofty contract — he’s owed $10.5 million per year over the next five seasons — hard to stomach.

Defensemen Cale Fleury appears to be a likely pick out of Montreal, according to Frank Seravalli.

7:45 a.m. – Well, good morning.

It appears defensemen Adam Larsson will be the pick in Edmonton and blue liner Jamie Oleksiak will be the pick out of Dallas, according to Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff.

These are the second and third players strongly linked to the Kraken, joining Florida netminder Chris Driedger. The selection and subsequent signing of the unrestricted free agent goaltender to a three-year, $3.5 million average annual value (AAV) contract was a poorly kept secret.

Larsson’s contract details are out, thanks to TSN’s Darren Dreger.

Both Larsson and Oleksiak are big, defensively-inclined defensemen who provide some thump on the blue line. It will be interesting. to see how general manager Ron Francis and company supplements that defensive core.
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