The process for our Expansion Draft profiles has been to go from worst to first in terms of where teams finished last season. Thus, the Detroit Red Wings—who were historically bad in 2019-2020—were our first profile, while the Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning will be our last. What we’ve noticed is that as we are progressing through better and better teams, the decisions that general managers will have to make is getting more difficult, while the level of talent that will be exposed is generally improving. Strangely, the Boston Bruins do not seem to have particularly difficult decisions to make for the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft.
On the contrary, for a team that finished first in the Eastern Conference last regular season with 100 standings points in 70 games, the expansion-related challenges are few, at least for now. If things hold, Boston’s protection list will be cut and dried.
Nonetheless, there’s legitimate NHL talent that will be exposed by the Boston Bruins, and it is our duty to consider Seattle’s options for the Expansion Draft.
Assumptions
If the Bruins had kept Torey Krug, they would have had to go with the eight skaters and one goalie protection scheme, and Matt Grzelcyk, a point-producing defenseman in the prime his career, would have been the obvious pick. Alas, Krug is gone to the St. Louis Blues, and now the more common seven forwards, three defensemen, one goalie option is Boston’s route.
One question surrounding Boston’s immediate future is what general manager Don Sweeney decides to do with David Krejci. The second-line center is 34 years old and is reaching the end of an enormous contract. He has had a profound impact on the Bruins’ organization and is just one year removed from scoring 73 points, so his production is not yet waning.
We are assuming that Krejci’s contract status is moot, though. It’s our guess that he will remain a free agent until after the Expansion Draft, then re-sign with Boston so that he does not need protecting.
The only way we see the below changing is if Boston makes in-season trades—this feels likely, being that the B’s are still bona fide contenders—or somebody new emerges as must-keep talent. For this exercise we will assume no trades are coming.
Boston Bruins protected list for Seattle Expansion Draft
Forwards
David Pastrnak (Lock)
Patrice Bergeron (Lock, NMC)
Brad Marchand (Lock, NMC)
Charlie Coyle (Lock, NMC)
Jake DeBrusk (Lock)
Craig Smith
Ondrej Kase
There really aren’t any questions with this list. Even Craig Smith and Ondrej Kase—neither of whom earned our “lock” distinction—appear highly likely to be protected.
Smith was signed to a three-year deal in the offseason, and at an average annual cap hit of $3.1 million is reasonably priced considering he averages close to 40 points per season.
Kase has shown glimpses of star power in his career—he potted 20 goals in 2017-2018 with the Ducks—and Boston paid a significant price to acquire him, sending a first-round pick, David Backes, and Axel Andersson to Anaheim at the NHL Entry Draft. So, Kase will be protected unless one of Nick Ritchie or Anders Bjork has an enormous season.
Defense
Matt Grzelcyk (Lock)
Brandon Carlo (Lock)
Charlie McAvoy (Lock)
This is the way.
Ok, but seriously, all signs point toward this trio being protected by the Bruins. There is one young blueliner whose stock is rising quickly in Jeremy Lauzon, but it’s hard to imagine Boston exposing Grzelcyk or Carlo, and McAvoy is obviously cemented on the top pairing.
Goalie
Tuukka Rask (UFA)
Neither of Boston’s netminders—Rask or Jaroslav Halak—is signed beyond this season. There’s a chance that Rask could still be a UFA when Seattle’s negotiating window opens. Daniel Vladar is a highly-regarded goalie prospect and also needs protecting, but we don’t think netminder will be the focus out of Boston.
Top Boston Bruins targets for Seattle Expansion Draft
Forwards
Ritchie, 25, seems like the most obvious choice at the most obvious position out of Boston, just based on his role in that lineup. He’s a large-bodied, gritty winger, listed at 6-foot-2, 230 pounds, and with players out of the lineup is currently getting time in the top six and on the power play. But in his career, Ritchie has not had massive offensive outputs, so far peaking at 31 points in 2018-2019 with Anaheim.
Ritchie would be an effective player that could get opportunities in Seattle’s top six, but one must wonder if there are higher-upside options available here.
Other forwards to consider would be Bjork or perhaps Trent Frederic.
Bjork, 24, is lower on the depth chart than Ritchie and has had a relatively quiet and injury-riddled start to his NHL career. Last season was his first showing of real promise, as he notched nine goals and 10 assists in 58 games. It will be worth watching to see how Bjork performs this season if he stays healthy, though he so far does not have a point and is mired in Boston’s bottom six.
Frederic, meanwhile, is younger than the other options at 22 years old, but his NHL experience is limited to 22 games over three seasons. In that time he’s registered just one point, an assist against Philadelphia on Saturday. Frederic was a star at the University of Wisconsin, where he scored a point per game over two seasons and had decent numbers in the AHL. Still, the Kraken would have to see something special this year to make them believe Frederic will develop into more than a fourth-line grinder.
Defense
Jeremy Lauzon (some people call him Jérémy Lauzon, which is way more French Canadian and certainly more interesting) could end up being an x-factor in this whole process. As straightforward as Boston’s protection schemes appear, Lauzon is making a name for himself and could throw a wrench in Sweeney’s plans. At 23, the 2015 second-rounder has been hovering around 20 minutes per night on Boston’s blue line this season.
If Lauzon’s role continues to grow, Sweeney may be forced to think twice about his protection plans, and if he leaves Lauzon exposed, then the Kraken may have to think twice about taking a forward.
Goalie
The Rask contract situation is worth monitoring for Seattle fans, but it seems unlikely we will see the 2019-2020 Vezina Trophy finalist in the home goalcrease at Climate Pledge Arena. Rask, 33, has been the backbone of some great Bruins teams over the years, and Francis could do much worse than signing Rask as a UFA to a short-term deal. We’re guessing that Rask is going to want a longer term on what could be his last contract, though, and that just doesn’t make sense to us for Seattle.
The more likely play—should the Kraken be interested in a Boston goalie—would be for the future option in Vladar. The touted 23-year-old prospect had stellar numbers with the Providence Bruins last season, and is expected to one day be an NHL starter.
Side deal scenarios
We foresee side deals happening with teams that are right up against the salary cap. Surprisingly, the Bruins project to have plenty of room after this season, though they have some big-time restricted free agents—Carlo, Ritchie, Frederic, and Kase—due for raises and decisions to make on veteran UFA’s like Rask and Krejci. Even so, they shouldn’t be cornered into an unfavorable deal due to the cap.
In Boston’s case, a side deal would become more likely if a guy like Ritchie, Bjork, Lauzon, or even Vladar really does prove himself indispensable. If that happens, the cut-and-dried protection list will be difficult to alter and could lead to some wheeling and dealing.
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at Sound Of Hockey and the host, producer, and editor of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is an inconsistent beer league goalie who believes that five players have to make a mistake before the puck gets to him. Follow him on Twitter @DarrenFunBrown or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
John Forslund remembers the moment he became a hockey fan. It was 1970 and Bobby Orr scored his famous ‘flying’ goal to win the Stanley Cup in overtime.
That was a big moment for Forslund who grew up in Springfield, Mass. as a Boston Bruins fan. While he didn’t know it at the time, the goal would influence him in a way that would end up shaping his life’s work.
“I was watching the game at my aunt’s house on Mother’s Day,” he says of the moment. “It was great the Bruins won but it was the cadence of (broadcaster) Dan Kelly.”
That goal and that call led Forslund to a long career of calling hockey games on television and has landed him in Seattle 50 years later.
Seattle, you've got an incoming call – and trust us, you'll want to answer this one. 😏 pic.twitter.com/XRlCkgzDNw
The Seattle Kraken announced Tuesday that they’ve hired the former Hartford Whaler and Carolina Hurricanes broadcaster –and his well known ‘hey, hey, whaddya say’ goal call – to be the television voice of the team. The announcement came at the same time the team announced a multi-year agreement with ROOT SPORTS to broadcast up to 75 Kraken games locally.
The agreement is a joint production with the Seattle Mariners, ROOT, and AT&T Sports Network which allow the Kraken to establish a footprint in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska.
Origins of John Forslund’s famous ‘Hey, hey, whaddya say’ catchphrase
After hearing, and seeing, Kelly’s famous call of Orr’s goal, Forslund knew he wanted to call hockey games on TV.
He would watch Bruins games and call them himself in his living room. His Dad would serve as color analyst, and it prepared him for the career he would ultimately carve out. The pair would call every game together.
Forslund learned how to prepare for the games and how to do play-by-play and still utilizes lessons he learned on the couch with his father. It was his father who would say, ‘Hey, hey, whaddya say’ during those in-home broadcasts.
The AHL’s Springfield Indians would give Forslund his first chance to call pro hockey games in 1984, but unfortunately, his father passed away the day after Forslund received his first paycheck. It was then that he looked for a way to honor his father during broadcasts.
Using the catchphrase was the way to do it.
“It’s all for him,” Forslund says. “He was my best friend, and it was hard. I just thought I’d utilize this phrase in a broadcast somehow. Down the road I figured I would use it when the team scored a goal that I felt clinched the game.”
He says that when the goal is an overtime winner, its easy to use the phrase. A big goal in the second period is a little riskier but that won’t stop him if he feels the game is indeed over.
From the Hartford Whalers to the Carolina Hurricanes
In 1995, Forslund took over the television calls for the Hartford Whalers. He stayed with the club up until 1997 when the team was in turmoil with new ownership and the local politicians. Ultimately, the franchise packed up and would leave town. Forslund called the final Hartford Whalers game to be played.
“It was heartbreaking,” he says of the game. “It was hard. We put a lot of work to keep them there, more than a lot of people give us credit for. It was political. It became the greedy owner narrative. We tried to make it work. I grew up near there, went to WHA games, but I was kind of lumped in with the new ownership group. People viewed me as a traitor of sorts.
“The last game was difficult to get through, but you had to be professional. I never watched it until many years later, someone sent me a YouTube link. I was proud of how we handled it. It was credible, we said the right things, I hope.”
Forslund followed the franchise to Carolina and helped introduce the NHL to a new market. They had four months between the end of the 1996-1997 season and the start in North Carolina.
He now joins an expansion franchise that will bring big league hockey to a market that has yet to experience it. There are some similarities with what the Hurricanes had tasked before them, but the Kraken have had a longer prep time and access to modern marketing techniques such as social media as a way to build a groundswell of support.
“It is the same in the sense that you’re going into a brand-new market looking for your piece of the landscape,” Forslund says. “We had to crack into Tobacco Road, college basketball, and college football. The Kraken are going to have to find their place and that will be challenging.”
Despite a Seattle sports landscape that includes the NFL, Major League Baseball, and Division I college sports, Forslund is confident that the sport can and will be a draw.
“I believe hockey sells itself,” he says. “Once they see it, that’s it. That’s what happened in North Carolina with the Caniacs…I think we’ll have have the same thing. I’ve never been to Seattle, but I’ve watched over the years and I remember the glory days of the Supersonics with Gus Johnson and Jack Sikma. They were playing in the Kingdome and I remember how great the crowd sounded through the television. I think when the Kraken get to the playoffs, whether it’s in year one or later on, it will be another level. It’s going to be a tough place for the opponents.”
John Forslund’s road from Carolina to the Seattle Kraken
After being with the Hurricanes for their entire history as a franchise, Forslund’s contract was not renewed when it expired on July 1 last summer.
While he was dealing with the disappointment, he received a phone call from Seattle Kraken general manager Ron Francis. Forslund was with the Hurricanes during Francis’ time as a player and general manager with Carolina and the two had remained friends.
The call was a check in but led to more.
“He was asking about my family and he thought it was a rough deal,” Forslund says. “He told me he’d put me in touch with Tod Leiweke. It went on for a few months and they had to figure out who would have the rights and when it came to be, I thought that I couldn’t pass this up. I jumped at it.”
It was a pleasure working with you in the past, @JohnForslund, and I’m really looking forward to working with you again here in the PNW!
After he was let go by Carolina the local Seattle hockey community had speculated about the chance that Forslund would end up here.
Hockey fans are familiar with Forslund’s work and the speculation locally was rampant. He was hired by NBC to broadcast playoff games in the bubble but that didn’t temper the speculation. Could the Kraken snag a top broadcaster who suddenly was available? Some of that speculation made it’s way to Forslund, who was aware of the excitement in Seattle and found it flattering.
“I don’t take for granted my career or working for any of these teams,” he says. “I was very fortunate that I only worked for a minor league team and then Hartford which turned into Carolina. I was blindsided and emotionally down. Really happy that NBC had me for the two bubbles, that kept me going. I had to figure out what the next track was. I’m blessed.”
Forslund is currently calling national games for NBC – you can hear him call Wednesday’s Chicago-Nashville tilt – and hopes to continue even after he starts with the Kraken. NBC’s contract with the NHL is up after this season so there is an unknown about the national rights. He hopes to be a part of that but will always prioritize the local Kraken games.
Forslund says that fans can expect him to be a homer of sorts on the local calls but not an unabashed homer. You’ll get an exciting call for goals and great saves, no matter which team is behind it.
Calling the game like that is important to Forslund who feels he owes the fans a credible broadcast of games.
We will get to hear him over the next five or six months as he wraps up the Stanley Cup playoffs this summer. Then he’ll be Seattle’s broadcaster. The voice of the Kraken.
“The excitement is over the top,” Forslund says. “To get this opportunity is amazing. You don’t get a chance if you’re a play-by-play announcer to get two cracks at it, so to speak. To be part of it day one and be part of the journey for the team and the fans. It comes at a great time in my life and I know I’m joining a great team of people.”
The Philadelphia Flyers had a breakout season of sorts last year. They finished one point out of first place in the Metropolitan Division when the league stopped but were top four in the Eastern Conference and earned a bye during the qualifying round.
While it was a breakout, it was one that you could see coming a mile away.
Starting with former general manager Ron Hextall and continuing on to Chuck Fletcher, the Flyers were acquiring talent. It all came together in 2020 and now the Flyers are a contender again, armed with a roster that has a mix of veterans, youth, and an up-and-coming goalie.
That’s the good news for the Flyers. The bad news? All that roster depth means that they’re most likely going to lose a good player to the Seattle Kraken at this summer’s Expansion Draft. Fletcher has some work to do and multiple paths he can choose to walk down when it comes to handling his roster.
Fletcher doesn’t have a lot of cap space – less than a million dollars – and while the Flyers are in a ‘win now’ mode, he will need to find space for the near future. Will he look to unload some cap at the trade deadline? Will he try to hold on to those expensive vets to take advantage of the window he has now?
Those answers are yet to be revealed but a reason to keep an eye on how Philadelphia fares this season. Whatever choice they make, it will impact the Kraken.
Assumptions
Flyers forward Scott Laughton is an unrestricted free agent after this season, and if he’s re-signed prior to the Expansion Draft he may end up protected. Laughton, 26, is a glue type player for the Flyers. He provides solid minutes and works hard despite not lighting up the stat pages.
His salary is palpable at $2.3 million per year and while he would most likely get a raise, he would still be affordable to Fletcher. If Laughton is not re-signed by the Expansion Draft then Seattle general manager Ron Francis could negotiate with him during the Kraken’s 48-hour free agency window prior to the draft.
We are going to assume that Francis won’t do that, considering the other players that should be available from Philadephia. While Laughton has some value, he would most likely be a guy for the bottom of the lineup. Therefore, for this exercise, we will assume that Laughton is not an option for Seattle.
Philadelphia Flyers protected list
Forwards
Claude Giroux (NMC)
Kevin Hayes (NMC)
Travis Konecny
Sean Couturier
Oskar Lindblom
Nolan Patrick
Nicolas Aube-Kubel
There is a ton of depth with the Flyers forwards. Among those guys, Jakub Voracek will be a lynchpin in how Fletcher proceeds with his protected list.
Voracek, 31, has four years left on an $8.25 million-per-year contract and the Flyers could use some relief. He’s only a couple of seasons removed from 2017-2018 when he scored 20 goals along with a career-best 85 points in 82 games. His cap hit puts him a tier under the highest paid players in the league and an argument could be made its too much for a player of his caliber.
Fletcher has a major choice to make here.
He could try to move Voracek this year, but that cap hit could be tough with a flat salary cap, and the additional complexities of trading during Covid would limit suitors. Fletcher could also protect Voracek and look for cap space elsewhere – like not signing UFA’s Laughton and/or Eric Gustafsson.
The Flyers may also leave Voracek unprotected and hope that his salary would be too rich for Francis. While Seattle will need to hit the required cap minimum, the term on Voracek may not be something the Kraken want to entertain.
Further motivation to do something with Voracek is that Philadelphia will have Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier become UFA’s after the 2022-2023 and if they want to re-sign both, will have to clear room.
For this exercise we will go with the theory that Fletcher is willing to leave Voracek unprotected in the hopes that Seattle doesn’t take him. If the Kraken pass, it allows Fletcher to protect a younger player, like 24-year-old Nicolas Aube-Kubel who was a standout for Philadelphia in the playoffs after a couple of solid AHL seasons.
Fletcher will most likely leave veteran James van Riemsdyk unprotected. Van Riemsdyk, 31, has three years left on a contract that pays $7 million per year and is coming off one of his least productive full seasons in the NHL.
Defense
Ivan Provorov
Travis Sanheim
Philippe Myers
Fletcher has an easier decision when it comes to his defense. Both Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim are former first-round draft picks who are talented and young. They’re not going anywhere.
Veteran Shayne Gostisbehere may end up on the outside looking in. The 27-year-old has been a productive, puck-moving defenseman but was limited last season with injuries and started this year on the injured list, although appears close to returning. His $4.5 million yearly cap hit makes the younger and cheaper Philippe Myers a better long-term option for Philadelphia.
Goalie
Carter Hart
Carter Hart is one of the best, and youngest, up-and-coming goaltenders, and despite the best wishes of some Northwesterners hoping for a return to the area for the former Everett Silvertip, Hart will be protected. Veteran Brian Elliot is Hart’s backup this year but is a free agent to be so there will be no need to protect him. Philadelphia has to expose an eligible goalie, and that honor will fall to 24-year-old Felix Sandstrom who has yet to play a game in the NHL.
Philadelphia Flyers Expansion Draft targets
Forwards
Jakub Voracek
Scott Laughton
Nicolas Aube-Kubel
James van Riemsdyk
Defensemen
Shayne Gostisbehere
Justin Braun
Robert Hagg
Goalie
Felix Sandstrom
Thoughts
Francis has good choices with the Flyers roster. If Voracek is exposed the Kraken will have to consider adding a guy who has been productive, is a leader on and off the ice and would add instant credibility to the top-six. His salary is high, and Seattle would have him on the books for three seasons.
If the Kraken want to go with a defenseman, Gostisbehere would be an interesting selection. He’ll by 28 when the Expansion Draft happens and just three seasons ago turned in a 13-goal and 65-point season. Injuries have surfaced lately so his progress this season will need to be monitored closely.
Seattle would also have solid options in veterans like van Riemsdyk and Justin Braun.
Philadelphia Flyers side deal scenarios
Any team with the combination of limited cap space and high salaries brings side deals into the picture. The Philadelphia Flyers fit that description. Would Seattle be able to pull draft picks or prospects in exchange for taking high salaries like Voracek, van Riemsdyk, or Gostibehere off the Flyers hands? They might be interested in those players without a side deal but if Francis can get a player he wants plus say, a draft pick, it could end up being a great haul for the Kraken.
Led by exciting, young hockey stars such as Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes, the Vancouver Canucks look like they could be a dangerous team for many years to come. But Seattle has a chance to knock its geographic rival down a peg when the Kraken plucks one Canuck in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft.
Thankfully for the Canucks (ranked No. 3 in The Athletic’s organizational rankings in September), they have some more good prospects – Nils Hoglander, Vasily Podkolzin, Jack Rathbone and Jett Woo – in the pipeline. Like Hughes, these youngsters won’t have to be protected in the Expansion Draft.
Hoglander is already making an impact early this season. Whether they’re ready or not, Podkolzin, Rathbone and Woo will probably be pressed into action in 2021-22 because of salary cap issues.
Although the Canucks will get some help from a number of expiring contracts, Pettersson and Hughes are in the final year of their entry level deals and will get huge raises. Canucks general manager Jim Benning needs to get those two deals locked up before summer because the pending restricted free agents will surely attract the rarely used offer sheets from other teams.
These all add intriguing twists to the Canucks’ new rivalry before we find out which club will conquer Cascadia in 2021-22. (And let’s be clear, it should be called the “I-5-BC-99 rivalry,” not the “I-5 rivalry.” We wouldn’t want any of you getting stuck in Blaine.)
Assumptions
Forwards Tanner Pearson, Brandon Sutter, Sven Baertschi, and Tyler Graovac and defensemen Alex Edler, Jordie Benn, Travis Hamonic, and Ashton Sautner are due to be unrestricted free agents this summer. Most of them won’t be back, and maybe none will be re-signed before new deals for Pettersson and Hughes are ironed out.
If their current roster holds, the Canucks will have trouble complying with the NHL’s minimum requirements for exposing players in the Expansion Draft. Each team must expose at least one defenseman and two forwards who are under contract in 2021-22 and will have each played at least 40 NHL games this season or will have played in at least 70 NHL games in the previous two seasons.
Even if the league adjusts those game totals to account for the two COVID-19 abbreviated campaigns, Vancouver will be forced to expose defenseman Tyler Myers unless it acquires another defenseman who meets the requirements or re-signs someone like Edler or Hamonic to an extension. Our guess is the Canucks will get another veteran blue-liner under contract through 2021-22 before the draft.
Vancouver Canucks protected list for Expansion Draft
Forwards
Elias Pettersson (Lock)
Brock Boeser (Lock)
Bo Horvat (Lock)
J.T. Miller (Lock)
Adam Gaudette
Jake Virtanen
Tyler Motte
Patience is running low on Virtanen, 24, but as of now he’s a more valuable asset to keep as a trade chip rather than losing him for nothing to Seattle.
Motte is a good penalty killer, works hard, blocks shots and has decent skills, as shown with his four goals last postseason. Despite being a bottom-six forward, he gives the Canucks excellent value ($1.225 million per year through 2021-22) that they won’t want to let get away without having someone ready to capably perform those roles.
Defense
Nate Schmidt (Lock)
Tyler Myers
Olli Juolevi
After Schmidt, predicting which other defensemen the Canucks protect gets a little iffy. Vancouver might protect unproven prospect Brogan Rafferty instead of Juolevi or Myers.
Juolevi is finally getting some NHL action after numerous injuries slowed the progress of the 2016 fifth overall draft pick. It’s not quite make-or-break time, but his performance and how much playing time he gets this season will determine where he fits into the Canucks’ future plans.
Myers is an important part of Vancouver’s blue line, averaging the third most minutes per game on the team last season when he also killed penalties and was on the second-unit power play. Based on his impact and 6-8 frame, he should be protected. The physically dominant Vegas Golden Knights wore down the Canucks in the Western Conference semifinals last year. With that in mind, the Canucks can’t afford to lose another defenseman with size, especially with the uncertain futures of Edler, Hamonic, and Benn.
But Myers is due to receive $6 million per season through 2023-24, so Vancouver could leave him unprotected in the hope that his contract deters the Kraken. The consolation for losing him will be freeing up a good chunk of cap space.
Goalie
Thatcher Demko (Lock)
Demko, 25, stepped in when former Canuck Jacob Markstrom was injured and nearly single-handedly upset the Golden Knights last postseason. That had Kraken fans optimistic the 6-4 San Diego native could be bound for Seattle. But those hopes were dashed when Markstrom signed a free agent contract with the Calgary Flames.
Vancouver Canucks targets for Expansion Draft
Forwards
Kole Lind
Zack MacEwen
Antoine Roussel
Lind, a 2017 second-round draft pick, has improved in the minors and will start this third pro season in Utica of the American Hockey League next month. Without the defensive attributes of Motte and with offensively gifted prospects Hoglander and Podkolzin ahead of him on the depth chart, Lind should be exposed.
MacEwen, 24, had five goals in 17 games last season and earned a spot on the Canucks fourth line this season because of his rugged, physical game. At 6-3 and 205 pounds, he’d be a project the Kraken should consider. Not star material, but the type of player who can help a team be difficult to play against.
Roussel is that type of player now: he’s a tough competitor and has underrated skills to go along with his grit. But at 31 and a year after coming back from major knee surgery, he’s wearing down and wouldn’t be a long-term option for the Kraken.
Defense
Brogan Rafferty
Jalen Chatfield
Rafferty, 25, is on the Canucks’ six-man taxi squad and the 6-0, 195-pound D-man has just two NHL games under his belt after three years at Quinnipiac University. His first pro season was impressive, scoring seven goals and 45 points in 57 games at Utica while making the AHL All-Rookie Team in 2019-20.
Chatfield, a 24-year-old rookie, made it onto the Canucks’ roster out of training camp but hasn’t yet made his NHL debut. He’s played three seasons in AHL Utica, where the 6-1, 188-pound blue-liner has made an impression with his strong skating and aggressiveness, not his scoring (two goals and 17 points in 142 games).
Unless the Canucks lose two core defensemen to injuries over an extended period of time, it’s doubtful Rafferty or Chatfield will get significant minutes in the NHL this season. Besides Rafferty and Chatfield’s stunted development from getting mostly practice time with the Canucks, the Kraken’s scouting staff will be hard-pressed to fully evaluate these two before the Expansion Draft.
Goalie
Braden Holtby
Holtby, 31, signed a two-year, $8.6 million contract with the Canucks last offseason after spending the previous 10 seasons with the Washington Capitals. Although his statistics have dipped a bit, his credentials are impeccable: 2015-16 Vezina Trophy, 2016-17 Jennings Trophy and the No. 1 goalie for the 2018 Stanley Cup champions.
A solid bounce-back season with the Canucks would likely mean Holtby and his tortoises will be headed back south this offseason.
Side deal scenarios
The quality of Canucks youngsters exempt from protection combined with pending UFAs will help Vancouver GM Jim Benning avoid much angst when he has to submit his Expansion Draft protection list. So there shouldn’t be any need for Benning to pursue any trades with Kraken GM Ron Francis, nor should we expect Francis to consider dealing any other Expansion Draft selections to his cross-border rival.
Neither GM will be doing any favors for the other just a couple of months before the Kraken’s inaugural season and the start of the I-5-BC-99 rivalry. It just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?
Previous Sound of Hockey Expansion Draft team previews
Jim Wilkie is a longtime Northwest journalist, former NHL editor and NHL Insider writer for ESPN.com, onetime GSHL All-Star, and SJHA hockey dad. Follow him on Twitter @jimwilkie.
The St. Louis Blues will have several key decisions to make on their approach to the Expansion Draft this summer. The Blues are just two seasons removed from their Stanley Cup win, but their roster has slowly been turning over from that championship team.
The Blues had quite the offseason that started with the trade of Jake Allen to Montreal. Elite defenseman Alex Pietrangelo would also leave via free agency. Then Alexander Steen and Jay Boumeester would retire. All four of those players have been significant contributors and will be challenging to replace.
This team is still very much a contender, but it is on the older side relative to the rest of the league. In fact, it is the fourth-oldest NHL team by median age with goalies excluded.
Graph excludes Dallas Stars whose roster is TBD since they have not yet played a game this season.
Assumptions
The Blues have several players with expiring contracts that need to be considered here. First, Jaden Schwartz is on the last year of his deal. Schwartz has put up solid numbers for the Blues, including 20 points in 26 games during the Blues’ Cup run in 2019. For this exercise, we are going to assume he re-signs. Starting goalie, Jordan Binnington, is also on the last year of his contract. It is something to keep an eye on, but for now we will assume he re-signs as well.
The only other pending UFA of note is the newly-signed Hoffman. The general feeling is that Hoffman is looking for the type of bigger and longer-term deal that has been relatively hard to come by this offseason due to the flat salary cap. The Blues do not have the cap space to fit Hoffman in their long-term plans, so we are assuming he does not sign another deal with the Blues and instead hits free agency.
St. Louis Blues protected list for Expansion Draft
Forwards
Ryan O’Reilly (Lock)
Robert Thomas (Lock)
Jaden Schwartz (Almost Lock)
Brayden Schenn (Almost Lock)
Jordan Kyrou
David Perron
Vladimir Tarasenko
O’Reilly and Thomas are locks to be protected. O’Reilly is the captain and 2019 Conn Smythe winner. He is not going anywhere. The 21-year-old Thomas is entering his third NHL season and is expected to take a major step this season centering the third line.
Schwartz (if signed) and Schenn are pretty much locks as well. Both notched over 20 goals last season. The only potential wrench that could be thrown in this plan is that both will have cap hits over $5 million per year. The impacts of Covid-19 have made the salary cap a premium asset that will force some general managers to make hard decisions.
Jordan Kyrou is a very strong skater that is well positioned to take a step this year in becoming a contributing forward in the NHL. Outside of Thomas, Kyrou is one of the most promising young players in the Blues’ system.
This is where it gets interesting.
David Perron is 32 and will have only one more year on this contract in St. Louis. Perron is a top-line winger and is usually good for 20 goals a season. As he gets older, he still has not shown any drop in production and, if the Blues feel they are contenders, we do not see them exposing him.
Tarasenko has shown he is an elite goal scorer in the NHL. The downside is he has run into injury problems as of late. He only managed to play 10 games last season and is expected to be out this entire season as he recovers from his third shoulder surgery in the last three years. If we had any guts, we would forecast Tarasenko to be exposed in the Expansion Draft this summer. But we do not have guts, so we are saying he will be protected given that he has been and still could be a goal scoring asset after he recovers.
Defense
Krug (Lock)
Parayko (Lock)
Dunn
The Blues protected list for defense seems rather straight forward. Parayko as a top-pair defenseman at $5.5 million a year has great value. Krug was a big blue-chip signing during this most recent offseason and is expected to be a major contributor this season. The last slot comes down to Vince Dunn and Justin Faulk. We think Dunn is the better defenseman because of his offensive contributions. He is also four years younger than Faulk.
Goalie
Jordan Binnington
As stated above, if Binnington signs an extension sometime before the Expansion Draft, then he will be protected. By Binnington’s standards, he was rather mediocre last year, but he was still better than a lot of starting goalies across the league. Ville Husso, the Blues’ back-up goalie, had decent numbers in the AHL last season, but you never know if that will translate to the NHL.
St. Louis Blues targets for Expansion Draft
Forwards
Oskar Sundqvist
Zachary Sanford
Ivan Barbashev
Samuel Blais
Ron Francis will have a lot of different forwards to select from in St. Louis.
Sundqvist could slot right in as a middle-six forward and would bring a physical style of hockey with some offensive upside.
Sanford is a big forward that can score. He will be a restricted free agent at the end of 2020-21 which means his $1.5 million cap hit should go up in his next contract.
Barbashev is a great two-way forward that chips in with some goals as well. He might be able to find more offensive upside with an expanded role on the Kraken.
Blais has not established himself in the NHL yet, but he has shown a scoring touch at every level he has played. He might also shine with an expanded role with a new team.
Defense
Robert Bortuzzo
Marco Scandella
Justin Faulk
Jake Walman
The most intriguing option on defense is probably Justin Faulk. Faulk has great offensive skills and logs big minutes. He just signed a seven-year deal at the beginning of last season which looked fine at the time. With a flat salary cap expected over the next couple years, that will not age well for the Blues, hence why he is projected at being exposed. Faulk has plenty of quality years in front of him, we just do not know if he has six quality seasons remaining.
Bortuzzo is a quality low-risk option. He won’t show up a lot in the box score, but he will give you solid reliable minutes and stability as a middle-pair defenseman. With one year left on his contract, even at 32 years old, he will be low risk.
Goalie
Ville Husso
Side deal scenarios
The quality of options St. Louis has could set up a prime opportunity for a side deal. There could be a scenario where St. Louis offers draft picks or prospects to Ron Francis and company to not select Sundqvist or Sanford. With the Blues up against the salary cap, we could also envision a world in which the Blues give assets to the Kraken to get them to select Justin Faulk and the six years remaining on his $6.5 million-per-year contract.
The Blues are a team with so much depth that they will lose a quality player in the Expansion Draft. The Kraken will have a breadth of options to choose from.
A few days ago, we stepped through all the “Eastern Conference” teams (yes, we recognize there are no conferences this season) and identified some of the major storylines that could impact the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft in July.
Today, we look to the teams that typically play in the conference formally known as the Western Conference.
Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks added Kevin Shattenkirk this offseason, and if he plays to his expected level, Anaheim might be forced to protect four defensemen (Shattenkirk, Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, and Josh Manson) in the Expansion Draft. This could expose Max Jones, Isac Lundestrom, and Adam Henrique.
Arizona Coyotes
Adin Hill (G) of the Arizona Coyotes
The best thing to come out of Arizona in the Expansion Draft will likely be a goalie —specifically, Adin Hill or Darcy Kuemper. The question is: do the Coyotes hold onto Kuemper or do they trade him before the Expansion Draft?
Kuemper was one of the top goalies in the league last year — his .928 save percentage was third in the NHL among goalies with at least 20 games played — so the thought of trading him seems a bit outrageous. However, the Coyotes are thin on draft picks and prospects after the Taylor Hall trade and the sanctions taken by the league last season for illegally working out prospects.
Calgary Flames
The burning question is if Milan Lucic will waive his no-move clause or not. If he does not waive his NMC, the Flames could expose Mikael Backlund and Sam Bennett which will create good options in the forward position. There is also a scenario where Lucic waives his no-move clause and Calgary subsequently offers draft picks to the Kraken to take Lucic and his $6 million dollar cap hit.
Chicago Blackhawks
Similar to Lucic’s situation in Calgary, the same can be asked about Brent Seabrook in Chicago. Will he waive his no-move clause for the Expansion Draft? If he does, this does not mean Seattle will take him. We are projecting Connor Murphy, Lucas Carlsson, and Calvin De Haan to all be exposed by Chicago, but if Seabrook waives his NMC, one of them will be protected. This question should be answered in April.
Colorado Avalanche
Tyson Jost #17 – Colorado Avalanche
Any uncertainty in Colorado surrounds pending UFAs Brandon Saad, Gabriel Landeskog, and to a lesser extent Philipp Grubauer. If any or all those players are signed to a contract extension before the Expansion Draft, they will be protected. Signing Saad and Landeskog will expose young center Tyson Jost, a name we have had circled for a while. Signing Grubauer would eliminate the opportunity for the Kraken to talk with him during the exclusive (to the Kraken) UFA discussion window before the expansion selections are due to the league. If they were to convince Grubauer to sign with Seattle, he would be the Kraken’s starting goalie in year one.
Dallas Stars
Dallas’ player pool is thin as far as the Expansion Draft. The ideal scenario is that veteran Stars, Anton Khudobin and Joe Pavelski, continue to play at a level beyond their age would suggest. They might create an opportunity for Seattle to select either of these players in the Expansion Draft and immediately trade them to another team that could use their veteran presence.
Edmonton Oilers
The Oilers’ approach to the protected list in the Expansion Draft hinges on Oscar Klefbom’s status. He is already out for the season, but it’s worth wondering if the Oilers will still protect him. If they do opt to protect him, it is a safe assumption that they will protect four defensemen (Ethan Bear, Darnell Nurse, Caleb Jones, & Klefbom) which will force them to only protect four forwards. This would most likely expose Jesse Puljujarvi and Tyler Benson. Whichever player of that duo shows the most promise this year would be a good candidate for the Kraken.
Los Angeles Kings
The biggest flier for the Seattle Kraken to consider off the LA Kings roster would be Lias Andersson. The road to the NHL for the No. 7 overall draft pick of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft has been anything but smooth. The change of scenery to LA might be just what he needs but there is no guarantee the Kings protect him. If Andersson shows promise this season, the Kings might feel the need to protect him in lieu of protecting Blake Lizotte or Austin Wagner.
Minnesota Wild
Matt Dumba has been rumored to be on the trading block all offseason. The Wild already possess three defensemen with no-move clauses that they are required to protect in the Expansion Draft. Protecting a fourth defenseman in Dumba would expose a young promising forward like Jordan Greenway. The general thought is that instead of losing him in the Expansion Draft, they trade him. A Dumba trade would greatly impact who is available for the Kraken.
Nashville Predators
Ryan Johansen’s productivity has dipped, and the 28-year-old center has not lived up to his $8 million cap hit. If Johansen sees another down year, there is a scenario where the Predators expose the former Portland Winterhawk. Even if he is exposed, it does not mean Seattle will necessarily select him in the Expansion Draft.
A bad year by Johansen could open the door for a possible side deal.
San Jose Sharks
There is speculation that San Jose might expose Brent Burns in the Expansion Draft, but the players I am keeping an eye on are Bonney Lake’s Dylan Gambrell and former Seattle Thunderbird Alexander True. Gambrell has a significant opportunity to establish himself as an everyday NHL forward while True, who is a year younger than Gambrell, might spend another season in the AHL. Both players will have a lot to prove regardless of where they play, and Ron Francis might consider taking one of these younger depth forwards for the Kraken.
St. Louis Blues
Vladimir Tarasenko was placed on long-term injured reserve and is going to be re-evaluated in May. That is pretty much the whole season. If Tarasenko does not play during this truncated campaign, the Blues could expose Tarasenko to dare Ron Francis to take a chance on the injury prone winger. Exposing him will enable St. Louis to protect Sammy Blais or Ivan Barbashev.
Vancouver Canucks
I have seen a lot of people penciling in Braden Holtby as the Seattle Kraken’s starting goalie in the inaugural season, but I am not so sure. Holtby will need to show significant improvement from his career worst .897 save percentage last year before Seattle considers selecting him out of Vancouver. Keep an eye on him this season.
Vegas Golden Knights
The Golden Knights are not participants in the Expansion Draft, but they could certainly be a major participant in the trade market that would impact other teams’ protected lists. Keep an eye on any big moves that involve Vegas.
Winnipeg Jets
The Jets have yet to re-sign restricted free agent and former first-round draft pick, Jack Roslovic. He was projected as a bubble protected/exposed player in the upcoming Expansion Draft, but now he could be on the move. No matter what, Roslovic’s status will impact the Expansion Draft scenarios coming out of Winnipeg.
