Believe it or not, it’s only been four years since the Anaheim Ducks played in the Western Conference Finals. Since then, the franchise experienced a first-round playoff exit followed by two complete misses of the postseason. Now, the Ducks find themselves in the purgatory of a roster with aging, high-priced veterans mixed with a handful of prospects whose ultimate value has yet to be discovered. An added challenge for the Ducks will be the Seattle Expansion Draft.
General manager Bob Murray has a difficult task ahead of him in rebuilding. Those veterans are expensive, and he’ll have a tough time moving them due to a flat cap plus the six modified no-trade clauses on his payroll. It’s a combination that will limit how much cap space he can free up while adding picks at the trade deadline.
Will that entice Murray and the Ducks to expose a veteran to the Kraken in the Seattle Expansion Draft?
Assumptions
Ducks legend Ryan Getzlaf is scheduled to be a free agent after the upcoming season and technically would not need to be protected. However, it’s likely that the 35-year-old center will be re-signed by Anaheim and that could come during the upcoming season. For this exercise, we’ll assume that he extends with Anaheim and is protected.
Roster Wildcards
With no cap space, the Ducks roster is set by default. Along with Getzlaf, veteran forward David Backes is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent after this season.
Protected List
Forwards
If Murray feels he needs to shed a high salary, he could dangle a player like Adam Henrique in front of Seattle by unprotecting the veteran. The 30-year-old has four years left on his contract that carries a $5.8 million cap hit with it. This is a long shot as Henrique is coming off his best season in Anaheim since being traded from New Jersey in 2017. He potted 26 goals on 43 points and was a positive possession player (52% Corsi for).
It’s more likely, though, that the Ducks veteran forwards will be protected along with young players like Sam Steel and Troy Terry. The seventh forward will come down to one of a handful of other young players, depending on how they fare with Anaheim this year.
Max Jones is one of the players looking to play his way into the protection conversation. A former first-round pick, Jones has two pro seasons under his belt. He’s 22-years-old and stuck around for 59 games with the Ducks last season. Jones, a left wing, has played in 89 NHL games over the past two years in total and is scratching the surface. If he breaks through, he’ll find himself protected.
Anaheim has been high on 21-year-old Isac Lundestrom as well. The Swede has potential but needs to show he can score more consistently to earn protection. He spent most of last season with the AHL’s San Diego Gulls (43 games), scoring 21 points. Lundestrom is currently on loan in Sweden where he’s started with five goals and 11 points in his first 12 games, which is an encouraging sign.
The Ducks picked up Sonny Milano, 24, and Danton Heinen, 25, in separate deals at last season’s trade deadline. The pair each played in nine games with Anaheim, and are young with upside. Milano came to the Ducks from the Columbus Blue Jackets, and while he has yet to be a big scorer in the NHL, he’s two seasons removed from a 27-game AHL stint with Cleveland where he picked up 24 points in 27 games.
Expect one of these four to be the seventh protected forward, and for this exercise let’s assume it’s Jones due to his age and NHL experience. This could easily change by season’s end.
Projected to Be Protected From Seattle Expansion Draft
Ryan Getzlaf
Adam Henrique
Jakob Silfverberg
Rickard Rakell
Troy Terry
Sam Steel
Max Jones
Defense
Cam Fowler is the Ducks’ most expensive defenseman but is their best and is under contract through the 2026 season at $6.5 million a year. While that’s a big contract, Anaheim will not expose a 28-year-old defenseman who is productive and in his prime years.
The Ducks may be willing to expose Josh Manson and his $4.1 million contract. The 29-year-old had what looked like a breakout season in 2017-2018 where he picked up 37 points in 80 games, but that apparently was an anomaly. In the two campaigns since, he’s managed a combined total of 27 points and has revealed himself to be an average defenseman.
Manson becomes further expendable with the free agency addition of Kevin Shattenkirk this offseason. A couple of years older than Manson, Shattenkirk is cheaper at $3.9 million and is still a productive defenseman with a longer track record.
Projected to Be Protected From Seattle Expansion Draft
Cam Fowler
Hampus Lindholm
Kevin Shattenkirk
Goalie
John Gibson is the man for the Ducks and will be their number one goalie for the foreseeable future. The most interesting Ducks goalie prospect, Lukas Dostal, is not eligible for the Seattle Expansion Draft, leaving the Kraken with slim pickings from Anaheim’s goaltending options.
Murray does have to expose an eligible goalie for the Seattle Expansion Draft, though. Anthony Stolarz projects to be Gibson’s back-up but is scheduled to be a UFA after this season. The Ducks could re-sign Stolarz and expose him without fear of losing him.
Top Expansion Candidates for the Seattle Expansion Draft
Forwards
Sonny Milano
Danton Heinen
Isac Lundestrom
Defense
Josh Manson
Josh Mahura
Brendan Guhle
Anaheim Ducks players, their contract info, and career stats.
Thoughts
The Kraken have some good talent to choose from the Ducks in the Seattle Expansion Draft. Manson is not an offensive threat, but he was an alternate captain with Anaheim and can provide veteran leadership. His contract also comes in handy, as it will help the Kraken reach the cap floor.
If Ron Francis wants to go younger, Mahura is an interesting player. Mahura, 22, has yet to establish himself as a regular NHLer but was a big-time scorer from the blue line in junior and is coming off an AHL season in San Diego where he scored 21 points in 44 games. He’s less of a sure NHLer than Manson, but Mahura has potential.
Brendan Guhle, 23, is right alongside Mahura as a young, offensive defenseman. Guhle has yet to prove he belongs in the NHL. He’s had looks and is with his second organization after starting with the Buffalo Sabres. The productive AHL seasons are there, and if the Kraken feel they can harvest NHL-level skill, he is worth the pick.
Up front, if Lundestrom is left unprotected he could be an intriguing pick here as well. Again, it may depend on what he shows this coming season.
Side Deal Scenarios
Murray and the Ducks pulled off one of the more scrutinized side deals during the Vegas Expansion Draft. They famously sent defenseman Shea Theodore – who wasn’t eligible to be drafted – to the Golden Knights with the agreement that Vegas would take Clayton Stoner. Theodore, a former Seattle Thunderbird, has since turned out to be one of the top young defensemen in the league.
Did that experience burn Murray? He has no cap room and a couple of high contracts on his books, so he may feel he doesn’t have a choice but to try something like that again.
The NHL return to play date is still up in the air, and now the league has a conflict with the NHLPA over salaries.
Due to the pandemic limiting income for the league owners, the NHL approached the players’ union looking to change the agreement struck in the CBA this past summer. That agreement contained an even 50-50 split in hockey-generated revenue. Now, the owners are asking the players for help to allow the NHL to get more cash in the coffers before it can return to play.
Two ideas were presented but neither option was received with open arms. One was to defer salaries this year and increase escrow. The second was to defer salary and institute a rising escrow over the last three years of the CBA.
So far, these offers have not been received well and will add one more layer in planning for the NHL return to play plans, which the league still hopes will come on January 1st. Needless to say, stay tuned.
Bottom line, more discussion ahead for both the NHLPA internally (whether or not they're ultimately willing to tweak salary deferral and if so, what do they get in return?); and more NHL/NHLPA discussion. The clock is ticking.
The Florida Panthers made history this week by hiring Brett Peterson as their new assistant general manager. He’s believed to be the first Black AGM in the NHL and represents another small but important step for a league that has historically struggled to provide an inclusive environment.
Peterson was a defenseman at Boston College and later became a player agent, representing the likes of Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask.
There are also rumblings out there that Joel Ward is expected to be hired as an assistant coach for the Henderson Silver Knights, the new AHL affiliate for Vegas. Ward just officially retired from his playing career in April, so it’s a quick jump behind the bench for the well-respected player.
Report: Joel Ward expected to be named assistant coach of the Henderson Silver Knights https://t.co/pf1hGdvZL5
News of the hirings of Peterson and Ward came a few days after the Miami Marlins also broke a barrier by hiring Kim Ng as their general manager, making her the first woman to hold that role in Major League Baseball history. That led to speculation about who the first woman to lead a team in the NHL might be, and the Seattle Kraken have two women on staff who could be in the running in Alexandra Mandryky and Cammi Granato.
No Passport, No Pass for Braden Holtby
Braden Holtby signed a two-year deal with Vancouver at the opening of NHL Free Agency, a deal that the Canucks clearly structured in a way that will allow them to expose him to Seattle in next year’s Expansion Draft.
So, the potential Kraken goalie now needs to get across the U.S./Canada border to get to his new home in British Columbia. This shouldn’t have been an issue, except a slight hiccup was unshelled (get it?) when it was time for Holtby to make the trip.
Apparently, the Holtby family includes two tortoises named Honey and Maple. Those tortoises require export papers filed with the U.S. and import papers filed with Canada. The Holtbys completed one of those steps, but not the other, leaving Braden and the tortoises stranded at the border.
Braden’s wife, Brandi, sent out a call for help on Twitter.
No, we didn’t know we needed an export permit (we did do the import permit for the Canadian side) so now Braden is stuck at the border with two tortoises 🙈
After several days of worry and speculation, the Holtby tortoise drama is over as Brandi Holtby announced that the family has been reunited.
Welcome to Canada, Honey and Maple! 🇨🇦 Huge shout out to @USFWS for working so hard for us! Thank you for everyone’s concern.. NOW you may laugh at the image of Braden being stuck at the border with a tortoise under each arm. 🐢👨🏽🌾🐢
There continue to be COVID-related cancellations in the hockey world. This week the minor-pro ECHL announced that its entire North Division has decided to not play until the 2021-2022 season. The decision will displace over 150 players from the Adirondack Thunder, Brampton Beast, Maine Mariners, Newfoundland Growlers, Reading Royals, and Worcester Railers.
All these players are now free agents and will have to scramble to try to find a team to play for this coming season.
The remaining 13 ECHL clubs are set to start a preseason schedule on December 4th, and the regular season is targeted for a December 11th start date. The North Division expects to be back in action next season.
Sharks Officially in the Water
Starting a new NCAA Division I hockey program is no easy task. It’s even tougher to do during a global pandemic with little time to find players. But that’s exactly what the Long Island University Sharks set out to do this year.
Becoming a reality in April, the team began looking for players and managed to recruit nine transfers to help fill their roster. LIU hired a 29-year-old coach in Brett Riley and quickly prepared for its first NCAA campaign.
At Holy Cross on Thursday, the Sharks opened their season and program in their stunning new uniforms.
LIU squeaked out a 3-2 overtime win on a breakaway goal from Christian Rajic, giving the fledgling team a perfect all-time win percentage of 1.000, at least until it plays its second game on Sunday.
Go Sharks, Go!
Also, in case you feel like re-watching the best parts of last night (and trust us, we know that feel), highlights are 👇https://t.co/ewDIekvmVX
This is a super fun podcast episode with Derek Ryan of the Calgary Flames and a native of Spokane, Washington! Derek has had a fascinating journey to get to the NHL, and his story will leave you feeling inspired to keep grinding to achieve your dreams.
This podcast interview with Derek Ryan is one you won’t want to miss.
Also on this episode, plenty of discussion about some of the latest content at SoundOfHockey.com, including John’s idea about a low-price ticket lottery and Andy’s Reverse Retro Jersey Awards. The guys shed some more light on those topics and rip on the Detroit Red Wings for their very poor entry into the Reverse Retro pool.
Segments this week include Goalie Gear Corner, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
Has life felt less colorful lately? The NHL has you covered. In a moment the league claims you all have been waiting for, it released the Reverse Retro Jerseys by Adidas collection Monday morning. All 31 existing teams revealed reimagined jersey designs that highlighted a minor color in their scheme, a throwback to an old logo, or both.
Some were great. Some left a lot to be desired. There are many rankings for you to mull over but we’re going to go a different route here. We are handing out Sound Of Hockey Awards for the new looks. These awards went through an extensive review process and the results have been certified by, well, nobody.
Here are your first ever Sound Of Hockey Reverse Retro Awards:
The Best Reverse Retro Jerseys Award
Nominees: Minnesota Wild, Arizona Coyotes, Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators
What the Wild did was brilliant and simple. They took their current logo – which is a bear… or a cougar… or a lion… or… something… in case you didn’t know – and placed it in the old style of a North Stars jersey. Green and gold is a combo we don’t have enough of in the NHL, and Minnesota brought it back. This look is so good that it wouldn’t be the worst thing if the Wild made this their regular look. Somewhere, Neal Broten is smiling.
**Editor’s Note: Sound Of Hockey’s Darren Brown had nothing to do with the selection of this award, and does NOT want to hear about this from readers or listeners of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast.**
The “I Don’t Think You Understood The Concept” Award
Nominees: Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings, New York Islanders
And the winner is…
The New York Islanders
Adidas: [pitches a million different creative ideas]
Lou: all of this is way too flashy for my taste
Adidas: [copy pastes regular Islanders jerseys] what about this one?
These new jerseys are, um, the same? The blue may be darker, but this is essentially no different than the current Islanders’ jersey. For a team that was criticized in the playoffs for not playing an exciting style of hockey, these jerseys are very much on brand. Why not orange? Why not bring back that goofy fisherman? New York had a chance to go bold and instead they dumped and chased.
The Best “Nod To History” Award
Nominees: Carolina Hurricanes, Los Angeles Kings, Colorado Avalanche, Winnipeg Jets
By far the toughest to choose of all the categories of Reverse Retro Jerseys awards. The Hurricanes brought back the Whalers logos only with a grey color rather than green and it looks great. In Los Angeles, the Kings combined the purple and gold – which they should use as their regular jerseys – but with the Gretzky-era logo for a clean, new look.
But, the Avalanche brought back the Quebec Nordiques…whatever that logo is. **Editor’s Note: It’s an igloo, Andy.**Apparently there’s an ‘N’ in there, but it doesn’t matter. **Editor’s Note: It’s a lowercase ‘n’, and it’s actually quite obvious.**Adding that thing, along with the fleur de lis along the bottom, they’ve recreated the old Quebec look, only in Colorado colors. It’s unique, slick, and will sell better than tickets at the old Colisée de Québec. Even Eric Lindros would put these beauties on.
The Best Use Of Reverse Colors Award
Nominees: St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks, Arizona Coyotes, New Jersey Devils, Las Vegas Golden Knights
With a two-toned Coyote head, a robust purple color, and sneaking of the moon sliver into the desert landscape at the bottom, the Coyotes have a winner. The purple jumps out at you and somehow works well with the tan. The only thing that would have made this better is if they went with the full Kachina Coyote instead of just the head. These are so slick that they almost make you want to take part in an illegal prospect workout.
The “Are Those Your Practice Jerseys?” Award
Nominees: Pittsburgh Penguins, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings
Is Steve Yzerman a minimalist? The Red Wings Reverse Retro jerseys feature the legendary winged wheel logo on white, and not much else. The logo and numbers are the only places you’ll find red. Gone are any red stripes or piping, and only one dull, grey stripe was added. If you slap a Little Caesar’s patch on it, you’ve got a slick practice jersey. The Red Wings were a bad hockey team last year, but that doesn’t mean they have to look terrible too.
The Best Use Of Green Award
Nominees: Minnesota Wild, Vancouver Canucks, New Jersey Devils
We love the color green. Green needs to be in the NHL more. The Devils get it and they reversed their jerseys making dark green the main color. The red and white stripes on the sleeves are a great companion, and these jerseys look sweet. Another team that should perhaps consider making these their regular, everyday jersey.
Well, if you looked up “Reverse Retro Jerseys” in the dictionary, you’d probably see this.
Wild Wing is back, only in a less colorful fashion than we’ve seen him before. Anaheim has busted out Wild Wing in the past, only with a teal backdrop. This time around, the Ducks have reversed – following directions – the color, and now it’s a white backdrop with a teal bottom stripe. Some people love Wild Wing, despite how busy of a logo it is, but with the white in the background, this looks like an unfinished painting from one of Walt Disney’s most junior animators.
The “Oh, For Shame!” Award
Nominees… The Chicago Blackhawks
And the Winner Is…
The Chicago Blackhawks
You may recall that over the summer, the Washington R-Words finally dropped their incredibly racist nickname to temporarily become the Washington Football Team. Well, in the wake of that decision, the microscope of public perception shifted briefly to the Blackhawks, who opted to stand behind their name, claiming the “name and logo symbolizes an important and historic person, Black Hawk of Illinois’ Sac & Fox Nation, whose leadership and life has inspired generations of Native Americans, veterans and the public.”
Ok, fine.
BUT… don’t we find it a bit curious that in the first set of releases for Chicago’s Reverse Retro jersey entry… there doesn’t seem to be a picture of the front of the jersey? Watch the video in the below tweet. There’s some obviously intentional covering of the logo happening here.
Further solidifying the point, the official NHL Twitter account made a thread of every team’s release early on Monday morning. 30 of the tweets featured clear images of the front of each respective team’s new jersey. Then they landed on Chicago (Carolina included for comparison).
Clearly, somebody is a bit concerned about the public’s reaction to the team releasing yet another jersey with the controversial logo on the front. Thus, the Blackhawks have been handed the “Oh, For Shame!” Award.
The “You Copied Us So We’ll Copy You” Award
Nominees: The Montreal Canadiens
And the winner is…
The Montreal Canadiens
The Canadiens' adidas #ReverseRetro jersey is inspired by the color that marked the team's first sweater in 1909.
The design is a take on the one worn from 1974 to 2007 – a period during which the club won six Stanley Cups.
These are nice, and Montreal obviously understood the concept. They replaced the red in their home jerseys with blue and it works. Those of us in the Northwest know it works since the Spokane Chiefs have worn the same jerseys as a third sweater for years now. Yes, Spokane copies Montreal’s colors and jersey design, but the Chiefs took to wearing blue alternates long before Reverse Retro was an idea.
The Montreal Canadiens new Reverse-Retro jerseys look identical to these Spokane Chiefs alternates. (Larry Brunt/Chiefs photo)
This is allowable since Spokane borrowed from Montreal first. They do look nice in action, though.
When the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft rolls around next year, the Senators won’t be letting any highly valuable assets go for nothing. Besides being one of the NHL’s worst teams last season, Ottawa was also one of the cheapest.
Ottawa’s 62 points were second-worst last season, behind only the Detroit Red Wings, and its $70.516 million in player salaries ranked 27th out of 31 teams, according to Spotrac.
Only in mid-October did the Senators exceed the salary floor of $60.2 million, leaving them with $11.8 million in cap space as of November 14. Unpopular owner Eugene Melnyk probably wouldn’t spend much money in better times either, though. This makes it likely that the Senators will be hovering around the salary floor again next offseason when they have to submit their protection list for the Expansion Draft.
So, which Senators players will be available to the Kraken?
Here’s why Seattle will likely choose a depth player from Ottawa.
Assumptions
Because of their large amount of cap space, the Senators might be willing to acquire another team’s bad contract if it comes with a top prospect and/or high draft pick. Look for these deals to happen around the 2021 trade deadline or offseason, especially if the NHL has to go very long without fans in arenas because of the pandemic.
Those bad contracts will be available for the Kraken to choose no matter what team they belong to, so the question is whether Seattle general manager Ron Francis believes it’s worth taking on any of those pricy risks. If it’s a serviceable player with only a year remaining on his contract, Francis could be enticed with an extra player or Entry Draft pick through a side trade.
Senators Offseason Wildcards
With so much cap space, Ottawa has room to bring in more free agents this offseason. All indications are that the Senators are content with their roster, however, after signing forward Alex Galchenyuk to a one-year, $1.05 million deal late last month.
Even if Melnyk permits a larger payroll, any new contracts will be short term because of revenue uncertainty over COVID-19.
Protected List
Forwards
Brady Tkachuk, LW (Lock) Drake Batherson, RW (Lock) Connor Brown, RW (Lock) Colin White, C Logan Brown, C Evgenii Dadonov, RW Austin Watson, RW
Dadonov, 31, signed a three-year, $15 million free agent contract that’s back-loaded with $6.5 million due in the final year of the deal. So if the former Florida Panther fails to click and falls down the depth chart next season, perhaps the Senators will leave him unprotected.
Defense
Thomas Chabot (Lock) Nikita Zaitsev (Lock) Josh Brown
Acquired in an offseason trade from Florida, the 6-5 and 217-pound Brown is no more than a fifth or sixth defenseman. But being a right-handed shot will help Brown’s stock when the Sens submit their protected list.
Goalie
Matt Murray (Lock)
After being acquired from Pittsburgh and signing a four-year, $25 million contract, Murray would have to have a disastrous first season in Ottawa to be left unprotected. The two-time Stanley Cup champion does have a lot to prove after a disappointing 2019-20 in which he was 20-11-5 with a 2.87 GAA and .899 save percentage.
Top Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft Players – Senators
Forwards
Center Chris Tierney (6-1, 195 pounds) had an unspectacular 11 goals and 26 assists in 71 games last season, but he was Ottawa’s best faceoff man (51.17 percent) and a good penalty killer with four short-handed goals. The six-year veteran with 61 goals, 128 assists and 189 points in 436 games is only 26 and would be a good role-playing, bottom-six forward who could occasionally move up to the second line.
Left winger Nick Paul is a year younger than Tierney and has less NHL experience (112 games, 13 goals, 15 assists, 28 points). But he’s bigger at 6-3 and 219 pounds with good speed. He can also kill penalties and would be a bottom-six forward at best.
For the Senators, the final forward to protect from the Seattle Kraken in the Expansion Draft might come down to deciding between Tierney and Austin Watson. At Expansion Draft time, Watson will have two years and $3 million remaining compared with Tierney’s one year and $3.5 million. Watson is two years younger, less skilled but bigger (6-4, 204 pounds) and plays a more rugged game. As the younger, skilled Sens develop, they’re going to need veteran players such as Watson to protect them.
Fun fact: From 2014-15 to 2017-18 with the Sharks, Tierney scored eight goals and 12 points in 18 games against the Vancouver Canucks. He also notched four assists in four games against the Canucks since he’s been a Senator. So he’s got that going for him if he ends up back in the Pacific Division.
Defense
Seattle’s pickings appear slim among Ottawa blue-liners with Christian Wolanin, 25, and Maxime Lajoie, 22, leading the way.
Wolanin (five goals, 10 assists and 15 points in 43 career NHL games and eight goals, 24 assists and 32 points in 49 AHL games) missed much of 2019-20 to injury. But the 6-2, 185-pound left-hand shot figures to compete for the third pairing next season.
The speedy Lajoie (seven goals, eight assists and 15 points in 62 NHL games) has faded since a quick start to his NHL career in 2018. He’ll likely be back in AHL Belleville, where the left-handed shooting Lajoie notched four goals, 13 assists and 17 points in 48 games last season.
Goalie
After Murray, the Senators have a bunch of question marks on their goaltender depth chart. No. 2 Anders Nilsson, who will be an unrestricted free agent in 2021, is a career backup and not worth considering. Marcus Hogberg and Joey Daccord figure to continue playing in Belleville of the AHL, and Filip Gustavsson is on loan to Sodertalje SK in Sweden.
Unless Hogberg or Daccord emerge with a spectacular season, Gustavsson is the most intriguing option for Seattle. The 2016 second-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins was a highly touted prospect who was named the top goalie of the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championships after leading Sweden to a silver medal. He has been disappointing over two-plus seasons in Belleville (29-28, 3.28 GAA, .891 save percentage), but the 22-year-old is off to a nice start in 14 games at Sodertalje (8-5, one shutout, 2.20 GAA, .925 save percentage).
Goalies take a lot longer to develop. Calgary Flames netminder Jacob Markstrom, for example, split time between the AHL and the Florida Panthers at the same age and never became a No. 1 goalie until he was 27 with the Canucks. So if Gustavsson can get back on track, the Kraken might consider taking him as a project for their third goalie.
Side Deal Scenarios
Ottawa has a deep prospect pool (recently ranked seventh by The Athletic), and it added three first-round picks during the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. Unfortunately for Seattle, the Senators’ best prospects will be protected or be exempt from Expansion Draft protection because of a lack of pro experience.
Unless many fringe players have breakout seasons next year, Sens GM Pierre Dorion should have no need to pursue any trades to steer Francis from taking certain players. Dorion does have three 2021 second-round Entry Draft picks, as well as all of his 2022 and 2023 picks, though, should the need arise.
Other Notes
The Senators’ top prospects such as C Josh Norris, LW Alex Formenton and D Erik Brannstrom are exempt from the Seattle Kraken in the Expansion Draft due to lack of North American pro experience.
Jim Wilkie is a longtime Northwest journalist, former NHL editor and NHL Insider writer for ESPN.com, a onetime GSHL All-Star, and SJHA hockey dad. Follow him on Twitter @jimwilkie.
This is the first in Sound Of Hockey’s series on the Seattle Kraken NHL Expansion Draft, which will examine all 30 of the participating NHL teams over the next couple of months. Read our previous story that explains the rules of the Expansion Draft here. We hope this series will help you get a grasp on who will be available for the Kraken to target when they assemble their inaugural team next summer. Enjoy!
The Detroit Red Wings were bad last year. How bad? They earned 39 points which was last in the NHL by 23 while being outscored by 122 goals, more than double the next worst in the NHL. If the traditional stats don’t convince you then consider the Red Wings were last in Corsi for (45.99), last in high-danger chances (483), and second-worst in high-danger save percentage (.770). They couldn’t score, couldn’t create chances, and didn’t make big saves. That adds up to 39 points.
General Manager Steve Yzerman has a rebuild on his hands and although they have cap space going into next season, the Red Wings are in full youth movement mode. That means that the Expansion Draft options for the Seattle Kraken will most likely yield a depth player at best.
Assumptions
Yzerman is building around his young players which means that guys like Dylan Larkin or Anthony Mantha will be protected and unavailable. The Red Wings won’t be in contention next season so will not be buying at the trade deadline. In that same vein, it’s unlikely they will move any players at the trade deadline that are of interest to Seattle.
Offseason Wildcards
Detroit’s roster is mostly set heading into the season, so any major additions or blockbuster trades seem unlikely at this point.
Protected List
Yzerman has some decisions to make here. The vets he has either will be unrestricted free agents in 2021 or aren’t worth protecting. He’ll lean on his young players and will have to make a choice of exposing depth players.
Forwards
Up front, a player to note is former Tri-City Americans center Michael Rasmussen. Selected ninth overall in 2017, Rasmussen spent his rookie year of 2018-2019 in the NHL, appearing in 62 games for the Red Wings and picking up 18 points. Last season he was sent to the AHL and spent some time injured while recording 22 points in just 35 games. It seems like a long shot he would be exposed, considering his upside at just 21-years-old, but it may come down to how he performs this season.
Like Rasmussen, this coming season will be an important one for Evgeny Svechnikov. He has yet to crack the NHL lineup as a regular, and this coming year will say a lot about his future with the Red Wings. He burst out with a strong rookie season in the AHL with 51 points but has only picked up 55 in the following two seasons. Will Yzerman give up on the former first-round pick – one that was selected by the previous regime – or give him a chance to earn a roster spot and protection?
Svechnikov is far from a lock to be protected. If Yzerman feels the 24-year-old has peaked, he may very well feel comfortable in exposing him. If that’s the case, look for the Red Wings to protect forward Givani Smith instead. Smith is two years younger than Svechnikov and may ultimately have a better shot at contributing in the NHL.
For this exercise, we’ll protect Svechnilov which makes Detroit’s protected list look as follows:
Protected
Dylan Larkin Anthony Mantha Tyler Bertuzzi Robby Fabbri Vladislav Namestnikov Michael Rasmussen Evgeny Svechnikov
Defense
The biggest challenge for Yzerman here is between Dennis Cholowski and Gustav Lindstrom. Cholowski, 22, is a left defenseman who was a first-round pick in 2016 but has only played nine NHL games and two less-than-exciting seasons in the AHL with Grand Rapids. Lindstrom is the same age and has played 16 NHL games but with less offensive upside than Cholowski.
There is a strong chance one of the two will be left unprotected.
Protected
Danny DeKeyser Filip Hronek Dennis Cholowski
Goalie
There isn’t much to choose from here. Detroit signed Thomas Greiss this offseason and do not have a long-term option behind him. He’ll be protected while back up Jonathan Bernier is a UFA after this season and won’t be in play for the expansion draft unless he is re-signed during the season.
Top Expansion Draft Players
Players who could be on the radar to be selected by Seattle:
Forwards
Givani Smith
Defense
Gustav Lindstrom Troy Stecher
Thoughts
The Seattle Kraken are not going to find a top-end player from the Red Wings in the Expansion Draft. Detroit is rebuilding, so it can and will protect its best players on the roster.
Svechnikov very well may be exposed, and he’ll be someone to ponder for the Kraken. His production has regressed in pro hockey after putting up huge numbers in the QMJHL, and if he’s available that means he didn’t play well again this coming season.
Another forward to really consider will be Smith, if he is left unprotected. He’s 22 years old but doesn’t project to be a top-six player in the NHL. Even so, the lack of huge numbers in the AHL doesn’t mean he couldn’t be a grinder that might give Seattle some good, hard minutes as a third or fourth-line guy or even an AHL depth player.
Still, with the pickings slim up front, the Kraken most likely will be looking at one of Detroit’s available defensemen. It makes more sense that the Red Wings will protect Cholowski since he has more of an offensive skill set. Lindstrom isn’t a flashy player or high pick, but could end up providing defensive depth. It’s just hard to see him being anything other than a bottom pairing guy or potentially an AHL player for the Kraken.
If Seattle prefers a player with more experience, Troy Stecher, 26, could be an option on defense. Detroit brought the former Vancouver Canuck in as a free agent this offseason. Stecher is a solid two-way defenseman who has played in 286 NHL games and comes with an affordable $1.7 million cap hit.
Having a veteran presence on the back end could prove valuable, so Stecher might be the best option here.
Side Deal Scenarios
Detroit has over $9 million in cap space with no prohibitive contracts on the books. Without that pressure on Yzerman to make a deal, it’s hard to find a realistic trade scenario.
Other Notes
Forward Frans Nielsen has a modified no-movement clause in his contract. Forwards Darren Helm, Valterri Filppula, Luke Glendening, Bobby Ryan, and Sam Gagner are all scheduled to be UFA prior to the 2021-2022 season.
On defense, Mark Staal, Patrik Nemeth, Jon Merrill, and Alex Biega are UFA after the completion of next season.
