In the NHLtoSeattle days of yore, we took a deep look at the goalie market to try to understand which netminders could be on the Seattle Kraken’s radar, come the 2021 Expansion Draft. At the time, there were a lot of chips left to fall. In fact, the NHL’s 32nd franchise was still being referred to as “NHL Seattle” then, and the league had yet to even enter its Edmonton and Toronto postseason bubbles.
With so much uncertainty, there was a lot of guesswork about who would be available to become Seattle’s first netminder. Now that more chips have been played and many goalie situations are clarified around the NHL, we thought it was time to re-visit this exercise.
It’s worth noting that even though six months and an entire offseason have passed since that first stab at this topic was taken, well… there’s still a fair amount of guesswork required here. But after a very busy free agency period during this past offseason, there will be far fewer goalies moving around between now and Seattle’s 2021 Expansion Draft. The picture of Climate Pledge Arena’s future goalcrease is becoming a bit clearer now.
Western Conference Goalies for Expansion Draft
Eastern Conference Goalies for Expansion Draft
Goalies in New Homes
In the midst of the miserable summer of 2020, we in Seattle had our eyes on a number of goalie options that we thought could end up being targeted by the then-still-to-be-named hockey franchise in 2021. Among them, Matt Murray and Tristan Jarry in Pittsburgh, Braden Holtby in Washington, Jacob Markstrom and Thatcher Demko in Vancouver, and Antti Raanta and Adin Hill in Arizona.
There has certainly been some change in that group, and some of those netminders have now become unavailable and can be stricken from Seattle’s assumed list.
First, Murray, the two-time Stanley Cup winner, was traded on NHL Draft day to the Ottawa Senators, then signed a four-year deal worth $25 million in total. This clears up that question in Pittsburgh and means that both Murray and Jarry will be protected by their respective teams. That still leaves Casey DeSmith, 29, who has had respectable NHL numbers as the Penguins backup, but we think the Kraken can do better.
Holtby and Markstrom – along with Cam Talbot – played a game of musical chairs when free agency opened in October. Talbot went to Minnesota on a three-year deal, Markstrom replaced Talbot in Calgary on a six-year whopper of a deal worth $36 million, and Holtby took the vacant spot in Vancouver with a two-year contract. Of those three, Markstrom will certainly be protected by the Flames, but the other two are likely to be exposed.
Meanwhile, nothing has changed in Arizona. Hill will still be a restricted free agent at the end of the season and will be ripe for Seattle’s picking. Raanta will be a UFA and will need to be signed in the lead-up to the Expansion Draft if Seattle wants him. Kuemper will be protected barring a massive collapse this season or a trade, which has been rumored at times.
Clever Contracting
The contracts for Holtby and Talbot are interesting, because both are relatively short-term deals that will not protect either goalie from the Expansion Draft. By signing these veteran netminders, the Canucks and Wild each seemed to kill multiple birds with one stone.
With Holtby’s two-year deal at $4.3 million AAV, and with Thatcher Demko emerging as the true goalie of the future there, it’s all but given that Holtby will still be exposed to Seattle. In fact, the Canucks structured his contract to pay him $2.9 million real dollars in 2020-21 and $5.7 million in 2021-22. So, if the Kraken want him, they can have him, but they’re going to pay the bulk of Holtby’s salary. It’s a genius-level signing by Vancouver GM Jim Benning.
Similarly in Minnesota, with last season’s AHL Goalie of the Year, Kaapo Kahkonen, requiring protection, Talbot and his $3.67 million cap hit will likely be made available barring a phenomenal season by the 33-year-old.
The brilliance of these signings is that it gives both teams relatively short-term and low-risk deals for reliable veterans that can bridge the gap to their young backstops. If Seattle doesn’t want them, fine, they stay with the team for another season or two at a reasonable cap hit. If Seattle wants either of them, also fine, because by then perhaps the youngsters will be ready to shoulder the starter load anyway.
UFA Clarity… Or Not
Anton Khudobin shocked the hockey world by carrying his Dallas Stars through the playoff bubble and all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. Dallas rewarded the rolie polie goalie (as Linda Cohn calls him) with a three-year deal at $3.33 million annually. His counterpart, Ben Bishop, has a no-movement clause in his contract, meaning that Khudobin cannot be protected. Khudobin is getting up there in age at 34, but he will have just two years left on his deal when the Expansion Draft rolls around, and he can obviously still play. Might Seattle consider snagging that Kazakh character?
Jordan Binnington is still a question mark in St. Louis. His creasemate, Jake Allen, was traded to Montreal in September, which might have given some clarity about the team’s plans. But Binnington is still on an expiring deal. If the Blues re-sign him, then they will protect him. If he ends up as a UFA, though, Seattle GM Ron Francis will have a 48-hour window to pitch Binnington if he’s interested in signing him.
Tuukka Rask (33), Philipp Grubauer (29), and Petr Mrazek (28) are three other netminders whose contract situations remain unclear beyond the upcoming season.
New to the Mix
Sound Of Hockey’s John Barr put together an interesting look at Nashville’s Expansion Draft situation this week. There are some very talented players that will have to be left exposed by the Predators. But John also clued us in on their goalie situation, which does have our wheels turning.
We didn’t talk about the Preds’ goalies before, because it seemed obvious that Juuse Saros was the guy they’d protect, and frankly, there are some very good veteran forwards that will be exposed by Nashville. With Pekka Rinne 38 years old and on an expiring contract, he’s clearly out, so Saros is probably still the guy.
But another goalie in the Nashville system we hadn’t previously discussed is Connor Ingram.
Originally drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the third round in 2016, Ingram, 23, has emerged as one of the best young goalies out there. He was recently rated by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic as the #4 goalie prospect, has had sterling numbers in the AHL, and certainly appears to be on his way to the NHL very soon.
Nashville also now has the top goalie prospect in the world since drafting Yaroslav Askarov, so GM David Poile may see Ingram as expendable. Could Poile be talked into giving up Ingram in exchange for Francis keeping his mitts off of one of Nashville’s forwards?
Also potentially of note, the New York Islanders only have one Expansion Draft eligible goalie in Semyon Varlamov. With Ilya Sorokin expected to take over the net there soon, we’re guessing the Isles would love for the Kraken to take Varlamov and his $5 million cap hit through 2022-23 off their books.
Finally, what about Montreal? Carey Price is guaranteed to be protected with his mammoth contract that features a no-movement clause, meaning that Allen will be exposed. Allen has been unreliable as a true starter in his career, but as a back-up or even in a platoon scenario, he can be excellent.
Conclusion: We Still Don’t Know
Ok, so maybe we didn’t quite solve who will be Seattle’s first goalie following its Expansion Draft. There’s still a lot that needs to happen between now and then. The upcoming season will certainly have some bearing on which goalies end up protected, and who Seattle will actually want to take.
Who are you taking?
All salary information comes from CapFriendly.com.
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.
There have been a lot of high expectations of the Nashville Predators since they made their first Stanley Cup Final in 2017. Unfortunately, the team has struggled to advance past the second round of playoffs over the last three seasons. Although the team had led into the 2019-20 season in “win now” mode, the season turned into a significant step back. In that season, they had the lowest point percentage (56%) compared to the previous six seasons, and they failed to make it out of the qualifying round in the playoffs when they lost to the Arizona Coyotes.
The Predators did not change their roster too much during the offseason, implying that they still believe in their core group of players to hopefully get them back to the Stanley Cup Final. During the offseason, the Predators did make one trade, acquiring 22-year-old forward Luke Kunin from the Minnesota Wild for 32-year-old veteran Nick Bonino. The only other significant roster change this offseason was losing forward Craig Smith via Free Agency.
Assumptions
There are no significant pending free agents to extend into next season. Career Predator, Pekka Rinne, is on the last year of his contract but at 38 years old 2019-20 was his worst season in the NHL so an extension seems unlikely.
Nashville Roster Wildcards
Nashville is in a good position when it comes to salary cap compliance, but they do have a few big, long-term contracts in Ryan Johansen at $8M/year through 2024-25 and Matt Duchene at $8M/year through 2025-26. Considering their current output, those two contracts look fine right now, but both of those players will be over 30 at the tail end of their contracts when their salaries might seem expensive for a downturn in expected output for their age.
Nashville could approach the Expansion Draft as an opportunity to shed one of those contracts by exposing one of them in the Expansion Draft. Seattle will have a very hard time not selecting Johansen or Duchene if left exposed due to their immediate contributions. For now, we will project them as protected.
Predators Protected List
For the 2017 Expansion Draft, Nashville protected four forwards, four defensemen, and one goalie (4-4-1) as opposed to the seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goalie (7-3-1) option that was much more common.
They protected defensemen Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Ellis, Roman Josi, and PK Subban. Since then, Subban was traded to the New Jersey Devils and 22-year-old Dante Fabbro is now emerging as the future of the blueline in Nashville. It is possible that Nashville protects Ekholm, Ellis, Josi and Fabbro, if they stick with the 4-4-1 option. But we think that is unlikely because they have more than four promising forwards that they’ll want to protect, so we are predicting that they will go with the 7-3-1 approach.
Forwards:
The only pure lock we see at forward is Filip Forsberg. Duchene & Johansen are pretty close to locks as well, but like we mentioned above, they each carry a heavy annual salary ($8M/each) at a time where salary cap space is hard to come by. It would require a decent drop-off in production from either of those guys to imagine they could be exposed.
After those three, Nashville has a productive group of forwards in Victor Arvidsson, Calle Jarnkrok, Rocco Grimaldi, and Colton Sissons. Our estimate is that the Preds protect only two of these four to make sure they also protect some of the younger, up-and-coming players listed below. Arvidsson is top of that list, but after that, it is probably a coin flip between Grimaldi and Jarnkrok. As it stands today, Sound Of Hockey would protect Jarnkrok, but the final decision will come down to how these guys play during the upcoming season.
To round out the forwards, the Predators will probably protect two of their sub-23-year-old players that are expansion eligible. Newly acquired Kunin feels like a safe bet to be protected, and we would add the young Russian playmaker, Yakov Trenin to the list as well.
Projected Protected:
Filip Forsberg (Lock)
Matt Duchene (Close to a Lock)
Ryan Johansen (Close to a Lock)
Victor Arvidsson
Calle Jarnkrok (or Rocco Grimaldi)
Luke Kunin
Yakov Trenin
Defense:
Defense is much more straight forward with Josi and Ellis being locks and the younger Fabbro the probable last one protected over an older Ekholm.
Projected Protected:
Roman Josi (Lock)
Ryan Ellis (Lock)
Dante Fabbro (Probable)
Goalie:
The goalie situation looks straight forward as well. Juuse Saros and Pekka Rinne shared the net last year with roughly a 50% split of games. Rinne is 38 and will probably serve as the back-up to the much younger Saros (25) this coming season. Meanwhile, a 23-year-old Connor Ingram will spend another season in the minors.
It is theoretically possible that Nashville protects Connor Ingram and exposes Juuse Saros since Nashville’s future goalie is Iaroslav Askarov, but he will not be available for at least two seasons as he completes his contractual obligations in Russia.
Projected Protected:
Juuse Saros
Nashville Expansion Draft Candidates
Forwards
Rocco Grimaldi
Colton Sissons
Anthony Richard
Rem Pitlick
Tanner Jeannot
Defense
Mattias Ekholm
Frederic Allard
Goalie
Connor Ingram
Seattle will have decent options at all posititons in Nashville. Jarnkrok/Grimaldi/Sissons can probably step right into a top-six role on an expansion team while Richard/Pitlick/Jeannot might be picks for the future and frankly might not pan out. Ekholm can step right into a top-four defense role while Allard might be a bet on the future. Connor Ingram at 23 would be a good option to be the Kraken’s back-up goalie in year one with a projection to be penciled in as the starting netminder in year two or three.
Nashville Side Deal Scenarios
At this point, any side deal with Nashville seems possible. They are facing some exposure of some decent players and with that exposure comes opportunity. There could be a scenario where Nashville offers a draft pick in compensation for Seattle not selecting Grimaldi or Ekholm.
You did it! You and three of your buddies landed two full-season ticket packages to split for the Seattle Kraken’s inaugural season. But have you thought about exactly how you’re going to split your coveted Kraken season tickets?
If you are like me, then you have literally dreamed of this moment. You think about having the opportunity of seeing Connor McDavid, your childhood team, or maybe just being there on Opening Night. You then realize that you only get 11 of the 44 home games and wonder how you are going to distribute the tickets among your group.
Picking games and tickets should be considered a fun exercise and an excuse to get the group together for a few college sodas before the 2021-22 season begins. There are several approaches and strategies for sharing tickets that I have thought about. Here are some of them.
Assumptions
I’ve created a scenario of my own here. Obviously, this will have to be altered depending on your situation and your own Kraken season tickets group.
You have four people in your group sharing two full-season ticket packages. Each person gets two tickets for 11 games and for simplicity, face value of the tickets costs $100 per seat per game. Three of the four people have a hometown team that up until the arrival of the Seattle Kraken was their favorite team. Financially, everyone is stable, but one person has more stability than the others.
Distribution/Allocation Style
Here’s where your options come in for splitting up your Kraken season tickets. I definitely recommend that no matter which route you take, treating this like a real NHL Draft, with a spokesperson who serves as “Commissioner,” a make-shift podium, and a physical draft board that will keep everyone abreast as to what games remain for selection. I would also recommend that all attendees consistently boo whichever individual serves as Commissioner to keep up the image of a real draft.
Conventional Draft
You could keep it very simple and treat it as a Conventional Draft.
This is a simple, straight-forward process, exactly as we know it. Draft order of people in your group would be selected by picking numbers out of a hat or a random number generator system of your choice. Once the order is set, then that is the order in which you will complete the draft. So #1 selects one game of their choice from any game of the season, #2 selects one game of their choice, then #3 and #4, and then back to #1 for the fifth selection, and so on.
Pros:Seems relatively fair and priority order is random. Simple to pull off and simple to manage.
Cons: Person who selects fourth might feel a bit cheated since they would pick fourth and eight, giving them limited options to pick the premium games (i.e. Original Six – if you are into that – contending teams, or opponents with the biggest superstars). This would also be the least fun approach to ticket selection.
Snake Draft
The Snake Draft is similar to the Conventional Draft, but instead of the #1 draft person getting the fifth pick, the #4 would get the fourth pick and the fifth pick as the order is reversed every other round. The order of selecting your tickets would go #1 selects first, #2 selects second, #3 selects third, #4 selects fourth, #4 selects fifth, #3 selects sixth, #2 selects seventh, and so on.
Pros: Fairer than Conventional Draft. Still easy to manage.
Cons: Like the Conventional Draft, we can make this way more interesting and fun than this, especially when factoring in college sodas.
Ticket Auction
Now we’re starting to cook.
In the Ticket Auction, based on the Fantasy Auction model, different games have different values to people. It could be the matchup, the time of year, the day of week, etc. Why not allow everyone to bid on the games about which they care the most?
You could give everyone 1000 fictitious points/dollars to bid out on all 44 games. You could do this blind where everyone fills in a separate spreadsheet before selection night. They need to put at least one point on each game and a maximum of 957 bucks on any one game (1000 – 43 = 957 to factor in the minimum bid required on the other games). On selection night, you can get together and compile the results to determine who goes to each game, starting with the highest individual point bid.
Before selection night group member’s bids are consolidated by the Commissioner, who will again be booed relentlessly throughout the gathering.
On selection night the consolidated list is shared and the winner of each game is determined by the highest bidder.
Pros:Builds a system around how people value each game. It is more compelling and fun than a draft.
Cons:More complicated to organize. Tiebreakers may be needed. You would also need to ensure that each person still gets 11 games. Also, there is no going to the podium to announce your pick on this, rather the Commissioner going game-by-game through the schedule and announcing winners.
Hybrid Auction
This is a combination of a real money live auction and a draft of your Kraken season tickets.
First step would be to identify the priority games. The number of priority games has to match a multiple of the number of individuals in your group to ensure even distribution. For example, if you have four people, then the number of priority games can be 8, 12, 16, and so on. There is no doubt some games will be more coveted than others, such as Opening Night, Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, Tampa Bay Lightning. You will have to do some work within your group to determine what are the priority games and how many there will be.
Second step would be to hold the live auction of the priority games. This would be with real money. Any funds collected above face value will then be redistributed to the people that did not win the auction for the tickets. For example, Jerry really wants Opening Night and he bids $300 over the face value of the ticket ($400/ticket X 2 tickets) which no one else in the group is able to beat. The $600 ($300 X 2 tickets) that is over the face value of the tickets means each other member of the group will get $200. With multiple people and multiple tickets, this could get a bit complicated. Someone with an eye for basic accounting or spreadsheet skills may be needed here.
Third step is to perform a draft (conventional or snake, as described earlier) for the remaining seats that were not part of the auction. If anyone won tickets in the auction, those tickets would apply to the 11 games each person is allowed to ensure an even distribution of games. Auction winners would sacrifice picks from the end of the draft once they’ve hit 11 total games.
Pros: It’s a fun and exciting event with your group to have over college sodas. Puts a dollar amount on the value of each game. Creates a fair market. People that lose out on games they want may get compensated.
Cons:Could create an unfair advantage for people who have more financial means to pay for the premium games. Complicated to manage.
Clauses, Rules, Considerations, and Guidelines
It is also important to set some guidelines and rules of the group that are considered and ratified before tickets are selected. These should be maintained and updated from season to season.
Commissioner– In addition to announcing picks or auction wins and getting booed, the Commissioner will have some additional responsibilities. The commissioner will pull all the feedback from people in your group, help the group decide on the methodology of how the tickets will be distributed, make sure that the rules agreed upon by the group are abided by, and then lead the execution of the methodology.
You can also divide these tasks up further where you have a “Judge” who is responsible for the rules and a “Commissioner” responsible for managing the methodology and execution.
Hometown Rule– Some people will undoubtedly have a favorite team that they want to see. You could create a “hometown rule” where people can claim their hometown team games. The group needs to consider how this is handled for people that might not have a hometown team or if multiple people have the same hometown team. In a draft scenario, you might be able to set the rule that no hometown teams can be selected by those other than the hometown claimant until round four and later. That way, the people with hometown teams can select their hometown teams in the first three rounds, otherwise they risk someone else taking their team.
Resell– How does your group want to handle reselling of your Kraken season tickets? Is it wide open where people can sell their tickets to anyone at any time? Maybe people inside the group have the first right of refusal at face value or highest bidder? Should resell be allowed for Opening Night tickets? Is there profit distribution if the tickets are sold to someone outside of the group?
Playoffs – How should the order be considered for playoffs? Maybe reverse order of regular season draft should be considered. Selection should be which game in the series. What happens when a series ends shorter than what was selected i.e. series ends at 4 games? What happens to those that selected games 5, 6, or 7 in the series? If the Kraken moves onto the next series, then maybe the previous series defines the draft order of the games in the next series. If the Kraken did not move on, then it should define how next season’s draft should be ordered. Should resell be allowed for playoff tickets?
Preseason Games– Three games of the season ticket package will be preseason games which creates a little bit of an unfair distribution. You can create some rules around the preseason games. i.e. in a draft scenario, the person who picked last, gets 11 regular season games, where the other three get ten regular season plus one preseason game.
What Do You Think?
Those are just a few of my ideas and considerations to make when figuring out distribution of your season tickets among groups, and I am sure there will be plenty of other ideas and considerations I am not thinking about.
What are your ideas and considerations when allocating Kraken season tickets?
The New York Rangers were swept out of the NHL’s play-in round this summer. While that loss felt like a setback at the time the Rangers ended up big winners by winning the Draft Lottery that followed. New York jump-started its rebuild by taking a franchise-type player in Alexis Lafreniere. How will this all impact the Rangers in the upcoming NHL Expansion Draft?
With a good mix of young stars, the Rangers rebuild is in full swing and New York general manager Jeff Gorton is going to protect his core from the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft.
Gorton has obvious players he’s going to protect but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some tough decisions to be made.
He isn’t hampered by the salary cap heading into the 2021-2022 season and while his star players will be protected, Seattle will get to choose between some talented, albeit young, players. Like many teams preparing for the Seattle Expansion Draft, performances in the upcoming season will determine which of those players Kraken general manager Ron Francis will have available to him.
Assumptions
New York has just under $5 million in cap space and should be good enough to fight for a playoff spot this coming season. Could they be buyers at the trade deadline? Even with the flat cap hindering teams, the Rangers could conceivably swing a deal and add some salary at the deadline. What they give up will have an impact on who they end up protecting.
There is also the possibility that New York could sell at the deadline and try to offload higher salaried players like Ryan Strome or Jacob Trouba. Both players are over $4.5 million dollar guys and would be attractive pieces for contenders. Will the flat cap limit the number of buyers though? It’s another of the many questions that will affect the Expansion Draft for Seattle. For this exercise, we’ll assume that neither player is moved at the deadline.
Roster Wildcards
Defenseman Brendan Smith is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent after this season. The veteran of 478 games is a solid, left defenseman but he’s unlikely to be attractive to Seattle either before the Seattle Expansion Draft or after.
Many of New York’s exciting young players are exempt from the draft. That list includes Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko, Adam Fox, and K’Andre Miller.
Protected List
Forwards
Artemi Panerin (NMC)
Chris Kreider (NMC)
Mika Zibanejad (NMC)
Pavel Buchnevich
Filip Chytil
Ryan Strome
Julian Gauthier
The Rangers have to protect Artemi Panerin, Chris Kreider, and Mika Zibanejad due to all three having no-move clauses on their contracts. These players would be protected without the clauses so there is no surprise here.
It gets interesting for the Rangers when you look at the sixth or seventh forward they protect.
One veteran player to watch is Ryan Strome. The 27-year-old will be entering his second full season with the Rangers and has two more years left on his $4.5 million contract. If he is not in New York’s long-term plans it wouldn’t be a shock to see him exposed and dangled in front of the Kraken who would only be on the hook for one season.
Strome is a productive player. He had a career-best 59 points last season with the Rangers and is a decent possession player.
Outside of Strome, New York’s decision on protecting forwards will come down to some young players who all show some promise – which is good news for the Kraken.
One of Julian Gauthier, Brendan Lemieux, or Brett Howden will be left unprotected. Gauthier was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes and Ron Francis in the first round of the 2016 NHL Draft. The Rangers picked him up in a trade deadline move this past season. He’s 23-years-old and coming off of productive AHL seasons with the Charlotte Checkers.
Lemieux, 24, is another young guy who hasn’t had the offensive output yet and is still trying to find his footing after starting his career with the Jets. Howden has two seasons of NHL hockey under his belt with New York and was a prolific scorer in junior with the Moose Jaw Warriors of the WHL. So far in the NHL, the 22-year-old has shown some scoring touch but has been a liability in his own end. Last season at five-on-five he was a 40-percent Corsi-For player and that poor possession game most likely means he’ll be exposed here.
Any of these three can play their way into protection by producing this season. A couple of months before the start of the season Gauthier has the most upside on paper. But he also has the least amount of NHL track record so he’ll still need to prove it.
Defense:
Jacob Trouba (NMC)
Anthony Deangelo
Ryan Lindgren
The Rangers defense is less complicated in terms of protection. Jacob Trouba has a no-move clause in his contract and therefore will have to be protected. Anthony Deangelo just turned in a career-best 53-point season so the 25-year-old will also be protected. Ryan Lindgren, 22, is coming off a strong rookie campaign and will round out the protection list for New York.
Goalie
Alexandar Georgiev
The Rangers had too many goalies last year, but with Henrik Lundqvist now in Washington, their decision here will be a no-brainer. Alexandar Georgiev will take over the number one spot in net and will be protected.
Igor Shesterken has not played enough to be eligible for the Seattle Expansion Draft so he will be exempt, and no protection will be needed. New York has to have a qualified goalie to expose and they signed veteran Keith Kinkaid to meet that requirement.
Top Candidates for Seattle Expansion Draft
Forwards
Brendan Lemiuex
Brett Howden
Tim Gettinger
Defense
Libor Hajek
Anthony Bitetto
Goalie
Keith Kinkaid
Thoughts
Seattle should look at one of the forwards exposed by the Rangers. If New York ends up leaving Strome off the protected list, he would be a good choice. Strome is still productive and would only have one year left on his contract. His $4.5 million salary would help the Kraken get to the required cap floor along with providing the always important veteran presence.
Gauthier would also be a strong pick if he’s available. Francis has already drafted him once and the only real question is if he can replicate what he’s done at the AHL level in the NHL. It feels more likely that the Rangers will protect a young asset like Gauthier but it may end up being a matter of how well the other forwards play.
It’s definitely possible that it will come down to a choice between Lemieux or Howden for the Kraken. It’s hard to see either as a top-six forward but both have some NHL experience and that could be key. Howden probably has the better offensive upside but will have to clean up the play in his own end and become the cliché 200-foot player.
Side Deal Scenarios
There aren’t any obvious side deal targets on the Rangers roster. Gorton played it straight during the Vegas Expansion Draft and he’ll do the same here. Heading into the coming year the Rangers have cap space and don’t have any crushing contracts that they’ll be dying to get rid of.
Starting an NHL franchise from scratch? You’re going to want to first find a top-line center who can score, drive the play, and make those around him better. The Seattle Kraken are hoping to find someone to fill that role right away in next summer’s Expansion Draft. But the need for a star center goes beyond just the team’s inaugural season. With so much focus on the Expansion Draft, it’s easy to forget that that will quickly be followed by the NHL Entry Draft. The Seattle Kraken hope to find their star center for the long term in that Entry Draft, and Kent Johnson could be their man.
Johnson will be on the Kraken radar as the season progresses towards Draft day as offensive threat and dynamic scorer. The University of Michigan freshman recorded four assists in his first collegiate game and eight points through the Wolverines first six contests.
It’s a great start for Johnson and comes after a monster junior season in 2019-2020 with the Trail Smoke Eaters of the BCHL where his 101 points in 52 games led the league by an impressive 30 points.
I know I'm supposed to be focused on 2020, but get excited for North Van-native, Kent Johnson in '21.
Johnson’s scoring prowess in Trail was noticed, and the 18-year-old showed up on last month’s NHL Central Scouting initial watch list as an ‘A’ ranked skater. That rating projects Johnson as at least a first-round pick, but other NHL Draft prognosticators rate him as a potential top-ten pick in 2021.
The 2021 NHL Draft will be the first for Seattle, and the Kraken will get the same odds in the lottery as the third-worst team this upcoming season. This means they will end up with a pick somewhere within the top six overall selections. By comparison, Vegas had the sixth overall pick in its first Draft.
Kent Johnson will be in the mix when the Seattle Kraken pick.
“He has high-end stick skills and creativity,” one NHL scout says about Johnson. “Great offensive instincts and for a young forward in the BCHL, had an impact every shift. I have seen his offensive flair only a few times in my 18 years of scouting.”
Johnson Dominated the BCHL
On his way to leading the BCHL in points, Johnson scored 41 times to go with 60 assists. His rookie campaign the season before was also efficient as he scored 20 goals that year.
While the BCHL is considered a small step down from major-junior leagues like the Western Hockey League, it is filled with high-end prospects, and Johnson’s numbers should not be discounted. Alex Newhook led the league with 101 points for the Victoria Grizzlies the season prior.
Newhook would go on to be a first-round Draft pick in 2019 by the Colorado Avalanche, and Johnson will be the next first-rounder to come out of the BCHL.
“I think the BCHL was a great league for me,” Johnson, who is listed at 6-foot-1 and 165 pounds, said during Michigan’s media day. “Nice and close to home as a 16-year-old. Just to get my feet wet. My coach was really good and helped me improve my offensive game. (It gave me) more confidence and I worked on my offensive skills and tactics. Just being on the ice on so many offensive situations. A lot of work on goal scoring. There’s nothing like doing it in a game so that league was good for me.”
Johnson was coached in Trail by Jeff Tambellini, a veteran of 242 NHL games and a former first-round NHL Draft pick himself. Tambellini, who now scouts for the Tampa Bay Lightning, helped Johnson hone his already high hockey IQ and skills, giving him the freedom to cash in on his creativity.
That creativity included multiple lacrosse style goals Johnson scored with Trail.
“I think just like any other skill, it’s just practice,” Johnson said of the lacrosse goals. “I did it first in a roller hockey league I play in and that gave me the confidence to do it in an actual game.”
Johnson played in every situation for Tambellini and 14 of his goals came on the Smoke Eaters power play. He ended the season with 39 points on the manpower advantage, along with one short-handed goal. He’s already become a staple on Michigan’s power play unit this season.
From Port Moody to Ann Arbor
Johnson grew up in Port Moody, British Columbia and found the NCAA route an easy choice after his Bantam team took a trip to Penn State.
“I thought the Big 10 and college hockey was really cool,” Johnson said. “My brother went through that so I’ve always liked college hockey.”
Johnson’s older brother Kyle came up through the same Burnaby Winter Club that Kent did as a youth and also played in the BCHL. He is now in his third season at Yale. Kent Johnson says the two brothers are close, albeit competitive, and Kyle had a big influence on his game and the decision to play college hockey.
The younger Johnson’s interest in the NCAA route was well known, and that led to WHL teams staying away from him during the 2017 Bantam Draft. The Everett Silvertips took a flier with a 10th-round pick just in case the high-scoring center changed his mind.
Johnson honored his commitment to Michigan and is part of an impressive freshman class of Wolverines. Along with Johnson, Michigan defenseman Owen Power and center Matthew Beniers are also ‘A’ ranked prospects, according to NHL Central Scouting.
Like most players, Johnson was unable to get the ice time he’s used to during the quarantine. Knowing that he was making a big jump in competition, Johnson said he spent a lot of time shooting pucks in his garage this summer and feels that he has improved his wrist shot and backhand as a result. His stick skills and shot were already a strong part of his game, and he’s been showing off the improved tools early on this season.
The Seattle Kraken will have to find ways to get live viewings of Kent Johnson and other Draft prospects. NHL scouts are not allowed at Michigan home games due to Covid protocols but there will be chances to see Johnson on the road or on television. If the Kraken are impressed with what they see, he could hear his name called as the first ever Seattle pick.
Michigan is must-see television this season, and you can watch Kent Johnson and his fellow highly-rated prospects for yourself this week as the Wolverines take on Penn State.
The hockey news has been dominated over the past month with cancellations of seasons, teams, and tournaments. But, there was good news this week as the NWHL announced it will conduct an abbreviated season starting in late January, and the games will be played entirely in a bubble.
The six NWHL clubs are heading to one of the most iconic hockey locations in the United States for its bubble, starting on January 23rd, to play a five-game schedule. That will determine the four playoff teams who will duke it out for a chance to advance to the Isobel Cup Final, which will be played on February 5th.
All games in the NWHL bubble will be played at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, NY — the same rink where the US Olympic team made us all believe in miracles during an upset of the Soviet hockey team on the way to gold in 1980.
A game schedule is still to be released. The same is true for broadcast information, and hopefully the NWHL can find a partner to carry these games because a two-week run to the Isobel Cup is must-watch television.
A big issue for the NWHL has always been its ability to pay players a livable wage. This challenge still very much exists, but the league has made it clear that despite the very short duration of this campaign, the players will receive what they normally receive for a full season.
Here is the full statement on this topic, which definitely sounds like a step in the right direction for the NWHL.
“All of the professional players who signed contracts this year for the NWHL season will be compensated in full, despite the condensed game schedule. Players were given the opportunity to opt-out of the tournament and still receive their complete salaries. At this date, more than 95 percent of the players have committed to the competition, giving each team a full playing roster for Lake Placid – the site of the iconic “Miracle on Ice” by the U.S. Olympic Team in 1980. Following local and national health guidelines, NWHL teams began voluntary workouts in September and started official practices and workouts in October.“
Fred Sasakamoose played 11 NHL games for the Chicago Blackhawks during the 1953-1954 season. He didn’t register a single point over that time but is a revered hockey legend because of the barriers he burst through.
A member of the Cree nation, Sasakamoose was the first Indigenous player to make it to the NHL. He overcame many obstacles along the way and served as an inspiration to Canadian First Nation youth for the rest of his life. Sasakamoose would later return to his Saskatchewan, Ahtahkakoop reserve where he would use hockey to inspire Indigenous youth throughout Canada.
Young Indigenous players today are aware of Sasakamoose and his journey, and he is considered a legend in that community. His passing won’t change his status.
After 725 NHL games, Johnny Boychuk called it a career this week. Boychuk played with the Islanders over the past six seasons after a stint in Boston that saw him win a Stanley Cup.
Boychuk’s retirement was due to a scary eye injury just prior to the NHL’s pause. On the play, Boychuk was struck by the skate blade belonging to Montreal Canadiens Artturi Lehkonen. He was able to return for the NHL’s postseason, but only played three total games due to yet another upper body injury.
Johnny Boychuk gets emotional when talking about his time with the Islanders:
"There's been so many good memories that it's just tough to process everything at one time" pic.twitter.com/YOuNpVdjsv
Liked by every team he played for, Boychuk’s retirement solicited a number of responses from his former teammates. Anders Lee summed it up pretty well.
Anyone who knows JB knows he is one of a kind in every way. He is a selfless teammate, who never backed down, shot every rimmed puck, has a heart of gold, and touch of moderns top customer. But above all he is always there for you.I’m lucky you call you my friend, Love you Beezy pic.twitter.com/qhS8Kkkm5g
The University of Wisconsin swept Penn State this past week and Montreal prospect, Cole Caufield, was front and center. The 2019 first-round pick sparked the Badgers to the sweep with a hat trick in the second game.
You need more proof that Caufield is good? How about the four-goal, eight-point start he has over Wisconsin’s first six games? That’s decent.
Michigan Dresses Cones and Loses, Boston College Wins
After a 4-0-0 start following sweeps of Arizona State and Wisconsin, Michigan took its first loss of the season against Notre Dame on Friday. The 3-2 loss at famed Yost Arena came after the Fighting Irish jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second period. The Wolverines fought back, but couldn’t complete the comeback.
The loss doesn’t discount the fact that the Wolverines are the real deal this season, buoyed largely by their young stars. Sportsnet lists three of Michigan’s players as potential top-ten picks in next year’s NHL Entry Draft.
If you’re reading this on Saturday, you can watch the second game of Michigan’s series with Notre Dame on Big Ten Network at 4PM Pacific. There may not be fans in attendance, but Michigan faithful will still find a way to harass the opposing netminder.
Boston College finally opened its season with high hopes on Friday, carrying a pre-season ranking of second in the country. The Eagles skated to a 4-3 win over seventh-rated UMass, thanks to three combined goals from Minnesota Wild prospects Jack McBain (2) and Matt Boldy (1), and one from Mike Hardman.
BC is starting the season without its best offensive player – Colorado Avalanche prospect, Alex Newhook – who is taking part in Team Canada’s World Junior Championship selection camp.
Spicy Sauce
Speaking of Boston College, check out this sauce from Willow Corson over on the women’s side. Hannah Bilka received this exquisite dish and made no mistake in depositing it in the back of the net in BC’s season-opening 4-1 win over UNH last weekend.
It was very unnecessary by BC’s social media person to leave in Bilka’s fall at the end of the video, though.
Seattle Kraken Aim to Help Washington State Ice Rinks
On Wednesday, the Seattle Kraken launched a fundraising campaign to help out Washington State ice rinks impacted by the global pandemic. It should be no surprise that a lot of the local hockey rinks have been hard hit by the economic impacts of Covid, and the hockey community certainly feels the strain as well.
The Kraken are offering up an autographed jersey signed by general manager Ron Francis for $1500. If you think that price is a little steep for your blood, you can also donate in smaller amounts.
Our local rinks are the heartbeat of hockey in WA and, like so many in our community, have felt the impact of COVID-19.
