There are several NHL players with local ties that are possible draft picks for the upcoming NHL Expansion Draft, but I wanted to see if it was possible to build an entire team with connections to the Pacific Northwest. Against my better judgement, I went on an endeavor to create the most local expansion team possible that was still compliant within the rules of the upcoming Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft.
Rules of the Sound Of Hockey Mock Expansion Draft
The rules of the hyper-local Expansion Draft are the same as our other mock drafts that we have been completing at Sound Of Hockey over the past couple of weeks.
Protection Lists are based on latest updates on Sound Of Hockey (Central, East, West, North).
You are allowed one UFA-and-sign selection. Selection should pass the sniff test of being a legitimate option. (i.e. expecting to draft and sign Alex Ovechkin does not feel legitimate).
No side deals. Although we are aware that this will be a major part of the actual Expansion Draft, we don’t have good knowledge about what could be done here. So for the purposes of this mock draft, we’re keeping this off the table.
Rule addendums for the Hyper-Local Mock Expansion Draft
To make it hyper local, however, we have added a few additional stipulations.
Any available Washington State natives that are eligible for the NHL Expansion Draft must be drafted.
You must have a representative from each US Division WHL team.
You must draft one former BCHL player.
You must draft one Alaskan native.
You must draft one former Idaho Steelhead.
If there are no available players from Washington State or US WHL Division on an existing NHL team, then and only then can you select players from other WHL teams.
Washington State natives
This is the easiest part of the draft. We take Dylan Gambrell (SJS) from Bonney Lake, Derek Ryan (CGY) from Spokane, T.J. Oshie (WSH) from Mt. Vernon, and Tyler Johnson (TBL) from Spokane. Ryan is a pending free agent so he takes our UFA spot. That might put us in a bind later, but he is an obvious selection.
US Division WHL team
Spokane is covered with Ryan and Johnson so we need to make sure Seattle, Everett, Tri-City, and Portland have representation. We also need to make sure we have the positional requirement of 14 forwards, nine defensemen, and three goaltenders. I am going to prioritize goalies first since that is allegedly an important position (though I don’t really buy that).
Adin Hill (ARI) played for the Portland Winterhawks for two seasons and is probably one of the best goalies we can get right now.
Eric Comrie (WPG) will be our Tri-City Americans representative. He played 168 regular season games over four seasons for the Americans.
Calvin Pickard (played for Seattle) and Chris Driedger (played for Tri-City) are both pending UFAs. We cannot select them due to already using our UFA signing on Derek Ryan.
The only US Division goalie left is Landon Bow in Dallas. Bow played 23 regular season games for the Seattle Thunderbirds.
We still do not have the Everett Silvertips represented, but there are two available in Florida, Radko Gudas and Noah Juulsen. Neither is having a very strong year, but I am going to select Juulsen because he is young and has potential.
BCHL, Alaskan and Steelhead player requirements
Now that we have our US Division WHL players selected, let us identify our BCHL player, our Alaskan native, and our Idaho Steelhead.
For our BCHL player, we are going to select Troy Stecher (DET). Stecher played for the Penticton Vees for three seasons before playing collegiately in North Dakota. Coincidentally, Stecher could be the best player available from the Red Wings.
Alaska. This one is challenging. Right now there is only one NHL player from Alaska, former Seattle Thunderbird Nate Thompson. He would be perfect and would check multiple boxes. The issue is that he is a pending UFA and we already selected our UFA signing in Derek Ryan. We could go after Washington Capital Pheonix Copley, but we select T.J. Oshie from the Caps. Digging deeper, I also scoured the alumni from the University of Alaska Anchorage and University of Alaska Fairbanks with no luck. Colton Parayko played at University of Alaska Fairbanks, but we are projecting him to be protected and therefore cannot draft him. We thought we were out of luck, but in the eleventh hour, we appealed to the league and received a waiver for this rule under the condition we hire Scott Gomez as one of the first assistant coaches of the Seattle Kraken….or we hire him for our digital media team.
Sam Carrick of the Anaheim Ducks played most of his first pro season for the Idaho Steelheads. Carrick is a pending UFA so per the rules, he will not be re-signed and enter free agency.
Low-hanging fruit
We have met all the core requirements across geographies and leagues, so now we need to fill out the rest of the team. I will now need to focus on WHL US Division players that I know off the top of my head could be available. Matt Dumba (MIN/Portland), Jake Bean (CAR/Tri City), Caleb Jones (EDM/Portland), and Ryan Johansen (NSH/Portland) will fit in nicely with the hyper-local Kraken.
The rest of the squad
Anaheim has several WHL players that will be available but only one from the US Division. As a policy of the Hyper-Local Mock Expansion Draft, we must pick him. Chase De Leo is joining the Kraken.
This might be a deep cut but the Boston Bruin with the closest tie to the Pacific Northwest is Cameron Hughes. Hughes played two seasons with the Spruce Grove Saints of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL).
Buffalo has a few WHLers on its roster but only one US Division player. Dustin Tokarski will be joining the team as a fourth goalie.
In Chicago we are going to select 22-year-old left wing Brandon Hagel who played four years with the Red Deer Rebels.
Colorado has a few options, but we like the thought of former Penticton Vees center, Tyson Jost.
There aren’t a lot of options in Columbus, but Calvin Thurkauf played two years in Kelowna so we are picking him.
From Los Angeles, we will take former Seattle Thunderbird defenseman Austin Strand.
Shea Weber played 190 games for the Kelowna Rockets. He is our pick out of Montreal.
As much as I loved Thomas Hickey when he played with the Seattle Thunderbirds at Key Arena, I need to select Kieffer Bellows from the New York Islanders. Bellows played one year in Portland.
Pretty deep cut here as well, but the New York Rangers only have two WHL players that are projected to be exposed in the Expansion Draft. Mason Geertsen is our pick. He played with the Edmonton Oil Kings and Vancouver Giants, but has yet to play a game in the NHL. Rules are rules.
Derrick Pouliot played four seasons with the Portland Winterhawks and is our pick from the Philadelphia Flyers.
Colton Sceviour also played in Portland for two years and is our only option out of Pittsburgh. Sceviour is another pending UFA so he will not be re-signed and will enter free agency.
For the life of me, I could not find a WHL player on the Ottawa Senators that is exposed and not a pending UFA, so we are going to draft pending UFA and former Portland Winterhawk, Braydon Coburn with the expectation that he walks to free agency.
St. Louis does not have many players with northwest ties, but Tanner Kaspick played four seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings and one season with the Victoria Royals. Kaspick has yet to play a game in the NHL but is only 23, so he still has a shot.
Toronto is another team with very few players with northwest ties, but we found one! 24-year-old forward Adam Brooks played five seasons with the Regina Pats.
Rounding out the roster is Vancouver Canucks prospect Kole Lind, who played three seasons with the Kelowna Rockets.
…and I am utterly exhausted from looking at literally hundreds of hockeydb.com player profile pages.
Let’s see how we did.
We seem to be a little heavy at the center position and a little light at left wing, but we’re hoping some of the centers we took can shift over.
Even with the constraints of the rule addendums for the Hyper-Local Mock Expansion Draft, there are some players that could be candidates for the Kraken. Hill, Bean, Jones, Stecher, Oshie, Gambrell, and Bellows are probably on a short-list at Kraken HQ.
I hope you enjoyed a lighter look at the Expansion Draft.
Let’s get something out in the open right now: The Seattle Kraken’s Expansion Draft strategy is going to look a lot different from this mock version. You bet your bottom dollar that Kraken general manager Ron Francis is going to work the phones, especially with cap-strapped franchises, and see what they can land as sweeteners.
But hypothetically, if Seattle didn’t make any side deals, this is my closest guess on what might happen.
In addition to every pick, I’ll explain my thought process and offer a “confidence rating,” meaning how confident I am in this player being destined for Seattle.
Here goes nothing.
Rules of the Sound Of Hockey Mock Expansion Draft
Protection lists are based on latest updates on Sound Of Hockey (Central, East, West, North).
You are allowed one UFA-and-sign selection. Selection should pass the sniff test of being a legitimate option (i.e. expecting to draft and sign Alex Ovechkin does not feel legitimate).
No side deals. Although we are aware that this will be a major part of the actual Expansion Draft, we don’t have enough insider knowledge about what could be done here or what the Kraken would actually try to pull off. So for the purposes of this mock draft, we’re keeping this off the table.
The Expansion Draft picks
Anaheim: Josh Mahura — I love the idea of Mahura and the 22-year-old puck-moving blueliner is worth a look here. Confidence Level (CL): 8 out of 10
Arizona: Adin Hill — Hill is a trendy choice and for good reason. Young and capable goaltenders are hard to find and Hill has been terrific in his two starts this season for the Coyotes, who don’t boast the most inspiring potential exposure list. CL: 9
Boston: Jeremy Lauzon — I’m really bullish on Lauzon’s potential. At just 23 years old, he’s worth a sniff for Seattle, even with the Bruins’ pretty healthy list of potential players. (CL): 7
Buffalo: Henri Jokiharju — The former Portland Winterhawk star hasn’t broken out quite yet, but there’s still plenty more time for the 21-year-old to develop. His offensive upside is worth a peek. CL: 8.
Calgary: Sam Bennett — Bennett’s 2020-21 season has been nothing short of a disaster, but for now, his pedigree is worth a look. With reported trade requests, there’s a strong chance Bennett isn’t in the Flames organization by the Expansion Draft. CL: 6.
Carolina: Jake Bean — Bean is a Sound Of Hockey favorite and I’m firmly on the bandwagon. The former Tri-City American rearguard is playing regular minutes as a 22-year-old and he’s someone you could build the defensive corps around. CL: 9.
Columbus: Kevin Stenlund — To me, it’s between Stenlund and defensemen Gabriel Carlsson or Dean Kukan, but Stenlund’s progression this season is too encouraging to pass up. His ability to play center is a huge plus, too. There is a chance, however, that he’s playing his way into protection with seven points in 13 games. CL: 7.
Colorado: Devon Toews — Toews is a slam dunk choice for the Kraken. However, I doubt the Avalanche will let one of their best blueliners go for nothing. Colorado screams side deal. CL: 7.
Chicago: Nikita Zadorov — Zadorov is a rather large defenseman who’s a good plug-and-play option on Seattle’s blueline. CL: 7.
Dallas: Julius Honka — Honka’s professional career hasn’t gone well, but maybe the first-round pick in 2014 still has more to give. CL: 5.
Detroit: Troy Stetcher — Stetcher is the best player available from Detroit, and even though there are a lot of great options for defensemen in the Expansion Draft, nabbing Stetcher who can contribute from the get-go is a good proposition for Seattle. He’s also a good candidate to be flipped. CL: 6.
Edmonton: Tyler Benson — Quite frankly, there aren’t a ton of great options in our Edmonton projection and Benson is a good depth option with some upside. CL: 6.
Florida: Chris Driedger — Is Driedger the Kraken’s goalie of the future? Driedger, 26, never broke through with Ottawa, but he’s been nothing short of fantastic for Florida this season, with a .818 quality starts percentage. We’ll see how that number changes when the sample size grows, but I love taking a stab at someone like Driedger, who even posted good numbers last season. His contract is up after this season, so this would be my one UFA signing, as allowable by the SOH rules. CL: 7.
Los Angeles: Trevor Moore — The 25-year-old would be a good depth piece for the Kraken with room to grow. CL: 7.
Minnesota: Matt Dumba — I’m skeptical that Dumba will be left exposed. But he is a great selection if he’s available as an instant impact option on the blueline with star potential. CL: 6.
Montreal: Jake Allen — I’ve been infatuated with the idea of bringing Jake Allen in a goalie tandem for quite some time. With good periphery numbers with Montreal thus far, Allen and Driedger are the product of that vision. CL: 9.
Nashville: Matt Duchene — Sure, Duchene may be on the second half of his prime and carries a bloated $8 million average annual value (AAV), but finding a potential No. 1 center is too good to pass up. I’m not sold Duchene will be available, though, with trade rumors swirling around the Predators since a slow start. CL: 7.
New Jersey: Miles Wood — For a rebuilding team, New Jersey boasts some interesting options. Yegor Sharangovich and Janne Kuokkanen have both played decently high roles for the Devils this year, but Wood, who is tied with former Spokane phenom Ty Smith for the team scoring lead with 11 points, plays a rugged game and could be an identity-type player with the potential to produce offensively. CL: 8.
New York Islanders: Nick Leddy — Leddy is someone I’ve always enjoyed while watching the Islanders play and I love the idea of his smooth skating and offensive upside playing on a second- or third-pairing role in my hypothetical Kraken squad. What’s more, you’d think a Barry Trotz-coached defenseman has good defensive habits drilled into him, right? CL: 8.5.
New York Rangers: Brett Howden — With plenty of hockey left ahead of him and the ability to play center, Howden is a relatively easy choice from the Rangers, who are bereft of many exciting options. CL: 9.
Ottawa: Nicholas Paul — Paul is the choice here because he’s relatively young and has been decently productive for the Senators this season. CL: 9.
Philadelphia: James van Riemsdyk — Similar to Duchene, van Riemsdyk’s instant impact is too significant to pass up. CL: 8.5.
Pittsburgh: Teddy Blueger — While Blueger isn’t a sexy choice, centers are not easy to find. CL: 7.5.
San Jose: Dylan Gambrell — Gambrell is the choice because he’s ready immediately to contribute in a bottom-six role. The Bonney Lake, Wash. native’s local angle is a nice plus. CL 9.
St. Louis: Oscar Sundqvist — Ivan Barbashev and Sammy Blais are decent choices as well, and so is veteran defenseman Justin Faulk, but this theoretical exercise’s quest to acquire center depth favors Sundqvist. CL: 7.
Tampa Bay: Mathieu Joseph — The Lightning offer a robust group of players for selection, but when are productive 24-year-old forwards with upside available without giving something up in return? One could envision Joseph blossoming into a top-nine consistent contributor from his fourth-line role in Tampa. CL: 7.
Toronto: Denis Malgin — Malgin might be a bit of an off-the-wall pick, considering he’s playing this season in Switzerland. He’s still just 24 years old and three years removed from a 22-point season. CL: 4
Vancouver: Kole Lind — Lind is a great organizational depth pick with the upside to turn into more. CL: 8 .
Washington: TJ Oshie — No, I’m not taking Oshie because he’s Seattle’s preeminent local hockey connection. I’m taking him because he’s still damn good at hockey. And also because the Kraken will need to get to the salary floor and his $5.75 million AAV salary will help with that.
Winnipeg: Sami Niku — I went back and forth between Niku and Mason Appleton, but young rearguards’ upside couldn’t be ignored with this choice. Plus, he’s slowly earning more playing time. Winnipeg might be ripe for a side deal in order to keep players like Appleton and Niku. CL: 8.
Overall thoughts
As we see it, there are going to be terrific options to build a really exciting blueline. While the forwards aren’t super inspiring, and Jake Allen and Chris Driedger are a bit of a gamble as a goalie pairing, this team could be decent from the jump.
But, as we’ve discussed: Keep an eye on side deals.
Sound Of Hockey will have additional versions of the Mock Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft in the coming weeks, so be sure to check back regularly!
Josh Horton is a freelance writer, former newspaper journalist, and former Western Hockey League writer for the Everett Herald and The Spokesman-Review (Spokane). He is NOT a juggler, nor is he a former professional baseball player. Follow him on Twitter @byjoshhorton.
SEATTLE – Hockey fans in the Puget Sound area can begin to program their car radios as the Seattle Kraken have found a radio home. The Kraken announced Wednesday afternoon that the team has partnered with 950 KJR AM as its live radio broadcast partner.
KJR is part of the iHeart Radio network which is one of the largest broadcasters in the nation with over 850 radio stations and 250,000 podcasts.
“I couldn’t be prouder to join forces with Seattle Kraken,” said Mark Glynn, Market President for iHeartMedia Seattle via a press release. “This alliance not only encompasses Sports Radio 950 KJR as the flagship radio station but also strategically aligns our brands with Climate Pledge Arena in a groundbreaking agreement. Seattle Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke and Kraken COO Victor de Bonis and their team have been incredible to work with in creating this partnership.”
With the iHeart Radio app and affiliate networks, the Kraken will be able to reach a wide regional audience for their broadcasts. The team also indicated that select games would be available on KJAQ-JACK-FM (96.5). Along with the Kraken, KJR carries University of Washington Huskies sports and previously was the radio flagship station of the Seattle Supersonics. The Seattle Thunderbirds games are carried on KJR’s sister station at 1090 AM.
“Since our ticket drive in 2018, iHeartMedia Seattle and KJR have been with us every step of the way,” Tod Leiweke, CEO of Seattle Kraken said in the release. “With hosts that are entertaining and informative, we have found the perfect home for our fans to listen to Kraken games, wherever they are.”
Everett Fitzhugh will handle the radio play-by-play for the Kraken. He was hired by Seattle in August after calling games in the ECHL. With the announcement, the Kraken now have their radio and television broadcast partners set. At the end of January, they announced that ROOT Sports would carry the television broadcast with veteran announcer John Forslund leading the call.
The Kraken inaugural season is scheduled to begin in October of 2021 with an NHL Expansion Draft, where the team will select its initial roster, on the books for July 21st.
“We are extremely excited to bring Seattle’s newest professional franchise to the airwaves,” Rich Moore, Senior Vice President of Programming for iHeartMedia Seattle added via release. “It will be beyond fun helping build up this great fan base from the start, offering additional content and unique access on multiple platforms. Sports Radio 950 KJR and its entire team are proud to be the home of the Kraken!”
The latest Sound Of Hockey Podcast is here, and John is fed up with the Central Time Zone.
Things get off the rails pretty quickly on this one, as the guys discuss Jordan Binnington’s bizarre display this past week against the San Jose Sharks. They then move on to Kraken news, specifically the announcement that the team is pitching in to save the University of Alaska Anchorage hockey program.
You’ll also get a pretty robust WHL Update from WHL correspondent Andy Eide and a recap of the PWHPA Dream Gap game. That recap leads to a rare Get Off My Lawn segment led by John.
The guys also discuss John’s Mock Expansion Draft, Claude Julien’s firing by the Canadiens, and much more.
Bits this week include Three Stars. Segments include Goalie Gear Corner, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
The NHL has turned the corner on the quarter pole and now our eyes are focusing on the blurry division races as the trade deadline looms. Trades this year could – and most likely will – have an impact on the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft projections as well.
Key players being targeted may find themselves moved and that will change their protection status. Whether teams buy or sell will be determined over this next stretch of the season. Will contenders add? Will hot starts fade and those teams decide to sell?
While we watch that pan out, here are games to catch this week:
Boston Bruins versus Washington Capitals
When: Wednesday, 4 PM on NBCSN and Friday, 4 PM on NHL Network
Washington and Boston continue to plow along and play good hockey. It’s surprising that these games are going to be indoors since NBC seems to plug one or both of these teams into its stadium games on the regular – Wednesday’s game will be on NBCSN albeit inside. The national programming is not without merit.
Coming into this week, the two clubs are separated by two points at the top of the MassMutual East Division with the Capitals on top, but with the Bruins holding a pair of games in hand. Boston has a chance this week to take over the lead and take a big step in the race. The games should be good as it features two veteran-laden teams who have raised the Cup and know how to win. These teams aren’t young, but they are good. Look for terms like ‘crafty’ and ‘wily’ to be uttered a lot by the television crews.
Players to watch
Zdeno Chara will be playing against his former club in his former home arena – the one he is most remembered for – which adds a fun element. The Bruins will throw out Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, and Patrice Bergeron a ton in these games. Making up one of the best lines in the NHL, the trio are also the top three Boston scorers this season. Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo played his Junior hockey for the Tri-City Americans if you’re looking for a local angle. Jake DeBrusk was almost traded to the Seattle Thunderbirds once but that’s a story for another day.
For the Capitals, pay attention to their power play. Alex Ovechkin will probably find himself in the left faceoff circle looking for a one-timer. The Bruins know that but he’ll still get a couple of good looks from there. Nicklas Backstrom is looking true to form and leading the Capitals in scoring and if you like puck-moving, scoring defensemen then John Carlson is your guy. He’s been doing it a long time and is off to another strong start.
The Seattle Kraken watchlist
Boston has come interesting players to keep an eye on. Up front, Nick Ritchie is close to equaling his season totals from last season. On the back end, scout up on Jeremy Lauzon.
The Capitals feature Seattle Kraken message board favorite T.J. Oshie as well as former Thunderbird Brenden Dillon. Both are likely to be exposed and would obviously be interesting Kraken picks. But the Capitals have other players who could end up in Seattle, including goalie Vitek Vanecek, who has been a pleasant surprise in Washington.
Carolina Hurricanes versus Florida Panthers
When: Sunday, 2 P.M. NHLTV
The Discover Central continues to entertain. This is a division that is the definition of topsy-turvy. Seemingly every day brings a new top team and entering this week it’s the Florida Panthers who continue to surprise. Carolina is not far behind, just one point out heading into the week, tied for second with a little outfit known as the Tampa Bay Lightning.
But this isn’t about the defending champs, its about the Hurricanes and Panthers who will serve up a fun Sunday afternoon matinee. While this is a big game, it feels like this race is going to come down to the wire in the spring.
Players to watch
Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, and Carter Verhaeghe aren’t household names outside of hockey fans – because the Panthers don’t get the national airtime other teams do – but are having impact seasons. They’ve been good for a while but now are on a team that is winning and leading a division. Goalie Chris Driedger, who played 22 games for the Tri-City Americans once, continues to outplay the expensive Sergei Bobrovsky and is a big reason for the Panthers’ success this season.
Carolina is fun. The Hurricanes have depth and youth which is a great combination. Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, and Martin Necas are all high-end entertaining players that will stand out to you. It’s not just youth for the Hurricanes, however. Their young roster is littered with veterans like Vincent Trochek, Jordan Staal, and defenseman Dougie Hamilton who are all producing. This is a team that is almost always must-watch.
Vegas Golden Knights versus San Jose Sharks: Friday, 7:30 P.M. NHLTV. This was an intense rivalry just a season ago. It hasn’t had the same juice this season but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a spark. Fans of the Seattle Thunderbirds may enjoy it as former players Shea Theodore, Keegan Kolesar, Patrick Marleau, and Alexander True are all in the mix.
As the Seattle Kraken hockey operations team looks toward the Expansion Draft, the age of each NHL player will factor into their selections. On Saturday, we posted a broad look at the average player ages of NHL teams, but that just scratches the surface of understanding how teams are constructed. Today, we take a deeper dive into the ages of players and wrap it up with how this could factor into the Kraken’s selection process for the Expansion Draft.
Average age by position and line
Let us start by looking at the median ages of NHL players by position and how they stack up on depth charts.
A couple interesting points to call out here. First, the youngest line in hockey tends to be the first forward line with a median age of 25.8 years old. Conversely, the oldest line is the fourth forward line. Last, the median age of goalies is older than any of the forward or defense lines. This makes sense, since goalies typically take so much longer to develop than skaters.
Average ages by team and line
Here are a couple fun call-outs when looking at this data:
The Vancouver Canucks have the youngest forward line in the NHL (21.8), which is their first line: Elias Pettersson (21.9) Nils Hoglander (19.8), and Brock Boeser (23.6).
The Jets have the oldest forward line in hockey (34.2), their fourth line: Nate Thompson (36.0), Mathieu Perreault (32.7), and Trevor Lewis (33.7)
The Ottawa Senators have the youngest team across all positions with an average age of 25.5 years old.
Washington has the oldest team in the NHL at 31.0 years old. Thank Zdeno Chara (43.5), Craig Anderson (39.4), and Alex Ovechkin (35.0) for driving the age up for the Caps.
The Avalanche have the youngest defensemen in the league, averaging just under 23.9 years old.
Here is a data visualization you can use to dig into the detail of age distributions by team.
Seattle thoughts
Player age alone will not be a deciding factor in the Kraken’s selections in the upcoming NHL Expansion Draft this summer, but it will be a component in some of the decisions to be made. An important piece in incorporating a player’s age in the decision-making process is how many years are left on a player’s contract. How might the players contributions decline over the remainder of the deal?
Example:
Dustin Brown has 11 goals and six assists in his 20 games in the NHL this year and will turn 37 in November. Brown has only one year remaining on his contract with a salary cap hit of $5.9 million per year.
TJ Oshie has five goals and nine assists in his 20 games in the NHL this year and will turn 35 in December. Oshie has four years remaining on his contract with a cap hit of $5.7 million per year.
Both players are expected to be exposed in the Expansion Draft. Even though Brown is two years older, he probably carries the least amount of risk between the two because he only has one year remaining on his contract. In the salary-cap-strapped era the NHL is going through, Brown would probably be more tradeable at the trade deadline next season since teams only need to fit his salary in for the remainder of the year.
The Kraken will also need to evaluate players that are just entering the NHL to forecast what their upside might be. In San Jose, both Dylan Gambrell and Alexander True should be exposed in the Expansion Draft. Both play center. Gambrell is one year older than True and has been a regular in the Sharks lineup this year. True has played this season in the AHL and has five points in six games. They seem to have very similar capabilities, but does the one-year age difference change any of the NHL projections for either player?
