The Sound Of Hockey guys welcome a fantastic guest this week in the great Lisa Dillman, Senior Writer covering the Los Angeles Kings for The Athletic. Lisa previously worked at the Los Angeles Times for 23 years, so she has stories for days.
With Lisa, the guys discuss the Kings’ plans for the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft, their deep prospect pool, and how long the team might stink. Great interview.
Also in this episode, John, Andy, and Darren discuss some of the travel woes that have been experienced by teams trying to get into the World Junior Championship bubble and consider some of the rosters that have been released.
Segments this week include a controversial Goalie Gear Corner, You Don’t See That Every Day, and Weekly One-Timers. Also, Let’s Get Quizzical makes its triumphant return from a long hiatus.
For a team – and a fanbase – that fancies itself as a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, the Toronto Maple Leafs aren’t exactly gushing with the sort of quality depth that will excite the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft.
At least not yet anyway.
Toronto’s core four of highly talented and highly paid forwards – Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner and William Nylander – eat up 49.7 percent of its 2020-2021 salary cap space, leaving the rest to be spread creatively among the remaining 19 roster players. Defensemen Jake Muzzin, Morgan Rielly, and T.J. Brodie and goaltender Frederik Andersen bite off another $20.625 million, causing Leafs Nation and management a lot of wishful thinking and finger-crossing over the rest of the roster.
Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas has kept kicking the salary cap can down the road to the point where he’s skating a thin line in this COVID-19 flat cap market. This means it will be interesting to see how Kraken GM – and one-time Maple Leaf – Ron Francis can exploit this in the Seattle Expansion Draft.
Toronto didn’t make it past the play-in round in 2020 and was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs three years before that. In the upcoming abbreviated season the Leafs will escape the brutally tough Atlantic Division for the intriguing and perhaps equally competitive, pandemic-created Canadian Division.
Under the superheated local and national spotlight of living up to Toronto’s Cup contender status, any short-sighted moves in 2021 will only give the Kraken better options when they evaluate the Maple Leafs’ list of exposed players.
Assumptions
In addition to his core four, Dubas has filled out his roster with many pending unrestricted free agents up front. As a result, this shrewdly gives him some salary cap flexibility while not presenting great forward options for the Kraken Expansion Draft.
However, Dubas has painted himself into a corner a little. He will have to re-sign one or two of those pending UFAs or acquire another forward or two to meet the NHL’s Expansion Draft requirements of exposing at least “two forwards who are a) under contract in 2021-22 and b) played at least 40 NHL games the prior season or played in at least 70 NHL games in the prior two seasons.”
After the seven forwards identified below for protection, only Joey Anderson, Denis Malgin and Adam Brooks are signed beyond this season. None of them appear likely to play 40 games this season. And only Malgin, who played 44 last season, has a reasonable shot at reaching the 70-game, two-season mark. Anderson played 18 NHL games and Brooks played seven last season.
It’s pretty safe to assume the Leafs will make some trades before the midseason deadline, so any new forwards with term left on their contracts could be exposed or push some current players off the preliminary list below. We’ve compiled a protection list with the seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie scenario. But if the Leafs can’t lock up more forwards by draft time, they’ll have to go with the eight skaters and one goalie option that allows them to protect four defensemen.
Offseason Wildcards
Toronto is over the cap limit by more than $1 million as of Dec. 13, 2020, so it has some juggling to do before the season starts. Don’t expect that maneuvering to result in the addition of a significant player, however.
Maple Leafs Protected List
Forwards
Auston Matthews (Lock)
Mitch Marner (Lock)
John Tavares (Lock, NMC)
William Nylander (Lock)
Zach Hyman (Lock)
Alex Kerfoot
Pierre Engvall
Kerfoot and Engvall are on the bubble and could be exposed if Toronto obtains quality players worth protecting or other Leafs surpass them on the depth chart. Kerfoot will have a year and $3.5 million remaining on his contract next offseason. They might take a chance by leaving him exposed and protect someone else.
Defense
Morgan Rielly (Lock)
Jake Muzzin (Lock)
T.J. Brodie
Toronto just signed Brodie to a four-year, $20 million free agent contract, so he’s as good as a lock if he lives up to earning that salary. Otherwise the Leafs could leave him exposed in favor of protecting another defenseman, such as Justin Holl or Travis Dermott. And if the Leafs lose Brodie, it will at least free up some cap space.
Goaltender
Frederik Andersen (UFA)
Andersen, Toronto’s No. 1 goalie, will be an unrestricted free agent after this season. As a result, the Leafs will have a big decision on who will be their top netminder in 2021-22. Do they re-sign Andersen or use the $5 million in cap space to find a replacement via trade or free agency?
The pressure is on Andersen, 31, to have a strong contract year after an inconsistent postseason and the worst regular season numbers of his seven years in the NHL. He’s better than his 2.85 GAA and .909 save percentage showed, but his regular season 5-on-5 save percentage fell to .914 after seasons of .927, .924 and .928. We’re guessing Toronto will re-sign the big Dane and protect him.
Kraken Expansion Draft Players
Forwards
Joey Anderson
Adam Brooks
Denis Malgin
Jimmy Vesey (UFA)
Wayne Simmonds (UFA)
Anderson, Brooks and Malgin are depth players who will be fighting for roster spots this season. Whomever doesn’t make the cut will end up in the purgatory of an expanded roster taxi squad or dealing with whatever happens with the AHL Toronto Marlies’ schedule.
Anderson, 22, Brooks, 24, and Malgin, 23, have all performed well in the minors, so they’re at pivotal career moments to prove themselves. Only Malgin has spent more time recently in the NHL than the AHL. The native of Switzerland will also be the sharpest when training camp starts after being on loan to Swiss club Lausanne HC where he has notched eight goals and 12 points in 12 games this season.
Vesey and Simmonds were signed this past offseason to low-cost free agent contracts and are listed here in case they re-sign before the draft.
Simmonds is 32 and slowing down since he was a 50- to 60-point man in his peak years. But he always seems to be in trade rumors and was dealt before the past two deadlines. He could be a tough, grinding veteran option who might later be trade bait if the Kraken aren’t in playoff contention in Year 1.
Vesey, 27, is out to prove he can live up to the hype he had when he left Harvard. And the Kraken will be watching how he plays with his head ablaze.
If the aforementioned eligibility crunch drops Engvall, 24, onto the unprotected list, the 6-5 and 214-pound Swede would be an attractive option for the Kraken. He has speed, size and ability to play special teams that could see him blossom with increased opportunities.
Defense
Travis Dermott
Justin Holl
Zach Bogosian (UFA)
Here’s where the Kraken have some decent choices. Holl, 28, has been entrusted with more ice time and shut-down duties, but Dermott, 23, is more mobile and has better offensive potential.
Travis Dermott and Justin Holl had a night to remember during a 2018 game against the Islanders. Both scored their first NHL goals with their dads in the stands. #LeafsForeverpic.twitter.com/j4IV6ZO3NU
Fresh off helping the Tampa Bay Lightning win a Stanley Cup, Bogosian showed he still has more left in the tank. The 30-year-old could be an option if the Leafs re-sign him and feel the need to work a side deal with the Kraken.
Goalie
Jack Campbell
Campbell, the 11th overall pick in the 2010 entry draft, will have a reasonable $1.65 million and one year left on his contract before the Kraken Expansion Draft. This season’s compressed schedule should give Campbell more games to show whether he can push to be a No. 1 goalie.
Side Deal Scenarios
Dubas might want to steer Francis away from Holl and/or Dermott if they have good seasons and become important parts of the Leafs blue line in the team’s long and arduous chase for their first Stanley Cup since 1967.
If that plays out, Francis could turn his attention to one of those pending UFA veterans such as Simmonds, Vesey or Bogosian. To make this happen, the Leafs still have their first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth 2021 entry draft picks. Remember, Toronto traded its 2020 first-round pick to rid itself of former Seattle Thunderbird Patrick Marleau’s contract.
Other Notes
At least the options for the Kraken appear better than 2017 when the Vegas Golden Knights were building their inaugural lineup. Vegas did as well as could be hoped with what the rebuilding Leafs, having just made the playoffs for the first time in four years, left unprotected.
After a strong AHL season, forward Brendan Leipsic was a bottom-six energy guy who has since bounced from the Golden Knights to the Vancouver Canucks, Los Angeles Kings and Washington Capitals before he texted himself out of the league earlier this year.
Previous Sound of Hockey Expansion Draft team previews
Jim Wilkie is a longtime Northwest journalist, former NHL editor and NHL Insider writer for ESPN.com, a onetime GSHL All-Star, and SJHA hockey dad. Follow him on Twitter @jimwilkie.
It turns out signing goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and Stanley Cup-winning coach Joel Quenneville didn’t solve the Florida Panthers’ problems. On paper, it should have. The Panthers have talent but couldn’t rise above mediocrity last year and were ultimately sent home after a qualifying round loss to the New York Islanders. It’s that talent, however, that opens up interesting options for the Seattle Kraken in the upcoming Expansion Draft.
Bobrovsky should have made more of a difference. The season prior, Florida was one of the league’s top goal-scoring clubs. But the problem was in net. The Panthers were near the bottom of the NHL when it came to save-percentage. They just needed a goalie.
Bobrovsky didn’t play up to the $10 million a year contract he signed and Quenneville couldn’t get the team to live up to its preseason expectations.
The result was a change at the top. Out was general manager Dale Tallon and in was Bill Zito, whose name had long been thrown around as the next GM somewhere. With a new general manager calling the shots, the Panthers could go several ways in the Expansion Draft. Whatever they do, Seattle will have good players to choose between.
Assumptions
Zito has cap space heading into the season so won’t need to dump any salary right off the bat. The roster should stay stabilized during the season but that may depend on how the Panthers fare on the ice. They have room to add if they find themselves in contention but have guys like Patric Hornqvist or Anton Stralman who have salaries above $5 million and would be attractive to contending teams. If the Panthers struggle, those guys could go on the block.
The Panthers have some decisions made for them. Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, Keith Yandle, and Bobrovsky all have no-move clauses in their contracts so will have to be protected.
For this exercise, we’ll assume that the Panthers will protect seven forwards and three defensemen but Zito could choose the eight skater route which would allow him to protect four defensemen. Florida has four strong players on the blue line in a group that might have a bit more depth than the team has up front.
Protected List
There are several ways the Panthers can handle their protected list, but regardless of the route they take, they will have to leave a talented player available to Ron Francis and the Seattle Kraken.
Forwards
Jonathan Huberdeau (NMC)
Aleksander Barkov (NMC)
Patric Hornqvist
Noel Acciari
Frank Vatrano
Brett Connolly
Carter Verhaeghe
A key player to circle here is Hornqvist. A consistent producer throughout his 770 NHL games, the 33-year-old winger can still contribute. He was traded this offseason from Pittsburgh – in a move that was a surprise to Hornqvist – and has three years left on a contract that will pay him $5.3 million a year. His production has slipped ever so slightly the past couple of years, but he still scored 17 goals and 32 points in 52 games last season.
By exposing Hornqvist, Zito could protect a couple of younger guys. We will protect him here but that is nowhere near being a lock.
From there the mix at forward depends on how guys perform.
Alexander Wennberg came to Florida this offseason from Columbus. Zito knows him well, and at 26-years-old he still has some potential. He’ll be a UFA at the end of this year and could play himself into an extension and potential protection.
Like Hornqvist, Brett Connolly is another veteran who could end up exposed. Connolly, 28, scored 19 goals for the Panthers last season and costs $3.5 million a year. He’s on the protected bubble, but if a guy like Wennberg re-signs before the season ends, Connolly could be available at the Expansion Draft.
Coming off his rookie season, Carter Verhaeghe is a player the Panthers like and could be protected with a strong second year.
Defense
Keith Yandle (NMC)
Aaron Ekblad
MacKenzie Weegar
Zito also has tough decisions on the blue line. After Yandle, former first-overall draft pick Aaron Ekblad will be a lock to be protected.
Then it gets interesting.
Does Zito protect Anton Stralman, Mackenzie Weeger, Radko Gudas, or Riley Stillman?
Stralman, 34, is a veteran of over 800 games in the NHL and has been a consistently solid defenseman, but Florida will want to protect Weegar, who has been impressive in his short career. He’s 26 and has three years left on a $3.5 million per season contract. Weegar has strong underlying numbers and chipped in offensively last year with 18 points.
That will push him onto the protected list, freeing up Seattle to choose one of the vets or perhaps take a flyer on Stillman who is 22 years old and has yet to prove it in the NHL.
The Panthers may want to keep both Stralman and Weegar which may push Zito towards protecting four forwards and four defensemen.
Goalie
Bobrovsky has a no-move clause and will have to be saved, but the Panthers need to make an eligible goalie available. Chris Driedger is the current backup but will be a UFA after the season so Florida would have to re-sign him to expose him. They could also expose 24-year-old Samuel Montembeault but would have to get him signed, as he’s currently a restricted free agent.
Florida Expansion Draft Candidates
Forwards
Henrik Borgstrom
Patric Hornqvist (if exposed)
Alexander Wennberg (potential UFA)
Defense
Anton Stralman
Radko Gudas
Riley Stillman
Markus Nutivaara
Goalie
Samuel Montembeault
Thoughts
If Hornqvist or Connolly are exposed the Kraken may take a long look. Hornqvist could provide leadership and can still produce offensively. He will be 34 when Seattle takes the ice but would only be on the hook for two seasons on his contract. If they feel they can squeeze enough out of him, he could be the pick.
Most likely, the Kraken will be looking at a defenseman and could land one who will produce right away. Would Seattle prefer established NHLers like Stralman and former Everett Silvertip Gudas or take a chance on younger, unproven guys like Stillman or Nutivaara?
Side Deal Scenarios
With cap room and no prohibitive contracts, it’s unlikely that the Panthers are going to entertain any trade scenarios.
During the Vegas Expansion Draft, the Panthers ended up losing both Riley Smith and Jonathan Marchessault to avoid losing a blueliner. They are set to lose a defenseman again this time around, but the question remains what Zito will do. He may just resign himself to losing a decent player to minimize the damage.
Did you miss our last Expansion Draft profile on the Nashville Predators? Check that out here.
First, John, Andy, and Darren discuss the latest on the NHL’s return to play plan, which is suddenly gaining momentum after appearing to be stalled just last week.
WHL Correspondent, Andy Eide, then gives a WHL Update on the Portland Winterhawks and that league’s plans for this season. While on the topic of Junior Hockey, the guys talk about the challenges that the World Junior Championship is currently facing.
Segments include a WJC-focused Goalie Gear Corner, a Vegas- and college-hockey focused Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
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.
