Free agency is upon us and, even though the Seattle Kraken will not be participating, there are still things to keep an eye on this year that could impact the Kraken down the road.
Here are my top 5 things to keep an eye on during free agency.
The NMC
Look for any players signing deals that have a Full No-Move Clause (NMC). NMC’s are generally reserved for the cream of the crop of free agent players. A NMC means that the team must protect the player in next summer’s Expansion Draft. It is highly likely that these players would be protected without the NMC, but the NMC will limit teams’ options. Anything that restricts other teams’ options and flexibility should be considered a good thing for Seattle.
Cap Crunch teams
All teams will be impacted by the flat salary cap related to COVID-19 lost revenues, but the more teams spend to the cap, then the more vulnerable these teams will be during the Expansion Draft. This could benefit Seattle during the Expansion Draft in 2 ways:
Teams could expose some high-value, high-cap-hit players with the hopes that Seattle selects these players to shed some salary cap. Of course, this doesn’t mean Seattle will select this player, so let’s go to #2.
Similar to what happen in the Vegas Expansion Draft, teams could negotiate side deals with Seattle to shed some high salary players in an effort to create more salary cap space to sign pending RFAs or other UFAs in 2021. Anaheim traded Shea Theodore to Vegas for taking Clayton Stoner and Winnipeg traded a 1st round pick and a 3rd round pick for in exchange for Vegas selecting Chris Thorburn Bottom line we want teams to spend to their limit.
Shea Theodore was traded to Vegas from Anaheim as compensation for Vegas selecting Clayton Stoner in the 2017 Expansion Draft. (Photo by Jeff Speer/Icon Sportswire)
Goalies Carousel
This is certainly the trendy topic leading into the free agency period and for good reason. This year will probably see the most goalies change teams that the league has ever seen in any prior offseason. There are some high-profile goalies that will change teams this year. Corey Crawford (CHI), Jacob Markstrom (VAN), and Braden Holtby (WAS) are likely to change homes. For the 30 teams participating in the 2021 Expansion Draft (Vegas is exempt), each team will only be able to protect one goalie, so goalie signings this free agent period should give us a better sense of which goalies get exposed in the upcoming expansion draft next summer.
Short Term Deals
Keep an eye out for short term deals, as in really short. The scenario here is that a big time free agent signs a one-year deal with the hopes of either winning a championship with a well-positioned team or the player might take a one-year deal with the hope that they can sign a more lucrative deal with a team that has a lot of cap space…as in Seattle. This would be the Taylor Hall to Colorado on a 1-year deal.
Crowded Blue Lines
Alex Pietrangelo (STL), Torey Krug (BOS), Tyson Barrie (TOR), Kevin Shattenkirk (TBL), TJ Brodie (CGY), and Sami Vatanen (CAR) are all likely to find new homes in free agency. Wherever they sign, odds are decent that they will be protected, which means that some other defender will be exposed. There are several teams that already have some interesting decisions to make regarding who to protect on the blue line in the upcoming Expansion Draft. Having more teams with crowded blue lines will expose more talent and will be better for Seattle.
Several of these scenarios might not play out and we still expect some more roster movement leading up to the 2021 Expansion Draft, but we are starting to put the cake in the oven. We should have a better idea how it will turn out very shortly during this free agency period.
An NHL Draft in October? It wouldn’t seem possible that is what the pandemic world brought us as the NHL went online for this year’s selection fest.
Tuesday’s first round didn’t offer too many shocking surprises but there were picks of interest.
As expected, the New York Rangers took Alexis Lafreniere from the QMJHL with the first overall pick and he should jump right to the NHL. The real drama was who would go second to the Los Angeles Kings.
The Kings ended that drama by taking Quinton Byfield from the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves at number two while German star Tim Stutzle was snatched up by the Ottawa Senators with the third pick.
Day two of the draft took place Wednesday and we mean all of Wednesday. With the draft taking place online the pace slowed and it became the unbearable length of the Draft. What started at 8:30 AM Pacific ended close to 4:30 PM.
At that kind of pace it is easy to miss things but we’ve got you covered. Here are some of the highlights from the 2020 NHL Draft that you may have missed.
Byfield’s historic day
By coming off the board second overall Byfield became the highest drafted black player in the history of the NHL. Two players, Seth Jones in 2013 and Evander Kane in 2009 were selected fourth overall in their respective drafts.
“It definitely means a lot to me,” Byfield said of the honor. “It’s something special and being in the record books for anything is special…my Dad and Mom didn’t play hockey or have too much knowledge about that. It’s just growing the game together. It just shows that there’s a lot of opportunity for everybody in the world and you can play every sport and be successful in it.”
The Germans are coming
Earlier this month Leon Draisaitl became the first German player to win the Hart Trophy as the NHL MVP. He was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers, out of the WHL, in 2014. It was the highest a German player had been drafted and now he has company as Stutzle went to the Senators at number three Tuesday night.
There is a German surge of players as Stutzle wasn’t the only German taken in the first round. At pick 17, the Chicago Blackhawks took Lukas Reichel out of Berlin. It’s the first time ever two Germans were selected in the first round.
Early in the second, at pick 34, Buffalo drafted John-Jason Peterka from Munich giving the Germans three players selected early in the draft. You can bet some scouting trips overseas are being booked to take a closer look at the German leagues.
The international game
Canadian players led the way over the two-day draft, with 70 players selected. That was followed by 52 American players and 32 Swedes.
In all, players from 13 different countries and 27 different leagues were drafted.
Ottawa 67’s (OHL) star Marco Rossi was taken ninth overall by the Minnesota Wild and he became the fifth Austrian born player picked in the first round and only Thomas Vanek – picked fifth by Buffalo in 2003 – was taken out of Austria higher.
Big day for Senators
They’ve been the butt of jokes for the past few years thanks to some head scratching PR fumbles as well as a lot of losses but the Ottawa Senators had two good days.
Loaded with 13 picks coming into the Draft, the Senators used three in the first round, starting with Stutzle at three. They also held the fifth pick and used it to take US defenseman Jake Sanderson from the USNTD program. Ottawa finished their first-round haul by looking at the WHL to pick Ridley Greig from the Brandon Wheat Kings at 28.
The Draft ended with 10 picks going to Ottawa plus they picked up a starting goalie after swinging a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins for Matt Murray. The Senators sent Jon Gruden and a second round pick to the Penguins in the deal.
Suddenly, the Senators aren’t so funny.
Another strong draft for the WHL
For the second straight Draft, the WHL saw 28 players taken by NHL clubs. Last year that was tops among all development leagues and while the league had another strong showing, it came up three short as the OHL led the way with 31 players picked.
Portland’s Seth Jarvis was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2020 NHL Draft’s first round. (Brian Liesse)
Locally, the US Divisions teams did well, highlighted by Portland Winterhawks star Seth Jarvis being the first WHL player chose. Jarvis went in the first round with pick 13 to the Carolina Hurricanes. He wasn’t the only Winterhawk who had his name called as Cross Hanas was selected by the Detroit Redwings at 55 and Tampa Bay took Jaydon Dureau with pick 147.
Gage Goncalves of the Everett Silvertips was a big riser, going to the Lightning with the last pick of the second round. The center exploded for 33 goals this past season after scoring once the year before and flew up the draft rankings. He was joined Wednesday by Everett teammates Kasper Puutio (153 to Florida) and Ronan Seeley (208 to Carolina).
Spokane’s Jack Finley was picked in the second round by the Lightning – Tampa Bay obviously scouted the US division – and Post Falls, Idaho product Bear Hughes was picked 148th by the Washington Capitals.
Defenseman Tyrel Bauer of the Seattle Thunderbirds was taken by the Winnipeg Jets with pick 164 and teammate Matthew Rempe was taken with the next pick by the New York Rangers.
Sound of Hockey is here to get you fully prepared for the NHL Draft, which will take place virtually on the evening of Tuesday, 10/6. Even if you get to this after the Draft, though, it should hold up pretty well, as you will learn about the guys that get selected.
The best way that Andy, John, and Darren know how to help bring you up to speed is to welcome back their best friend and ESPN prospect/draft guru, Chris Peters. Chris once again dazzles with his unmatched wealth of knowledge, and will leave you feeling like an expert.
On this episode, the guys also welcome Matthew Rempe, a 6’8″ prospect from the Seattle Thunderbirds who has a solid shot at getting selected. Matthew brings some serious bulletin board material in his interview.
Plenty of NHL transactions to discuss this week as well.
Segments include Weekly One-Timers and Tweets of the Week.
Sound of Hockey is here to get you fully prepared for the NHL Draft, which will take place virtually on the evening of Tuesday, 10/6. Even if you get to this after the Draft, though, it should hold up pretty well, as you will learn about the guys that get selected.
The best way that Andy, John, and Darren know how to help bring you up to speed is to welcome back their best friend and ESPN prospect/draft guru, Chris Peters. Chris once again dazzles with his unmatched wealth of knowledge, and will leave you feeling like an expert.
On this episode, the guys also welcome Matthew Rempe, a 6’8″ prospect from the Seattle Thunderbirds who has a solid shot at getting selected. Matthew brings some serious bulletin board material in his interview.
Plenty of NHL transactions to discuss this week as well.
Segments include Weekly One-Timers and Tweets of the Week.
The NHL Entry Draft is this Tuesday (First Round) & Wednesday (Rounds 2-7). For all the new hockey fans out there, I thought it would be a good idea to lay out how the NHL Entry Draft works. The NHL Draft works similarly to the NFL, NBA, or MLB drafts. It consists of seven rounds, with each round consisting of the same number of selection choices as there will be teams in the League in the following season. The draft order is generally determined based on a “Worst to First” order of the most recent completed season. However, the top 3 teams of the draft order are determined by a weighted lottery system of teams that did not qualify for the playoffs.
Who gets drafted?
The NHL Entry draft is for top hockey players 18 – 20 years of age. Last year there were 217 players selected by NHL teams across 138 teams and 33 leagues that can be classified as amateur, development, or other international professional leagues. The most prominent leagues are the United States Hockey League (USHL), Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), and the Western Hockey League (WHL). The WHL should sound familiar to Washington and Oregon residents because that is the league where the Spokane Chiefs, Tri-City Americans, Everett Silvertips, Seattle Thunderbirds, and Portland Winterhawks play.
You can expect that over 50% of the players drafted will come from these 4 leagues with the other 50% spread across ~30 other leagues.
Nationality
From a ‘Place of Birth’ perspective, most of the draft picks are born in the US or Canada but that overall % is decreasing as Finland, Russia, and Swedish born players have been increasing in number over the last couple of years.
Expectations
Not all draft picks will play in the NHL and it will be several years before we see some of these players in the NHL. The vast majority of draft picks will be sent to club affiliates or back to their amateur, development, or college teams to develop further until which time they are called up.
Here is a look at how those games are played for skaters over a career based on year after draft.
And here is a look at those games spread over a career for goalies based on year after the draft.
Given that draft picks may not be seen playing in the NHL for several seasons after the draft, the draft is a reflection of the future state of NHL teams. I hope this gives you a little bit more appreciation and understanding for the NHL Entry Draft.
