Last week, the NHL and ESPN announced a seven-year television, streaming, and media rights deal that kicks off at the beginning of the 2021-22 season and runs through the 2027-28 season. Here are the main bullet points:
25 exclusive national regular-season games on ABC or ESPN.
75 national regular-season games per season produced by ESPN that will stream exclusively on both ESPN+ and Hulu.
Half of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on ABC and ESPN each season.
Exclusive coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for four out of the seven seasons.
NHL’s out-of-market streaming package, currently known as NHL.tv, will be available exclusively through the ESPN+ subscription.
Most people in the industry see this as a huge win for ESPN, the NHL, and most importantly the fans. Here is a list of 10 reasons why this NHL/ESPN partnership is a big deal for hockey fans:
1. Streaming focus. The Walt Disney company, the owner of ESPN, reached a tipping point for their direct-to-consumer streaming distribution with their big launch of Disney+. The 75 national regular-season games that are slated for ESPN+ are a clear signal that Disney is planning a big push for direct-to-consumer sports products without the burden of a complete cable package that consumers have been forced to purchase for years to access ESPN content.
2. Change agent for ROOT sports. The biggest complaint we heard from fans after the Root Sports/Kraken announcement was the lack of streaming options that came with that deal. With Disney taking an aggressive approach and making a huge investment in the NHL with streaming rights on ESPN+, this could influence regional sports networks, like Root Sports, to create streaming options sooner rather than later. I do not anticipate changes any time soon, but this will put pressure on the RSN’s.
3. Multi-network. There will be an additional TV partner here. NBC is still in the running, as is Fox Sports. So if you do not want to splurge on the $5 a month to get ESPN+ and the additional 75 games, you will be able to get more nationally televised games on the additional network. Having exposure on both networks creates more visibility for the NHL and will add to the growth opportunities of the sport.
4. Network competition. Between ESPN and the other eventual NHL network partner, there will be a healthy rivalry to outdo each other in coverage and innovation. Expect both networks to push each other for better coverage and content that will ultimately benefit the networks themselves as well as the fans.
5. NHL headed back to the worldwide leader in sports. It has been 17 years since the NHL last appeared on ESPN, and hockey fans have been bitter about the lack of coverage on the network since it left. I have fallen in that trap as well, but as the great Linda Cohn implied on our podcast, the network is not going to heavily promote a sport for which they do not own the television rights. This all changes that. We have already seen Steven A. Smith hyping the Kraken. Haters are going to hate, but having ESPN personalities talking about hockey is great for the sport.
Aaawwwwwww Sugar Crackers! Your Boy’s about to get into Hockey. Yes! HOCKEY!!! Check me out! pic.twitter.com/8Sr4ERzTjS
6. Shoulder content. There have been no commitments around additional programming, but one should expect something like NHL 2Night to go back to ESPN on game nights or move NHL In the Crease onto one of the ESPN linear channels, meaning ESPN or ESPN2. This will draw in more eyeballs from a broad group of sports fans that have ESPN on by default.
Yes, hockey fans, the iconic ESPN @NHL theme music will be back!
Composer Bob Christianson shares more on the musical piece first introduced to viewers in 1992, that still resonates with hockey fans after nearly 30 yearshttps://t.co/PvcI2nDuHupic.twitter.com/hOdPaXAeXg
7. ESPN.com. I have appreciated NBC Sports’ coverage over the years, but rarely have I felt the need to go to NBCsports.com for hockey content. I do like Sean Leahy, but I feel NBC never prioritizes its .com coverage. I find myself going to tsn.ca, sportsnet.ca, or ESPN.com instead. With the media partnership and platform of ESPN.com, I expect coverage should grow and landing on espn.com/nhl will become part of my regular routine. I should call out that friends of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, Greg Wyshynski and Emily Kaplan have done a great job with their coverage over the last few years. If you have not checked out their content, you should, as it is consistently fresh and innovative.
8. Getting the gang back together. I know I am not alone here, but I became a fan of hockey watching the NHL on ESPN. There is already some excitement building for the return of the gang on ESPN, and I am on board. Gary Thorne has already commented on his interest in rejoining ESPN. The fans are clamoring for Steve Levy and the elevated presence of hockey with Linda Cohn and Barry Melrose. I also hope the US hockey market can get more exposure to the great Ray Ferraro and Gord Miller from time to time.
9. NHL out-of-market streaming package just got cheaper. It did not get any headlines, but by moving the NHL.tv subscription over to ESPN+, the package apparently just got cheaper. There could be some price changes coming up for ESPN+, but the NHL.tv subscription usually costs about $159 per season and ESPN+ costs $5 per month, or $50 for a full year.
10. ESPN commercials. I still love these. It should be fun to see Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, and Mathew Barzal involved in some ESPN commercials of their own.
The old “This is SportsCenter” hockey commercials are great 🤣
The NHL on ESPN will be great for hockey. The exposure and innovation this deal will have on hockey will be incredible and I cannot wait for Seattle to be along for this ride.
Earlier this week there was an AP article talking about secondary scoring in the NHL. I tend to believe that the more spread of scoring you have through your lineup, the better your chances for success in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I thought it might be a fun concept to dig into a bit on this week’s Data Dump Saturday. This will take a little exploring.
% of team scoring by the top three scorers
The first thing I want to look at is the percentage of goals scored by the top three scorers on each team. Secondary scoring in this analysis is scoring done by everyone else. There is some context missing from this type of analysis such as injuries, trades, etc. but this is just intended to be a directional exploratory analysis.
Boston appears to be the most dependent on their top three goal scorers while Detroit is the least dependent on their top three scorers.
Let us next look at the last three years’ conference final teams (highlighted) to see if there is a pattern relative to secondary scoring during the last regular seasons.
It would be foolish to draw any hard and fast conclusions based on this quick analysis, but it appears that teams that are more dependent on their top line tend to not fair well in the playoffs, nor do teams that spread scoring across their lineup.
Team Goal Scoring
An important point for context not shown above is the team goal scoring. If you were to look at the first graph above, you might think Detroit is doing well because they are not dependent on their top three scorers. However, Detroit is not having a great season. We need to incorporate the average goal scoring to provide additional context and to explore just a little bit more.
Now we are getting somewhere. Tampa Bay (34%), Carolina (38%), Florida (34%), and Washington (33%) are scoring a lot per game and they are getting secondary scoring with the top three scorers accounting for less than 40% of the team’s goal total. Toronto (44%) and Edmonton (43%) are scoring a lot, but are more dependent on their top three scorers. Meanwhile, Boston (50%) is not scoring a ton AND they are dependent on the top three scorers.
Again, this is just a quick exploratory analysis on the concept of secondary scoring and would need a much more thorough and complete analysis to draw any conclusions, but it is something to ponder during the playoffs.
From the hottest of scoops to the coldest of beers, Sound Of Hockey has all the latest news from the Seattle Kraken and beyond in this edition of Weekly One-Timers.
It’s been another week of somewhat significant stories around the hockey world, so sit back, relax, crack open a cold one if you can (it is Friday after all), and let’s get you caught up on what’s happening on and off the ice.
Seattle Kraken final NHL payment update
Sound Of Hockey has confirmed via email from a team representative that the Seattle Kraken have not yet made their final payment to the NHL.
In 2017, the Vegas Golden Knights signed their first free agent, Reid Duke, on March 6. This means that they would have submitted their final payment on or before that date. Astute readers would notice that we are now past that date, so the Kraken are behind the Vegas timeline.
Seattle can make no such signings until that final payment is made. This is notable because college and some European league seasons are ending. When the NCAA season concludes, there is always a clamoring by NHL teams to sign the best players that slipped through undrafted, so unless the Kraken complete that last transaction soon, there is a chance they could miss out on some of those prospects.
The team also cannot vote on issues brought to the league’s Board of Governors, such as whether or not to move the NHL Entry Draft, which has been discussed at length recently.
The payment will of course get made in due time, and it really is nothing to worry about for Kraken fans. As the team confirmed this is on schedule, though exactly where final payment falls on that schedule was not disclosed.
That last payment is the final milestone for the team to hit before real hockey transactions can begin.
Silver Bullets in Seattle
In my college days, I drank a lot of light beers. Miller Light, Bud Light, Busch Light, Michelob Golden Light, Milwaukee’s Best Light, Natural Light, something called Beer 30 Light… You know, good stuff!
For whatever reason, though, I was just never a huge fan of Coors Light.
My beer palate has become quite refined as I’ve aged, but my general dissatisfaction after a Coors Light—regardless of the blueness of the can’s mountains—remains in tact. So, you can imagine my dismay when the Seattle Kraken announced that they had come to an agreement with Molson Coors to make Coors Light the official domestic beer partner for both the team and Climate Pledge Arena.
Thankfully for hopheads like myself, there will be other options available at Kraken games, as Hop Valley Brewing—also a Molson Coors entity—will provide craftier options. Phew!
Read all about the deal and what it means for the gameday experience here.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I shall take a break to enjoy a refreshing and completely flavorless Natural Light, or as I like to call it, a naughty water.
Mainstream Kraken
Ok, now that I’ve been refreshed with an ice-cold naughty water, I’m ready to watch Steven A. Smith talk about the Kraken.
Aaawwwwwww Sugar Crackers! Your Boy’s about to get into Hockey. Yes! HOCKEY!!! Check me out! pic.twitter.com/8Sr4ERzTjS
In a peculiar way, this man shouting at us is why the NHL going back to ESPN is so important for the league. ESPN still has the ears and eyes of the sports fan, and the network has been doing its damnedest to make hockey disappear from the sports lexicon since the league took its talents to something called the Outdoor Life Network in 2005.
But ESPN, ABC, and the NHL announced a new seven-year deal this week. The agreement will bring 25 regular-season games back to those networks starting just in time for the Kraken’s inaugural puck drop, plus playoff games and NHL All-Star Games. Additionally, the out-of-market content we now stream from NHL.tv will be moved to ESPN+.
In all, the deal is reportedly worth $2.8 billion.
It still is not all that easy to find anything about the NHL on ESPN.com, though, so here’s hoping that changes as the self-proclaimed “worldwide leader in sports” re-embraces the game we love so dearly.
Now, give me Gary Thorne calling hockey, or give me death.
NWHL to award Isobel Cup after all
The NWHL’s Lake Placid bubble burst at the beginning of February, abruptly curbing the momentum that was building for the league. When that happened, most in the hockey world assumed that was the last we would see of the league and its players this season.
It was a good try, and the tournament gave the NWHL a nice moment in the sun, but the pandemic had won. It was time to head home and just wait it out until this COVID thing subsides, and then we can start fresh next season.
Wrong!
The league announced this week that it will still award the Isobel Cup to a champion, after four qualifying teams—the Toronto Six, Boston Pride, Minnesota Whitecaps, and Connecticut Whale—battle it out March 26 and 27 at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton, Mass.
One of the most disappointing aspects of the bubble (or “Whubble” as it became more commonly called) bursting was that the NWHL was on the verge of having games nationally televised for the first time ever when it was forced to shut down.
These newly announced games will be carried on NBC Sports, though, giving the league and women’s hockey another opportunity to shine on a national stage. It’s fantastic news all around.
You Don’t See That Every Day
Former Tri-City Americans defenseman, Dylan Coghlan, entered Wednesday night’s game for the Golden Knights with zero career NHL goals. He left with three.
Artemi Panarin returned to the New York Rangers after a leave of absence that began on Feb. 22. The superstar forward stepped away from the team after he was accused of assaulting a young woman in 2011 during his time playing in the KHL. The unsubstantiated allegations came on the heels of Panarin expressing support for Alexei Navalny, the leader of the opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia.
Justin Bieber wrote a “love letter” to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Please don’t tell any of my colleagues here at Sound Of Hockey, but I kind of love it.
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.
It’s a super fun episode this week, as the Sound Of Hockey Podcast welcomes Seattle Thunderbirds general manager Bil La Forge.
With Bil, the guys discuss his journey to become a WHL GM. They also talk about what he looks for when scouting players, being that he has to focus on kids that are so early in their development, and what we should expect from the T-Birds in this shortened season. It’s a fun interview that is well worth a listen.
Also in this episode, the guys talk women’s hockey – specifically the return of the NWHL and the PWHPA’s Dream Gap games – and the hiring of Darryl Sutter (again) in Calgary. And of course, oodles of general NHL talk, which you will surely enjoy.
Segments include Get Off My Lawn, Bad Boys, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
There are plenty of good laughs to be had in this one.
I was warned by my Sound Of Hockey colleagues that doing this Mock Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft exercise would be challenging. Of course, I wondered how hard it really could be, but in the end, their warnings should have been heeded.
As we were going through the process of profiling all 30 teams participating in the Expansion Draft, it was relatively easy to look at most rosters and say, Here are the two or three guys I’d want the Kraken to consider.
The problem with that is when you draft the full roster, you have to build the team with players that actually fit. You must consider age and salary and more importantly position. For example, the rough draft of my roster had too many forwards and not enough defensemen, so I had some late swaps. It is not as simple as looking at which players will be available and simply picking based on how good you think they are.
All of that is meant as a way to manage your expectations of the roster that I’ve built here so that you aren’t excessively hard on me in the comments.
Like Josh Horton, I too have included a numeric confidence level (CL) with each pick in my explanations below.
Rules of the Sound Of Hockey Mock Expansion Draft
Protection lists are based on latest projections on Sound Of Hockey (Central, East, West, North).
You are allowed one UFA draft-and-sign selection. This 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 Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft, we’re keeping this off the table.
The Expansion Draft picks
Anaheim: Josh Manson (Defense) – Defense is the best option out of Anaheim. I used to think Josh Mahura was the pick here, but he hasn’t stuck in the NHL yet. If Kevin Shattenkirk ends up available, I’d consider it, but for now, I’m going with the known quantity in Manson. His minutes have been limited this season, but he missed significant time with an oblique injury and played a huge role last season. Confidence Level (CL): 5 out of 10
Arizona: Adin Hill (Goalie) – I wanted to go against the grain here, but all desert roads lead to hills, or in this case, Adin Hill. Darcy Kuemper is injured again, so Hill should get some starts for the Coyotes in the coming weeks. CL: 9
Boston: Jeremy Lauzon (Defense) – There’s a lot to like about Lauzon’s game, and I’ve seen his name occasionally written as Jérémy with not one, but two accent marks. That’s incredible! Just 23 years old, he has been playing big minutes on the blue line for a good Boston team. Nick Ritchie is the other option here, but I love the upside and multiple accent marks of Lauzon. He currently is out with a broken hand but will return this season. CL: 7
Buffalo: Tage Thompson (Center) – I’m still intrigued by the idea of signing pending UFA Taylor Hall, but he’s having a bad season, so we’ll use the UFA draft-and-sign elsewhere. Yes, I know that Thompson has fallen out of favor in Buffalo (as has the entire team), and I know it hasn’t been a good season for him. But he’s 23, he’s huge, and he was once a highly touted prospect, so it’s a low-risk gamble from a roster filled with relatively poor options. CL: 3
Calgary: Sam Bennett (Center) – Bennett has never lived up to expectations, but there is undeniable grit and talent here. Considering the alternatives in Calgary, Bennett would be worth a selection. CL: 6
Carolina: Jake Bean (Defense) – I had selected Morgan Geekie here initially, but this was one of my “too many forwards” last-minute replacements. Bean is a fine choice, though, and will instantly find a significant role in Seattle’s defense corps. Carolina has a few good options, so Ron Francis really cannot go wrong. CL: 8
Chicago: Brandon Hagel (Left Wing) – With Brent Seabrook hanging it up, Stan Bowman no longer needs a protection slot for him, so Nikita Zadorov is now most likely covered. Hagel has been very good, though, and is likely to actually be protected. The more probable options are Calvin de Haan or Lucas Carlsson, but based on the rules of this exercise, Hagel is available so I’m taking him. CL: 2
Colorado: Devon Toews (Defense) – Colorado is another roster where Francis and company cannot go wrong. Toews would be a top-pairing defenseman for the Kraken. If he ends up protected, it opens other very intriguing doors. CL: 7
Columbus: Eric Robinson (Left Wing) – The last forward protection slot in Columbus likely comes down to Robinson or Gustav Nyquist. Robinson is exposed on our list, so I’ll take him. This will be a depth selection, but Robinson plays every game for the Blue Jackets and earns regular minutes from Torts. CL: 6
Dallas: Jason Dickinson (Center) – We once thought Joe Pavelski or Anton Khudobin would be the choice out of Dallas, but Pavelski has been one of the league’s best players and will be protected, while Khudobin has come back down to earth. Dickinson can play a regular shift and chip in at least a little offensively. Perhaps he could flourish in an expanded role. CL: 4
Detroit: Givani Smith (Left Wing) – Smith was the SOH favorite to be picked from Detroit this past offseason, but alarm bells were sounded when he was sent to the AHL early on. It appears Steve Yzerman is committed to having his young players develop in the minors, though, so this shouldn’t dissuade the Kraken from picking Smith. The veteran option would be Troy Stecher, but I like Smith’s upside enough to give him a try. CL: 5
Edmonton: Caleb Jones (Defense) – I don’t love the options in Edmonton. Jones hasn’t been a big contributor at the NHL level but had good numbers in the AHL. He is also still just 23, so perhaps there’s some upside left. CL: 3
Florida: Chris Driedger (Goalie) – This is my one UFA draft-and-sign pick. Driedger has had a breakout season with the Panthers, who are contenders in the Central largely because of him. The UFA status makes me question the likelihood of Driedger landing with the Kraken, but I would love to see it. CL: 2
Los Angeles: Sean Walker (Defense) – Andreas Athanasiou was my initial pick here, as I’ve really liked his game in my viewings of the Kings this season. Alas, my roster was unbalanced, so some forwards had to go. Instead, I’ll take Walker, who plays a decent-sized role on LA’s blue line. I hope he doesn’t look like this anymore when he arrives in Seattle. CL: 6
Minnesota: Matt Dumba (Defense) – Ironically, it was Dumba who hit Walker in the face with a slap shot, creating the aftermath above. I still don’t buy that Dumba will be available in the end, but we have him exposed based on the current roster, so he’s the obvious pick. If the Wild don’t trade Dumba, my guess is that Bill Guerin will figure out a way to get Zach Parise to waive his NMC so he doesn’t have to expose Jordan Greenway or Joel Eriksson Ek. For now, I gladly select Dumba. CL: 4
Montreal: Jake Allen (Goalie) – Like how all desert roads lead to Hill, all French-Canadian rues lead to Jake Allen. I still think he needs to be in a platoon to be successful, but Allen should have some good goalie talent to share Seattle’s crease with him. I like Victor Mete as well, but Allen just makes too much sense. CL: 9
Nashville: Ryan Johansen (Center) – The Predators have two $8 million cap hits to deal with in Johansen and Matt Duchene, neither of whom is contributing enough to warrant such a high salary. But somebody will have to center Seattle’s top line, and Johansen can do that. Perhaps a change of scenery will help him bounce back to the Johansen of yore, and perhaps Francis can even get David Poile to throw in a sweetener to take this massive contract off Nashville’s books. I take Johansen over Duchene because Johansen is two years younger, and his contract expires one year earlier than Duchene’s. CL: 3
New Jersey: Yegor Sharangovich (Left Wing) – There are a few equally intriguing young players to choose from in New Jersey, but I’m going with Sharangovich. The 22-year-old Belarussian is developing nicely and seeing some top-line minutes with Jack Hughes. CL: 7
New York Islanders: Nick Leddy (Defense) – Leddy would slide right into Seattle’s top four and only has one year left on his contract after next season. A smooth skater and very reliable blueliner, Leddy feels like a perfect fit as a one of those guys that contributes for a couple years to help launch an expansion franchise, then moves along. CL: 6
New York Rangers: Brett Howden (Center) – Do I love this pick? No. Do I think there are better alternatives for the Kraken on Broadway? Also no. Howden has not been impactful this season, but he’s still just 22 and has shown promise the last couple years. CL: 8
Ottawa: Chris Tierney (Center) – Again, not the best options available in Ottawa. Tierney has gotten some top-line minutes on a bad Senators team and is a proven NHLer, though, so at the very least can help fill out the bottom six for the Kraken. CL: 5
Philadelphia: James van Riemsdyk (Left Wing) – JvR is Philadelphia’s leading scorer, so it’s hard to say if he’ll actually be made available. If he is out there, I take him because Seattle will be desperate for guys who can put the puck in the net. CL: 6
Pittsburgh: Teddy Blueger (Center) – It’s a toss-up between Blueger and Jared McCann, but Blueger could probably center Seattle’s second line, so he’s the pick. CL: 7
San Jose: Dylan Gambrell (Center) – He’s from Bonney Lake. CL: 8
St. Louis: Oskar Sundqvist (Center) – I’ve always liked Sundqvist’s game. He’s big and physical and chips in offensively. Lots to like there. CL: 6
Tampa Bay: Ondrej Palat (Right Wing) – The Lightning are another one of those where Seattle can’t go wrong when selecting from their roster. Palat is the best available player, so I’ll go with that, but if I’m Francis, I’m definitely swinging for a side deal here. CL: 8
Toronto: Justin Holl (Defense) – We used to think Travis Dermott was the pick from the Maple Leafs, but he isn’t getting as much time as I would have expected. I’ll go with the more reliable and more proven Holl. CL: 7
Vancouver: Kole Lind (Right Wing) – Gone are the days when we assumed Braden Holtby would land in the Kraken goal crease. Here are the days that we think an AHLer is the best choice from the Canucks. To be fair to Lind, though, he’s having a great season in the AHL and has oodles of upside. CL: 8
Washington: Vitek Vanecek (Goalie) – I wanted TJ Oshie, but his term and age scared me off. Vanecek is a stud. If Washington protects him over Ilya Samsonov, then Samsonov would also be a good pick. CL: 9
Winnipeg: Mason Appleton (Right Wing) – Appleton is having a bit of a break-out this year for the Jets, scoring seven goals and six assists so far. He grinds it out on the third line but plays behind some elite talent, so one has to wonder what he could bring in an expanded role. He scored a beautiful goal on Tuesday. CL: 7
I’m exhausted, and I apparently love centers. I’m too tired to try this again, though, so I’m going to hope some of my centers can play wing.
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.
The NHL trade deadline on April 12th will certainly bring us some exciting deals that can and will impact some teams’ Expansion Draft protection lists as well as shift some players of interest for the Seattle Kraken. Here are five teams that Seattle Kraken fans should keep an eye on as the NHL trade deadline approaches.
Before diving in, you may want to check out our latest protection projections that we completed a few weeks ago (Central, East, West, North).
Nashville Predators
The Predators are sitting in seventh place in the competitive Discover Central Division. It would take a minor miracle for the Preds to contend for a playoff spot at this point. With a relatively old core of players, they will likely be looking to shed some assets in return for draft picks to begin the rebuild process.
There are several players that could be on the trading block, but the names Kraken fans should focus on are defensemen Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Ellis. Both are projected to be protected with Nashville probably going with the eight total skater protection scheme, rather than seven forwards and three defensemen.
It has been a popular opinion that Nashville will protect four defensemen in the upcoming Expansion Draft, which would mean they could protect only four forwards. However, if either Ellis or Ekholm is traded before the Expansion Draft, then this will enable the Predators to protect only three defensemen and seven forwards, thus limiting the options Seattle will have from Nashville.
Minnesota Wild
The Wild also have a wealth of riches on the blue line. Jared Spurgeon, Ryan Suter, and Jonas Brodin all have no-movement clauses and will be protected in the Expansion Draft. This will either leave Matt Dumba exposed or they could elect to protect him as the fourth defenseman. Protecting four defensemen would then expose either Jordan Greenway, Marcus Foligno, or Joel Eriksson Ek. The trade talk on Dumba has been quiet, but the Wild will probably do something with the right-shot offensive defenseman before the Expansion Draft. Other options would be to get one of their NMC forwards, Zach Parise or Mats Zuccarello, to waive their NMC or they could offer Seattle a decent side deal.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Hurricanes have a highly competitive team and could look to add some firepower heading into a battle for the Central Division against the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning and the high-powered Florida Panthers. The Hurricanes could offer up some of their youngsters like Jake Bean or Morgan Geekie that the Kraken have likely circled on their Expansion Draft board.
Jake Virtanen has been on the perpetual trade block for the last couple years. If Vancouver finally moves on from “Shotgun Jake,” you can bet on the Canucks protecting 22-year-old Kole Lind who has 8 points in 8 games for the Utica Comets, the team’s AHL affiliate. Lind would certainly be shortlisted by Ron Francis and team.
Vegas Golden Knights
The Golden Knights have a pretty strong team right now and could end up being quiet in the trade market as we get closer to the NHL trade deadline. Per the Expansion Draft rules, Vegas will not be participating in the Expansion Draft this summer. We will be less interested in the players traded to Vegas and more interested in the players traded out of Vegas. Any significant player with term left that gets traded out of Vegas will either need protection by their new team or will be added to Seattle’s watchlist.
It is important to note that all trades could impact the Seattle Kraken’s Expansion Draft options in some way or another. We will be keeping an eye on all of them here at the Sound Of Hockey.
Great news, Seattle hockey fans! It’s another week, and we have seven more action-packed days of NHL hockey ahead of us. This week at Games on the Radar headquarters we decided to mix things up a bit. Instead of focusing on teams we’re going to shift to players.
Which players are in action this week that could potentially be in the mix when the Kraken decide who they want to bring to Seattle at the Expansion Draft on July 21? You can pretend you’re in general manager Ron Francis’s war room and do some scouting, while also enjoying some fun hockey.
This week we’ll be keeping our radar focused on the Honda West Division which is top-heavy in the standings but does offer some intriguing Expansion picks.
Here are this week’s games on the radar:
Colorado Avalanche versus Los Angeles Kings
When: Friday 6 PM, ESPN+, NHL.tv
The Avalanche are not only an entertaining team, even with their unmatching blue pants, but their depth will lead to some interesting options for the Kraken at the Expansion Draft. Defense is where Seattle may strike gold and it could come in the form of Devon Toews. He’s in his first year with the Avalanche after coming over from the New York Islanders and would slide in as a top-pairing blueliner with the Kraken. At 27, he’s still relatively young and is routinely logging 25-plus minutes a night for Colorado. His possession numbers are strong, with a Corsi-for of 58 percent which would be hard to find elsewhere. He’s solid in his own end and is chipping in offensively with four goals in Colorado’s first 20 games this year.
Up front, an interesting option for Seattle at the Expansion Draft is Joonas Donskoi. The former San Jose Shark is off to what could be a career year. He has six goals so far and is shooting a scorching 28 percent, far and away his career-best. Donskoi is a glue player who may not be on the top line but can provide consistent minutes in a second- or third-line role.
The Wild are in the hunt out West. Yes, Minnesota is in the West which, well, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense but what does this year? They also have some tough choices to make with their protected list.
Minnesota has three defensemen with no-move clauses in their contracts which means the Wild may be forced to watch a player like Matt Dumba go to the Kraken in the Expansion Draft. Dumba would be a great haul for Seattle as he is a top-pairing defenseman with a solid track record in the NHL already. He can be physical as well as drive play. His underlying numbers are all positive and match his offensive output. Dumba, 27, is in his eighth season after playing junior in the WHL with the Red Deer Rebels and Portland Winterhawks. He’ll be on the Wild power play and when he does, watch for the bomb of a clapper he possesses.
Dumba is a big piece for a Wild club that is contending this year. They know he may be lost to the Kraken for nothing in the Expansion Draft and may attempt to assuage their losses by trading him at April’s trade deadline. If they don’t, Seattle will have to look elsewhere from Minnesota. So, when your eye is not trained on Dumba firing slap shots, watch fellow defenseman Carson Soucy. While not the offensive threat that Dumba is, Soucy is a solid player in his own end. He wouldn’t project as a top-pairing defenseman for Seattle, but the Kraken could use a guy like Soucy at the bottom of their rotation.
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.
The NHL’s condensed schedule will prove challenging for teams down the stretch, especially those impacted by COVID and play stoppages. For this week’s Data Dump Saturday, I look at just how the condensed schedule is impacting outcomes around the NHL.
Average rest days
To evaluate how the condensed schedules impact team performance, we will look at rest days between games. Rest days will be defined as the number of days a team does not play. For example, if a team plays on Thursday, then Saturday, then that team plays Saturday’s game with one rest day. Back-to-back games means zero rest days.
Here is a look at the average rest days between games by team (as of Friday’s games).
Teams hit by COVID outbreaks that resulted in play stoppages are the teams with the highest average rest days between games.
Of course, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Here is how the remainder of the season looks as teams that were sidelined earlier in the campaign will make up those games in the second half.
Back-to-backs in the condensed NHL schedule
Obviously one way to condense a season is to play more back-to-back games. The original schedule had several back-to-backs littered through every team’s schedule with the goal of fitting 56 games for all teams without moving the end date of the regular season. Once the season began, however, the teams that were shut down temporarily due to COVID outbreaks subsequently required even more back-to-back games. Buffalo, Dallas, and Philadelphia are a couple of the teams with extended shutdowns.
Here is a look at how many back-to-back games have been played this season so far and how many remain on the second half of the schedule.
Conventional wisdom would have one believe that teams playing back-to-back games would be at a disadvantage when playing a team with at least one rest day due to energy levels of players. I looked at the data through Friday’s games to confirm this.
Conventional wisdom is correct. Teams on a back-to-back playing a team with at least one rest day since their last game have a slightly lower point percentage at .531. There are only 16 games where this scenario played out, so the sample size is a bit small to make any hard conclusions.
To wrap up, here is a bit of a heat map of the rest days by team by week. Blue indicates more rest days while red indicates fewer rest days.
It will be interesting to see if teams with fewer rest days will prove to underperform against teams with more rest days in the second half of the season. The other thing to keep an eye on is the impact of rest days heading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs and into the opening rounds.
Welcome back to another thrilling edition of Sound Of Hockey’s Weekly One-Timers, where your knowledge of current hockey events will surely be augmented every seven (or so) days. We’re happy to have you here. Let us start with the latest Seattle Kraken news, shall we?
Seattle Kraken news
A week of good deeds
It’s been a week of good deeds for our soon-to-be favorite team, as the Seattle Kraken put their weight behind the University of Alaska Anchorage’s “Save Seawolf Hockey” campaign. It is widely known that the UAA hockey program is on its last legs unless it can raise $3 million to convince the school’s Board of Regents to include the program in its budget moving forward.
The beloved @UAAHockey program at @uaanchorage is in danger of closing down, but with your help, we can help #SaveSeawolfHockey and help turn the Pacific Northwest into a college recruiting hotbed.
The Kraken pledged $200,000, but perhaps more importantly, launched a massive marketing campaign to bring awareness to the cause and to urge fans to donate.
$200K is a nice gesture, but really the main piece here is that it’s a brilliant marketing play by the Kraken, who have not been shy about wanting to include Alaska as part of their fanbase. This is an investment in the hockey community as a whole in Anchorage and beyond.
According to the Save Seawolf Hockey website, the organization has raised $1.8 million so far, but that has not been updated since Feb. 25.
The Kraken also announced that they will found an MBA program at Seattle University in partnership with the Mariners, Seahawks, Sounders, and Storm. The program focuses on helping persons of color and women gain high-ranking roles in the sports industry.
We're excited to partner with all the Seattle sports teams, @oakviewgroup & @ClimateArena to support @AlbersatSU’s new sport & entertainment MBA program which will focus on diversifying leadership within our industry.
We’ve known for quite some time that friend of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, Everett Fitzhugh, will be the voice of the Kraken over the radio airwaves, but we have not known exactly which airwaves. That question was answered this week when Seattle announced 950 KJR as its flagship radio partner. Read all about it here.
The deal was not exactly a closely guarded secret, as we’ve seen plenty of hints over the last year or two indicating that KJR would ultimately land the rights, but this makes it official.
Sure, KJR has been known to poo-poo hockey in the past, with hosts disparaging the Key Arena renovation plan and going so far as to say they would refuse to talk about hockey on the air if the NHL were to expand to Seattle. But that’s all irrelevant now! RADIO PARTNER! WOO!
Ward out, Sutter (back) in
Darryl Sutter and his incredible facial expressions and press conferences are back!
After Geoff Ward’s Calgary Flames defeated the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, he sat before the media and said this:
"We just gotta stick with our process. … We've got to get ourselves ready again for another hard hockey game. … We're really not thinking about what's happened in the past, we're thinking about what we need to do to prepare ourselves [for] the next one."
Minutes later, the Flames announced that Ward was out as head coach and that Sutter had been hired to replace him, reportedly on a three-year contract.
This is Sutter’s fifth stint as a head coach in the NHL and second with Calgary, where he spent three seasons in the early 2000’s, including a run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2003-2004. He won two Stanley Cups at the helm of the Los Angeles Kings and holds a career record of 634-467-101.
Ward was named interim coach of the Flames after Bill Peters resigned in Nov., 2019, amidst a well-documented racism scandal. Ward’s interim tag was only removed in Sept., 2020, so he did not make it a full season as the full-time head coach. The Flames—who had high expectations after signing a bunch of former Canucks in the offseason—are 11-11-2.
I always enjoyed a good side-by-side of Sutter with Beaker from The Muppets.
This week, the Canadiens added goaltending coach Stéphane Waite to their list of recently axed employees. Waite has had a wildly successful career, winning two Stanley Cups with Chicago and spending eight seasons with the Habs, where he has guided Carey Price.
Montreal replaces Waite by promoting Sean Burke, who had been serving the team already as a goaltending consultant.
Could Waite be a candidate for the head goalie coaching job in Seattle? Absolutely. He will be a hot commodity, though, so if the Kraken want him, they will need to act quickly to get him into the fold.
Brent Seabrook retires hangs it up
Brent Seabrook, 35, has decided that his body just can’t take it anymore. After dealing with major hip and shoulder issues for years, and after battling so hard to get back to the level of play that made him central to Chicago’s three Stanley Cups, the veteran defenseman has decided it’s finally time.
In classic Blackhawk fashion, though, it’s not time for Seabrook to retire, but rather to announce he can no longer play because of injury, meaning Stan Bowman saves his cap space. But that’s neither here nor there.
Seabrook played 1,114 career games, all for the Blackhawks. He scored 103 goals and 361 assists. He unfairly became maligned in the last few years of his career for having too big of a contract, which certainly any Blackhawk fan would have rejected had they been offered such a lucrative deal.
The Blackhawks no longer have to protect Seabrook—who also had a no-movement clause in his contract—from the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft, so they will now likely add either Nikita Zadorov or Lucas Carlsson to their protected list.
Walter Gretzky passes away
The Great One announced that his beloved father passed away this week.
It’s always thrilling to include a bit of #Minnutiae in our Weekly One-Timers. The Wild have been surprisingly pretty good and had a sniff of first place in the Honda West Division before losing two straight to the division-leading Vegas Golden Knights. In the first of those two contests, Minnesota led late, with Marc-Andre Fleury pulled for an extra skater. Zach Parise extended his shift after what he called an attempt to help teammate Marcus Foligno get an empty-netter for his first career hat trick. The Wild failed to score, and with a tired Parise still on the ice, the Golden Knights tied the game. The VGK’s ultimately won in overtime, and Parise was widely blamed by Wild faithful for the loss.
The response by coach Dean Evason was to have Parise, 36, watch the second game of the series from the pressbox. Remember, Parise is on a 13-year, $98 million contract that pays him just north of $7.5 million AAV against the salary cap. He has never been scratched since signing that deal with Minnesota in 2012 and has racked up 391 points in 532 career games for Minnesota. He has been the face of the franchise for a long time. Evason has some serious cojones.
Alex Ovechkin was fined $5,000 for spearing potential Kraken Expansion Draft selection, Trent Frederic, where the sun doesn’t shine.
If you’re going to commit a fineable offense, you might as well get your money’s worth, and one could argue that Ovi got excellent value out of that vicious poke to the nether regions.
That said, we at Sound Of Hockey sincerely hope that Frederic was wearing a protective cup and that it had not shifted out of place, as those things tend to do under hockey equipment.
Seattle Carolina Slew
Brett Pesce pulled an obvious and very dirty slew foot on Robby Fabbri. Pesce was also fined $5,000—again, might as well get your money’s worth—for his actions, which we at SOH believe sets a bit of a dangerous precedent.
Brett Pesce with a blatant slew-foot on Robby Fabbri. A bad/dangerous play that led to the Wings taking a 2-1 lead on the power play. pic.twitter.com/B4znhCK2YS
The slew foot is one play that makes every hockey player particularly angry because of the potential serious damage it can cause. Fabbri was lucky to not get injured on this play.
Blichfeld suspended
Former Portland Winterhawk Joachim Blichfeld was given a match penalty Wednesday and was subsequently suspended two additional games for his hit to the head of Nathan MacKinnon.
This was just the fourth NHL game of Blichfeld’s career and first this season. Oopsy daisy. Sounds like MacKinnon is fine.
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.
