The Seattle Kraken are less than 48 hours away from selecting their team in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. Now that protection lists have been released, I’m going to share my predictions on who the Kraken may take on Wednesday night. Before I jump into my list, there are a few points to remember.
- At least 20 of the 30 players must be under contract for the 2021-22 season.
- Must select at least 14 forwards, 9 defencemen, and 3 goaltenders.
- As every team does, Seattle must reach the salary cap floor ($60.2 million). Ownership has given approval for Ron Francis to spend to the salary cap ceiling ($81.5 million).
Because teams across the league can only protect a certain number of players, there will be side deals with the Kraken so they don’t take a player that’s unprotected, that a team doesn’t want gone. Because they are hard to predict, I’ve chosen my roster just strictly based on players available to them and have not gone with any side deals. Let’s get right into it, starting with the Anaheim Ducks and ending with the Winnipeg Jets. *The Vegas Golden Knights are exempt from expansion draft because they do not get a piece of Seattle’s $650 million expansion fee.*
| Team | Player | Age | Position | 2021-22 cap hit |
| Anaheim | Sonny Milano | 25 | Forward | $1.7 million |
| Arizona | Ilya Lybushkin | 27 | Defence | $1.35 million |
| Boston | Ondrej Kase | 25 | Forward | RFA |
| Buffalo | Jake McCabe | 27 | Defence | UFA |
| Calgary | Oliver Kylington | 24 | Defence | RFA |
| Carolina | Nino Niederreiter | 28 | Forward | $5.25 million |
| Chicago | Nikita Zadorov | 26 | Defence | RFA |
| Colorado | Brandon Saad | 28 | Forward | UFA |
| Columbus | Max Domi | 26 | Forward | $5.3 million |
| Dallas | Ben Bishop | 34 | Goaltender | $4.196 million |
| Detroit | Troy Stecher | 27 | Defence | $1.7 million |
| Edmonton | James Neal | 33 | Forward | $5.75 million |
| Florida | Chris Driedger* | 27 | Goaltender | UFA |
| Los Angeles | Kale Clague | 23 | Defence | RFA |
| Minnesota | Kaapo Kahkonen | 24 | Goaltender | $725,000 |
| Montreal | Carey Price | 33 | Goaltender | $10.5 million |
| Nashville | Calle Jarnkrok | 29 | Forward | $2 million |
| New Jersey | Will Butcher | 26 | Defence | $3.733 million |
| New York I | Michael Dal Colle | 25 | Forward | RFA |
| New York R | Julien Gauthier | 23 | Forward | $775,000 |
| Ottawa | Evgenii Dadonov | 32 | Forward | $5 million |
| Philadelphia | James van Riemsdyk | 32 | Forward | $7 million |
| Pittsburgh | Juuso Riikola | 27 | Defence | $1.15 million |
| San Jose | Ryan Donato | 25 | Forward | RFA |
| St. Louis | Vladimir Tarasenko | 29 | Forward | $7.5 million |
| Tampa Bay | Alex Killorn | 31 | Forward | $4.45 million |
| Toronto | Travis Dermott | 24 | Defence | $1.5 million |
| Vancouver | Kole Lind | 22 | Forward | RFA |
| Washington | Michal Kempny | 30 | Defence | $2.5 million |
| Winnipeg | Mason Appleton | 25 | Forward | $900,000 |
*Chris Driedger has an agreement on a contract with Seattle for 3 year, $3.5 million AAV.
Forwards: 16. Defencemen: 10. Goaltenders: 3.
Seattle’s 2021-22 salary cap: $72.9 million.
Although I’m probably wrong on 90% of these picks, but I believe that these selections could make the Kraken a competitive team in year one.
Thanks for reading my articles this season. This one is more than likely my last post until training camp begins in September.
-Cooper.
Source for protection lists: https://media.nhl.com/public/news/15205