The Seattle Kraken expansion picks were submitted to the league this morning, and after the conclusion of tonight’s Expansion Draft, everything has become official. It was a rather anticlimactic evening, as all of the picks had been leaked accurately throughout the day. It is important to note that considering some puzzling player selections and a large amount of cap space, more moves from the Kraken should happen later this week.
Anaheim: D Haydn Fleury
Arizona: F Tyler Pitlick
Boston: D Jeremy Lauzon
Buffalo: D William Borgen
Calgary: D Mark Giordano
Carolina: F Morgan Geekie
Chicago: F John Quenneville
Colorado: F Joonas Donskoi
Columbus: D Gavin Bayreuther
Dallas: D Jamie Oleksiak
Detroit: D Dennis Cholowski
Edmonton: D Adam Larsson
Florida: G Chris Driedger
Los Angeles: D Kurtis MacDermid
Minnesota: D Carson Soucy
Montreal: D Cale Fleury
Nashville: F Calle Jarnkrok
New Jersey: F Nathan Bastian
New York Islanders: F Jordan Eberle
New York Rangers: F Colin Blackwell
Ottawa: G Joey Daccord
Philadelphia: F Carsen Twarynski
Pittsburgh: F Brandon Tanev
San Jose: F Alexander True
St. Louis: D Vince Dunn
Tampa Bay: F Yanni Gourde
Toronto: F Jared McCann
Vancouver: F Kole Lind
Washington: G Vitek Vanecek
Winnipeg: F Mason Appleton
The Kraken finish with $29MM in cap space, via CapFriendly. Notable RFAs include Twarynski, Dunn, Borgen, and Cholowski. They could be looking at players like Geekie to make the full-time jump to the NHL next season, but for now, the roster looks relatively filled out. It’s got to be expected at this point that some defensemen will be dealt off the roster, as they currently sit with 10 at the NHL level with none of them being waiver-eligible.
This page will be updated as further reports come in, and the official list will be published later tonight.
Look I know I didn’t have to click on this article but I also think its a shame these insiders and their sources feel the need to ruin the ambiance and enjoyment of this draft just so they can tweet something before someone else. And I would think the league and networks, alike, wouldn’t be fans of this.
Most of these guys work for the networks. You think tsn is upset if Dreiger breaks news?
That’s the answer…stay off social media then and just watch it on TV if you didn’t want “inside info”
Relax. Dont forget there will be trades involved that aren’t getting announced until tonight, so there is still a bit of mystery as to what the team will look like. Good chance 5 – 10 of the guys they pick are getting moved.
That is incrediby weak minded of you. These people have jobs to do and it is clearly stated these are their choices and not Francis selections.
Get over yourself
The players listed here are Francis’ selections for the Kraken. That’s their roster. Not every player is going to remain with the Kraken, but these are going to be their players until further notice. @HighHardOne
As a Blackhawks fan, what in gods name is Seattle doing taking quenneville from us without a side deal, the nhl has to be rigged to help us or something because the draft pick from Edmonton and now this pick make absolute zero sense
@parx I agree 100%. Blackhawks must be happy to see Quenneville head to Seattle instead of another player.
We don’t know that it ISN’T a side deal in play. But beyond that, the cap just plain dictates that if Seattle loads up on the Giordanos, Eberles, Larssons etc., they have to grab some league minimum contracts too. And it isn’t that there was a strong candidate on the roster for it: my own vote was Gaudette.
@Nha Trang a couple Hawks writers for The Athletic are saying that Quenneville is the choice from CHI and there is no side deal in place with the Kraken.
Perhaps we (Kraken) are saving cap to sign a big FA
Wow that was a trade frenzy. I couldn’t keep up with all the surprises.
We could actually see some salary dumps at the draft.
No promises, but Ron could be saying we’re gonna take Vince Dunn AND you can trade us Tarasenko at the draft.
Should be interesting,,,, might not be. Well find out tomorrow
If the Preds lose Jarnkrok for nothing like this, it’s a real head scratcher. Last thing they can afford is to lose another top 6 forward.
@Gbear – It sure would have been nice, however unrealistic, if SEA had a hankering to get the 95th best yodeler in NSH, eh? I think we both are wondering what GMDP is trying to do.
MacJab,
I see an almost complete tear down in NSH.
Moving the D out last week,their centers leave a lot to be desired,they may take that elusive half step back and gut it out for a year,then let free agency run its course.
They will leave the goalie alone.
@Dave – It’s kind of looking that way, isn’t it? And, it’s almost under the radar there with the focus on other teams’ exposure lists, Entry Draft and UFA targets.
How do they gut it in a year with Duchene and Johansen signed for another 20 years to albatross contracts?
@wreckage – Gutting the joint won’t get to 100% turnover, unless viewed several years later. Eventually, they’ll get out from under those contracts. I doubt anyone would’ve guessed MIN’s double-buyout would be done in our lifetimes, but it did happen, so you never know.
They are better off picking one and buying out the other. They are in trouble.
@Mac – I never really thought Francis would take on either of those contracts. But to protect a 4th liner like Jeannot and let a 2nd liner go for nothing like that is mind boggling.
@Gbear – I hope GMDP isn’t inventing a new phrase, “There’s a madness to his madness!”
@Mac – It’s the ultimate way to confuse your rivals…..if you don’t know what you’re doing, how can anyone else figure out your strategy? :D
@Gbear – Unfortunately, GMDP is old enough to have been around for a little-known programming language called “APL.” You wrote code using symbols and needed a special keyboard. GMDP may be looking to resurrect that and keep his strategy safe from prying eyes! :)
Looking like they will have strong D. Love a few of the forward selections, but is it me or is something missing? Seems like the scoring might be light based on these rumors. Thoughts?
That’s what they said about Vegas, then William Karlsson snipes 40. Look for Gourde, jarnkrok, Appleton, McCann or someone to break out with increased roles.
Some will be flipped for trades. Clubs are near the cap so there wi be leverage.
Ya looks like their going to be a pain in the ass to play against score dirty area goals and play boring hockey. Basically a New York islanders team. But it’s what they had available to them we don’t know all details on trades yet either
Personally I think they’re saving cap space to now take on bad contracts for picks…rather than take Voracek, trade cap space for Voracek and prospects. I can see numerous possible scenarios.
Yep, exactly. There’s no one on the projected roster we know HAS scored 40. But they’ve got a bunch of people who’ve scored 20.
A lot here but speculative. Maybe a nice cheap D piece going back for Tyler Johnson? I’d raid that roster as they are in cap hell.
Perhaps a backup goaltender for Johnny B. Good
this is…not nearly what i had expected.
and man, how did Minnesota escape losing Kaapo?
Every single mock I saw had him going. Pretty surprised by this.
There must be a side deal we don’t know about. It doesn’t surprise me that Vanecek was selected, but why Daccord over Kaapo?
Heh, I figured they’d lose Soucy, and so did a couple others of the media picks.
@MacJab
My capologist stated headed to Sea Town would be-
Vanicek
Daccord
Dreiger
I should always listen to My Cap Man.
And MacJab,you know what I would do to Tampa.
Rick Dudley long gone so you know what I think of them.
My vultures circle fastest,lol.
Two thoughts…
1) Francis had better have made a bunch of side deals to justify building that team instead of the much better one he could have…
and
2) FIRE HEXTALL.
He lost McCann and Tanev for nothing and for no reason. Just sabotage, as if he still works for the Flyers…
We have a team full of librarians now. All for Teddy Blueger? A good 4th line center. Awful.
Uh Toronto gave us assets for McCann who Seattle selected. So we got something for nothing. Losing Tanev is rough but he had a long term for a 3rd or 4th line guy.
Everyone knows they want to get bigger and neither McCann or Tanev fit that. Calm down
No. I’ve listened to Yinzgrates criticize a Hall of Fame GM who won Stanley Cups for us for years for good moves that he made that they didn’t understand…
I get to criticize this plodder who hasn’t won a thing and not one Flyers fan has missed. Now, I see why.
Tanev has been the second most impactful player on this team since he got here, behind a guy named Crosby.
The “well they got something for McCann instead of losing him for nothing” talking point ignores the part where we didn’t have to lose him at all. Nor did we have to lose Tanev.
If Francis wanted a 38 year old Jeff Carter, oh well. If he wanted a 4th line center that Gaudreau could replace easily, oh well.
Judging from the list above, Francis might very well have taken Ruhwedel, who knows what he’s thinking.
Awful.
Oh- AND we are still stuck with both Zucker AND Pettersson because the plodder needlessly presented a more valuable and attractive asset and Seattle took it.
@forwhomjoshbelltolled – I was one of the few that feared he would try ruining the team, due to his crusty attitude toward his former in-state rival. You just need to hope that these moves are aberrations, not a trend. Else, Doug Wilson will have company on the Titanic.
You and your yinzgrates hasn’t caught on anywhere and it’s a laughable attempt at a insult. Grow up man. You just sound like sour grapes.
The loss of Tanev and McCann frees cap space to bring in bigger players the team now wants. I’m done with ya cause you just seem to know more than any Pittsburgh sports fan. Probably a mark madden prodigy
MacJab-
Maybe I do owe him a steak dinner. He just waltzed in and mentioned with that much cap room with the drafting of third and fourth liners the magical words every agent (& cap man) want to hear. Matching restricted free agent off sheets. In the years of frozen Covid cap hell,my cap man Sheff is ruthless.
He’s accelerating the rebuild so he can draft more German Rubstov’s for years on end.
An insult perhaps. In reality, it’s merely an apt label. Pittsburgh has some of the worst, most ill informed fans who “demand excellence”…of everyone but themselves*. And they don’t appreciate any of it.
The Pens were on the way to KC until we got lucky in a lottery, why? Because we have such great fans here? K.
They drive rusty 06 Cavaliers to their crappy jobs that they half *** all day long but “they demand excellence”. LOL.
They wouldn’t shut up when the guy who won us 2 Cups kept trying to win more, but sure…don’t criticize the new guy for just giving away players for no reason. K.
*And some good ones, too. I just don’t let the Yinzgrates hide behind the good fans as human shields.
You act informed but really you just waste your time acting like a jerk. Rather than just offering thoughtful insight you use any opportunity to throw an insult with your stupid yinzgrates.
Congrats on being a troll. Pittsburgh won’t miss you it you moved. Grow up.
Perhaps your ears get so red it blurs your eyes upon reading the term “Yinzgrate” and you just miss the thoughtful analysis.
As of this moment, the Penguins number one need is for a Brandon Tanev type player. Genius.
I do have to giggle that all of the Pens fans were conducting an apoplectic civil war over “McCann or Tanev?!?” acting as though either one guy or the other was the ultimate linchpin to the next Stanley Cup… and now Pittsburgh has neither guy.
The joke is keeping Blueger over either guy.
Giving away your 7th and 8th best forwards in order to keep your 9th and 10th best forwards is a genuinely terrible strategy for a team with a very narrow window at it is.
@Dave – While the high-end offer sheet possibilities ought to be limited, due to lack of sufficient draft picks for many teams, it’ll be interesting to see if lower-tier offer sheets materialize, to get a guy a slightly better payday in the ongoing COVID-caused crunch. And people should remember, throwing an offer sheet at a guy who has no interest in that team is a fool’s errand.
Tanev makes too much money and is signed for too long .
Hurts next season, but would’ve been bad in 2025.
Pens have cap space to sign Anderson now, so I think this worked out great.
Tanev played his best hockey last playoffs. Read that part again…
Oh, Anderson…the guy the Leafs realized isn’t good enough to win with and got rid of, great.
Oh, Tanev’s deal might not seem great in 2025 when we will be tanking and it doesn’t matter? Well, we’d better sabotage the team in 2021 and snuff out what little hope we have left in the Crosby era.
Tanev just played his best hockey and is in his prime? Well, make sure we lose him for nothing. Right now.
Any attempt to put a shine on this pile of **** Hextall just laid just shows why it was so terrible.
No team did worse in this expansion draft. Freaking Dubas ate our lunch. We lost two really good players for nothing when we did not have to and we are a much worse team than one week ago.
lol pens kept their top 6 forwards + all their YOUNG bottom 6
Kept ALL their Dmen
And after sitting less than 400k beneath the cap after signing bluegar last week,,,,
Now have whopping 7.4 Mil to spend on free agents, namely a trademark goalie by trade or FA
ZAR slight raise only a couple hundred. Bringing back Ceci would be nice but is not essential and many other options for 1-year rentals on the 3rd line if he gets overpaid elsewhere.
Scevoir coming off the books basically pays for ZARs raise, so Hextall will have a lot of flexibility this off-season.
McCann was already making 3+ Mil and is due a significant extension next season as an RFA. Wouldve been hard to justify for a 3rd liner on this current team.
Tanev , Cooke, Ruutu , are handy players , but any big bully who can skate can fill that role just fine . Hometown favorite for sure, but can be replaced for cheap
Except, getting rid of Zucker and Pettersson was job one and two this offseason, so that’s not a good thing.
Championship teams have elite third line players. Tampa spun their wheels for a decade until they put together the Gourde line and then 2 for 2. Anyone who thinks you can just plug some 800K warm body and no one will know the difference…
But, that’s irrelevant now…as the Pens sit today, they are not a playoff team, let alone a contender.
I’ll see what he does, but the free agent list is trash and the odds of him signing better players than McCann or Tanev for less money are slim. Reports indicate they are not trying on Ceci.
Maybe driving the car right into the tree will prove genius because he knows the best body shop…we’ll see.
Lmao pens can’t contend without tanev.. said no one ever..
You really are a glass half empty guy aren’t you?
Pens kept all their good players and ditched 2 overpaid guys.
I think they’ll be fine. They need a goalie.. looks like they’re gonna sign a goalie
The Ron Francis playbook for the Canes was: 1. Always avoid risk, slow and safe wins the race. 4. Fill the pipeline with talent and wait for success. 3. Analytics always works, trust those stats. 4. Real “Hockey Trades” come under rule 1., they should be avoided. 5. Play your cards close to your vest, keep your intentions secret. Tonight will be a chance for him to break that mold, so far he hasn’t.
1,4,3,4,5
If this is the team. Francis is very funny. Wouldn’t take anyone to flip for better prospects or a scorer! I don’t see anyone with scoring potential, not even in prospects. Seattle will suck for years and get a scorer in the up coming drafts..
They may be planning to be bigger players in the FA market
One other attribute I would assign to Francis. 6. Avoid doing anything flashy, or acquire anything shiny. He doesn’t like the limelight and the attention it brings. He was the assistant GM to Jim Rutherford, but will be very different than Rutherford. He inherited an empty pipeline from JR. Francis will not let that happen in Seattle, even at the expense of early success.
He can only have a 23 team roster. Players are still to be dealt, which will inevitably add roster pieces and stock the cupboards. Side deals may be announced this evening (or trickle out during the day!) that may provide answers as to why certain players were chosen over others.
It’s not a particularly inspiring lineup on paper, but that’s what I love about expansion drafts. A few of these picks are going to be pushed into pivotal roles for the first time in their NHL career, and someone will hit big. Then again, I spent all last season under the assumption that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would end up being Seattle’s first captain and leading scorer. But he likes being on the second line in Edmonton too much.
In his stint in Carolina Francis was always underwhelming in his moves. He is a very cautious horse trader.
I tend to think Francis knows more about what he’s doing than the random opinions out there.
For example Dunn might be the best defender on Seattle, an essential pick, but people still crying over Tarasenko…. who by the way can still be acquired via salary dump.
I think that’s what Ron figured out is take ur prime player AND if you want to dump a bloated contract later we’ll have the cap room to get it done
Appleton, Geekie, and McCann strike me as the early favorites to be top forwards for the Krakheads next year.
If McCann can stay healthy, but don’t forget his production was aided by players like Crosby, Malkin etc in Pittsburgh
I like Appleton and Donskoi
Malkin was hot garbage for most of last year, not sure how much he “aided”
McCann is a good 3rd liner, fringe line 2 guy.
He played great for the pens but is nothing special.
Was originally acquired as a toss-in on the bjugastad trade
We got the Fleury Bros.!!! Cool!
@Rosstradamus – And, “Cousin Theo” is on his way, too! Why? To liven things up, of course! :)
McDermid??? Kings make out like bandits
Maybe not if there is a side deal for them to take him.
Pretty sure there is no side deal. We shall see though.
Totally agree. Has to be a side deal coming. Salary? Trade? This makes no sense.
Some surprises, and some not.
Pretty decent team. Watch them land a couple more forward FAs like Landeskog or Hall and all of a sudden you have a playoff team
In the Pacific this is a playoff team already. Probably the 2nd best team in the division.
Yeah, I definitely see them all-in on one of those two (though, in my hopes of hopes, I’m reaching for Vancouver to figure out a way to sign Hall but Vancouver fans are daydreamers in the classroom). The bar for expansion teams is absurdly high after what Vegas did in year one, so even if Seattle slinked into the playoffs as a bottom seed, there would be haters.
Frances lacked the chutzpah to pull off high dollar UFA signings while in Carolina. It’s just not in his DNA to be flashy.
Seattle picks Blackwell from Rangers
Rangers working out trade with Seattle for Mark Giordano
Seattle must be thinking about how successful Vegas was with Fleury in net, so they decided to pick all the other fluerys in the league
lmao
So, Eberle, McCann and Donskoi…all of whom are secondary scorers…are going to provide all of the offense…?
Why be the 2018 Golden Knights when you can be the 1994 Mighty Ducks, I guess?
Depends on your outlook. I’d rather have six guys who score 20 than two guys who score 40. Then again I’m not hung up on “primary” vs “secondary” scoring. If the 4th line meatheads put pucks in the net, that counts as much on the scoreboard as superstar goals.
So, can Seattle trade back to the team they picked a player from to acquire a different player or prospect/draft pick?
Yes but they can not trade the player they picked back to their original team
That’s what I kinds thought, my only thought was that you could trade back if assets from that team came back in that trade. Kind of the “we didn’t think you’d take player, how ’bout a prospect or draft pick instead”.
Who is in charge at tsnnhl.ca? They continue to list Haydn Fleury as the Kraken pick from the Hurricanes.
This team is so weak lol from what it could be
I dont get this. They even try for hall or landeskog? Geekie musta been a trade to protect bean and needs. You dont take any high profile name to sell jerseys? Fairly unproven goaltending a bunchea names most people dont know. I guess taking a bunch of unpopular guys so your fans can find a new player to maybe buy a jersey for will make you more money than bringing in a couple names most people would immediately support and wanna watch and pay to see.
Not only head scratching for the business side. But the other business side, i dont think drafting a team that might make playoffs will bring as much success on the ice or financially as building a cup conder like vegas.
Boring hockey with no need for any fan to spend any money on the team for at least a few years
Absolutely no one thought Vegas had a playoff team at the time of their draft. Hindsight is 20/20.
Seattle has its season ticket base well in hand. I don’t think they need to worry much about people paying to see them. And Christ, dude, it’s like you missed the last five seasons or something. How many fans in Nevada do you figure were wearing “Marchessault” or “Karlsson” jerseys well before the end of that first season?
@Gavin – You know, the funniest thing about today is many articles are going to have the message of “Loading 10 new comments” at the bottom. And after those 10 load, more will instantly fill the vacuum… You’ve just invented a new perpetual-motion machine!
:)
I really like the make up of this defensive unit. They will be able to hold their own with just about any team out there. The PK should also be solid with some of the names on this list. Like many I am struggling to see a pure goal scorer here. Maybe Giordano for Buchnevich.
Detroit, anybody home ? Must be working out a block buster trade. LOL
Yea how the hell had everything leaked EXCEPT Detroit?
I saw something in one of the news articles here in Detroit that said something along the lines of “don’t listen to ‘insiders'” – nobody had any idea they were trading for Leddy, leaving Stecher unprotected, and, now, with this – Yzerman plays EVERYTHING close to the vest.
I hope he’s able to move a mid-round pick to get them to select someone other than Chowlowski or Stecher. We have wayyyy too many picks. The Red Wings are going to end up with a bottleneck in the AHL/NHL.
I can’t believe how bad this roster is. Seattle is going to be an afterthought for a decade now. It’s a shame.
It’s probably the 2nd best roster in the Pacific division.
You must still be reading the mock drafts. The team Francis put together in reality is worse than any mock draft I’ve seen.
He left a lot of scoring and upside on the table in order to go serviceable and cheap*.
*Let’s see what he does in FA and with side deals, but this is uninspiring work so far.
D – D – D.. he is building with D.. Then, like every other team, D is what they need/want. It will happen, I am sure
Everyone can use some D in their lives
Seattle does not have better roster than any pacific team. They completely botched this. So many AHL type selections.
Giordano, Dunn, & Eberle retained at 50% for LA’s 8th overall pick and Helge Grans.
San Jose, Tampa Bay, Ottawa, Florida, Anaheim, Nashville, Atlanta (now Winnipeg) , Columbus, Minnesota and Vegas are the expansion teams that have joined the league in the past 30 years.
Two of those ten teams tried to win right away. Eight of them built for the future.
The two win now teams have 3 Stanley Cups and 5 SCF appearances between them. The eight build for the future teams have 1 Stanley Cup and 4 SCF appearances between them.
So, not “winning now” does not guarantee you will “build for the future” enough to win, nor does trying to “win now” preclude you from building for the future during or after attempting to win now.
Again, let’s see the side deals, but…sure looks like Francis is punting for no real reason.
Some of those early San Jose, Tampa Bay, and Atlanta/Winnipeg seasons were brutal. People would rather see an instant competitor versus 19 win seasons and success 10 years later.
Only two teams were given a legitimate chance to win and that’s the two who paid 500 million plus. Also let’s not forget about the expansion Knights who were projected to be one of the worst teams in the league. Not one person considered them “win now” after their expansion draft.
Generally speaking, the Knights took the best player (or deal) they could from each team, HIRED A GOOD COACH*, and traded for better players.
So, far Francis left a lot on the table, hired an iffy coach and…well, again, let’s see the side deals…maybe he has more. Hopefully, he has more, cuz…seems like a missed opportunity here.
Ya I think there’s definitely deals coming in. The defence looks pretty damn good and Driedger could be a great option as their number one. Add a couple forwards in deals and this team easily makes the playoffs. I agree about the coach though. That’s questionable.
100% true!
Using TBL’s recent two Cups in an argument about teams built 30 years ago is beyond stupid.
The only way to say that is if you misunderstood the argument and are thinking/claiming that I drew a line from A to B linking Chris Kontos to the 20/21 Cups, which of course, I did not.
Did trying to “win now” instead of building for the future hurt Tampa’s future? Did the teams that “built for the future” end up having more success by being patient.
No and no.
Specifically, Tampa tried to win while their sister team, Ottawa was “patient” meanwhile Tampa won a Cup before the Sens got to play for one. So, what did Ottawa (or NSH or CBJ, etc.) gain by intentionally enduring hard years that makes it a model worth emulating?
The idea that Seattle intentionally icing a much weaker team than they could have will pay off in the end has no evidence in the current set of precedents.
@ forwhomjoshbelltolled – I suppose that the answer is that there are fanbases who don’t consider not winning a Cup to denote abject failure, or that if the team’s won a Cup at any time during their history, everything else is endurable. (By THAT token, you could justifiably tell Toronto fans to stop whining, because after all they’ve won more Cups than any team but the Habs.)
Epic fail
Their selection from the Hurricanes is a joke. How on earth do you pass on Nino or Bean
Geekie is totally underrated. Kid has talent. I think with the opportunity he will thrive. I am surprised it wasn’t Bean to be honest but look at their defense didn’t need him.
I had them taking Niederreiter, and most of the media picks had them take Bean, but look: a top-four of Giordano, Larsson, Dunn and Oleksiak does not suck, and they’re not going to take Bean to be a bottom-pairing guy.
Nino would have been their starting RW
I just don’t get it.
There is alot of quality picks but alot of stupid ones as well ..but I am not on the Kraken payroll .so what do I know…lol
The winner of this is Hurricane fans who are thankful that Francis isn’t their GM any longer! :D
Raise your hand if you had Joey Daccord being one of the 3 goalies taken…….I’m not seeing many hands!
I thought they might. Young goalie, waiver exempt with some NHL games under his belt. Can be called up when needed (injuries, etc.) and sent down without fear of losing him. Couple more seasons developing in the minors and maybe you have something. This thought, of course, was lessened when it was announced Kahkonen was left exposed, who is also waiver exempt. . . But I guess Francis really liked Soucy!
There is alot of quality picks but alot of stupid ones as well ..but what do I know…lol
not how to only comment once, thats for sure
If it’s true I am glad Alex True is getting an opportunity elsewhere…He can play…
The one guy in the draft I never heard of
Another thing to. Why is the NHL letting all these reports come out before the big announcement tonight..There is no need of the Expansion draft if all this secrets are already out…another bonehead move by Bettman and his crackers
How do you figure Bettman could have stopped them? At least here in the United States, there’s this pesky thing called the First Amendment.
I can not recall Vegas picks being released until they were introduced…but I could be mistaken…
Anyway, so I crunched some numbers for this projected roster. Some things that come up:
* Presuming the reports of what Driedger and Larsson have signed for are true, that’s 20 contracts for just over $49 million. Looking over the small heap of UFAs and RFAs on that list, the only ones likely to sign for more than league minimum are Dunn and Oleksiak. That is a LOT of cap space to play with when it comes to trades or going after the big UFA prizes of the summer. They’ll HAVE the money to outbid everyone for a Landeskog, if they want, or to suck up cap hits in Detroit-esque three-way deals. This roster is far from done.
* In the “OMG where’s the scoring coming from???” panics, I just added up all the goals this roster scored last year. Keeping in mind that most of these players will have bigger roles in Seattle, as it stands the roster would’ve outscored 13 NHL teams last season. This roster scored as many goals as the Islanders did. This roster scored just three goals fewer than the Canadiens did.
And, y’know … a lot of people are screeching “Why didn’t those stupid idiots take X player from my team??” I’m left wondering how much of that is snarling that Francis didn’t relieve them of their cap-hell overpays, just out of the goodness of his heart.
You can say this roster would have outscored 13 NHL teams but some of the players had the fortune of having higher end talent to play with. You are playing fantasy hockey here
(shrugs) Yeah, you can play that game, if you want. Probably a lot of people said the same thing about VGK, a few years back. Y’know, that Marchessault only had one good season, and Fleury was worn out, and Karlsson was a draft bust, and Haula and Smith were third-liners … etc etc etc. Strange though it may seem, there are players out there who score not because they’re bums who are being carried by better players, but because they can score.
Capfriendly has the Kraken with a cap hit today of $52,548,333 and cap space of $28,951,667. There are 7 teams with more cap space than the Kraken. Oleksiak signed for 5 years at an AAV of $4.600,000.
0 trades what the hell lol
Francis is a real wheeler, dealer type. :D
Yeah, I guess maybe it’s just me and I’m somehow blind to the genius of strategy of losing BOTH Tanev AND McCann for nothing instead of just one of them.
It would have been awful to only lose one of them, so good thing we wheeled and dealed and figured out how to lose both…or something.
Meanwhile, did Francis get ANYTHING in a side deal? Or did he build an AHL team out of the goodness of his heart?
He certainly picked several guys who are AHL-bound. But c’mon: that was always going to be part of a deal where he had to pick ten defensemen and three goalies. (That latter being, I expect, why he didn’t take Kahkonen — he’d decided that Driedger and Vanecek were going to be his guys, and what’s the point of taking Kahkonen to be an AHL goalie when he could take Carson Soucy to be a middle-pairing D-man?)
Dreiger and Vanacek both started last year in the AHL with no intent for either to play in the NHL.
SEA has one legit top 6 forward (Eberle) and two borderline top 6 forwards (McCann and Donskoi…both decent 2nd liners, but better as third liners). They do have two thirds of an elite third line in Gourde and Tanev, but their other centers appear to be Geekie, Pitlick….I think Calle Jarnkrok is their first line center??
Maybe they will use that cap space to sign high end UFA’s.
But it wasn’t cap space alone that allowed VGK to add guys like Stone and Pacioretty, they also had assets. Francis took few players with much trade value.
Francis must go to an all you can eat buffet, has a piece of toast and goes home. He did the hockey equivalent today.
lmao.
Wow, what an underwhelming team they just drafted. And I don’t see many in-demand guys that would lead to a lot of side deals for picks & prospects.
I would’ve gone with more youth & upside from Flyers, Canes, Kings & Islanders lists. I think Eberle sucks and I suspect they’ll receive sweeteners from New York for taking him.
On the bright side, they will be thoroughly awful for the 2022 and 2023 lotteries.
so…trades when?
No trades looks like francis overplayed his hand. Guess he is not trying to be vegas part 2. This looks like most expansion drafts of past. Unless he has some free agents signing. They will be nearer the floor then ceiling of the cap. gourde,appleton,tanev is good third line but look to be second line on this team
The Draft and Free Agency are the next steps for Seattle.
And the Kraken pick Shane Wright
That expansion draft show must’ve been like an awards ceremony where everyone knew who the winner was before they were announced. :D
Just amazed that Francis didn’t at least take a few players, especially Kahkonen, that he could’ve flipped for other assets. Same old Ronnie from his Canes days.
Prediction: Seattle will finish last in GF next season.
Exactly. He chose some players leaving other, better choices alone leaving many to think side deals were being done. But no, no side deals, no tricks up the sleeves. I think McPhee did such a masterful job with preparing LV for their draft people just think the league handed them an instant winner, not so, it took a ton of maneuvering to get them there. Francis just showed you what a lazy, ultra conservative person would bring you. You could go pick a team with the leftovers that would beat Seattle the majority of the time.
People do understand that cap space is a MEANS to an end and not the end itself, right?
Pens GIVE AWAY really good players for nothing. “Well, but now they have cap space.”
Ron Francis leaves a lot of talent on the table to ice an AHL team that will struggle for years…
“NHL / Chris Johnston
In an era where cap space is king, Kraken draft with the long game in mind
The Kraken couldn’t simply try and mimic what the Golden Knights did four years ago. No, we live in a time now where cap space is king. And, after their draft choices, Seattle will soon be calling the shots from the throne.”
Fun fact, cap space scores NO goals. It makes NO saves. It has never poked the puck off of anyone’s stick. It has never cleared the crease.
Cap space must be turned into good players (or assets) to matter. So, how can Francis turn his cap space into good players?
Well, through trades or free agency…
He has very little of value to trade because of his timid expansion draft picks. And now, the only way to lure a quality free agent to that dumpster fire team is to OVERPAY them, like the Flyers did with JVR. Why not just take JVR?
So, what exactly did he achieve?
As for Hextall, these better be some brilliant plans for the cap space, because as we sit here today, the Pens are NOT a playoff team next year.
Good points. They paid $650,000,000.00 just for the right to be open for business and when handed an opportunity to be bold they skimped to save a few million when they’re required to get up to the floor anyway. LV set the bar really high for expansion clubs, but if Francis put in the work McPhee did he’d have walked away with a much better squad and one that would compete rather quickly.
and its not like he needed to take all the expensive guys or anything. unless there are deals we havent heard about yet, why on earth dont you let a team make a deal with you to take someone who is expensive? im not talking about a Tyler Johnson, but someone who may actually be worth the money. those players were to be had, along with other assets, and evidently Francis said to hell with it.
Everyone complaining about not making deals for bug players
Tarasenko has played a handful of games in two years and surgery twice in that time. That’s a lot of risk.
Tyler Johnson isn’t that good. Gourde is the better player.
Domi is out the first two months and then is a UFA – so that’s a waste
Just wait to see who comes in via trade and Free Agency. If Schwartz and/or Landeskog get signed, or Hamilton, or even Danault and especially a couple of them with a few trades…(Garland?) then the team will look much better.
They have the space to do this.