The past 48 hours across the NHL have been nothing short of chaos. With protection lists for all 30 teams due at 3:00 PM ET yesterday, along with the ensuing transaction freeze, a flurry of movement at the deadline drastically changed how many teams were to approach the expansion draft. Projected Seattle picks such as Jason Dickinson and Adin Hill were dealt, along with bigger names like Ryan Ellis and Jared McCann.
That frenzy didn’t stop yesterday, however. With the protection lists not being made available to the public until this morning, nobody was quite sure what their team was going to do. All those questions were answered this morning, some of those answers having potentially seismic implications.
There were many surprise omissions from teams’ protection lists, but let’s start with the elephant in the room. After being first reported by TSN’s Pierre LeBrun last night, Montreal Canadiens netminder Carey Price waived his no-movement clause and was not protected by the team. It’s an incredible turn of events after the netminder guided the team to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1993 while being inarguably their most valuable player.
Another Canadian team made some waves this morning too. The Toronto Maple Leafs opted for a 4F-4D-1G protection scheme, leaving out the newly acquired McCann from their protected list. It doesn’t appear that there’s a side deal to protect him in place, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman notes that McCann’s acquisition purely ensures that one of him or Alexander Kerfoot will remain on the roster in 2021-22. There were some other big surprises out of the East and Canada too, as Nino Niederreiter, Max Domi, Jordan Eberle, Evgenii Dadonov, and James van Riemsdyk were all somewhat unexpectedly left unprotected by their teams.
And then there’s the Vladimir Tarasenko saga in Missouri. The former St. Louis Blues superstar had requested a trade from the team earlier this offseason after a souring relationship, mostly caused by the team’s handling of his recent various shoulder injuries. He’s been left exposed by the team, meaning that they could use him for nothing rather than taking the best available trade offer. It breaks from practice, including the Columbus Blue Jackets’ protection of disgruntled defenseman Seth Jones.
So, we ask you, PHR readers, what shocked you the most about this weekend’s expansion news? Who was the biggest exposure surprise? Vote in our poll below.
[Mobile users, click here to vote!]
Carey price leading with a 4314% in this poll
9143% now lol
57% actually
Jared McCann (PIT)? not a surprise. Jared McCann (TOR)? surprising.
Tarasenko easily
I voted domi but only bcuz hes the best player in the draft
Let’s go back 1 week, the answer is Shea Weber.
price and bergevin have something worked out. If price was to leave Montral . His first choice would be seattle. His wife is from washington state. Price is probably either happy to be the fleury in seattle or stay in montreal. He can not be picked and traded without his agreeing . the no movement goes back in effect after draft.tarasanko is the one. rumors other teams wanted him but offered bad contacts back or St. louis eat half salary. Blues preferred nothing for him to either of these choices. personally I would not take him. Take eberle and either jvr or voracek for some veteran scoring.
Actually, I think Philadelphia immunized themselves against losing JVR or Voracek by leaving Ghost Bear unprotected. I did a little mock draft, and while there are plenty of good forwards available, it’s light on experienced defensemen. Beyond that, a lot of those good forwards are coming with $3-5 million cap hits; Seattle might not be able to eat as many high priced contracts as the fanboys of teams in cap hell might want. So that leaves the Prices, Tarasenkos and JVRs with their old teams.
Eberle, I think, is a done deal. He’s a surprising omission, and I think they’ll pop for him.
if Seattle wants Ghost, then there is a deal to be made, because it seems PHI wants to unload a pricy forward. maybe even Ghost + Jakub is the deal.
I suppose that could happen, yeah. My reasoning, though, is this: if the cap situation means that Seattle can only take on one, maybe two heavy contracts above and beyond the expected draft fodder, I’m going after Landeskog and Tarasenko. Landeskog in particular is going to be the big prize of the offseason: he’s likely to go only to contending teams, and only a handful of those will be able to pay him.
A Philly beat writer reported and apparently confirmed by 2 sources 1 from both teams. Philly has a deal with Sea, Taransenko and choose Haag for Jake V and a high draft pick but not the 1st round pick.
None of the above!
Jake Bean being left off the Canes list is a shocker to me as well as Nashville going 3F 5D after dealing Ellis.
100% agreement. Jake Bean was immediately who came to mind as I clicked on the headline.
In 18 months of mock drafts, I’ve yet to see Bean protected in any of them. He has probably been pegged as the single most likely player to be taken by Francis. He probably already bought a house there.
In 18 months of mock drafts, did you see anything that even remotely looked like the Preds list?
I rest my case about mock drafts.
Trades happen.
Barring one, Canes were always going to protect Slavin, Pesce and Skjei. If they had reupped Hamilton, they’d have kept those 3 and him and gone 8 skaters. And many, myself included, expect Francis to chase his former guys (Bean, Fleury, Gauthier).
Bean has been hyped as a 1st pairing/PP specialist by many since he was drafted. Is Foegele worth more than that?
Price has a major injury that’ll cost him much of the season. So there.
Shouldn’t Landeskog be an option in this poll too, or am I missing something?
He’s a UFA so they are all unprotected basically.
Only, if Seattle select Landeskog, they get his extension rights, which means they can offer him an 8 year extension when any other team can offer him a 7 year contract. Unless, of course, Landeskog already told them he’s not interested in signing with them …
Except Seattle has an exclusive negotiating period with any and all UFAs. That started today and runs thru Tuesday. If they call up Lande and can work out a deal they can sign him now and it counts as their pick from Colorado. They do not have to pick him and then get to negotiate with him.
I thought the Pens protecting Blueger or Carter instead of McCann was dumb….who is Justin Holl?
Isn’t that one of Dubas’ Marlie pet projects? A bottom pair D man…over a .80 point per game forward?
(Fingers crossed, knock on wood) I don’t think Francis takes Brandon Tanev, but…I found that most surprising. Why Hextall gave away and/or risked our sixth and seventh best forwards in order to protect our eighth and ninth best forwards…?
If we lose Tanev, the Pens will be the most tepid bunch of librarians in the league. He’s one of the only guys left with real fire. Hextall will NOT be able to replace him and he’ll have essentially drive the team straight into a tree.
Yeah, protecting Holl is one of the bonehead decisions of yesterday. At BEST he’s their fourth defenseman. At best. So what?
As far as Tanev goes, maybe Hextall is just expecting that Francis will take DeSmith. I would: he’s a good backup who comes with a teensy cap hit, and in case a Bishop doesn’t come back, well. Blueger’s three years younger, a million-plus cheaper, doesn’t have a no-trade clause, puts as many points on the board, and isn’t a bad defensive forward himself. It’s a defensible decision.