After a long week of waiting, the Seattle Kraken will be announcing their 30 picks in this year’s Expansion Draft. Why 30? Because Vegas doesn’t have to participate as they’re a recent expansion franchise themselves. They gained that privilege before they became a perennial playoff team from Day 1.
The Expansion Draft is expected to start at 8pm ET and will run until 9:30pm ET. ESPN2 and Sportsnet will broadcast the coverage in the US and Canada.
Seattle is a fishing town, so expect them to put their own fin-ishing touches on the event. For example, this potentially leaked reveal video that the Kraken will be taking Alex Kerfoot from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Is this real? Did they do other takes? Who knows! Drama! And Toronto at the center of it.
LETS FUCKINGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/aU04B2OXZV
— 🎱 (@Ieafsfan) July 20, 2021
Back to Seattle, the Tampa Bay Lightning are expected to lose one player from the team. There is lots of speculation that the Bolts made a deal to get contracts off the team or avoid certain players, but honestly they all sound worse than just picking a player from the team.
Among the most plausible players to be on Seattle by tonight include:
- Yanni Gourde
- Ondrej Palat
- Tyler Johnson
- Alex Killorn
- Jan Rutta
- Mathieu Joseph/Ross Colton/Mitchell Stephens/Ben Thomas/
Rutta is not likely as he doesn’t bring much individual value and there’s lots of defensemen available this year. One of the young guys on cheap contracts would be an act of spite by Seattle to hinder the Lightning’s plans to get under the cap more than anything. For their best interests, they should be taking one of the middle-six forwards to play up their lineup. The way things are looking, the Lightning are probably going to give the Kraken their provisional 1C unless they make other moves later, and at the very least their 2C.
If you want to use CapFriendly’s Expansion Draft tool, the link for it is here. The lists have already been inputted, so you can go straight to picking one player from each team. Remember, the Kraken can take anyone from each list, it doesn’t matter if they’re under contract, in green or not colored. For pending UFAs, the team would need to agree to a contract with the player simultaneously with the pick (as far as I know).
Predictions: Who do the Lightning lose to the Kraken?
| Gourde | 358 |
| Palat | 42 |
| Killorn | 21 |
| Johnson | 47 |
| Someone else | 6 |
| They make a deal of some kind | 41 |
Lightning Links
Draft-eligible prospect Logan Mailloux has renounced himself from the NHL Draft this year after “taking a photo of a woman performing a sex act without her consent and circulating it among teammates.” 11 NHL had already put Mailloux on their Do Not Draft lists. This comes a year after the Arizona Coyotes fiasco with Mitchell Miller. Teams have since learned that they can’t get away with drafting players who do terrible things and fail to show remorse afterward.
“All I wanted was a heartfelt apology” — woman who was victimized by draft prospect Logan Mailloux in Sweden speaks out.
From @coreypronman and me:https://t.co/FawKBVGe6I
— Katie Strang (@KatieJStrang) July 20, 2021
Developing: Prospect Logan Mailloux renounces himself from 2021 #NHLDraft, asking that no team select him this weekend.
“I don’t feel I have demonstrated strong enough maturity or character to earn that privilege.”
Story on @DFOHockey:https://t.co/AG7tHksVXs
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) July 20, 2021
The OHL in Canada is expected to return this season after being the lone major junior league to not play games of any kind in 2020-21. They are mandating double vaccinations for players and staff in order for them to play this season. Per my sources as someone who has worked in the OHL for years, it appears vaccine hesitancy is something the league will have to face. I’ve already been getting emails. [Toronto Star]
“The policy applies to “OHL Community Members,” including people who attend training camp, practices, games or play in the league, and it specifically references players, coaches, trainers, team and league staff, officials, volunteers and billet families. It adds that the league will work with members who do not want to be vaccinated to figure out a path forward.”
Philadelphia Flyers fans are learning about Ryan Ellis’ injury history following his first press conference with the team. It is understandably making fans worried. [Broad Street Hockey]
“Saturday’s trade for Ryan Ellis is already widely considered, by both Flyers fans and NHL fans in general, a slam dunk for Chuck Fletcher. In a pivotal offseason, Philadelphia successfully went out and acquired a top pair, right-handed defender with leadership capabilities, an excellent analytical and eye test acumen, and the ability to elevate Ivan Provorov’s play immediately. The price paid to do so was surprisingly low, with two assets at valleys in their value heading back the other way in Nolan Patrick and Phil Myers.”
Do the Colorado Avalanche want to trade for Phil Kessel? Could he be their next Brandon Saad? [Mile High Hockey]
“Even before we know how the Landeskog situation plays out, Sakic is likely going to be looking to add a top-6 winger to his roster thanks to the likely loss of Brandon Saad. If the captain leaves, it will become even more important to do so. The money exists under the cap to sign a UFA to fill the role but given his historic behavior, it is probably more likely that Sakic attempts to swing a trade.”
For the Syracuse Crunch fans, it appears the Laval Rocket are going to be making the trip to BC to play the Abbotsford Canucks from time-to-time. It’ll be interesting to see what their schedule will look like and if the Crunch will be involved.
La LNH dévoilera son calendrier demain et la LAH enchaînera vendredi. Certaines nouvelles destinations devraient être à l’horaire pour le Rocket, dont Abbotsford en Colombie-Britannique et Austin au Texas.
— Anthony Marcotte (@anthonymarcotte) July 20, 2021
The Canadiens also hired Jean-Francois Houle as head coach of the Laval Rocket. [Eyes on the Price as he goes to Seattle]
“Houle spent the last six years as an assistant coach in the American Hockey League. The 46-year-old was also previously the head coach of the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada where he was replaced by Joël Bouchard, who was the team’s general manager at the time. He also has NCAA coaching experience.”
