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Episode #14 – Wild Wild West! Seattle Expansion Draft – Honda West Division, Trade News & Rumours

Seattle Expansion Draft - Discover Central Division
Fantasy Hockey Hacks

Fantasy Hockey Hacks

Welcome back to the Fantasy Hockey Hacks Podcast!

In the fourteenth episode of the podcast, Devon, Bruce, and John continue with the Seattle Expansion Draft, and provide predictions for the Honda West Division! We’ll take a look at each team’s protected list, and provide our thoughts as to who Seattle will pick. As always, we’ll touch on hockey-related news from the past week or so; and provide our thoughts and opinions.

Highlights:

  • Jonathan Toews speaks publicly for the first time
  • Viktor Arvidsson  traded to the Los Angeles Kings for draft picks
  • Joel Eriksson Ek signs an 8 year extension in Minnesota
  • Duncan Keith to the Edmonton Oilers?
  • Seattle Expansion Draft – Honda West Division

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Hockey News | June 21 – June 28 

  • June 30 | Jonathan Toews speaks publicly about his absence, diagnosed with Chronic Immune Response Syndrome. Hopes to be ready for the start of next season.

  • July 1 | Viktor Arvidsson has been traded to the Los Angeles Kings for 2021 2nd Round Pick and 2022 3rd Round Pick. 
    • 25 Pts (10 Goals) in 50 GP this past eason. Decline in production the past two seasons. 
    • Best season to date was in 2018-2019 with 48 Pts (34 Goals) in 58 GP. On-pace for 68 points in an 82 game season. 
    • DailyFaceoff.com shows Arvidsson lined-up on the second line; but I’d like to see him play on Kopitar’s right side.

  • July 2 | Joel Eriksson Ek signs an 8 year contract extension worth $42M ($5.25M AAV)
    • First 8 year max deal in franchise history; 10-team no-trade comes into effect in Year 4, according to Michael Russo. 
    • The Wild centerman had 30 Pts (19 Goals) in 56 games this past season, 44 point pace over an 82 game season. This was Eriksson Ek’s 5th and most productive season to date. 

  • July 2 | Edmonton Oilers reportedly the front-runners for Duncan Keith. 
    • What would that deal look like? Possible that Dylan Strome could be part of the deal?

    • July 4 | TB has a commanding 3-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final. 
      • The Bolts have outscored the Habs in this series 14-5 through the first 3 games. 
      • Carey Price: .835 SV%, 4.39 GAA, -5.73 GSAA
      • Andrei Vasilevskiy: .948 SV%, 1.67 GAA, 3.92 GSAA
      • Any chance the Habs can come back in this series?
        • Only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs have overcome a 3-0 deficit in the Stanley Cup Final!  

 

Seattle Expansion Draft | West Division

Expansion Draft Rules & Eligibility (Source: NHL.com – https://bit.ly/3zTvf6f) 

The Seattle Kraken officially joined the NHL on April 30 when they made their final expansion payment. The 32nd team in the NHL will begin play in the 2021-22 season.

The 2021 NHL Expansion Draft, which is scheduled for July 21, will be under the same rules for the Kraken as the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017. The Kraken will select one player from each team excluding the Golden Knights for a total of 30 (14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goalies) not including additional players who may be acquired as the result of violations of the Expansion Draft rules.

Seattle must choose a minimum of 20 players under contract for the 2021-22 regular season and those with an aggregate Expansion Draft value that is between 60-100 percent of the prior season’s upper limit for the salary cap. The Kraken cannot buy out players chosen in the Expansion Draft earlier than the summer following its first season.

Current NHL teams can protect seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie, or eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goalie, under the following conditions.

  • All players with no movement clauses at the time of the draft, and who decline to waive those clauses, must be protected and will be counted toward their team’s applicable protection limits.
  • All first- and second-year professionals, and all unsigned draft choices, will be exempt from selection (and will not be counted toward protection limits.
  • In addition, all NHL teams must meet the following minimum requirements regarding players exposed for selection in the draft:
  • One defenseman who is a) under contract in 2021-22 and b) played in at least 40 NHL games the prior season or played in at least 70 NHL games in the prior two seasons.
  • Two forwards who are a) under contract in 2021-22 and b) played at least 40 NHL games the prior season or played in at least 70 NHL games in the prior two seasons.
  • One goalie who is under contract in 2021-22 or will be a restricted free agent at the end of his current contract immediately prior to 2021-22. If a team elects to make a restricted free agent goalie available to meet this requirement, that goalie must have received his qualifying offer prior to the submission of the team’s protected list.
  • Players with potential career-ending injuries who have missed more than the previous 60 consecutive games (or who otherwise have been confirmed to have a career-threatening injury) may not be used to satisfy a team’s player exposure requirements unless approval is received from the NHL. Such players also may be deemed exempt from selection.

IMPORTANT DATES (Source: Pierre Lebrun, The Athletic – https://bit.ly/2U6WkCw )

  • July 13 |  Deadline for clubs to ask a player to waive his no-move clause for the sole purpose of being exposed in the expansion draft. So there’s some uncomfortable conversations coming for a few teams and players pretty soon here.
  • 24 hours after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup final: First buyout period begins. Could be a busy one this year as the flat-cap world continues to impact clubs.
  • July 16 | Last day for teams to place a player on waivers prior to the expansion draft trade/waiver freeze (noon ET).
  • July 16 | Deadline for players to agree to waive their no-move clause for the expansion draft.
  • July 17 at 3 p.m. ET to July 22 at 1 pm ET: Trade freeze amongst the 31 NHL clubs. Seattle is allowed to make trades with any club during this time.
  • July 17 | At 5 p.m. ET, firm deadline for each club to submit its expansion draft protection list to Central Registry and the NHLPA.
  • July 18 | There’s a 10 a.m. ET deadline for Central Registry to approve and send out the protection lists to all NHL teams (including Seattle, of course) and the NHLPA.
  • July 18 | Opening of the RFA/UFA interview period for Seattle as discussed above (again, only players who weren’t protected for the expansion draft).
  • July 21 | There’s a 10 a.m. ET deadline for Seattle to submit its expansion draft selections to Central Registry and the NHLPA. Also, a 10 a.m. ET deadline for the Kraken to submit contracts for any of those pending RFAs/UFAs they’ve been able to sign during the interview period.
    • The NHL announces the expansion draft results at 8 p.m. ET.
  • July 23 | NHL entry draft, Round 1 (held virtually again).
  • July 24 | NHL entry draft, Rounds 2-7.
  • July 26 | Deadline for qualifying offers.
  • July 27 | First buyout period ends at 5 p.m. ET.
  • July 27 | A team’s ability to offer an eight-year max deal to its own pending UFA expires at 11:59 p.m. ET
  • July 28 |  Opening of free agency at noon ET.

ANAHEIM DUCKS

  • Devon (4-4-1)
    • Forward’s Protected: Jakob Silfverberg, Rikard Rakell, Troy Terry, Isac Lundestrom
    • Defenceman Protected: Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, Josh Manson, Haydn Fleury
    • Goalie Protected: John Gibson
    • Seattle’s Pick:
      • Adam Henrique. Veteran center with leadership qualities. With a faceoff win percentage of 55.4, Henrique can make a difference in the defensive zone and the PK. His cap hit will help get Seattle to the cap floor; and I could see a scenario where a rebuilding Anaheim eats part of that contract to protect younger players like Sam Steel. 3 years remaining, so the term isn’t workable. 11 Points (6 G) in final 20 games of the regular season. 
      • Hayden Fleury (Bruce’s Pick)
      • Sam Steel (John’s Pick)

ARIZONA COYOTES

  • Devon, Bruce (7-3-1)
    • Forward’s Protected: Clayton Keller, Phil Kessel, Nick Schmaltz, Christian Dvorak, Lawson Crouse, Christian Fischer, Conor Garland
    • Defenceman Protected: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jakob Chychrun, Nicolas Hjalmarrson
    • Goalie Protected: Darcy Kuemper
    • Seattle’s Pick: 
      • Adin Hill. Hill is just 25, 6’ 6”, on a cheap contract, and has a career .909 SV% with the Coyotes. In his final 14 GP last year, Hill sported a .915 SV%, 2.73 GAA, and a 2.7080 GSAA. At worst, Adin Hill would be a serviceable back-up with potential to be a starter.  OR
      • Michael Bunting. Bunting showed some flashes of potential down the stretch this year – 13 Points (10 GOALS) in 21 games. Ron Francis will need to decide if that offensive outburst was real or not. At 25 years of age, I’m skeptical. Especially when you consider his shooting percentage was 26.3%!
  • John (7-3-1)
    • Forward’s Protected: Phil Kessel, Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, Christian Dvorak, Lawson Crouse, Tyler Pitlick, Conor Garland
    • Defenceman Protected: Jakob Chychrun, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Kyle Capobianco
    • Goalie Protected: Darcy Kemper
    • Seattle’s Pick:
      • Adin Hill

COLORADO AVALANCHE

  • Devon, Bruce, John (7-3-1)
    • Forward’s Protected: Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog, Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakovsky, Valeri Nichushkin, Tyson Jost
    • Defenceman Protected: Cale Makar, Samuel Girard, Devon Toews 
    • Goalie Protected: Phillip Grubauer
    • Seattle’s Pick: 
      • Ryan Graves. Graves is a big man at 6’ 5”, 220 pounds, and should play in the top 4 for Seattle. His corsi and expected goals metrics were good with COL, and he was the +/- leader in 2019/2020. 

Los Angeles Kings

  • Devon, Bruce (7-3-1)
    • Forward’s Protected: Anne Kopitar, Andreas Athanasiou, Lias Andersson, Carl Grundstrom, Alex Iafallo, Adrian Kempe, Trevor Moore
    • Defenceman Protected: Drew Doughty, Matt Roy, Sean Walker
    • Goalie Protected: Cal Peterson 
    • Seattle’s Pick:
      • Kale Clague. Clague is a smart, mobile defenceman, who has shown flashes of offensive upside, particularly at the junior level. According to Dobber Prospects, his PNHLe projects him to be a second pairing defenceman. Drafted 51st (2nd round) overall in 2016.
  • John (4-4-1)
    • Forward’s Protected: Anze Kopitar, Alex Iafallo, Adrian Kempe, Andreas Athanasiou
    • Defenceman Protected: Drew Doughty, Sean Walker, Matt Roy, Kale Clague
    • Goalie Protected: Cal Peterson
    • Seattle’s Pick: Carl Grundstrom

Minnesota Wild

  • Devon, Bruce, John (7-3-1)
    • Forward’s Protected: Kevin Fiala, Mats Zuccarello, Joel Ericsson Ek, Marcus Foligno, Jordan Greenway, Ryan Hartman, Zach Parise (NMC)
    • Defenceman Protected: Ryan Suter (NMC), Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin
    • Goalie Protected: Kaapo Kahkonen
    • Seattle’s Pick:
      • Matt Dumba. Dumba had 14 goals and 50 points in 2017-2018. Then came back the following season at an even higher 0.69 Pts/game (projected 56 points) before going down with a pectoral tear. Dumba can play on the top-pairing for Seattle, and has possibly the highest offensive upside of any eligible defenceman in this draft. Absolute canon for a shot.

San Jose Sharks

  • Devon (7-3-1)
    • Forward’s Protected: Logan Couture, Evander Kane, Timo Meier, Tomas Hertl, Kevin Lebanc, Ryan Donato, Rudolf Balcers
    • Defenceman Protected: Erik Karlsson, Marc-Eduard Vlasic, Radim Simek
    • Goalie Protected: Martin Jones
    • Seattle’s Pick:
      • Brent Burns. With the exception of this past season, Burns has been the best offensive defenceman in the NHL for at least the past 5 years. Can play big minutes (generally at the top of TOI lists), shoots the puck a ton, and scores. $8M AAV until 2025.
      • Ryan Donato (Bruce & John’s Pick)

St. Louis Blues

  • Devon, Bruce, John (7-3-1)
    • Forward’s Protected: Ryan O’Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko, Brayden Schenn, David Perron, Oskar Sundqvist, Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou
    • Defenceman Protected: Torey Krug, Justin Faulk, Colton Parayko
    • Goalie Protected: Jordan Binnington
    • Seattle’s Pick:
      • Vince Dunn. Excellent puck-mover, can play difficult minutes in the top 4, and has offensive upside as well. 102 points, +22 in 267 GP.

 

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