Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings.
Expansion drafts are usually marked by the new team selecting a bunch of has-been or never-was players. It’s a little different now, as evidenced by the team Vegas put together a few years ago. Seattle Kraken General Manager Ron Francis has an opportunity to add some big-ticket players who are in, or close to, their respective prime years.
Brent Burns – Defenseman, San Jose Sharks, 36-years-old, $8.0M (Average Annual Cap Hit) through 2025
Brent Burns has a king-sized contract to go along with his king-sized slapshot. Carrying an $8M cap hit through his 40th birthday is too much for the Kraken to take on. The beard would have been cool to see over Kraken colors.
Dustin Brown – Right Wing, Los Angeles Kings
A mainstay of both the Los Angeles Kings and USA Hockey, Dustin Brown is an exceptional leader. For that reason, it’s difficult to see him leaving L.A. in the expansion draft. Besides, there are better options to select from the Kings.
Mark Giordano, D, Calgary Flames, 37, $6.75M – 2022
At one time, Mark Giordano was among the league’s top defenseman. With a $6.75M AAV, his pay is much more than his production. Granted, that applies to many players on his list, but what he would bring to the Kraken is far less than others who made the main list.
The Flames will leave their captain unprotected. But they also won’t incentivize Seattle to take him.
All these players are either too old, cost too much money, or both.
We’ve speculated about James Neal coming to Seattle. The streaky goal scorer will be very much available to Seattle in the expansion draft. He was an original Golden Knight and did well with Vegas, scoring 44 points in 71 games before leaving as a free agent the next season.
For all the reasons there are to take the former 87 points-in-a-season-wing, there are many more reasons not to. As mentioned earlier, Neal is very streaky. He could score eight goals in five games and then be practically invisible for the next dozen.
Neal is paid like a big-time scorer but has had more than 25 goals only once since 2014. Last year he was limited to 29 games and had just 10 points. Edmonton will have to compensate the Kraken for taking on Neal’s bloated contract.
When putting together the early mock drafts, I was a big proponent of the Kraken adding Jordan Eberle. My enthusiasm has cooled in recent months. To put it simply, Eberle should produce at a higher clip than he does.
Since Eberle joined the Isles three seasons ago, his production slipped by .13 points per game from what it was during the previous seven in Edmonton. Over a full season, that’s 10.5 points leaving him at an average of 50.2.
It’s not all negatives, though. Eberle plays for a very defense-oriented coach, Barry Trotz, in New York. Some would say 50 points per season in Trotz’s system isn’t too bad, I agree. If it comes down to it, drafting Eberle would be that bad. He just doesn’t provide as much bang for the buck that Francis could find elsewhere.
Patric Hornqvist had the second-best points per game of his career in 2020-21 at 0.72. Even at 34, he still moves well on the ice. The Swede has two things going for him, flexibility and penalty-killing ability. He can play on any line and produce to acceptable levels. Additionally, Hornqvist would be a mainstay of Seattle’s first PK unit.
The Panthers will expose more useful and less expensive players than Hornqvist, such as Radko Gudas, Mackenzie Weegar, and Sam Montembeault. If Florida can put together the right incentives to take on Hornqvist’s $5.3M cap hit, he can be an asset to the Kraken. But it will have to be very big incentives.
There are plenty of reasons why Matt Murray will be available in the expansion draft. Starting with the Senators are cheapskates, and when a high-paid player underperforms, he’s likely to get the boot. When Ottawa signed Murray to a four-year, $25M extension last October, they expected much more than a 3.38 Goals Against Average and .893 Save Percentage.
While he struggled, the Sens goalie of the future Filip Gustavsson made his future now. Gustavsson won five of his eight starts with a stellar 5-1-2 record, 2.16 GAA, and .933 SV%. Aside from playing well, the young netminder makes $761K.
The 27-year-old Murray has plenty of time to return to the promise he showed earlier in his career.
There are several reasons why Jonathan Quick would appeal to the Kraken. Starting with the fact that he still has something left in the tank. In recent years, Quick’s numbers have declined, but the drop in his productivity coincides with bad teams Los Angeles fielded in front of him.
If the Seattle Kraken decides to go with a goalie early in the Entry Draft, Jonathan Quick would be a good mentor and placeholder. Additionally, Vegas did very well with Marc-Andre Fleury as both their goalie and face of the franchise. Despite all the speculation that Carey Price is the Kraken’s guy, Quick could fill the same role in Seattle just as well.
Plenty of Kraken fans would love to get James van Riemsdyk in Seattle. I’m sure Ron Francis would love to have him as well. At $7M per season, it isn’t feasible. But it’s darn close. The question here is how much money would Philly be willing to pick up over the next two seasons? Probably not much because he still has something left in the tank.
This one might be a reach as well. P.K. Subban‘s big personality would lead to plenty of marketing and opportunities. Pacific Northwest fans might get a twofer with Subban and his girlfriend, Olympic star skier Lindsey Vonn. He’s also not one to shy away from getting out in the community.
For as good as his public persona is, Subban’s overall game has been in serious decline the past several seasons. The one-time 60 point scoring defenseman hasn’t cracked 20 in the last two seasons. New Jersey will have to heavily incentive Francis to pull the trigger on drafting Subban.
It seems like just the other day; Matt Duchene was the third overall pick who played his way onto the Avalance as an 18-year-old rookie. Those days are over. The two-time 70-point score managed just 13 in 34 games this past season.
There is still plenty of time for Duchene to bounce back. Unfortunately, an $8M per season cap hit through 2026 makes it an expensive gamble. Nashville has good young players to include as part of an incentive package in exchange for taking Duchene off their hands.
Tyler Johnson is a Washington native hailing from Spokane. There’s no guarantee T.J. Oshie will be available in the expansion draft. If the Kraken is looking for a local hook, Johnson might be their man.
He’s played a variety of roles in Tampa Bay, centering almost every line. Being on a team with Steven Stamkos, it’s hard for any center to get first-line minutes. So the Bolts used Johnson primarily as a defensive center. That’s not very common for someone as small as him.
There has been plenty of talk about T.J. Oshie coming back home to be the face of the Seattle Kraken franchise. That’s great for people in the Emerald City to speculate about. However, his career in Washington doesn’t appear to be over just yet.
Oshie told the Caps that he prefers that they protect him in the expansion draft. He may be 35-years-old, but his fountain of youth is in D.C. In 2020-21, he scored 0.81 points per game, the second-best mark of his career.
Second, Washington considers him to be an important part of the team. At his end-of-season press conference last week, Washington Capitals General Manager Brian McClellan made it sound like he expects to have Oshie back next season.
“It would hurt our team and our organization if we lost him in the expansion draft. I don’t know that we’ve fully made any decisions on that, but ideally, we’d like to keep him around.”
Are McClellan’s comments a ploy to get a better return for Oshie? That’s hard to say, but Washington’s Stanley Cup window probably has another year or two remaining.
This section should come with an expectations warning. Getting either of these players is a long shot, but they are certainly possible in the current economic environment.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a very top-heavy salary structure. Only 14 players are under contract for 2022-23, and they account for $69M of salary. To get a full roster, Toronto will need to have more than $20M available. William Nylander could be sacrificed.
It’s more likely Toronto trades Nylander if they need space. Nothing is stopping Seattle from being players for the young left wing, in that scenario, and it can happen at the expansion draft. The Kraken will have plenty of future draft picks to interest Toronto. A deal can be had.
Nylander is a fine young talent, and he’s locked up for another three seasons. The second-generation NHLer has 102 points in his last 119 games. If Nylander is the Leafs’ odd man out of their four core forwards, he’s someone Seattle needs to pursue.
Some might be surprised to see 2015’s number one overall draft pick as a possibility to join the Kraken. On the ice, Jack Eichel is a near point-per-game player for his career with 355 points in 375 games. He’s on this list because the situation between Jack Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres is tenuous.
It all comes back to a neck injury Eichel suffered earlier this season. Buffalo’s captain is displeased with how the team handled his recovery. He may also be one of several scapegoats for the Sabres’ disappointing last-place finish this season.
It’s doubtful Eichel goes unprotected in the expansion draft. But he could be part of a much bigger deal by serving as a conduit between teams. Even more so if Kraken GM Ron Francis takes 33-year-old RW Kyle Okposo and his $6M AAV through 2023 off Buffalo’s hands.
Which big-ticket players do you think will wind up with the Seattle Kraken? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.