Seattle Kraken: Way too early mock expansion draft version 2.0
Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals (Photo by Keith Allison, via Wikimedia).
Goalies
Going back to Vegas, the key to their entire Stanley Cup Finals run was goalie Marc-Andre-Fleury. If Seattle hockey fans are looking for hope of a hot start to the franchise, look no further than this cadre of backstops. Among them, there is starting material, backups, reliable third options, and future mainstays.
Jake Allen – Montreal, 30, 2-years, 2.88M
Braden Holtby – Vancouver, 1-year, $4.3M
Casey DeSmith – Pittsburgh, 28, 1-year, $1.25M
Ville Husso – St. Louis, 25, 1-year, $750K
Felix Sandstrom – Philadelphia, RFA
Alex Stalock – Minnesota, 33, 1-year, 750K
Outlook
I’m one of the people who thought it would be a good idea to pursue Carey Price from Montreal. Upon further consideration, I can’t see it happening. Oshie is the ready-made face of the franchise. If the Seattle Kraken felt they needed a venerable veteran in the Marc-Andre Fleury role, they could have Jonathan Quick for less money and a much shorter commitment than Price.
There are too many teams that need quality goalies for the Seattle Kraken to keep all six. As a matter of fact, it would be a mild surprise if more than four of them were part of the organization on Opening Day 2021.
Unless Vancouver makes Ron Francis an offer he can’t refuse to avoid Holtby, the 31-year-old netminder will be drafted and flipped for a high draft pick. Either DeSmith or Stalock (possibly both) gets traded as well.
This is likely Allen’s team. Husso will be his backup. Keep an eye on the talented Finn though; he has enough talent to win the starting job.
Related Story – NHL 21 Simulation: Seattle Kraken Expansion Draftees
One other thing to watch for, going forward, is how much value does the organization place on players who grew up in the area or played for the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds. Vegas did very well with Deryk Engelland as their captain. He played for the Las Vegas Wranglers in the ECHL at the outset of his career so local hockey fans were familiar with him.