Anaheim Ducks
Protection list 7-3-1
Forwards 7
Richard Rakell
Jacob Silfverberg
Troy Terry
San Steel
Alex Volkov
Issac Lundestrom
Max Jones
Defensemen 3
Cam Fowler
Hampus Lindholm
Josh Manson
Goalie 1
John Gibson
Key Exposures
Forwards
Adam Henrique
Derek Grant
Sonny Milano
Nicolas Deslauriers
Danton Heinen
Defensemen
Kevin Shattenkirk
Hayden Fleury
Jacob Larsson
Goalie
Anthony Stolarz
Anaheim will have to choose between their under achieving forwards. Rakell and Silfverberg are both locks with Steel, Terry, and Lundestrom also probably getting protected but the last two spots are available. I have Jones and Volkov in those places because Volkov has shown flashes of high level production and Jones having great upside is the reason I picked them over someone like Henrique or Milano. All three defensemen I protected will probably be protected with high value picks Shattenkirk and Fleury being available and there is no doubt that the Ducks will protect Gibson as the Goalie. It will come down to Henrique, Grant, Shattenkirk, and Fleury but the Ducks windup trading their 2RD pick in 2021 and Ryan Kesler for selecting Jacob Larsson. Larsson can ba a third pairing defensemen for the Kraken and is a year away from being a RFA and has a $1.2 Million Dollar cap hit after having a 1 Goal and 7 Points in 46 games played, while they will get a great player with the 2021 2RD and Kesler is a cap dump as he’s career has ended.
Selection
LD Jacob Larsson
Trade attached
Anaheim trades Ryan Kesler (LTIR) and a 2021 2RD pick (#34) for expansion considerations
San Jose Sharks
Protection list 7-3-1
Forwards 7
Evander Kane
Tomas Hertl
Logan Couture
Timo Meier
Kevin Labanc
Ryan Donato
Rudolf Balcers
Defensemen 3
Marc Édouard Vlasic (NMC)
Erik Karlsson (NMC)
Radek Simek
Goalie 1
Josef Korenar
Key Exposures
Forwards
Alex True
Dylan Gambrell
Matt Nieto
Kurtis Gabriel (UFA)
Defensemen
Brent Burns
Nicolas Meloche
Goalie
Martin Jones
San Jose is a prime trade candidate for Seattle. Everyone except Donato and Balcers are locks to be protected with the Final two protection spots will be between Donato, True, Balcers, and Gambrell. I chose Donato and Balcers because Donato proved that he can produce in a bottom six role while Balcers found a scoring touch I didn’t know he had and I would leave True and Gambrell exposed. Because of NMC’s Vlasic and Karlsson will be protected but the third spor is up for grabs. Burns and Simek could both get the Final protection spot but do to the lack of production and contract size of Burns he will be exposed and with Jones having a decrease in play and his expensive contract the Sharks leave him exposed and protect the younger Korenar. It would be most likely between True, Gambrell or Meloche but the Sharks end up trading a 2022 2RD, a 2023 3RD and Brinson Paschinuk for taking on the hefty contract of Brent Burns. Burns can still ba a top 4 D-Men but has a $8 Million dollar contract for the next 4 years and had 7 Goals and 29 Points in 56 games, and the 2 picks could prove valuable and Paschinuk could eventually be a top 4 D-Men.
Selection
RD Brent Burns
Trade attached
San Jose trades Seattle a 2022 2RD, a 2023 3RD, and Brinson Paschinuk for expansion considerations
Los Angeles Kings
Protection list 7-3-1
Forwards 7
Anze Kopitar
Alex Iafallo
Adrian Kempe
Andreas Athanasiou
Carl Grundstrom
Blake Lizotte
Trevor Moore
Defensemen 3
Drew Doughty (NMC)
Sean Walker
Matt Roy
Goalie 1
Cal Peterson
Key Exposures
Forwards
Dustin Brown
Brendan Lemieux
Austin Wagner
Defensemen
Kale Clague
Olli Maatta
Kurtis Macdermid
Goalie
Jonathan Quick
With Los Angeles I have a pretty good chance of making the right protection list. All seven forwards I predicted to be protected should be protected except maybe Moore who in my opinion could switch with Brown if the Kings wanted to protect the older player. On Defense Doughty, Walker, and Roy are their three best defenders and it would be a mistake if they didn’t protect all three but if they do not go the eight skater route than they are leaving Kale Clague available and he could have some pretty high upside if selected. While I don’t think there is any question that Cal Peterson won’t be protected in the expansion draft leaving veteran Quick available. It will probably come down to Quick, Brown, Lemieux, or Clague but I think that they will go with Kale Clague. He will develop into a everyday defender and is a RFA after he had 6 Points in 18 Games this season.
Selection
LD Kale Clague
Arizona Coyotes
Protection list 7-3-1
Forwards 7
Clayton Keller
Chirstan Dvorak
Connor Garland
Nick Schmaltz
Phil Kessel (NMC)
Tyler Pitlick
Lawson Crouse
Defensemen 3
Oliver Ekman-Larsson (NMC)
Jakob Chychrun
Kyle Capobianco
Goalie 1
Darcy Kuemper
Key Exposures
Forwards
Johan Larsson
Michael Bunting (UFA)
Christian Fischer
Derick Brassard (UFA)
Defensemen
Ilya Lyubushkin
Jason Demers (UFA)
Alex Goligoski (UFA)
Goalie
Adin Hill
Arizona does have a couple things to straighten out for the expansion draft. Everyone except Pitlick and Crouse is a lock to be protected, while along with Pitlick and Crouse, Fischer, Bunting, and Larsson are all in contention for the last two spots. If Bunting was signed and not a pending UFA I think they would probably protect him over Crouse but because he is a UFA and Fischer and Larsson don’t have as much value as Pitlick and Crouse I chose to protect those two. Basically all of their defensemen are UFA’s and do not need to be protected so right now Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Jacob Chychrun are locks while the two fighting for the third protection spot are Lyubushkin and Capobianco but because of the upside of Capobianco I protect him and the easy solution in net is Darcy Kuemper. Fischer and Hill are probably the most intriguing names but after careful consideration I went with Christian Fischer. He has 1 year left on a $1 Million Dollar deal before becoming a RFA and can be a productive middle 6 Forward after having 3 Goals and 11 Points in 52 games.
Selection
RW,LW Christian Fischer
St.Louis Blues
Protection list 7-3-1
Forwards 7
Ryan O’Reilly
Vladimir Tarasenko
David Perron
Brayden Schenn
Robert Thomas
Jordan Kyrou
Zach Sanford
Defensemen 3
Colton Parayko
Torey Krug
Vince Dunn
Goalie 1
Jordan Binnington
Key Exposures
Forwards
Oskar Sundqvist
Jayden Schwartz (UFA)
Ivan Barbashev
Sammy Blais
Defensemen
Justin Faulk
Marco Scandella
Nikko Mikkola
Goalie
Ville Husso
St.Louis will have to make a lot of tough decisions in the protection list. Tarasenko, O’Reilly, Schenn, and Perron are all great veterans and are locks to be protected as well as Kyrou and Thomas who will all be locks but the seventh spot is difficult. Sanford, Schwartz, Sundqvist, and Barbashev are all in contention for the last spot and right now I would have Sanford with how good he plays in the top nine but if they sign pending UFA Schwartz then they protect Schwartz and leave Sanford available. The Defense is also troubling. Parayko and Krug are both locks but it will depend on who they want to protect ether Dunn or Faulk, and I think they will protect the younger Dunn because he has more upside and I don’t think Seattle would want Faulk’s contract and Binnington will be the protected net minder. Sundqvist, Barbashev, Scandella, Faulk, and Mikkola are all possibilities to be selected but I will go with Nikko Mikkola who will grow to be a top 6 defensemen in time as he has one year left before being a RFA at $.788 Thousand dollars after having 1 Goal and 3 Points in 30 Games.
Selection
LD Nikko Mikkola
Minnesota Wild
Protection list 4-4-1
Forwards
Mats Zuccarello (NMC)
Kevin Fiala
Jordan Greenway
Joel Eriksson Ek
Defensemen
Ryan Suter (NMC)
Jared Spurgeon (NMC)
Jonas Brodin (NMC)
Matt Dumba
Goalie
Kaapo Kahkonen
Key Exposures
Forwards
Ryan Hartman
Nico Sturm
Zach Parise (NMC-Waived)
Victor Rask
Marcus Foligno
Defensemen
Carson Soucy
Ian Cole (UFA)
Brad Hunt (UFA)
Goalie
Cam Talbot
It will all depend on how they work out their influx of good players. Now they would most likely go with the 7-3-1 protection list but although it hasn’t happened yet I have Zach Parise waiving his NMC so they end up going with the 8 skater protection list. All of Zuccarello, Greenway, Eriksson Ek, and Fiala are locks and if they went the 7 Forwards protection list then Hartman, Sturm, and Parise would also be protected. Because I went with the 8 skaters I was able to protect all four of their top 4 Defensemen including Suter, Spurgeon, Brodin, and Dumba where as if I went with 3 Defensemen Dumba would not be protected and on the goalies I think Kahkonen narrowly beats out Talbot to be protected. It will come down to Talbot, Hartman, Sturm, or Soucy but Minnesota trades their second round pick in 2021 (#54) to select Victor Rask. Rask has been underperforming for his contract size and would be a prime trade candidate with a contract of $4 Million dollars for a year before becoming a UFA, and had 10 Goals and 23 Points in 54 games.
Selection
C Victor Rask
Trade attached
Minnesota sends Seattle their 2021 2RD pick (#54) for expansion considerations
Colorado Avalanche
Protection list 7-3-1
Forwards 7
Nathan Mackinnon
Mikko Rantanen
Andre Burakovsky
Tyson Jost
Nazem Kadri
Jonas Donskoi
Valeri Nichushkin
Defensemen 3
Cale Makar
Devon Toews
Sam Girad
Goalie 1
Philipp Grubauer (UFA)
Key Exposures
Forwards
Gabriel Landeskog (UFA)
Brandon Saad (UFA)
J.T Compher
Logan O’Connor
Defensemen
Ryan Graves
Erik Johnson (NMC-Waived)
Jacob Macdonald
Goalies
Pavel Francouz
Deven Dubnyk (UFA)
The Avalanche still have a few kinks to work out before the expansion draft. I would probably say given the situation at this current point all seven Forwards are locks but there is one possible move and that is if they sign Landeskog before the Draft which is a likely scenario then Landeskog is protected and one of Nichushkin, Donskoi, or Kadri would be unprotected. As for the Defence it is not official but all signs point to Erik Johnson waiving his NMC and that is precisely what I have so the Avalanche can protect Makar, Girard, and Toews, and even though he is a UFA Grubauer will be protected no matter what. It will come down to Graves, Compher, Francouz, and O’Connor to be selected but the Avalanche Trade their 2022 3rd round pick so the Kraken select J.T Compher. Compher is a solid top 6 Forward and has 2 years remaining before being a UFA at $3.5 Million dollars and had 10 Goals and 18 Points in 48 games played this season and the Kraken will get a good player with the 2022 3RD.
Selection
RW,C J.T Compher
Trade attached
Colorado sends Seattle their 2022 3RD pick for expansion considerations
West Expansion Picks
LD Nikko Mikkola
LD Kale Clague
LD Johan Larsson
RD Brent Burns
C Victor Rask
RW,LW Christian Fischer
RW,C J.T Compher
West Trade Attachements
San Jose’s 2022 2RD and 2023 3RD, Anaheim 2021 2RD, Minnesota 2021 2RD, Colorado 2022 3RD, and Brinson Paschinuk ans Ryan Kesler
Review
So for the Kraken they got Kale Clague and Nikko Mikkola who would start as AHL players but be the face of the future on the left defensive side, Johan Larsson can be a soild 3rd pair defensemen while Brent Burns even though he is overpaid and getting up there in age can still be a great top 4 defensemen. Victor Rask being a upcoming UFA he would be a possible trade target, Christian Fischer can bounce back from a bad season to be a soild top 9 forward, while J.T Compher should help on the offensive side and play in the top 6.
Starting Lineup
Robinson-Johansen-Appleton
X———X——Compher
Johnson-Dickinson-Fischer
Watson—X——Erne
Giordano——-X
Dermott-Burns
Larsson-Gudas
Allen
X
Spares
Lorentz-Benson-Mikkola-Clague-Subban-Rask-Holtby
Kesler-Oliver-Foote-Paschinuk
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