A little over 3 years ago the Vegas expansion draft happened in which the Flyers lost a minuscule piece in 4th liner Bellemare. While doing this may seem a little premature it may help some of us understand why the Flyers are so hesitant in puling the trigger on some decisions.
The Rules:
Joining the NHL in the 2021-2022 season, The Kraken will be held to the same standards Vegas was where they will draft 30 players. One from each team with the exception of Vegas due to being in the league only 3 years and still building.
Posistion Minimums:
- 14 forwards
- 9 defenseman
- 3 goalies
Current Team Protction Rules:
- 7 forwards
- 3 defenseman
- 1 goalie
OR:
- 8 skaters
- 1 goalie
Contract and Eligibilty Rules:
VIA NHL.com
- First and second-year players and unsigned draft choices will not count towards the protection limits.
- Teams must expose one defenseman who is both under contract in 2021-22 AND played in at least 40 NHL games during the 2020-21 season or played in at least 70 NHL games in the prior two seasons.
- Two forwards who are both under contract in 2021-22 AND played at least 40 NHL games during the 2020-21 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 prior to the 2021-22 season.
- “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.”
My Projected Protected Flyers
Forwards:
- Claude Giroux
- Sean Couturier
- Kevin Hayes
- Travis Koncney
- Oskar Lindblom
- Jake Voracek
- Scott Laughton
Defensemen:
- Ivan Provorov
- Travis Sanheim
- Phil Myers
Goalie:
- Hart
Unprotected List:
- James Van Riemsdyk
- Nicolas Aube-Kubel
- Andy Andreoff
- Justin Braun
- Shayne Gostisbehere
- Robert Hagg
- Sam Morin
- Brian Elliot
- Alex Lyon
players such as Erik Gustafsson and Micheal Raffl arent eligble due their contracts expiring before the Expansion draft.
Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee and any other player on their ELC will not be eligible either.
Nolan Patrick is a bit trickier do to his Migraine disorder because it can possibly be classified as career ending if he does not play this season and would automatically exempt him from the draft.
Who I Think Seattle Will Take:
The choices from the Flyers seam pretty clear cut for me you either take JVR and deal with the bad contract at the end of his career or you take the chance on a young player who skates well and hasn’t quiet broken out yet in NAK. where personally as a fan you want the Kraken to take JVR the likely hood that they actually do is very small. Some may argue that they could take Ghost as a reclamation project but i believe he will be traded before it comes time for the expansion draft. On the other hand though the Flyers could trade a prospect like German Rubstov or Issac Ratcliff to the Kraken as a way pursuade them to take JVR much like how the Wild were able to protect everyone they truly wanted to by giving up a fallen out of favor prospect. This could be a very likely scenario that plays out as the GM of the Wild at the time of this trade was MR. Chucky Two-Trades himself, Chuck Fletcher. If the Flyers were to do this they would be able to protect NAK and even more in the event in which Nolan Patrick is healthy which would cause a whole different scenario to pan out where I Could see the Flyers protecting Patrick and leaving Laughton available. Believe me when i say this we do not want to lose Scott Laughton.
Broad Down 