| LW | Andre Burakovsky |
| C | Tyson Jost |
| C | Nazem Kadri |
| C | Nathan MacKinnon |
| LW | Valeri Nichushkin |
| RW | Logan O'Connor |
| RW | Mikko Rantanen |
| D | Samuel Girard |
| D | Cale Makar |
| D | Devon Toews |
| G | Philipp Grubauer |
| Pos. | Name |
| --- | --- |
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The Kraken is the 32nd franchise to join the NHL and the first since the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017-18. The expansion draft rules are the same for the Kraken as they were for the Golden Knights.
Seattle will only select one player from the other 30 teams unless additional trades or side deals are made with those clubs. Vegas is not losing a player in the expansion draft, but the franchise is also not getting a portion of the $650 million expansion fee that Seattle paid to the league.
Other than the Knights, each NHL team had the option of either protecting seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender (11 total) or eight skaters and one goaltender (nine total). The Kraken is required to choose a minimum of 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goalies in the draft.
Among the expansion draft rules, every team was required to expose at least two forwards and one defenseman that are under contract for the 2021-22 season and have played a minimum of either 27 NHL games during the shortened 2020-21 campaign or 54 NHL contests over the past two seasons. For goalies, one keeper must be exposed that is under contract for next season or whose contract is expiring and will be a restricted free agent.
The Kraken have exclusive rights to negotiate and select non-protected players that are set to be unrestricted free agents, but it can still only make one selection per team.
First and second-year professionals, long-term injured players and unsigned draft choices are exempt from being selected by Seattle. For the Avs, that includes goaltender Pavel Francouz and skaters Shane Bowers, Bowen Byram, Martin Kaut, Alex Newhook, Sampo Ranta, Conor Timmins, newly-acquired Mikhail Maltsev and others in the organization.
Defenseman Erik Johnson, who missed 52-of-56 games last season due to an upper-body injury and COVID-19 protocol, waived his no-movement clause for the expansion draft so the Avs could protect an additional blueliner. According to draft rules, players with no-movement clauses are automatically protected by their respective clubs unless they give their team permission to expose them.
In 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, Vegas selected goaltender Calvin Pickard from the Avalanche. Colorado also protected seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender that year.
