9 Days Away: Expanding on Expansion Draft

As the first official league-wide NHL event in Seattle, the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft™ presented by Upper Deck promises to be fun and entertaining for fans and the city alike. Stay tuned to the Kraken website and all Kraken social channels (

The 30 players selected in the Expansion Draft represent significant building blocks for the Kraken to suit up 20 players on opening night in October, plus 81 more regular-season games to follow.
The Kraken will pick one player each from 30 NHL teams (Vegas is exempt but does not share in the $650 million expansion fee paid by Seattle ownership). There are rules in place to ensure the Kraken are picking from a player pool with potential to construct a competitive roster and other rules to protect the 30 teams from losing top performers.
Each NHL team will submit a protected list of players to the NHL July 17 with the Kraken front office slated to see the lists the next morning, July 18 at 7 a.m. Then Kraken GM Ron Francis and his hockey operations staff are afforded 72 hours to submit their picks. Later on turn-in day, July 21 at 5 p.m., the rest of us will find out the expansion team's picks.
Here are basic rules and procedures governing the expansion draft, the same guidelines that regulated the Vegas franchise stocking up its expansion team in 2017:
OK, the last two items border on TMI. But one purpose is teams must expose players who can help the Kraken win games during the inaugural season. A second purpose is not allowing the Kraken management to load up on salary cap, which can be used to sign free agents. "Salary cap" equals the maximum amount of money any NHL team can spend on player contracts.

If the Kraken stays close to the minimum 60 percent requirement, the available salary to sign free agents or take on salary in trades will be significantly higher than most every team in the league. This is especially true with the league keeping its salary cap flat for the next season and likely beyond that to offset revenue losses of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, there are players with "no-move" clauses in their contracts who must be protected by NHL clubs.
On the plus side for teams losing players to expansion, all first- and second-year professionals, plus unsigned draft choices, will be exempt from selection and are not counted toward protection limits. This preserves the prospect pipeline for teams.
By NHL rules, 20 players (18 skaters, two goalies) will dress for opening night or any game during the NHL regular season. Up to three more players on the active roster are designated "scratches" game by game.
Doing the NHL math, that means some players from the original group of 30 will skate for the AHL affiliate (Charlotte for this season, Palm Springs for future years) if they are still under contract with the Kraken. The Kraken might sign other free agents to AHL deals or, in some cases, two-way agreements that pay one salary for AHL and a higher amount for NHL.
In fact, 11 players drafted by Vegas in 2017 never played an NHL game for the Golden Knights. Another three played 60 NHL games or less with the Golden Knights.
The expansion draft is a huge step toward Kraken GM Ron Francis and his hockey operations staff building a team to put on the ice this October. But the work -- and fans' fun --will continue as soon as the July 23 and 24 NHL draft of amateur prospects, then the league's free agency signing period starting July 28.