The Kraken, which begin play in the upcoming 2021-22 season, will select one player from each team, excluding the Vegas Golden Knights, for a total of 30: at least 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goalies.
Seattle must choose a minimum of 20 players under contract for the 2021-22 regular season and those with an aggregate Expansion Draft value between 60-100 percent of $81.5 million, the 2020-21 season's upper limit for the salary cap. The Kraken also have an exclusive window from July 18-21 to interview and potentially sign pending free agents who were left unprotected in the expansion draft. From the Lightning, that would include players like Blake Coleman, David Savard and Luke Schenn. If the Kraken sign a player in that window, it counts as their pick from that players' former team.
NHL teams submitted their protection lists to Central Registry and the NHLPA by 5 p.m. Saturday. Teams can submit an eight skater (forwards and defensemen combined), one goaltender protection list or one that features seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie. All players with no movement clauses at the time of the Expansion Draft, and who decline to waive such clauses, must be protected and count toward their club's protected players. The Lightning have four such players: Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
With those parameters in mind, here is Tampa Bay's protected list, which was released by the NHL Sunday morning:
- Nikita Kucherov
- Steven Stamkos
- Victor Hedman
- Andrei Vasilevskiy
- Brayden Point
- Anthony Cirelli
- Mikhail Sergachev
- Ryan McDonagh
- Erik Cernak
The Lightning opted to go the eight skater/one goaltender route, mainly to protect young defensemen Sergachev and Cernak who figure to be franchise cornerstones for years to come while also keeping the veteran McDonagh, an invaluable defender and a dark horse Conn Smythe candidate for the Lightning in the 2021 Playoffs. McDonagh was maybe Tampa Bay's most important player behind Andrei Vasilevskiy this past postseason.
Notably, that leaves core pieces like Alex Killorn, Ondrej Palat, Yanni Gourde and Tyler Johnson available for the Kraken to select in the Expansion Draft. Or, Seattle might take one of Tampa Bay's younger players like Ross Colton, Mathieu Joseph, Alex Barre-Boulet or Cal Foote to build around for the future.
The Lightning could make a deal with Seattle to dictate who the Kraken take from the Bolts roster. Tampa Bay general manager Julien BriseBois said Tuesday he's exploring a potential side deal with Seattle prior to next week's expansion draft but whether an agreement comes to fruition is unknown.
"I think if I got to choose, yeah," BriseBois said when asked if he'd prefer to make a side deal. "It all depends on what's that going to cost me. I am having conversations with Seattle, as is everyone. Maybe we will cut a deal. I think it's also very possible that we're going to present our list, they're going to pick a player and that's how it goes. That's how it's set up."
Any trades made by Seattle will be announced Wednesday when the Expansion Draft selections are announced.
The Lightning have experience making Expansion Draft side deals.
In the summer of 2017 when the Vegas Golden Knights selected their players for their inaugural season, the Lightning made a side deal with the Golden Knights in an effort to hold on to young defensemen prospects Jake Dotchin and Slater Koekkoek, who weren't part of the Bolts' protected list, former general manager Steve Yzerman explained at the time. Vegas agreed to take defenseman Jason Garrison and his $4.6 million cap hit and the Lightning gave the Golden Knights the rights to Russian forward prospect Nikita Gusev, a 2017 Second Round draft pick and a 2018 Fourth Round selection to do so.
For the Vegas expansion draft, the Lightning went with a seven forward, three defensemen, one goaltender protection list of: Ryan Callahan, Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn, Nikita Kucherov, Vladislav Namestnikov, Ondrej Palat, Steven Stamkos, Braydon Coburn, Victor Hedman, Anton Stralman and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
