If a team elects to make a restricted free agent goalie available to meet this requirement, that goalie must have received his qualifying offer prior to the submission of the team’s protected list. One goalie who is under contract in 2021-22 or will be a restricted free agent at the end of his current contract immediately prior to 2021-22.Two forwards who are a) under contract in 2021-22 and b) played at least 40 NHL games the prior season or played in at least 70 NHL games in the prior two seasons.One defenseman who is a) under contract in 2021-22 and b) played in at least 40 NHL games the prior season or played in at least 70 NHL games in the prior two seasons.Who is a team required to leave exposed?Īmong the players each team exposes in the expansion draft, each team must expose the following minimums: Is there anybody a team does not have to protect and will not lose?Īll first- and second-year players and all unsigned draft choices are exempt from selection and do not need to be part of the protection limit. Who must a team protect?Įach team has to protect all players with no movement clauses at the time of the draft if they decline to waive those clauses. The 30 teams can each protect 7 forwards, 3 defensemen and 1 goalie, or 8 skaters (forwards/defensemen) and 1 goalie. The remaining 30 teams will each get paid $21.67 million. In return, their owner does not get a cut of Seattle’s $650 million expansion fee. The Golden Knights struck a deal when they joined the league that they would not have to give up a player in this first expansion draft since they joined. 30 teams? Why not 31 teams if that’s how many teams are in the league? The protected lists will be announced the next day, Sunday the 18th. Teams have until Saturday, July 17 to submit their protected lists. When will we know who is and is not protected by the other 30 teams? This was agreed to so that the Golden Knights wouldn’t select another player from the Panthers during the expansion draft. In exchange, Vegas received F Reilly Smith in the deal. For example, in 2017, the Golden Knights agreed to a trade with the Florida Panthers to select F Jonathan Marchessault in the expansion draft. The Kraken can agree to trades with other teams to select specific players from said team. After free agency opens, Seattle can only give out seven-year deals this offseason. If the Kraken sign a player in that exclusive window, it counts as their pick from that players’ former team.Īdditionally, if Seattle signs a player to a deal before NHL free agency begins on July 28, the team can offer an eight-year max extension. NHL free agency does not start until July 28, but from the 18th to the 21st, the Kraken will be granted an exclusive window to meet with and sign pending free agents who are unprotected by their current team heading into the expansion draft. Will they select all 30 players on Wednesday? If the Kraken are to buy out players chosen on Wednesday, the earliest they can do that is summer 2022 after their first season. Those contracts must have an aggregate Expansion Draft value that is between 60-100 percent of the prior season’s upper limit for the salary cap. Seattle must choose a minimum of 20 players under contract for the 2021-22 regular season. Are there any minimums for contracts they have to take on? After that, they can select anybody available. They have to select a minimum of 14 forwards, 9 defensemen and 3 goalies. How many players will the Kraken select?ģ0.
We’ll try and explain the full list of rules below. There are then rules for who they can and cannot select, along with rules for who each of the 30 teams can protect and who they do not need to protect. They will select one player from each roster except for the Vegas Golden Knights. There is an extensive process for sorting through how the Kraken will build out their roster. By the time the event ends, the Kraken will have 30 players on their roster. The 2021 NHL Expansion Draft is scheduled for Wednesday, July 21 starting at 8 p.m. The Seattle Kraken will begin play this fall in the 2021-22 NHL season, but first they must build out their roster.