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Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft Recap

Date: July 22, 2021

By: Dylan Camp

The new members of the Seattle Kraken roster stand on the stage during the 2021 Expansion Draft.

Alika Jenner/Getty Images

On Wednesday night, the NHL’s 32nd team took a major step on their march towards their inaugural season. The Seattle Kraken expansion draft finally unfolded on Wednesday, and the front office of the Kraken followed a similar blueprint to that of the most recent expansion team in the Vegas Golden Knights. The key pieces of their roster will be forwards that played the right-hand man role to stars on their former teams, as well as a very strong defensive core.

There are some very notable names on the Kraken roster that can fill up the scoresheet and give the Kraken faithful reason to cheer throughout the season. Yanni Gourde (TBL), Jordan Eberle (NYI), and Joonas Donskoi (COL) are three of the most prolific scoring forwards picked up by the Kraken. These three players were all incredibly productive in supporting roles on their former teams, all of which were in the playoffs last season. All three had sixteen or more goals and fourteen or more assists in the shortened 56-game season.

Jordan Eberle is interviewed after being selected by the Seattle Kraken in their expansion draft.

Dean Rutz/The Seattle Times

In the playoffs, Eberle was especially impressive, racking up 11 points in the Islanders’ 19 games. These three will definitely make up half of the top two lines on the Kraken opening night roster, and only time will tell if they will be able to make the jump from productive supporting players to leading a new team.

The Kraken also picked up a great group of blueliners to provide some stability to the young franchise. From their own division, they took Mark Giordano, former long-time captain of the Calgary Flames and Adam Larsson, who can easily play as a top-two defensemen and has been a strong player for Edmonton over the past five seasons. Jamie Oleksiak (DAL), Jeremy Lauzon (BOS), Vince Dunn (STL), and Carson Soucy (MIN) will likely round out their top-six defenseman pairings.

Giordano, Dunn, and Soucy specifically can also provide offensive contributions to the club, each tallying double-digit assists in the shortened season last year. This strong defensive core drafted by the Kraken front office will play a big role in establishing this team's success in their opening season.

One move that surprised many in the expansion draft was the Kraken leaving a top-tier goalie like Montreal’s Carey Price undrafted. Instead of going with the veteran Price, who would have come along with a hefty contract, the Kraken goalie duo will consist of Chris Driedger (FLA) and Vitek Vanecek (WSH).

Driedger only has played 38 NHL games, but in the games he has played over the last two seasons, his goals against average is just over two, and he has a save percentage around 0.930. Vanecek had an impressive rookie season last year for the Capitals, allowing less than three goals-per-game and also saving over 90% of the shots he faced. These two goalies should serve as a great tandem for the new franchise that decided to not make the big splashy move at the goaltender position. 

The Seattle Kraken roster has finally been set after their 30 expansion picks were made on Wednesday night. Much more Kraken news is likely to come over the next several days, with trades imminent and the NHL Draft upcoming. In comparison, during the Knights’ expansion summer, they made 10 trades surrounding their expansion draft. Although Seattle is unlikely to wheel and deal to that extent, there will likely be trade news with the Kraken this week.

The Kraken also own the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s entry draft, so it will be interesting to see where the front office believes their roster may have holes and how they build for the future. It is an exciting time in the NHL as the 32nd franchise is finally starting to take shape.

Dylan Camp be reached at dylan.camp@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports

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