Just days have passed since the Tampa Bay Lightning won their second straight Stanley Cup, and the short off-season is looming. The Anaheim Ducks, along with the other teams in the league have only a couple of weeks to prepare for the Seattle Expansion Draft, the NHL Draft, and free agency in preparation for the 2021-22 NHL season.
The NHL Expansion Draft will be held July 21 at 8 PM EST and televised live on ESPN2. The draft will be conducted under the same rules for the expansion team Seattle Kraken as the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017. Complicating things leading up to the expansion draft is the NHL’s trade freeze which goes into effect on July 17 and will extend through Thursday, July 22, a day after the Expansion Draft.
During this period only one team is allowed to do anything; the expansion Seattle Kraken. During this period Seattle can negotiate with pending unrestricted free agents and restricted free agents who will be left exposed in the expansion draft. The list of protected players will be released Sunday morning.
Given the deadline, it’s expected that teams will be active in the trade market prior to submitting their expansion lists and the beginning of the trade freeze period. Currently, Bet365 is handicapping the trade market with a over/under of 7.5 trades to be completed before the draft. For reference, the Golden Knights made 10 trade deals, involving 17 players and 14 draft picks.
Expansion Draft Rules
Expansion drafts are fairly complicated as adding a new team to the league means players from other teams will be drafted. The last expansion draft we saw was in 2017 with the expansion Golden Knights.
Each NHL team can protect either seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goalie (7-3-1), or eight skaters and one goalie (8-1). Players who have a no-movement clause and decide to keep the clauses must be protected, which means teams must use their protection slots to keep these players. First and second-year players and unassigned draft choices will be automatically protected.
Additionally, per the NHL, each NHL team must meet the following minimum requirements regarding exposed players:
- 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.
- 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 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. 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.
- Players with potential career-ending injuries who have missed more than the previous 60 consecutive games (or who otherwise have been confirmed to have a career-threatening injury) may not be used to satisfy a team’s player exposure requirements unless approval is received from the NHL. Such players also may be deemed exempt from selection.
The Seattle Kraken Kraken will select one player from each team for a total of 30 (at least 14 forwards, 9 defensemen, and 3 goalies). The one exception is the Golden Knights who are carved out due to being an expansion team themselves in 2017. Additionally, the Kraken cannot buy out players chosen earlier than the summer following its first season.
The Anaheim Ducks
With these rules, the Anaheim Ducks should have a clear plan on what players to protect, and who they can expose. With the team in the midst of a rebuild, it’s expected that General Manager Bob Murray will use the 7-3-1 protection format over the 8-1, as the team will likely look to protect only three defensemen; Cam Fowler, Josh Manson, and Hampus Lindholm. Goalie John Gibson is a given to be protected over the young Anthony Stolarz.
That leaves Murray with the task of selecting seven forwards.
The Duck’s most valuable exposed wingers are currently Rickard Rakell and Jakob Silfverberg, they both will be protected. Young promising forwards Troy Terry, Isac Lundestrom, Max Jones, and Sam Steel are also likely worth protecting, leaving a single spot to cover either Adam Henrique, Derek Grant, Danton Heinen, Alexander Volkov, Nicolas Deslauriers, Sonny Milano, and Vinni Lettieri.
Defensively, the Ducks will leave Kevin Shattenkirk, Haydn Fleury, and Jacob Larsson will be left unprotected.
Mistakes of the Past
Murray took a lot of heat for trades he made in front of the last Expansion Draft in 2017 and it was well deserved. Back in 2017, Murray traded rookie defenseman, Shea Theodore, in exchange for Vegas’ commitment to select Clayton Stoner in a move to protect their coveted defenders Josh Manson and Sami Vatanen from being exposed.
Stoner would never play another NHL game, Vatanen would be traded to New Jersey, and Theodore turned into an elite defenseman in the league, helping the Golden Knights to two division titles (2018 and 2020), four playoff appearances (2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021), three conference finals (2018, 2020, 2021), and a Western Conference title in 2018. Anaheim would go on to be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in 2018 and have finished at or near the bottom of the division in each of the following seasons.
It’s difficult to envision Murray making a similar mistake with this cast of characters and a rebuilding Anaheim squad, but all eyes will be on him as we approach this year’s Expansion Draft.
