Which Hurricanes player might the Seattle Kraken snag in the NHL expansion draft?
Ron Francis was a frequent visitor at PNC Arena late in the Carolina Hurricanes’ 2021 season and during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Francis knows his way around the place. Odds are, the general manager of the Seattle Kraken also knows which Hurricanes player he wants to select July 21 when the NHL holds its expansion draft, during which the Kraken will stock their roster.
So, who is it going to be?
Francis, a former Canes captain and general manager, recently was described as “super secretive” by members of the NHL media. Good choice of words. He is.
The Kraken, who play their first season in 2021-22, will take one player from each team except Vegas. It will be a near repeat of 2017, when the expansion Golden Knights drafted their team, picking from a fairly deep player pool and making goalie Marc-Andre Fleury their No. 1 selection.
A $650 million expansion fee, the Kraken’s up-front ante for entry, can get you a pretty good team. The Golden Knights, who paid $500 million, selected well enough to reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2018, their first season, and the playoff semifinals this season before running into the Montreal Canadiens. Four seasons, four playoff appearances for Vegas.
The expansion draft process is the same as in June 2017. Teams can either protect seven forwards, three defensemen and a goalie; or protect eight skaters and a goalie. The Canes, as they did in 2018, are expected to go with the 7-3-1 list, and there will be some tough decisions before the expansion draft lists are due into the NHL on July 17.
The X-factor: defenseman Dougie Hamilton, due to become an unrestricted free agent on July 28., when free agency begins If signed to a new contract by the Canes before July 21, he’ll need to be protected in the expansion draft, which means someone else will go unprotected.
Here’s a look at what the Canes might do:
Forwards
Protected: Jordan Staal, Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen, Andrei Svechnikov, Vincent Trocheck, Nino Niederreiter. Martin Necas, with a year remaining on his entry level contract, is exempt from being drafted.
Tough call: Protect Warren Foegele or Jesper Fast?
Decision time: The Canes could qualify Foegele, who is a restricted free agent, and expose him to the draft. Fast has two years left on his contract at a reasonable price ($2 million) before becoming an unrestricted free agent. Either could fit into the Kraken’s plans.
Defensemen
Protected: Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce.
Tough call: Protect Jake Bean or Brady Skjei?
Decision time: Skjei is a top-four D-man for the Canes and his pairing with Pesce was solid. Bean is a former first-round draft pick — by Francis, when he was the Canes’ GM — coming off an uneven rookie season. He has skill and can quarterback the power play, but still is a slender type who needs more physical maturity.
The caveat: if Hamilton has been re-signed, both Skjei and Bean will be available. Hamilton finished fourth in the Norris Trophy voting for the league’s top defenseman and was named to the NHL Second All-Star Team, joining Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning. That will add to his value.
“The door is wide open. We love Dougie,” Canes president and general manager said recently. “We’re certainly all hoping he comes back.”
Goalie
Protected: Alex Nedeljkovic.
Tough call: All NHL teams must expose one goalie who is under contract for the 2021-22 season or who has been qualified as a restricted free agent. Nedeljkovic is an RFA who will be re-signed. Jeremy Helvig is another RFA who would be on the unprotected list if he receives a qualifying offer from the Canes. The Canes also could re-sign Antoine Bibeau, a pending UFA.
Decision time: It won’t be a tough one. Nor will the Kraken likely take whomever is unprotected.
The Kraken’s call
The guess here is that Bean, 23, will be exposed to the draft by the Canes and Francis and the Kraken will take him.
Who knows, Francis might have his eyes on Morgan Geekie, 22, a right-shot center with offensive upside. Things can be unpredictable during an expansion draft, with much going on behind the scenes and the GMs exchanging calls.
In 2017, Francis was the Canes’ GM and worked a side deal with Vegas general manager George McPhee before the expansion draft. The Canes sent a fifth-round draft pick to the Golden Knights, who then picked Connor Brickley, a forward who had played that season for the Charlotte Checkers, then the Canes’ AHL affiliate.
Considering Francis’ less-than-ideal departure from the Canes, it’s hard to say how many conversations he has had Don Waddell. But an expansion draft can make for strange bedfellows.
Speaking of strange, what if Dougie Hamilton signed with Seattle and was playing for Francis and the Kraken next season?
This story was originally published June 30, 2021 at 10:00 AM.
