It’s an anxious time to be an ‘unprotected’ NHL player as the expansion draft nears
The Seattle Kraken are lining up an impressive list of celebrities to help make Wednesday’s NHL expansion draft a star-spangled affair.
Gary Payton, Marshawn Lynch, Sue Bird, Bobby Wagner, Lenny Wilkins, Shawn Kemp ... it’s quite a lineup set for the big production number at Seattle’s Gas Works Park.
But there are others who have been sitting by and waiting, some nervously, some excitedly. Those are the NHL players who were not protected by their teams for the expansion draft and will learn Wednesday -- unless their agents have given them pre-draft intel -- if they’re staying put or have been selected and will be moving to Seattle.
For the Carolina Hurricanes, it could be an anxious time for forward Nino Niederreiter or defenseman Jake Bean. Neither were protected by the Canes and will be available in the draft, which begins at 8 p.m. and will be shown on ESPN2.
The Canes protected seven forwards: Jordan Staal, Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen, Andrei Svechnikov, Vincent Trocheck, Jesper Fast and Warren Foegele. But not Niederreiter, whose 20 goals in the 56-game regular season ranked second on a team that won the Central Division.
Why Foegele and not Niederreiter?
A lot of the offseason scuttlebutt about the Canes has had Foegele possibly being traded, allowing the 25-year-old winger the ability — in theory — to get more playing time and a better opportunity elsewhere. That trade obviously didn’t happen before the expansion lists were finalized. It might have been a factor in Foegele being kept on the Canes’ protected list.
Foegele is a restricted free agent and has salary arbitration rights, according to CapFriendly.com, an analytics site that tracks player contracts. He had a $2.15 million cap hit in 2020-21, signing a one-year contract on Nov. 1, 2020.
Canes general manager Don Waddell, in announcing the signing, noted Foegele had improved in each year of his professional career and that he expected him to “enhance his role on our team.”
Foegele did not take a big step forward last season. He had 10 goals and 10 assists in 53 games, scoring once in the last 14 games, then one goal and one assist in 10 Stanley Cup playoff games. Several of his statistical metrics took slight dips.
Despite the standstill season by Foegele, he might have been attractive to the Kraken and general manager Ron Francis if left unprotected for the draft. Foegele was a third-round draft pick by Carolina — the 67th overall selection — in 2014 when Francis was the Canes’ GM. He has developed into a player who effectively uses his speed and size to be a strong forechecker.
Should the Kraken take Niederreiter, which is a possibility, it will be pricey. Niederreiter, 28, has a $5.25 million cap hit and will be an unrestricted free agent after next season.
Should Niederreiter be the Kraken’s pick, that would potentially open up more playing time for Foegele, if re-signed by the Canes. Niederreiter averaged 15:43 of ice time in 2020-21 and Foegele 14:09.
The Kraken and Francis could decide to take Bean, 23. He now has NHL experience. He got power-play time with the Canes this past season. Still slender at 6-1 and a listed 186 pounds, he has gotten stronger but will never be a bruiser in the defensive zone. He’s a puck-mover, and he’s skilled.
Bean is the cheaper option and could be Seattle’s option. Another possibility: The Kraken working out a long-term deal with Canes defenseman Dougie Hamilton, a pending UFA. That’s a situation still to be resolved.
“There are a lot of moving parts but we’ve been preparing for this for a long time,” Francis said Saturday on a media call.”The one thing we think is extremely invaluable in this environment is cap space and we’ve got $81.5 million in cap space to play with.”
Full Carolina Hurricanes list
Protected
Sebastian Aho (F)
Jesper Fast (F)
Warren Foegele (F)
Jordan Staal (F)
Andrei Svechnikov (F)
Teuvo Teravainen (F)
Vincent Trocheck (F)
Brett Pesce (D)
Brady Skjei (D)
Jaccob Slavin (D)
Alex Nedeljkovic (G)
Available
Morgan Geekie (F)
Steven Lorentz (F)
Jordan Martinook (F)
Max McCormick (F)
Brock McGinn (F)
Nino Niederreiter (F)
Cedric Paquette (F)
Sheldon Rempal (F)
Drew Shore (F)
Spencer Smallman (F)
Jake Bean (D)
Jake Gardiner (D)
Eric Gelinas (D)
Jani Hakanpaa (D)
Dougie Hamilton (D)
Maxime Lajoie (D)
Roland McKeown (D)
Joakim Ryan (D)
David Warsofsky (D)
Antoine Bibeau (G)
Jeremy Helvig (G)
Petr Mrazek (G)
James Reimer (G)
Dylan Wells (G)
2021 NHL Expansion Draft
When: Wednesday, 8 pm.
TV: ESPN2
