Last night as the Seattle Kraken unveiled their roster there was certainly a feeling of familiarity to when Vegas was on the clock four years ago. Sprinkled amongst the occasional household name were a group of players most common NHL fans had never heard of. Loud cheers were heard for Marc-Andre Fleury, James Neal, and David Perron, just as they were for Mark Giordano, Jordan Eberle, and Yianni Gourde.
Looking back at the teams moments after the Expansion Draft there are certainly some similarities, but also a number of stark differences. Look, I made a chart to show them!
| Vegas | Seattle | |
|---|---|---|
| Players Selected | 30 | 30 |
| Forwards | 14 | 15 |
| Defensemen | 13 | 12 |
| Goalies | 3 | 3 |
| UFAs Signed | 1 | 3 |
| UFAs Unsigned | 3 | 2 |
| RFAs | 3 | 7 |
| Salary Cap of Selections | $54.214m | $54.84m |
| Players Making More Than $2.5m | 7 | 10 |
| Players Signed Longer Than 2 Seasons | 2 | 6 |
| Trades | 10 | 0 |
| Additional Picks Acquired | 8 | 0 |
| Additional Players Acquired | 7 | 0 |
| Post Expansion Trades | 5 | ??? |
| Players Signed Before Draft | 3 | 1 |
| Players w/ 20 Goal Season in Career | 4 | 3 |
| Players Younger Than 25 | 6 | 11 |
| Players Older Than 30 | 8 | 2 |
| 6'3" or Taller | 7 | 10 |
| 5'11" or Shorter | 3 | 4 |
| 210 Pounds or Heavier | 11 | 4 |
| 175 Pounds or Lighter | 1 | 1 |
| Canadian | 18 | 19 |
| American | 4 | 6 |
| European | 8 | 5 |
The biggest surprise out of last night was the lack of “side deals” made by the Kraken with other teams. The Golden Knights were compensated by the team losing a player on one in every three picks. Seattle literally did not get a single pick or prospect for laying off any player in their Expansion Draft.
However, VGK did add a ton of salary along the way, something the Kraken did not, or at least have not, to this point. Vegas added David Clarkson ($5.25m) and Mikhail Grabovski ($5m), neither of which played a game with the Golden Knights. They also added Reilly Smith ($5m) in what was a trade connected to selecting Jonathan Marchessault. Plus, Vegas had $4.5m tied up in Vadim Shipachyov who was signed to a two year deal prior to the Expansion Draft.
In other words, when George McPhee and The Creator walked off the stage at T-Mobile Arena, they had about $75m committed to contracts with four RFAs still needing contracts (which added another $7m). Thus, the Kraken still have a lot of work to do in adding salary before they reach where the Golden Knights were on Opening Night.
As far as the players selected, aside from Marc-Andre Fleury in the goal, the teams are remarkably similar. Each team selected three goalies with the Kraken picking one more forward (15) than Vegas. Both teams had just a few players who had ever scored 20 goals in a season in their career.
The biggest difference was in age. Vegas selected just six players under the age of 25 and added eight over the age of 30. Seattle went much younger picking 11 under-25 and just two over-30.
With the trade freeze lifting, it’s time for the Kraken to round out the rest of the roster, and they’ve got a lot of work to do to match the assets Vegas pulled out of the Expansion Draft. As for the teams themselves, I feel like we should definitly know better than to underestimate the Expansion team.
THE hockey GOD
the seattle crackheads did not so well
it appears
Jesus C
You are the pot calling the kettle black
Coyote
Ken,
On your podcast, you said Lindberg was In Switzerland. He is not. He is in his second year with the Moscow Dynamo. He’s playing with Shippy. You should look up the stats. I found them interesting.
McGMs FTW
It makes no sense to compare dratees without including the haul from the side deals. Our team did not look like this after draft night. We had Smith, Theodore, Tuch, etc. Kraken and Vegas had totally different approach with totally different outcome.
Tim
Ken I’m glad you mentioned they picked a lot of 22 to 25 year old players with very little experience. Between our prospects in the AHL and college we have many 22 to 25 year old mostly untested at the NHL level. Just because there young doesn’t mean there going to be players, So to cut to the chase our expansion draft man for man is much better then there’s it’s not even close. We’ll see what there final roster will be on October 12 when they open against us at the Fortress. I do like the Kraken’s sweater especially the home one for me.
DOC (Go Knights Go)
I think the Krakens did well to steer away from Price and his 10.5 mil annual hit.
As far as rest, only really familiar with a handful. Doubt they are done. Plenty of room to wheel & deal yet.
Still. no matter what, I don’t think lightening will strike again, for a first year expansion team!
B-Rad-Lee
The Kraken could have taken Price, put him on LTIR, and packed the roster to the cap. Then, when the playoffs start, they can bring in Price and maintain the rest of the roster $10M over cap.
sb
NHL only allows Tampa to get away with that.
trade
Tyler Pitlick was just traded to the Calgary Flames for a 2022 4th round pick
so, now Seattle has one trade. whoopee !
trade
Arizona Coyotes Acquire Shayne Gostisbehere
The Coyotes will also receive a 2022 second-round pick and a 2022 seventh-round pick, the Flyers will not receive anything.
total cap dump by Philly to make room for Ryan Ellis
Tim
Good news I just read they offered Alex Martinez a contract I’m sure there’s a home town discount involved. I’m sure he can make more on the open market but it comes down to how much he likes Vegas and his teammates.
trade
hope they sign him, but it will still likely add about a million to the Vgk cap hit.
and Patrick is a RFA, so he will cost a little more than the 925k he was making on his entry level contract
Daryl
I saw the offered but from what I’ve read it wasn’t a very good deal. They were saying he easily could get paid more elsewhere
sb
Factor in no state income tax vs 13% tax in California, NY, etc. Stays close to home in Newport Beach.
trade
Goalies trade======= The Red Wings have acquired Alex Nedeljkovic from the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes will receive Jonathan Bernier and a third-round pick in return. Bernier is a pending unrestricted free agent and has not signed with Carolina at this point.
THE hockey GOD
wow RWings just stole a goalie, maybe a rental ?? Don’t know about his contract situation.
“Detroit has acquired Alex Nedeljkovic from Carolina in exchange for Jonathan Bernier and a third-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft.
According to Nedeljkovic’s agent, Rich Evans, the 25-year-old netminder has agreed to a two-year contract with the Red Wings worth an AAV of $3 million. Nedeljkovic was superb for the Hurricanes last season, while finishing third in Calder Trophy voting. He posted a 15-5-3 record with a 1.90 goals-against average, a .932 save percentage and three shutouts. Nedeljkovic also played well in the playoffs, while seeing the bulk of the action between the pipes for the Hurricanes.
Source: Detroit Red Wings on Twitter
Jul 22, 2021, 1:58 PM ET”
trade
looks like Nate Schmidt may be traded again….Canucks want to dump his contract.
and Suter and Parise may both end up with the Islanders
sb
Nate would be a good fit in Boston. Hope that works out for him. Good guy.
THE hockey GOD
thought this slot was reserved for annual
VEGAS likely picks in tomorrow’s NHL DRAFT ?
now that the Crackhead’s expansion party is over.
BIG WINNER – yesterday ? Vegas by far. (anyone saying they
should have started over, or been included in expansion draft has rocks for brains. Foley made the right decision by passing on the 23 million dollars he’d get, in return for exposing a player)
trade
how about Lehner to SJ for center Tomas Hertl?
Hertl has one yr left at $5.625m
27 years old, 2 seasons ago he scored 35 goals and 10 more in the playoffs
SJ is looking for a goalie, they are going to buy out Jones
Stephen Lombard
I doubt that’ll be enough to get Hertl out of SJ tbh but it’s an intriguing thought!
sb
Take that deal pronto.
Daryl
I think VGK went all in to win now which is completely different than what happened here. Maybe they saw how VGK turned out to be a good team but not a great team and how much of a bind they put themselves in and decided they wanted to try it differ tly
knights fan in minny
daryl what do you think of patrick size and the age i dont know much about him stay safe out there on the beat
Daryl
Don’t know much about him…. Started doing some research but I think it’s a wash
Blitz
You guys need to watch his career high light vid. It is pretty impressive really. You can see he has good skating etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Raq1zBDX3Q
He is #19
THE hockey GOD
Yanni Gourde LW, Seattle Kraken
Yanni Gourde is expected to miss the start of the 2021-22 season following shoulder surgery.
Gourde underwent the procedure on his right shoulder Monday and agent Paul Corbeil told The Athletic’s Joe Smith that the new Kraken forward is projected to need a four-month rehab. Gourde was selected by Seattle from Tampa Bay in the expansion draft on Wednesday.
Ron Francis is not very popular right now with Seattle Krackhead fans, wait a minute they are krackheads, they don’t know what is going on.
Tim
Yanni Gourde was one of there big picks good player but shoulder surgery I don’t know buying damaged goods. Terasenko and Eichel same problem damaged goods. We’ll wait until after the draft but right now I’m not feeling it if I’m a Kraken fan. Just a side note after watching the Kraken draft be thankful we had the Splash Brothers and what we’ve done in 4 years.
knights fan in minny
espn coverage was a joke couldnt here half the time why wasnt melrose there
vgk21
it is worse than that. look at the ESPN website right now. the top menu has nfl,nba, mlb, soccer…… NO NHL. it is in the hidden menu.
the top 10 ESPN headlines= no NHL
Kraken draft= hidden, scroll 1/3 down the page
just like they did before, they treat the NHL as a stepchild, time filler
Daryl
ESPN has always been a joke when it comes to hockey
sb
ESPN ranks hockey one slot below girls softball and corn hole. Not smart. Never was.