Expansion Draft

Seattle Kraken legend, Vitek Vanecek, details his seven ‘crazy’ days on the team

One of the most intriguing storylines of the 2020-21 season was who the Capitals would potentially protect and who would they possibly lose over the offseason during the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft. Would it be [sigh] TJ Oshie or a depth member of the Capitals defense?

Instead, after surprisingly earning a majority of the starts in goal, rookie Vitek Vanecek played his way off the team and was the Capitals’ player selected by the Kraken. Vanecek’s skill, potential, and salary made him a perfect value pick for Seattle. He was slated to be the second or third goaltender on the Kraken’s depth chart.

Vanecek’s selection was heart-breaking. Well, until it wasn’t.

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By Ian Oland 8 months ago

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TJ Oshie was 2-percent worried he might be left unprotected in the Expansion Draft. Now? ‘I’m so happy to be here. This is my home.’

One of the biggest dramas headed into the Expansion Draft was if the Washington Capitals would protect TJ Oshie. Oshie, 34, had just completed the fourth season of an eight-year contract where he has a cap hit of $5.75 million per season. With NHL teams stuck dealing with a flat cap over the next few seasons, it made sense if the Capitals wanted to make the Osh Babe available – no matter how painful. Instead, the beloved forward had one of his best seasons as a pro, forcing Capitals GM Brian MacLellan to make him one of 11 players on the team’s protected list.

On Thursday, after the first on-ice day of Capitals Training Camp, Oshie said he was 98 percent sure he would remain in DC. The two percent of uncertainty came after the Seattle Kraken announced their head coach.

“When I saw [Dave Hakstol] went there… I was like hmmm,” Oshie said laughing. Hakstol was Oshie’s head coach in college and the person who helped the winger develop into a star.

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By Ian Oland 8 months ago

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Carolina Hurricanes unveil new logo after ESPN broadcast calls them the Carolina Panthers during Expansion Draft

There were no surprises in the first half of the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft, as the Seattle Kraken proceeded to draft its first roster in franchise history, mostly because nearly every one of the Kraken’s picks leaked several hours prior.

But midway through the program, ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler had a slip of the tongue heard ’round the hockey world. Fowler announced that Seattle’s next pick would be coming from…the Carolina Panthers.

Oops.

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By Elizabeth Kong 10 months ago

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Highlights of the Seattle Kraken’s Expansion Draft

On December 4, 2018, the NHL’s Board of Governors officially announced the approval of Seattle’s expansion bid to become the league’s 32nd team. Now, over two and a half years later, the Seattle Kraken are finally drafting their first roster in franchise history.

Despite nearly every team’s drafted pick leaking to the public ahead of the televised Expansion Draft on ESPN2, the broadcast still had some surprises – from botches of names to picks made by sea creatures.

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By Elizabeth Kong and Ian Oland 10 months ago

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New Seattle Kraken merch available in NHL’s online store

The Seattle Kraken will make their inaugural roster official during the Expansion Draft on Wednesday night.

For hockey fans who want to support the team or just simply love good design, the Kraken have added a bunch of new merch to the NHL Store ahead of the draft.

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By Ian Oland 10 months ago

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Seattle Kraken select Capitals goaltender Vitek Vanecek in Expansion Draft

The Seattle Kraken submitted their Expansion Draft list at 10 AM and all the names are slowly leaking out.

NHL insider Frank Seravalli is reporting that the Capitals will lose goaltender Vitek Vanecek to the Kraken. Vanecek will join Chris Driedger (Florida UFA) and Joey Daccord (Ottawa) in net. Seattle ultimately passed on picking superstar Carey Price from the Montreal Canadiens.

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By Ian Oland 10 months ago

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A red herring? Leaked Expansion Draft video shows Seattle Kraken selecting Alex Kerfoot via fish toss.

Who the Seattle Kraken select in Wednesday night’s Expansion Draft is a deep-sea mystery (update: not anymore), but social media, as it is wont to do, is doing its best to ruin the surprise.

Tuesday, Hockey Twitter submerged into chaos when a leaked video showed the NHL Network’s Kevin Weekes announcing one of the Kraken’s picks, Alexander Kerfoot of the Toronto Maple Leafs, after catching a giant fish in Pike Place Market.

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By Ian Oland 10 months ago

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Who we’d pick in the Expansion Draft if we ran the Seattle Kraken

Every NHL team, minus the Vegas Golden Knights, submitted their protected list over the weekend in preparation for Wednesday’s Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft. In doing so, teams made several big names available to be picked by Seattle.

It’s nearly impossible to predict who the Kraken will draft. But I acted as if I were general manager Ron Francis and built the best team possible while staying under the salary cap with all 30 players (in reality, they can exceed the NHL’s salary cap by 10-percent in the offseason).

Here’s what I came up with.

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By Chris Cerullo 10 months ago

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Capitals players available for the expansion draft, ranked

The Washington Capitals have turned in their protected lists for this upcoming week’s expansion draft by the Seattle Kraken. There are a lot of big names available, and Seattle has some very big and wrinkly brains making decisions for them. With all that in mind, let us now mentally prepare to lose one of our nephews. I’ve arranged them into tiers based on how likely each player is to be selected. That way you can prioritize your despair.

Also, I am once again obligated to remind you that the last expansion draft was brutal on the Capitals, taking away an unappreciated, talented young defender and leaving the team barely able to win the Stanley Cup against him the next season.

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By Peter Hassett 10 months ago

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Report: Seattle Kraken taking ‘deep dive internally’ on selecting Carey Price in Expansion Draft

The Montreal Canadiens might have, to borrow from WWE vocabulary, worked themselves into a shoot, brother.

Friday night, reports surfaced that Carey Price waived his no-movement clause so the Habs could make him available in the Expansion Draft and protect backup Jake Allen (2.68 GAA, .907 SV%). The thought process here was that Price’s contract is so massive (bad) and that there are so many other good/better value goaltenders available, the Kraken would not think twice about drafting Price.

Except. They totally are. And now a section of Habs Twitter is losing its mind about it.

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By Ian Oland 10 months ago

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