BLOG: Seattle Selects John Quenneville in 2021 Expansion Draft

The Seattle Kraken have their preliminary batch of players, including forward
John Quenneville
, who was selected by the NHL newcomers during the 2021 Expansion Draft on Wednesday night.
Quenneville departs the Blackhawks after nine career games in his second NHL home -- all during the 2019-20 season -- and another two contests in the NHL bubble in Edmonton during the 2020 playoffs. The forward played 52 AHL games over the last two seasons with the Rockford IceHogs, totaling 24 points (14G, 10A). He was acquired by Chicago in a trade with New Jersey on June 22, 2019 and was set to become a unrestricted free agent next week.

Seattle is set to join the NHL ranks with the start of the 2021-22 season and, as part of building their inaugural roster, selected one player from 30 NHL franchises during the Expansion Draft. Vegas, as the most recent expansion team, was exempt from having a player selected in this year's draft.
Each franchise could protect a portion of their roster, either:
The Blackhawks went with the first option, protecting two more skaters in total while sticking within the 7-3-1 confines.
Any player with two of fewer seasons under an NHL contract was not eligible for the Expansion Draft, meaning names like
Kirby Dach
,
Adam Boqvist
,
Ian Mitchell
and
Wyatt Kalynuk
, among others, were protected automatically. With such a young roster, the Blackhawks had one of the longest lists of automatically protected players across the NHL.
Brent Seabrook
and
Andrew Shaw
were also exempt due to long-term injury. Both players announced earlier this year that their playing careers are over because of injury.
In all, 13 players were left exposed by the Blackhawks for the Expansion Draft, including Quenneville.

Blackhawks 2021 Expansion Draft List

Protected (7-3-1):

• Henrik Borgstrom
• Alex DeBrincat
• Brandon Hagel
• David Kampf
• Patrick Kane
• Dylan Strome
• Jonathan Toews
• Caleb Jones
• Connor Murphy
• Riley Stillman
• Kevin Lankinen

Available for Selection (13):

• Ryan Carpenter
• Brett Connolly
• Calvin de Haan
• Collin Delia
• Josh Dickinson
• Adam Gaudette
• Vinnie Hinostroza
• Anton Lindholm
• Brandon Pirri
• John Quenneville
• Zack Smith
• Malcolm Subban
• Nikita Zadorov

Exempt (28):

• Andrei Altybarmakian
• Evan Barratt
• Nicolas Beaudin
• Adam Boqvist
• Matej Chalupa
• Kirby Dach
• Victor Ejdsell
• MacKenzie Entwistle
• Jakub Galvas
• Mikael Hakkarainen
• Mike Hardman
• Reese Johnson
• Wyatt Kalynuk
• Chad Krys
• Dominik Kubalik
• Philipp Kurashev
• Ian Mitchell
• Cam Morrison
• Alex Nylander
• Isaak Phillips
• Jakub Pour
• Lukas Reichel
• Alec Regula
• Josiah Slavin
• Arvid Soderblom
• Pius Suter
• Michal Teply
• Matt Tomkins

Exempt Due to Injury (2):

• Brent Seabrook
• Andrew Shaw