Price, the Montreal Canadiens goalie; Weber, the Canadiens defenseman and captain; and Tarasenko, the St. Louis Blues forward, are among the NHL players left unprotected by their teams. The NHL released the
protected and available lists
Sunday.
Price had to waive his no-move clause to be left exposed in the expansion draft so the Canadiens could protect goalie Jake Allen.
Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin and Colorado Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog are included on the list of pending unrestricted free agents who were left unprotected by their teams and available for the Kraken to sign and select.
RELATED: [Full NHL Expansion Draft protected list]
RELATED: [NHL Expansion Draft FAQ | NHL Expansion Draft Rules]
Seattle has an exclusive window to sign any pending unrestricted free agent or restricted free agent who was left unprotected from 10 a.m. ET Sunday through 10 a.m. ET Wednesday. If they sign a player during that window, he counts as their choice from that player's former team in the expansion draft.
The Kraken have until 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday to submit their final selections to the NHL and NHL Players' Association. They must select at least 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goalies, and can only select or sign one player from each of the 30 other NHL teams, excluding the Vegas Golden Knights, who are exempt from the expansion draft.
Several other veteran goalies who are under contract were also left available for the Kraken to select, including Stanley Cup winners Jonathan Quick (Los Angeles Kings), Matt Murray (Ottawa Senators) and Braden Holtby (Vancouver Canucks).
Ben Bishop (Dallas Stars), Vitek Vanecek (Washington Capitals), Martin Jones (San Jose Sharks) and Kaapo Kahkonen (Minnesota Wild) are also available.
Chris Driedger (Florida Panthers), Frederik Andersen (Toronto Maple Leafs), Petr Mrazek (Carolina Hurricanes), Mike Smith (Edmonton Oilers), Tuukka Rask (Boston Bruins) and Jaroslav Halak (Bruins) are among the top pending unrestricted free agent goalies left unprotected.
Rask will be out until at least mid-January following hip surgery and has said he will sign only with the Bruins.
New Jersey Devils defenseman P.K. Subban was left available for Seattle, meaning he and Weber, the players involved in the trade between the Canadiens and Nashville Predators on June 29, 2016, could both be picked by the Kraken.
Other defensemen signed through at least the 2021-22 season who are available to the Kraken include Mark Giordano (Calgary Flames), Kevin Shattenkirk (Anaheim Ducks), Shayne Gostisbehere (Philadelphia Flyers) and Erik Johnson (Avalanche).
Pending free agent defensemen available include Dougie Hamilton (Hurricanes) and Vince Dunn (Blues), who can become a restricted free agent.
The Predators left forwards Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen exposed to Seattle. The New York Islanders did the same with forwards Josh Bailey and Jordan Eberle. The Ducks left forward Adam Henrique available, and the Buffalo Sabres did not protect forward Jeff Skinner.
The Philadelphia Flyers left forwards James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek unprotected, choosing to protect the likes of Oskar Lindblom, Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Scott Laughton instead.
The Tampa Bay Lightning protected four defensemen (Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, Mikhail Sergachev and Erik Cernak) and four forwards (Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov and Anthony Cirelli), meaning Seattle can select one of forwards Alex Killorn, Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson, Yanni Gourde or Pat Maroon.
Seattle could also sign and select pending unrestricted free agent forwards Taylor Hall and David Krejci (Bruins), Brandon Saad (Avalanche), Phillip Danault (Canadiens), Kyle Palmieri (Islanders), Zach Hyman (Maple Leafs) and Jaden Schwartz (Blues).
