Check back here Sunday morning with coffees and breakfast of choice: The protected lists will be made available to all teams and the general public via media release by the NHL. The 30 lists (Vegas is exempt but doesn't share in $650 million expansion fee) will identify either nine or 11 protected players per club.
The likelihood is most clubs will submit a protected list of seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender for a total of 11 players the Kraken cannot draft. Some teams will opt for nine players to include eight skaters of any position and one goaltender.
Protecting fewer players allows a team to hang on to more defensemen. In the 2017 expansion draft to stock Vegas, 23 teams went with the 7-3-1 combination while six teams turned in lists with four forwards, four defensemen and one goalie. The New York Islanders protected five D-men and three forwards, plus a goalie.
The NYI choice in 2017 was mostly because the franchise had a number of promising younger forwards who had logged only one or two professional seasons (NHL, AHL, ECHL). Players with two pro seasons or less and unsigned draft choices still playing in amateur leagues cannot be selected by the Kraken, following the same rules as Vegas.
Friday was the last day that players could waive no-movement clauses in their contracts. If a player has a no-move clause and doesn't waive it, then teams must protect that player. Waiving the clause doesn't necessarily mean the Kraken will select that player, but it does add a name in the final days.
One example Friday was Dallas goalie Ben Bishop waiving his no-movement clause. Media members expect that means the Stars will protect goalie Anton Khudobin, who was stellar in the team's 2020 run to the Stanley Cup Final.
Bishop, considered one of the league's top goalies when healthy, missed the entire 2020-21 season while recovering from knee surgery in October 2020. Veteran defenseman Erik Johnson of Colorado was another notable player to waive his no-movement clause this week.
Along with the protected lists deadline, all 31 teams (including Vegas) cannot make trades, put a player on waivers or sign their players to new contracts or extensions beginning at 12 noon Saturday. The freeze extends through Thursday at 10 a.m.
Those teams can make trades or "side deals" with the Kraken during the freeze period. Trades are most likely once the Kraken picks its players but GMs can lay the groundwork over the next few days. The side deals involve a team asking that Seattle pick a certain unprotected player or steer away from a player while providing incentives (draft picks, other players) as incentive to do so.
While 7 a.m. Sunday is a big moment for Seattle and the entire hockey world, the Kraken hockey operations group will have even more than protected lists to ponder and dice up. Also beginning at 7 a.m. Sunday, the Kraken have an exclusive window or interview period to explore signing any pending unrestricted and restricted free agents left unprotected.
If Seattle signs one of those free agents, it will count as the draft choice from the player's most recent team. The league-wide free agency period doesn't begin until July 28, so the Kraken gets a head start of sorts.
It all makes for a busy and exciting week. Francis will submit the list of 30 at 7 a.m. Wednesday and 10 hours later all of us will be seeing a big step toward an opening night roster to unfold.
