Last week we looked at 15 teams that the Kraken chose players from in the 2021 Expansion Draft. This week we will continue in alphabetical order from Minnesota through to Winnipeg and look a little deeper at the player they took and the players that were available to them.

Montreal Canadiens

Picked – Cale Fleury – D – (1-0-0-0 in the NHL, 36-5-12-17 AHL)

Players available – Jonathan Drouin – F – (32-5-14-19), Brett Kulak – D – (38-1-7-8), Carey Price – G – (injured)

The 23-year-old Fleury played 41 games in the NHL with Montreal in 2019-20 but has been in the AHL since, until he played his first game as a Kraken on February 1st, 2022. He was the 87th overall pick in the 3rd round in 2017 and his ceiling is that of a 6th or 7th defenceman at this point. He required waivers to be sent to the AHL this season and the Kraken did put him on waivers and he went unclaimed.

The 26-year-old Drouin's career hasn't gone to plan after being the 3rd overall pick in 2013. He has scored 21 goals in 2016-27 and has put up 53 points twice in his eight seasons. He's also missed 155 games in that time with 67 of those games being in the past three years. With two years remaining on his contract at $5.5 million AAV, the Kraken was scared away.

The 28-year-old Kulak had one more year remaining on his salary with $2.2 million owing before this season. Kulak has never averaged more than 18 minutes per night or played more than 71 games in a year. He has been a solid 6th or 7th defender, who makes a little more than he should at this point and those two factors are more than likely why he wasn't picked.

A few people speculated that the Kraken might make a big splash and pick Price with his five seasons remaining at $10.5 million AAV. He had a great playoff last season, before electing for surgery, just before the expansion draft and subsequently voluntarily entering the Player's Assistance Program.

Montreal didn't have much to offer, other than rolling the dice on Drouin.

Nashville Predators

Picked – Calle Jarnkrok – F – (33-7-8-15)

Players available – Matt Duchene – F –  (40-20-19-39), Ryan Johansen – F –  (41-12-21-33), Colton Sissons – F –  (43-5-15-20), Nick Cousins – F –  (38-6-7-13), Yakov Trenin – F –  (44-10-5-15)

The 30-year-old Jarnkrok will be unrestricted at the end of this season while earning $2 million. He might fetch a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick in return if Seattle doesn't have plans to bring him back. He has been very consistent over the past seven years, averaging 10 to 16 goals and 28 to 35 points while playing 15 to 17 minutes per night while killing penalties and getting some time on the second unit of the power play. He was a safe, steady pick that is fairly inexpensive.

The Predators made some interesting names available if the Kraken wanted to inherit some bad contracts in Duchene or Johansen. Johansen is the younger of the two at 29 and has fours years remaining at $8 million AAV, while the 31-year-old Duchene has five years remaining at $8 million AAV. Both are having good seasons this year from a production standpoint but it looks like Johansen has sacrificed a little of his play away from the puck to make it happen for him. I don't think anyone outside of Duchene, foresaw the season he is having this year.

The Kraken targeted Yannie Gourde as one of their top-six centers, but it would have been interesting to see Johansen in that role as he can be a dominating face-off center.

The 28-year-old Sissons has five years remaining at $2.857 million AAV and is enjoying his most productive season in the NHL this year at 0.47 pts/g. He is physical (89 hits), kills penalties and has become an effective face-off man this year (53.8%). If not for over $14 million owed to him over the next five years, the Kraken might have been interested in him over Jarnkrok.

My choice was Trenin who had a great finish last season playing with Sissons and  Tanner Jeannot as the Predator's shutdown line. Trenin is only 25-years-old and has seen his ice time go from 11 minutes last year to over 14 this season. Trenin is earning $725k this year and will be an RFA at the end of it. In his last 89 games, he has 15 goals and 11 assists with 192 hits.

If the Kraken only gets a 4th round pick or keeps Jarnkrok and loses him as an unrestricted free agent, this pick should be heavily criticized.

New Jersey Devils

Picked – Nathan Bastian – F – (38-9-2-11) waived and picked up by New Jersey

Players available – Andreas Johnsson – F  – (43-11-14-25), P.K. Subban – D – (38-2-13-15)

The 24-year-old Bastian is a big (6'4" 205), physical winger who has 12 goals and nine assists in his last 79 games to go along with a whopping 250 hits. The Kraken gave him 12 games with them where he had a goal and an assist and only 16 hits while averaging less than nine minutes per game. They put him on waivers and New Jersey re-acquired him. Since back with the Devils, he has eight goals in 26 games and 98 hits, while averaging about 13 minutes a night.

The 27-year-old Johnsson struggled last season with the Devils with only five goals and six assists in 50 games. With two more seasons remaining under contract at $3.4 million AAV, perhaps Seattle was hesitant that he could be the 20-goal scorer from 2018-19 when he was with Toronto. Their loss as this year he is back on pace for 21 goals and 27 assists.

P.K. Subban is now 32-years of age and in the last year of his 8-year $9 million AAV contract, he signed with Montreal. Maybe the Kraken thought about Subban or Giordano and who would have the biggest impact for the club before the trade deadline. Subban is a shadow of his former self, but he would have been an interesting player on the Kraken in terms of marketability and trade return. In hindsight, Subban and Kylington make more sense than Giordano and Bastian now.

No matter how we slice it, the Kraken have made a fairly large miscalculation with this pick and have nothing to show for it.

NY Islanders

Picked – Jordan Eberle – F – (44-12-14-26)

Players available – Josh Bailey – F –  (30-3-16-19), Kieffer Bellows – F – (20-3-6-9)

The Kraken had no issue taking on the three years remaining on Eberle at $5.5 million AAV for the 31-year-old. Eberle is on pace for 23 goals which would be the first time he has reached 20 goals since 2017-18.

Bailey (32-years-old) was an option and had the same term as Eberle remaining but just slightly cheaper at $5 million AAV. Bailey is a pass-first winger who has a career-high of 18 goals in 2017-18 (he did have 71 points that year).

The Kraken could have taken a flyer on the 23-year-old Bellows who only had 22 games under his belt in the NHL before this year where he had five goals and one assist on 30 SOG to go along with 48 hits. This season he has been in and out of the lineup, playing 20 games for the Islanders and is still a work in progress.

I think the Kraken made the correct choice here.

NY Rangers

Picked – Colin Blackwell – F- (23-4-5-9)

Players available – Tony DeAngelo (35-7-26-33 in Carolina)

The Kraken were between a rock and a hard place with this selection. The Rangers didn't have very much on offer and the two choices came down to the 28-year-old Blackwell who will be unrestricted at the end of this season or the 26-year-old DeAngelo.

Blackwell was the safe and moral pick who had 15 goals and 17 assists in his 80 games with the Rangers and the Predators over three seasons in the NHL before this year. He is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and he should get a 3rd or 4th round pick in return if the Kraken choose to trade him.

The Kraken were never going to take DeAngelo, The last thing a new franchise, trying to win over new fans was going to do was add a player that could be divisive in the locker room and the stands. Credit has to be given to the Kraken who are trying to establish an identity of which DeAngelo has no part. 

Ottawa Senators

Picked – Joey Daccord – G – (4GP 4.12 GAA 85.8 Save %)

Players available – Evgeni Dadonov – F –  (44-10-11-21 in Vegas), Chris Tierney – F – (40-5-6-11), Matt Murray – G – (13GP, 2.85 GAA, 91.0 Save %), Anton Forsberg – G – (18GP, 3.02 GAA, 90.9 Save %)

The pick of Daccord surprised me at the time as there were better goalies around the league that were available in my mind.

The 32-year-old Dadonov has two years remaining on his contract, with $5 million owed this year and $6.5 million next, which was too expensive for the Kraken to consider. The same holds with the 27-year-old Tierney who makes $4.2 million this season which is about $3 million more than his contribution. Ottawa was able to trade Dadonov to Vegas shortly after the draft for a 3rd round pick in 2022 and Nick Holden.

It is hard to believe that Matt Murray is only 27-years-old and has three years remaining on his contract at $6.25 million AAV. The Kraken had better options at that price point.

Forsberg will be unrestricted at the end of this season and Daccord is signed for two more years and will still be an RFA at the end of the deal. They must think they have something in Daccord over the 56 NHL games that Forsberg had and a possible draft pick in a trade return.

When you look at the options, the Daccord pick isn't as egregious as it originally appeared to be.

Philadelphia Flyers

PIcked – Carsen Twarynski – F – (39-3-10-13 AHL)

Players available – Jacob Voracek (41-1-27-28 in Columbus), James Van Riemsdyk (45-11-7-18), Shayne Gostisbehere (45-8-20-28 in Arizona), Justin Braun (45-3-8-11)

Twarynski is a 24-year-old former 3rd round draft pick of Philadelphia in 2016 who has 22 NHL games in his career with one goal and 57 hits. Seattle waived him at the start of the season to send to the AHL and he went unclaimed. His ceiling is a 3rd or 4th line physical forward that might contribute 10-12 goals and 20-25 points.

The 32-year-old Voracek was traded to Columbus for Cam Atkinson a few days after the expansion draft. It makes one wonder why Seattle couldn't have done the same even at the risk of $8.25 million AAV with three years remaining for Voracek.

The 32-year-old Van Riemsdyk had a good year in 2020-21 with Philadelphia with 17 goals and 26 assists in 56 games. The aspect that the Kraken moved on from was the $7 million AAV with two years remaining but $5 million in salary next year. He is on pace for 20 goals and 13 assists this season with the Flyers.

The player the Kraken should have picked up was Gostisbehere who is 28-years-old and has two years remaining on a $4.5 million AAV contract with a salary of $3.25 million owing in each of those two seasons. He doesn't fit their stereotype of the ideal defenceman as he is on the smaller side and not physical.

Braun is 34-years-old and will be an unrestricted free agent after this season where his salary is $1.8 million. He kills penalties, hits (60) and can block shots (90), so he could have helped the Kraken this season at least and perhaps got a 4th or 5th round pick at the deadline.

The Kraken missed another opportunity with the Philadelphia selection.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Picked – Branden Tanev – F – (30-9-6-15)

Players available – Jason Zucker – F –  (31-6-7-13), Zach Aston-Reese – F –  (38-1-8-9), Evan Rodrigues – F –  (46-15-17-32), Marcus Pettersson – D –  (42-1-10-11), Casey DeSmith – G – (10 GP, 3.37 GAA, 89.2 Save %)

Tanev was the Kraken's choice and the 30-year-old had four years remaining on his contract at $3.5 million AAV when he was picked. Tanev still leads the Kraken forwards in hits with 98 even with 16 games he's missed. Before his injury, he was on pace to better his career-high of 14 goals and 29 points.

The 30-year-old Zucker had $6.25 million owed this season and $5.25 million next year. He has battled injuries over the past two seasons and has a combined 69 games with 15 goals and 16 assists. Not numbers that the Kraken were interested in for the money.

The 27-year-old Aston-Reese will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and is earning $1.725 million this year. He is a physical (142 hits leads the Penguins) player who is in a shutdown role in Pittsburgh. In the past 83 games, he has 10 goals and 14 assists with 237 hits. There is some offense there, but that is probably the ceiling for him.

The 28-year-old Rodrigues is one of the most surprising breakouts this season with 15 goals and 17 assists in 46 games, which puts him on pace for 27 goals and 30 assists. His career-high before was nine goals and 20 assists in 74 games with Buffalo in 2018-19. It will be interesting what type of contract Rodrigues signs with the Penguins or as a UFA.

The 25-year-old Pettersson had four years remaining on his contract at $4.025 million AAV at the time of the draft, but he should have been an intriguing pick for the Kraken. The 38th overall pick in the 2014 draft by Anaheim, has career-highs of two goals and 23 assists in 84 games from the 2018-19 season. He has been a 100-hit and 100-blocked shot defender, which is not that common. He only averages 15 or 16 minutes per night in Pittsburgh over the past two seasons but did average 19:24 in 2019-20, so has proven he could handle the extra workload.

It is easy to look at the production of Rodrigues this season and think that the Kraken should have taken him over Tanev, but before his injury, Tanev was one of the better players on the Kraken. In a season or two, they might have wanted Pettersson instead but I think they are happy with their choice.

San Jose

Picked – Alexander True – F – (8-0-0-0 NHL; 29-8-13-21 AHL)

Players available – Ryan Donato (41-9-7-16) signed as a free agent by Seattle, Dylan Gambrell (25-1-2-3 in Ottawa), Matt Nieto (39-4-5-9), Radim Simek (28-1-1-2), Jacob Middleton (28-3-5-8)

True is a 25-year-old undrafted big (6'5" 200 lbs) center from Denmark who was signed as a free agent by San Jose after playing one year in the AHL with the San Jose Barracuda in 2017-18. He had played 19 NHL games with the Sharks with five assists before the expansion draft. The Kraken put him on waivers at the start of this season and he went unclaimed.

Donato was not qualified by San Jose as an RFA and became a UFA and was signed by the Kraken to a one-year deal at $750k.

Gambrell was traded to Ottawa at the beginning of this season for a 7th round draft pick in 2022.

The 29-year-old Nieto has carved himself a role on the Sharks as a 3rd-line shutdown forward who kills penalties and can chip in with 10 goals and 20 points in a season while averaging 13-14 minutes per night. The Kraken had plenty of these types of players available to them, but Nieto is a player with 538 NHL games under his belt.

I thought it a little odd when the Sharks re-signed the now 29-year-old Simek to a four-year extension at $2.25 million AAV before the 2020-21 season. He had only played 89 games in the NHL over his first two years with three goals and 15 assists while averaging about 16 minutes per night. Since that contract, he has played 68 games with the Sharks with three goals and five assists while averaging about 14 minutes per game. He's not progressing and is now the sixth or seventh defenceman in San Jose.

In hindsight, the 26-year-old Middleton should have been the expansion pick for the Kraken. He had only 14 NHL games before this season with three assists, but the 6'3" 219 lbs defenceman also had 21 hits and eight blocked shots. It looks like he has stuck this time in the NHL with the Sharks with 29 games, three goals five assists, 54 hits and 47 blocked shots while averaging over 18 minutes per game.

True might turn out to be a useful NHL player, but by being exposed on waivers already, he has no trade value, whereas Nieto or Middleton might, while providing NHL-calbre play this season.

St. Louis Blues

Picked – Vince Dunn – D – (41-5-13-18)

Players available – Vladimir Tarasenko – F –  (40-15-25-40), Samuel Blais – F –  (14-0-4-4 with the NY Rangers), Niko Mikkola – D –  (29-3-4-7), Ville Husso – G – (15 GP, 1.90 GAA, 94.1 Save %)

The 25-year-old Dunn was a fine pick by Seattle and they hope he will be one of their top defencemen over the next three or four years. In his 84 games over the past two seasons with St. Louis and Seattle, he has 11 goals and 27 assists, a minus 24 and has averaged about 19:30 per night. The point production is what the Kraken would like from him, but his defensive game will still need to improve.

The team passed on the 30-year-old Tarasenko who will make $9.5 million this year and $5.5 million next season with a cap hit of $7.5 million. Tarasenko played a combined 34 games over the prior two seasons with the Blues and battled shoulder woes while posting seven goals and 17 assists. The injuries and salary owing were enough to make the Kraken go with Dunn. Tarasenko is the player he was this season and his value would be pretty high if the Kraken had him as a contributor or as a trade chip.

Blais was traded to the NY Rangers with a 2nd round draft pick for Pavel Buchnevich just after the expansion draft. These are the types of deals that the Kraken never entertained with some of the picks they had. Buchnevich would be a pretty good addition to their roster if that scenario was entertained.

The 25-year-old Mikkola is a big (6'4" 209 lbs) defenceman who has limited offense but is physical (62 hits in 29 games), blocks shots (43) and kills penalties and is being relied upon to play against the other teams best players this season. He is averaging 17:50 per game, so he tops out as a 5th or 6th defenceman on most NHL teams.

The 27-year-old Husso played his first NHL games last season and got into 17 of them with St. Louis. He struggled, but if you look at his first 10 games, his GSAA was minus 7.35 and in his last seven games he got better and posted a 0.68 GSAA. This season has seen him elevate his play and recently push Jordan Binnington for starts. He is an unrestricted free agent after this season and is currently earning $750k. In 15 games this year, his GSAA is an unbelievable 13.76.

If Dunn emerges as the 40-45 point defenceman that plays over 20 minutes per game that the Kraken think he is, then I don't think you can criticize this pick moving forward, but if not, bring on the critics and rightfully so.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Picked – Yanni Gourde – F – (38-10-13-23)

Players available – Ondrej Palat – F – (41-15-16-31), Alex Killorn – F –  (46-15-26-41), Mathieu Joseph – F – (43-8-7-15),  Cal Foote – D – (32-0-4-4),

The 30-year-old Gourde was the Kraken's pick and he has five years remaining on his contract with a $5.167 million AAV. Last season with Tampa Bay he had 17 goals and 19 assists in 56 games and killed penalties and was on the second unit of the power play. I'm a little surprised that the Kraken couldn't have got a pick or player from the Lightning for selecting Gourde as they are so tight to the cap. The same thought could have held for any one of Palat, Killorn or Gourde. The Kraken showed their cards and made it clear that they saw Gourde as a cornerstone of the team for the next three or four years.

The 30-year-old Palat is in the final year of his $5.3 million contract and last season in 55 games had 15 goals and 31 assists with 82 hits. This season he has similar production with 15 goals, 16 assists and 71 hits in 41 games.

The 32-year-old Killorn has two years remaining on his contract at $4.45 million AAV. This season he has 41 points in 46 games and is on pace for 27 goals and 46 assists which would crush his career-high in points. He has benefitted from the departure of Gourde in Tampa Bay.

The 24-year-old Joseph would have been an intriguing choice as he will be an RFA at the end of this season on a $775k salary this year. Last season he had 12 goals and seven assists in 56 games, with 82 hits. This season he has seen his ice time increase from 11 minutes to 14 per night and he is on pace for 15 goals and 13 assists. 

The 23-year-old Foote has now played 67 games in the NHL with Tampa Bay with a goal and six assists, 95 hits and 64 blocked shots while averaging only 13:28 per game. He is a big (6'4" 227 lbs) defenceman that does have a bit of offence to contribute. He might just need 300 more NHL games to get to where he wants to be and the Kraken weren't willing to give up Gourde to wait.

As I mentioned above, it's a hard pill to swallow that the Kraken took on five years at over $5 million AAV for Gourde for nothing in return. Gourde will more than likely average 0.6 pts/game over the next five seasons at most. At least with Palat and Killorn the money commitment was gone after one or two seasons. With Joseph and Foote, they would have got players that were on the upswing and cost-controlled. 

Toronto Maple Leafs

Picked – Jared McCann – F – (41-19-11-30)

Players available – Alexander Kerfoot – F – (42-6-25-31)

The Leafs had traded for McCann to ensure that they kept him or Kerfoot on the roster for the expansion draft. The 25-year-old former 1st round pick of the Canucks in 2014 has already tied his career-high in goals with 19 after only 41 games this year. McCann had a bit of a breakout last season with Pittsburgh where he had 14 goals and 18 assists in 43 games. He has maintained that pace this year with Seattle. McCann will be an RFA at the end of the season after earning $2.9 million this year.

The other reasonable option was 27-year-old Kerfoot who hadn't had more than nine goals in a season while in Toronto over three years. In Colorado, he had 19 goals and 43 points in his rookie season in 2017-18. Kerfoot had two years remaining on his contract at $3.5 million AAV.

The Kraken weren't going to take Wayne Simmonds or Pierre Engvall without some pretty expensive add-ons by Toronto.

The Kraken chose offensive potential over defensive acumen, as they were theoretically going to be stacked in that regard after the draft.

Vancouver Canucks

Picked – Kole Lind – F – (4-0-1-1 NHL; 36-13-12-25 AHL)

Players available – Zach MacEwen – F –  (43-1-2-3 in Philadelphia), Matthew Highmore – F –  (22-2-4-6), Braden Holtby – G –  (22 GP, 2.76 GAA, 91.3 Save % with Dallas)

The 23-year-old Lind was the 33rd overall draft pick by Vancouver in 2017 and has not made the leap to the NHL to stay. The Canucks didn't have much to offer so the roll of the dice on Lind was not a bad pick.

Out of MacEwen, Highmore and Holtby, I think the Kraken would have only entertained Highmore as a pick. Holtby had $5.7 million owing on his contract this season, before the Canucks bought him out after the expansion draft. MacEwen has played 41 games this year with Philadelphia and had played 55 games with Vancouver over the three seasons prior with six goals and three assists, 110 hits and 69 PIM. The Canucks exposed MacEwen on waivers and he was picked up by Philadelphia.

Highmore has the speed to burn, but with little offensive output as a result. At 25-years of age, he is now in the NHL as an energy player on the 3rd or 4th line who will kill penalties. He has battled to stay healthy while in Vancouver.

The Kraken went for the offensive ceiling with Lind and will give him the two or three more seasons to develop into his potential.

Washington Capitals

Picked – Vitek Vanecek – G – (24 GP, 2.39 GAA, 91.5 Save %)

Players available – Garnet Hathaway – F –  (42-7-7-14), Nic Dowd – F – (34-6-5-11), Conor Sheary – F –  (37-11-10-21), Justin Schultz – D –  (42-2-9-11), Brendan Dillon – D – (39-1-10-11 with Winnipeg)

The Kraken picked the 26-year-old Vanecek from Washington and promptly traded him back for a 2nd round draft pick in 2023. Does the question beg if they could have picked up another available player instead of Vanecek and still got the 2nd round pick from Washington? By doing that, the Kraken could have picked Anthony Stolarz from Anaheim or Kaapo Kahkonan from Minnesota.

I look at players like Hathaway and Dowd as players that the Kraken could pick up the equivalence to on waivers or as free agents and not someone to get as an expansion draft pick.

The 29-year-old Sheary would have been a nice pickup for the Kraken as he has two years left on his contract at a $1.5 million AAV. Sheary has 11 goals and 10 assists in 37 games this season in Washington and had 14 goals and eight assists in 53 games last year, which are a 22-24 goal pace.

Washington was able to trade Brendan Dillon after the expansion draft for two 2nd round draft picks, one in 2022 and one in 2023. How did the Kraken miss out on this opportunity? Regardless that is a big miss.

Justin Schultz makes $5 million this season in the last year of his contract, which will make him a UFA. He hasn't had a great year with the Capitals with only two goals and nine assists in 42 games, far below the offensive output he needs to have to be a positive contributor to the team.

When looking at Washington, there are just missed opportunities here for the Kraken. They still walk away with a 2nd round pick in 2023, but they should have had more.

Winnipeg Jets

Picked – Mason Appleton – F – (32-5-7-12)

Players available – Jansen Harkins – F – (41-4-3-7), Dylan DeMelo  – D – (36-1-3-4)

Appleton was the choice for the Kraken from Winnipeg. The 26-year-old had 12 goals and 13 assists in 56 games last season and was averaging over 14 minutes per game. He will become an RFA after this season and his $900k salary.

24-year-old Harkins was the Jets 2nd round pick in 2015 but hasn't put up much offense after 96 NHL games with only seven goals and nine assists. He did have 31 points in 30 AHL games in 2019-20 so there might be a little more offense there.

Somehow, Dylan Demelo got a four-year contract from Winnipeg for $3 million AAV before the 2020-21 season. The Kraken would have had no interest in taking that deal on.

After going through this exercise, there is little doubt that Ron Francis and the Kraken left draft picks, prospects and better players on the floor. Some trades involved players that they could have taken that received value that the Kraken never even got close to with the player or picks they received. The Kraken have stated that the NHL GMs were better prepared, but that can't excuse the mistakes that were made leading up to the draft and right after it in terms of asset management.

They have nothing to show for their picks in Chicago, Columbus, Detroit and New Jersey within the space of less than a year.

Thanks for reading, and let me know if you want me to focus on any players or topics by messaging me below or following me on Twitter @gampbler15.