George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers, and the rest of the NHL (save for the Vegas Golden Knights), have to provide their protected list for the Seattle Kraken’s expansion draft by Saturday afternoon.
On Thursday, the Panthers not only bought out the remainder of Keith Yandle’s contract but extended both Anthony Duclair and Gus Forsling.
By doing that, general manager Bill Zito not only took care of some pressing offseason business, but offered some clarity as to how the Panthers are thinking going into the expansion draft.
Certainly there could be some unknown, hidden moves to come.
For know, however, we will take Thursday’s moves on the surface.
The big thing, when it comes to the Panthers protected list, is the report that pending free agent goalie Chris Driedger will be signing with the Kraken.
That is big. If it goes down, and the Kraken can start talking “officially” with Driedger at 10:01 a.m. on Sunday, he would be the player Florida loses.
But, if that doesn’t happen and the Kraken decide to take Carey Price or something, the protection list would mean something other than for public relations.
For now, we will look at who we think the Panthers had on their protection list Saturday evening.
Zito is expected to go the 7-3-1 protection route and not the 4-4-1 way that his predecessor Dale Tallon did in 2017.
That year, the Panthers sent Jonathan Marchessault to Vegas in exchange for the Knights taking Riley Smith (and his five-year, $25 million contract with the no-movement clause that was kicking in).
It’s a deal that has worked out well for Vegas.
Anyway, here are the basic rules of the expansion draft:
— Seattle GM Ron Francis will select at least one player from each team save for the Golden Knights. This will give them a total of 30 (at least 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goalies) players.
— Seattle must choose a minimum of 20 players under contract for the 2021-22 regular season. The value of these players must be between 60-100 percent of the prior season’s salary cap upper limit.
— The Kraken cannot buyout the contract of a player chosen in the expansion draft until next summer.
— Each team, aside for Vegas, can protect seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie — or eight skaters and a goalie.
— The Kraken will also have an exclusive window from Sunday until Wednesday’s draft to interview and potentially sign pending free agents (Driedger) who were left unprotected in the expansion draft.
If Seattle signs a player before the draft, he (Driedger) counts as their pick from that players’ former team.
— All players who do not waive no-movement clauses must be protected.
With all of that said, here is who we think the Panthers will protect:
THE PROTECTED PANTHERS
Now that Yandle has been bought out and Forsling signed a three-year extension, who Florida protects on the defensive side is pretty easy.
It’s a little tougher as far as forwards go although it is not hard to connect the dots.
One of the big question marks going in is what happens with Sam Bennett.
While the Panthers locked in Duclair, they have not come to an agreement with Bennett.
Does that mean he wouldn’t be protected?
Probably not. It sounds like the Panthers continue to work on getting something done.
Whether that happens before Saturday, well, we shall see.
Forwards (7): Jonathan Huberdeau (NMC), Sasha Barkov (NMC), Sam Bennett (RFA), Carter Verhaeghe, Patric Hornqvist, Mason Marchment, Anthony Duclair.
Defensemen (3): Aaron Ekblad, MacKenzie Weegar, Forsling.
Goalie (1): Sergei Bobrovsky (NMC).
Looking at this list, there could be some questions.
Well, at least one.
Why protect Mason Marchment? He may not be protected come Saturday based on his past history.
But the Panthers did extend his contract and coach Joel Quenneville did put him in some pretty good situations as the 2021 season wore on.
Just going with a gut feeling here.
Obviously Noel Acciari or Frank Vatrano could be protected instead especially with the pretty secure knowledge Driedger is the selection. Then this becomes a PR move. Keep a player happy. Marchment is already pretty happy.
Now, let’s look at who would be left unprotected under these projections and why we went with who we did.
THE UNPROTECTED PANTHERS
Forwards: Vatrano, Acciari, Ryan Lomberg, Juho Lammikko.
Defensemen: Anton Stralman, Markus Nutivaara, Radko Gudas.
Goalie: Sam Montembeault.
WHY THESE GUYS?
The obvious questions surround Vatrano and Acciari. As we wrote about a couple of weeks ago, perhaps the Panthers leave them exposed due to their contracts.
Both players are entering the final years of their deals and, based on their production since signing their contracts, are likely due for a raise.
Florida may either not want to pony up when the bill comes due in 2022 or feels safe enough that Seattle won’t, either.
As far as the defensemen go, Florida’s top three look pretty solid. There is no room for others.
While Seattle may now get Yandle on the cheap, they could reunite him with Gudas or Nutivaara.
Stralman, who has one year left on his contract, is likely to return to Florida.