The Seattle Expansion Draft is happening very soon, and Montreal Canadiens will have some hard decisions to make about who to expose to the Kraken.
As Marc Bergevin goes on a well-deserved vacation after an inspiring offseason, Montreal Canadiens writers like me get to sit at home and speculate on the impending Seattle expansion draft. Though Bergevin will likely also be sitting at home, I’m sure his days will be spent drinking Molson Drys and doing bicep curls rather than ruminating over which of his players he’ll have to expose at the expansion draft.
With the expansion draft still one year away, the Habs GM needs to focus on the team’s immediate future – like figuring out Phillip Danault‘s contract – instead of focusing on drafts.
Looking at the Montreal Canadiens today, it’s hard to argue that the team will likely go with protecting seven forwards, three defensemen, and a goalie. Crucially, important future core players like Nick Suzuki, Alexander Romanov, and Cayden Primeau are exempt from the expansion draft.
The Habs are lucky in that regard, as only Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Jake Evans, and Cale Fleury are the only standout young players to potentially get exposed.
To make things easier on everyone (including me) these projections are based on the assumption that all impending UFAs will get re-upped. This means that in this scenario, Danault, Tomas Tatar, Joel Armia, and Jordan Weal are still on the team in summer 2021.
So, while we try to forget about the fact that we’d be watching the start of the new season if it weren’t for a global catastrophe, let’s look ahead to next summer where we’ll be stressing about the Seattle Kraken and whether they’ll be even better than the Golden Knights.
Who will the Habs protect? I believe they will choose to keep 7 forwards, 3 defensemen and a goaltender and protect the following:
The Montreal Canadiens protect Carey Price, Shea Weber, Jeff Petry, Joel Edmunson, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Phillip Danault, Brendan Gallagher, Jonathan Drouin, Tyler Toffoli, Josh Anderson, and Paul Byron.
That leaves several options for the Seattle Kraken. Here are eight players that I believe the Montreal Canadiens will leave exposed in the expansion draft and the Kraken will be keeping a close eye on this season.
Jake Allen
Arguably Marc Bergevin’s most important offseason acquisition, Jake Allen is more than just the answer to the team’s backup goalie problem, his new two-year, $5.75-million contract extension represents the GM’s belief that the Montreal Canadiens are finally ready to contend for the Stanley Cup.
So why would he be exposed in the expansion draft?
As the saying goes, goalies are voodoo. In the worst-case scenario, let’s say Allen doesn’t work out and the team once again has a bloated contract on the books. Exposing Allen to the expansion draft not only offers Seattle a chance to get to the cap floor but also offers them a veteran goalie they can leverage as a trade chip or at best, a reclamation project.
His contract would also be perfect in that regard because it would expire the following season.
On the other hand, if he becomes the best backup in the league and helps the Habs lift the Cup, all the better for Seattle. By next summer, Primeau could be ready for a full-time backup role behind Price and having an extra $2.85-million in cap room might be necessary by then.
In my eyes, Allen is the perfect expansion draft pickup for the Kraken – an established veteran goalie that can help a new team solidify the crease for a few years.
Of course, there could be better goalies available so Seattle might want to look for a defenseman…
Victor Mete
While Victor Mete’s contract situation won’t help the Kraken reach the cap floor, the young and speedy rearguard might just be the perfect fit for an expansion team looking to build its defence.
Consider this – the Vegas Golden Knights selected Nate Schmidt from the Washington Capitals in the 2017 expansion draft. Schmidt had just signed a two-year bridge deal worth $1.625-million and coming off a so-so season where he netted 17 points in 60 games. Seen as spare parts in Washington, the Caps exposed the defenseman and he went on to prove himself a valuable asset, tearing it up for 36 points in 76 games and helping the Golden Knights reach the Cup Final in their first season.
Now, Mete and Schmidt are completely different players, but Mete finds himself in a similar situation. With the arrival of Alexander Romanov, Mete has been pushed down the depth chart and his future in Montreal seems unclear.
He’s a beloved locker-room fixture to be sure, but maybe Mete needs a change of scenery to renew his career and finally prove that he can be a starting defenseman in the NHL.
Seattle might just be the place for him to do that.
Cale Fleury
Cale Fleury’s spot is a little more assured than Mete’s but the young defenseman has a long way to go to prove that he deserves a permanent spot in the Habs starting lineup. Fleury’s combination of size and skill is definitely enticing but he still has a lot of room to improve.
Assuming that he can stay up with the Montreal Canadiens and find his niche, Fleury’s exposure to the draft doesn’t mean he’ll get picked up over some of the team’s other options.
Really, it’s up to how Seattle plans to structure its defence. Like Mete, Fleury’s contract doesn’t help Seattle move to the cap floor and considering that he’s an unproven player, the Kraken might not be willing to gamble on the young Fleury.
The Kraken might instead look to a player like…
Ben Chiarot
Entering the final year of his contract at the end of the 2020-2021 season, Ben Chiarot would be a surprising yet totally logical player that the Montreal Canadiens could expose.
Chiarot is an excellent player and has proven that he can be a top-4 defenseman in the NHL. However, the Canadiens will likely be in cap trouble and offloading Chiarot’s contract might prove necessary. Chiarot being exposed in the draft is not ideal for the Canadiens but would be a smart financial move.
In Chiarot, the Kraken would have a player that they could instantly pencil into their top-4 or an asset they could get a decent trade package for. His contract situation is also ideal for an expansion team as his $3.5-million per year deal is ideal for a defenseman of his skill and age.
I’m sure that Seattle would also look at Brett Kulak or Noah Juulsen as potential draftees but the Montreal Canadiens also have four forwards that the Kraken would be blessed to have…
Jake Evans
I’ll admit that losing Jake Evans to an expansion draft would hurt but it might not handicap the Canadiens as much as we think.
Evans is one of those players that an expansion team would look at to shore up their future. He has skill beyond his years and even though he doesn’t project to be any more than a top-9 forward, Evans brings incredible value.
Many Habs fans fell in love with the hard-working 7th-round pick after he scored his first NHL goal just one minute into his first NHL shift and proved himself to be an almost perfect 4th-line center. Coach Claude Julien also fell in love with the rookie, entrusting him with that coveted pivot position, allowing the team to roll four skilled lines.
Do you know who else was a scrappy young 4th-liner who got drafted by an expansion team? William Karlsson.
This is not to say that Evans has 43 goals in him or will get anywhere near that, but the Kraken could do much worse than Evans if they’re planning to build a competitive team.
Tomas Tatar
Assuming that Tomas Tatar gets a new contract (which he probably won’t) or doesn’t get traded (which he probably will) the Kraken would have access to a first-line winger that would help them solidify their forward corps.
Considering his disastrous run with Vegas’s expansion team, Tatar likely wouldn’t be too keen on going to Seattle but would have to be on the exposure list because frankly, the Habs cannot afford to offer him the long-term contract he’ll be looking for.
Seattle might not be the place for him either, but if the Kraken will be looking for a valuable trade piece, Tatar is it.
We all love Tuna, but unfortunately, his time with the Habs is probably coming to an end whether it’s via trade or expansion draft.
Joel Armia
Like Tatar, the big, bad Joel Armia is another future trade candidate. Assuming he re-signs with the Montreal Canadiens, Armia would still be the odd-man-out considering the log-jam at wing. While he’s a valuable top-9 forward, the Habs have an over-abundance of valuable top-9 forwards.
And with the arrival of Tyler Toffoli and Josh Anderson, the Habs no longer have to worry about their lack of size on the wings as both those players offer a similar physical profile to the Finnish forward with much more scoring ability.
Considering that Armia will need a new contract, it would be best for the Habs to expose him to the expansion draft and hope that Seattle takes a chance on the powerful right-winger.
Artturi Lekhonen
If I was working for the Kraken, Artturi Lekhonen would be the #2 player on my list after Jake Allen if he were exposed.
Pretty much every Montreal Canadiens fan knows what Lekhonen brings to the table. He’s a coach’s dream – a winger that can drive possession and defend just as well, if not better than he plays in the attacking end. With a quick, albeit inaccurate shot and elite hockey-IQ, Lekhonen would be an excellent choice for the Seattle Kraken.
Losing him would hurt a lot more than losing Jake Evans, Joel Armia, or Tomas Tatar would, however, and Lekhonen’s addition to the exposure list will likely be one of the hardest choices Marc Bergevin will have to make.
But with a long list of high-end prospects coming in the near future, Lekhonen might find himself in an awkward situation. By next season, Lekhonen will need a new contract and considering the impending cap crush, the Finnish winger might be the odd man out.
We’d all be sad to lose Lekhonen but the Kraken would be more than happy to have him on board.