Montreal Canadiens: Strong Playoff Performances Could Lead Seattle To Pass On Jake Allen

Paul Byron

I know things worked out quite well for the Vegas Golden Knights, but that isn’t likely to be the case for the Kraken. Teams just won’t be foolish enough to give them both Erik Haula and Alex Tuch, or Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith or Shea Theodore.

Lightning just can’t strike twice on the same league in succession.

What the Kraken will have is a bunch of third line forwards and second pairing defenders. They won’t exactly be misfits, but they will get a sense of being castoffs from their original teams as they weren’t deemed valuable enough to protect.

If someone has to be a leader of a team of castoffs, why not Paul Byron?

The Calgary Flames placed him on waivers in 2015 so they could keep a roster spot for Brandon Bollig who had scored one goal in 62 games the previous season.

Byron was claimed by the Canadiens and would go on to become a regular contributor who twice scored over 20 goals and was on pace to do it a third time if not for injury. He became a fixture on the team’s penalty kill and after two playoff rounds, that penalty kill has allowed just three goals and scored four times.

Byron is an assistant captain for the Canadiens and, knowing exactly what it is like to be cast aside by an NHL team, could be a great leader for the Seattle Kraken in their inaugural season.

The only downside for the Kraken is his $3.4 million cap hit that is a bit high considering he has 26 points in his last 75 games. But he only has two years left on that deal, and would be a perfect veteran and leader for a team of castoffs.