We are now just one week away from the 2o21 Seattle Kraken expansion draft. Player protection lists form each team are due by 5:00 PM this Saturday with the formal draft taking place next Wednesday, July 21. For some teams, the protection lists are set with relative ease. For others, there are a few painful decisions to be made.
One maneuver utilized by teams in past drafts is to make side deals with the expansion team, to go “hands off” on a specific player. For example, a team may send a draft pick to Seattle to not select a certain player, or in some cases to select a specific player.
While the deals that will be ultimately made are sometimes unknown to the public (deals made by Vegas for their expansion draft can be seen here), we do know that the current asking price by Seattle is somewhat steep.
In chatting with front offices around the league the last 24-48 hours, one word to sum up what the Kraken are still asking for as payment in side deals to navigate the expansion draft: “Exorbitant.”
But I mean, there’s still time before Saturday’s protection list deadline…— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) July 14, 2021
The Capitals will likely have to expose a somewhat lesser, but just as important role-player, like Conor Sheary or Daniel Sprong, and/or expose a key backup like Vitek Vanecek, depending how the final list shakes out. The question remains, will the Capitals make a side deal with the Kraken to protect one of those players from being selected.
By Jon Sorensen
