Predicting Seattle Kraken protected list

The Chicago Blackhawks, along with the rest of the National Hockey League, are preparing to submit their Protected List to the Seattle Kraken ahead of the 2021 Expansion Draft. Each team can submit a list of either seven strikers, three defenders and one goalkeeper, or eight players and one goalkeeper. It’s an interesting conversation for the Blackhawks as it involves some tough decisions.

It is impossible to predict exactly who they will go with, but we will try. It can be assumed that they will follow the path of seven strikers, three defenders and one goalkeeper. They don’t have a good enough defense to sacrifice extra strikers for them. Players with entry-level contracts are exempt from this draft, so you won’t see anyone like Kirby Dach protected or exposed.

F – Jonathan Toews

F – Patrick Kane

F – Alex DeBrincat

F – Dominic Kubalik

F – Dylan Strome

F – Henrik Borgström

F – Pius Suter

D – Connor Murphy

D – Caleb Jones

D – Riley Stillman

G – Kevin Lankinen

You may be surprised by some of the choices here. You could choose to protect someone like Calvin deHaan on behalf of Riley Stillman, but that would be a bad idea. He’s an often injured senior defender who only has a year left. The Hawks signed Stillman into a long-term contract for a reason. Nikita Zadorov is also someone Seattle should consider when considering hiring a Blackhawks defender.

With the strikers, the top players are obvious. It would make more sense to protect players like Borgstrom and Suter rather than players like Brandon Hagel, David Kampf or Adam Gaudette. They are good players, but any team will lose a pretty good player. It makes more sense to leave these guys exposed and give the younger players a chance.

Kevin Lankinen is the obvious goalkeeper to protect. Collin Delia and Malcolm Subban are both exposed as each team must have at least one available. After the draft extension is over, you can expect them to sign a backup (or 1A) on an independent basis to help Lankinen.

The Chicago Blackhawks lose a talented player to the Seattle Kraken.

With all the talent around the NHL, the Seattle Kraken have the chance to put together a very impressive team in 2021-22. They also play in the very weak Pacific Division so you never know. You can expect to make a trade or two during the Expansion Draft as well, which made the Vegas Golden Knights their success.

Add in the fact that they have the second overall choice and it looks even better. The Blackhawks must do everything possible to make sure they handle it well. They are in a very important phase of their “retooling” and this Seattle Kraken business is a big part of that.