BREAKING: Seattle Kraken about to strike a deal before expansion draft
The Seattle Kraken will pick one player from each team in the expansion draught on July 21st, with the exception of the Vegas Golden Knights, who are exempt after joining the league in 2017-18. Seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goalie can be protected by a team, or eight skaters (forwards or defensemen) and one goalie can be protected by a team. However, one team is prioritizing a deal with the Kraken.
That would be the Nashville Predators, whose general manager David Poile has expressed interest in working with the 32nd NHL team ahead of the expansion draught.
«I've had a couple of conversations with them,» Predators general manger David Poile said on the «Darren, Daunic and Chase» podcast July 1. «Ideally, if we could strike a deal so there's certainty as to who we would lose, I would probably do that.»
The work might already be in progress as it is believed that the recent trade of forward Viktor Arvidsson to the Los Angeles Kings on July 1 in return for a second-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft and a third-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft took place rather than losing him to Seattle for nothing.
«In my conversations with Seattle, if Viktor Arvidsson was not protected, he would have been taken by Seattle, so that's who we would have lost,» Poile said. «We now have a second and a third (draft picks), that's pretty good compensation for Viktor that hopefully we can turn into some good players pretty soon.»
Discussions remains ongoing between Poile and Kraken GM Ron Francis, who could let the Predators know which player he will target.
«A lot of teams are talking to each other and trying to have a little bit of makeover or changes to their team,» he said. «And we're certainly one that wants to make a couple of changes to our team.»
Credit: HockeyFeed
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