I’ve seen a little conversation about this and I’m curious about some of the logistics myself, so I thought we could have a thread to discuss the upcoming expansion draft, and who the Canucks will protect and who they will expose.
The rules;
Seattle 2021 NHL Expansion Draft rules same as Golden Knights followed
Based on my limited understanding, our exempt players would be: Nils Hoglander, Olli Juolevi, Jalen Chatfield
Our pending UFAs are: Brandon Sutter, Tanner Pearson, Alex Edler, Jordie Benn, Travis Hamonic
Assuming we go with 7 F, 3 D, 1G to protect, my guess would be...
F:
1 - Pettersson
2 - Boeser
3 - Miller
4 - Horvat
5 - Gaudette
6 - Virtanen
7 - Motte
Exposed: Roussel, Beagle, MacEwen
D:
1 - Hughes
2 - Schmidt
3 - Myers
Exposed: Question mark? At this point, do the Canucks have 4 defenders under contract that meet the expansion criteria?
* One defenseman who is a) under contract in 2021-22 and b) played in at least 40 NHL games the prior season or played in at least 70 NHL games in the prior two seasons.
G:
1 - Thatcher Demko
Exposed: Holtby
I think Holtby is our most likely player to he claimed, although MacEwen could be a candidate as well. I’m unclear on exactly how they calculate “first and second season” players, because MacEwen only played a handful of games over the past 2 seasons.