Panthers’ exposed list for draft includes Driedger, Vatrano
The Panthers left Chris Driedger unprotected for the NHL Expansion Draft, and the Seattle Kraken will reportedly sign the goaltender. It’s the ideal outcome for Florida.
A series of roster moves Thursday set the Florida Panthers up to keep most of the core of its roster intact as the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft looms. On Sunday, the NHL announced the list of players each team protected ahead of the Expansion Draft, and the Panthers’ list is mostly devoid of surprises, setting up the Seattle Kraken to potentially acquire Chris Driedger in the expansion process.
Florida is protecting Sergei Bobrovsky, MacKenzie Weegar, Aaron Ekblad, Gustav Forsling, Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Carter Verhaeghe, Patric Hornqvist, Anthony Duclair, Sam Bennett and Mason Marchment from being taken by the Kraken in the NHL Expansion Draft on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Panthers made most of its list clear when they bought out Keith Yandle, and signed Forsling and Duclair to a pair of three-year extensions.
It all lines up for Seattle to land Driedger as part of the expansion process, as The
Sports Network reported was likely Saturday.
Florida’s maneuvering left the Kraken with a handful of options for Wednesday, although
there isn’t a no-brainer choice. Winger Frank Vatrano is an option, as are defenseman Radko Gudas, forward Noel Acciari and left wing Ryan Lomberg. The Kraken can use the next four days to negotiate with unprotected, unrestricted free agents, which gives them an opportunity to interview Driedger, defenseman Brandon Montour and forward Alex Wennberg.
Driedger, who finished the regular season ranked fifth in the league in save percentage, will reportedly be the choice, as long as Seattle can reach an agreement with the goaltender.
If the Kraken does sign Driedger, the signing will count as its pick from the Panthers in the Expansion Draft, meaning Florida won’t lose anyone else as part of the expansion process. Considering Florida was unlikely to re-sign Driedger this offseason anyway, it’d be an ideal outcome for the Panthers.
Seattle is allowed to pick only one unprotected player per team in the
expansion process. The Vegas Golden Knights, who just joined the league as an expansion team in 2017, are exempt from the Draft.
If it doesn’t reach a deal with Driedger, the Kraken could opt to pluck Vatrano, Gudas, Acciari or Lomberg away from Florida and try to sign Driedger once free agency opens July 28.
The Panthers had no choice but to leave Driedger unprotected because Bobrovsky has a no-movement clause. The league allows teams to protect up to 11 players, so long as seven are forwards, three are defensemen and one is a goaltender. Teams are also required to protect players with no-movement clauses, which is part of why Florida wanted to buy out the final two years of Yandle’s contract last week.
Weegar and Ekblad were clear-cut defensemen to protect, and the Panthers also wanted to be able to protect Forsling, but wouldn’t have been able to if Yandle was still in the fold. By buying out the 34-year-old defenseman, the Panthers cleared about $4 million in cap space for this year and opened up the ability to protect Forsling.
Bobrovsky and Huberdeau are now the only players on the roster with no-movement clauses.
The other six forwards protected — Barkov, Verhaeghe, Hornqvist, Duclair, Bennett and Marchment — were chosen because of their importance to the team, although Bennett is a restricted free agent, which means there is still a slim chance Florida could lose him this offseason.
A handful of important contributors were also exempt from the Expansion Draft because they are in their first or second year as professionals. This group includes goaltender Spencer Knight and right wing Owen Tippett, plus top prospects Grigori Denisenko and Anton Lundell.