Avs’ expansion draft protected list revealed
The Avalanche submitted its expansion-draft protected list Saturday and it was released to the public Sunday morning.
The Seattle Kraken, the NHL’S 32nd team, will choose one unprotected Avalanche player in Wednesday evening’s expansion draft.
Protected Avalanche forwards (7):
Mikko Rantanen ($9.25 million annual cap hit through 2024-25)
Nathan Mackinnon ($6.3 million through 2022-23)
Andre Burakovsky ($4.9 million through 2021-22)
Nazem Kadri ($4.5 million through 2021-22)
Valeri Nichushkin ($2.5 million through 2021-22)
Logan O’connor ($725,000 through 2021-22)
Tyson Jost (restricted free agent)
Notable unprotected forwards: Gabe Landeskog (unrestricted free agent),
Brandon Saad (unrestricted free agent), Joonas Donskoi ($3.9 million through 202223), J.T. Compher ($3.5 million through 2022-23)
Protected Avalanche defensemen (3):
Cale Makar (restricted free agent)
Sam Girard ($5 million through 2026-27)
Devon Toews ($4.1 million through 2023-24)
Notable unprotected: Erik Johnson ($6 million through 2022-23), Jacob Macdonald ($725,000 through 2021-22).
Protected Avalanche goalie (1):
Philipp Grubauer (unrestricted free agent)
Notable unprotected: Devan Dubnyk (unrestricted free agent), Jonas Johansson ($750,000 through 202122), Hunter Miska (restricted free agent)
The Kraken on Wednesday will select 30 players — one from each team except the Vegas Golden Knights, who were the NHL’S previous expansion team in 2017.
The rules for the Vegas expansion draft are the same for Seattle.
The Kraken must take 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goalies, and 20 of those players must be under contract for the 2021-22 season. Seattle can select 10 free agents but risk losing the unrestricted ones for nothing when free agency begins July 28. However, it has an exclusive window Sunday to Wednesday to potentially sign pending free agents.
Current teams cannot protect players with nomovement clauses unless a player like Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson waives it, like he has, to allow Colorado to protect defensemen Cale Makar, Devon Toews and Sam Girard.
All first- and second-year NHL players, and all unsigned draft choices, are exempt from the expansion draft thus not protected.