Kraken Take Bastian from Devils’ Roster

The results are in and the Seattle Kraken have taken their first players before they ice a team this October. From the Devils’ roster, the Kraken took forward Nate Bastian.

The pick was leaked prior to the Expansion Draft (along with all of Seattle’s 29 other picks – the Vegas Golden Knights were exempt from the Expansion Draft). The Bastian pick, in particular, was reported by Chris Johnston of Hockey Night in Canada and I first read it on the New York Post’s site (the list was compiled by David Lazar there).

The Kraken, of course, get a solid bottom-six forward with the Bastian pick. They also get someone on a reasonable contract (an average annual value of $1,650,000 and a cap hit of $1,650,000 as well. He is owed $825,000 net season. He will become an unrestricted free agent next summer. (His salary information comes from capfriendly.com).

Bastian was a second-round draft pick by the Devils in 2016 (41st 0verall). Last year, he appeared in 41 games for the Devils, notching three goals and seven assists for a total of 10 points. He also racked up 21 penalty minutes and 46 shots on net. He averaged 12:37 of time on ice (just on his career average of 12:38) and posted a 36.4 faceoff winning percentage.

Of course, with this pick, the team of Nate Bastian and Michael McLeod (who skated on the same line this past year) are split up for the first time since sometime prior to juniors. The two of them played in the Ontario Hockey League for the Mississauga Steelheads together.

Seattle also took Haydn Fleury (defenseman from the Anaheim Ducks), forward Tyler Pitlick (Arizona Coyotes), defenseman Jeremy Lauzon (Boston Bruins), Will Borgen (defenseman from the Buffalo Sabres), defenseman Mark Giordano (Calgary Flames), forward Morgan Geekie (Carolina Hurricanes), former Devils draft pick forward John Quenneville (Chicago Blackhawks), forward Joonas Donskoi (Colorado Avalanche), defenseman Gavin Bayreuther (Columbus Blue Jackets), Jamie Oleksiak (defenseman from the Dallas Stars), Dennis Cholowski (Detroit Red Wings), former Devils’ defenseman Adam Larsson (selected from the Edmonton Oilers), goalie Chris Driedger (Florida Panthers – was on the show live and debuted Seattle’s home dark jersey), defenseman Kurtis MacDermid (LA Kings), defenseman Carson Soucy (Minnesota Wild), defenseman Cale Fleury (Montreal Canadiens – brother of Anaheim’s Haydn – also selected by the Kraken), forward Calle Jarnkrok (Nashville Predators), forward Jordan Eberle (New York Islanders – debuted the Kraken’s white away jersey), forward Colin Blackwell of the New York Rangers, goalie Joey Daccord of the Ottawa Senators, forward Carsen Twarynski (Philadelphia Flyers), forward Brandon Tanev (Pittsburgh Penguins), forward Alexander True of the San Jose Sharks, defenseman Vince Dunn of the St. Louis Blues, forward Yanni Gourde of the Tampa Bay Lightning, forward Jared McCann (Toronto Maple Leafs), forward Kole Lind (Vancouver Canucks), goalie VItek Vanecek (Washington Capitals) and forward Mason Appleton (Winnipeg Jets).

Of course, not all of these players will suit up for the Seattle Kraken. There will be trades, there will be players to stock their AHL team in Palm Springs, California, there will be free agent signings and there will be the Entry Draft on Friday night. Should the Devils make any deals with Seattle, we will keep you up to date right here. We will also see you Friday for the first-round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

Devils Reveal Protected List

Ahead of the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft next week, the Devils have – along with the other 30 teams eligible for the Draft – revealed their protected list.

Only 30 established NHL teams are eligible for the Draft since the Vegas Golden Knights are exempt and do not have to make any players available to the Kraken.

The Devils, according to “Inside the Devils Blog” author Amanda Stein, “used a 7-3-1 model forgoing the other alternative of” pooling their skaters and protecting one goalie. This means that General Manager Tom Fitzgerald elected to protect seven forwards, three defensemen and a goalie. Instead of protecting as many skaters (any combination of forwards and defensemen) as they could, the Devils did it by position.

Stein says that the forwards protected are: captain Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Janne Kuokkanen, Michael McLeod, Yegor Sharangovich, Miles Wood and Pavel Zacha. Defensemen protected include: Jonas Siegenthaler, Damon Severson and Ryan Graves.  Mackenzie Blackwood is the goalie protected.

Stein also mentioned that players like Jack Hughes, Ty Smith, Jesper Boqvist, Nolan Foote and Kevin Bahl were not eligible for the Draft due to being on entry level contracts/not having enough NHL service time.

Notable names eligible to be taken by Seattle according to Stein include: PK Subban, Will Butcher, Ryan Murray, Connor Carrick (defensemen), forwards Andreas Johnsson, Nathan Bastian and Nick Merkley and goaltenders Scott Wedgewood, Evan Cormier and Aaron Dell.

Stein also did an “Around the League” component to her latest post and noted that among other NHL teams, some former Devils have been exposed to the Kraken.

These include Taylor Hall (Boston Bruins), Blake Coleman (Tampa Bay Lightning), Andy Greene, Travis Zajac and Cory Schneider all currently of the New York Islanders, Adam Henrique (Anaheim Ducks), Sami Vatanen (Dallas Stars), Marcus Johansson (Minnesota Wild) and the man Hall was traded for, Adam Larsson (Edmonton Oilers). Those are just a taste of some of the players teams had to leave exposed to stay compliant for the Expansion Draft.

A few of these players, including Greene and Larsson, had just signed new contracts with their current teams. (EDIT: Larsson has not signed a new contract with the Oilers yet and now cannot do so until after the Expansion Draft).

But as Stein continued, there were other players just as (or more) surprising being left for Seattle to take. These include Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens – coming off of his first trip to the Stanley Cup Final, he was asked to waive his No Trade Clause by the Habs.

The Nashville Predators, fresh off of trading Viktor Arvidsson to the Los Angeles Kings and Ryan Ellis to the Philadelphia Flyers, left Ryan Johansen and Matt Duchene (their big free agent signing a few seasons back) open for Seattle to select.

In addition, the Stanley Cup champs, the Lightning, have left key pieces Yanni Gourde, Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Alex Killorn exposed.

The Expansion Draft will do down this coming Wednesday, July 21.