Carolina Hurricanes: A Look Ahead at the Seattle Expansion Draft
With the Seattle 2021 expansion draft quickly approaching, who might the Carolina Hurricanes lose off of their current roster?
December 4th, 2018 Seattle was awarded the NHL’s 32nd franchise. Taking a look at the current Carolina Hurricanes roster it appears as if they are going to lose an actually NHL roster player, rather than a depth AHL piece, this time around. The only question is who?
The NHL has announced that the rules would be the same for Seattle as it was for the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017. This means each team can either protect seven forwards, three defenseman and a goalie or eight skaters and a goalie. First and second year players are exempt and all players with no movement clauses must be protected by their team.
Since the draft is not until 2021, defenseman Justin Faulk and forward Erik Haula would have to be signed next offseason. For the time being, we will disregard them from our protected list since they currently do not meet the exposure requirements.
Forwards
Jordan Staal has a no movement clause so he’ll have to be protected. Off the current Hurricanes roster, Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teräväinen, Nino Niederreiter, Andrei Svechnikov, Jordan Martinook, and Warren Foegele fill out the rest of the protected forwards. Martin Necas is exempt and will not have to be protected since he does not meet the games played requirement.
With the expansion draft a few years away, it is highly possible that the Canes elect to protect any of Morgan Geekie, Julien Gauthier, Janne Kuokkanen or Lucas Wallmark in place of Foegele and Martinook. Just basing our protected list on their current role with the team, we decided Foegele and Martinook’s contributions are far more important than what Wallmark will provide the team as a fourth line center next season.
Playing in 100 NHL games, Wallmark has tallied 11 goals and 20 assists for 31 points, at times filling in for Jordan Staal last season in the top six. It is likely that Wallmark will center the fourth line this upcoming season due in part to the arrival of Erik Haula. Should Seattle decide to go forward, Lucas Wallmark would provide them with a depth player capable of playing on the penalty kill.
The 23 year old will be an RFA when the expansion draft rolls around. Should he be selected, Seattle would have to sign Lucas to a contract immediately in the offseason. There are several internal options that could be more than able to fill in as the team’s fourth line center going forward in his place.
Defenders
On defense, Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce and Dougie Hamilton are the most likely to be protected based off their current roles with the team. With Faulk not under contract in 2020-2021, Haydn Fleury and Roland McKeown are the two notable players that end up being available to Seattle.
Drafted seventh overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, Haydn Fleury has yet to lock down a full time roster spot with the Hurricanes. After playing 67 games in the NHL in the 2017-2018 season, Hayden was limited to only 20 games in 2018-2019, spending most of the season bouncing back and forth with the Charlotte Checkers in the AHL.
Roland McKeown was originally drafted in by the LA Kings in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. Acquired by the Hurricanes, along with a first round pick in exchange for Andrej Sekera, February 2015, McKeown hasn’t looked out of place at the NHL level, although only appearing in ten NHL games thus far.
It is a toss up between the two young defenseman, but Seattle is more likely to opt for the player with slightly higher upside in Haydn Fleury. Losing Fleury would be a loss on the Hurricanes back end if he takes the next step forward in his development, especially if Justin Faulk is traded or leaves as a free agent in the 2020 offseason.
Goalies
2019 second round draft selection Pyotr Kochetkov should be ready for a NHL role by 2021 resulting in the Hurricanes opting to protect the younger Alex Nedeljkovic over veterans Petr Mrázek and James Reimer.
In the 2021 offseason, the trio of goalies are all going to be in need of contracts and should Seattle opt to select any of the exposed goalies they would have a brief time period to negotiate before any other team. Peter would be almost 30 by the time the expansion draft rolls around giving Seattle a goalie with a fair amount of experience as a number one goalie.
With a tandem of Pyotr and Alex the Hurricanes should be in good hands if Seattle chooses to go this route. Although this would seem like a step back now, in two years time the reigning AHL Goalie of the Year, Nedeljkovic, should be more than capable of being the team’s starter, should he progress as planned.
By selecting Petr, Seattle would be in a similar situation as Vegas was when they were able to get Marc-Andre Fleury from Pittsburgh after they protected the younger Matt Murray. Providing a common influence in the room Mrázek would be a great vet for a team in their inaugural season.
The Verdict
There will certainly be numerous changes on the Hurricanes roster from now until the 2021 offseason and it is hard to predict how exactly players will progress. Based on this list, however, Haydn Fleury seems like the best option for Seattle.
Having a well rounded core of top four defenseman is vitally important for a team to be successful in the NHL. Should he reach his potential Fleury should make a solid stay at home shut down defenseman although lacking any real offensive flair to his game.
With Slavin and Pesce signed long term at bargain deals it is hard to see any of them being exposed. Hamilton, although needing a new contract in 2021, has fit in well on the blue line this past season and provides the team an offensive dimension the other two currently lack, but that is not say they won’t develop.
While losing Fleury would hurt the Hurricanes if he reaches his potential, there should be enough in the pipeline to take his place in a few years. Players like Jesper Sellgren, Jake Bean, Roland McKeown, and Domenick Fensore all could find themselves on or competing for a roster spot by 2021. No matter who Seattle decides to take, the Hurricanes will definitely lose someone off of their NHL roster this time around.
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Who do you see Seattle taking in the 2021 expansion draft?