Carolina Hurricanes: Three Potential Targets for Seattle Expansion Draft

The Carolina Hurricanes have quite a few attractive potential targets for the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft next year.

The 2nd NHL Expansion Draft in 4 years is right around the corner, and the Carolina Hurricanes might not be able to emerge as unscathed in this one as they did the last.

For starters, let’s look back at what the Carolina Hurricanes actually ended up losing in the Vegas Expansion Draft. The Hurricanes traded a 2017 5th round draft pick to Vegas for ‘future considerations’, which in this circumstance is a roundabout way of saying the Vegas Golden Knights would select Connor Brickley instead of any of the other, more skilled players that were left exposed by Carolina in the Expansion Draft.

Now on the other side of the negotiation table, Ron Francis might not be so willing to ‘play ball’ with the Carolina Hurricanes, considering two of these three players were drafted by the man himself during his tenure as the Canes’ Vice President and General Manager.

One slight caveat before we get into this: I am by no means saying that I actively want any of these players to go to Seattle, nor am I saying they are the ones absolutely being scouted or pursued by them going forward. I have no inside knowledge of any negotiations or communications between Ron Francis and Don Waddell. This is purely speculation.

Before we fully dive in, I’d like to also briefly go over who I believe the Carolina Hurricanes will be protecting and leaving exposed for the Expansion Draft. Jordan Staal has a full NMC, so he’s a player the Canes will be forced to protect unless Staal chooses to waive the clause.

If not, he’ll fill slot #1 of the protected list. Others that are a given are Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen, Andrei Svechnikov, Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, Petr Mrazek, and Dougie Hamilton (if he does, indeed, remain with the Carolina Hurricanes after this season).

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With these names all but guaranteed to fill 4 of the 7 forward slots, all 3 defenseman slots, and the lone goalie slot, who are the other 3 forwards the Canes could be protecting?

Martin Necas should be exempt from the Expansion draft according to CapFriendly’s interactive Seattle Expansion Draft Tool, so that leaves guys like Ryan Dzingel, Warren Foegele, Jordan Martinook, Brock McGinn, Jesper Fast, and Nino Niederreiter likely targets for protection as well.

The Carolina Hurricanes have another option for protecting more defensemen if they’d like: instead of protecting 7F/3D/1G, they could protect 8 players regardless of if they’re a forward or defenseman, and 1 goalie.

It’s going to be interesting to see how they handle it, but that’s another story for another time. None of the guys listed above are players I believe the Kraken will target over the others I’m about to list in this article.

With that mostly out of the way, let’s dive into who I think Ron Francis will be looking at snagging from the Carolina Hurricanes in the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft, from least likely, to most likely.

3. Vincent Trocheck

Vincent Trocheck is, I believe, the least likely candidate of the three listed in this article to be targeted by the Seattle Kraken in the upcoming expansion draft.

Trocheck is a very skilled two-way right-handed center. These, at the moment, are seemingly coming at a premium in today’s league. The Carolina Hurricanes moved Erik Haula, Lucas Wallmark, Chase Priskie, and Eetu Luostarinen to add Trocheck to their lineup and finally fill the seemingly eternal void at the 2C position.

Trocheck was a huge addition at the 2019 NHL Trade Deadline for the Carolina Hurricanes and was instrumental in the Canes’ sweeping the New York Rangers in the 2020 NHL Playoffs ‘play-in’ round.

Trocheck is just the kind of player to really bring a locker room together, especially a locker room full of guys who, for the most part, have never really played together. Trocheck was easily the ‘glue guy’ in the Florida Panthers’ locker room before being moved to Raleigh, and I’m sure as this season progresses, he’ll fill that role with the Canes as well.

I’m sure Ron Francis wouldn’t mind a player like Vincent Trocheck on his brand new team, but I believe good ol’ Ronnie Franchise has a more dastardly plan up his sleeve, and it’ll likely be a thorn in the side of Canes fans for years to come.

2. Haydn Fleury

Haydn Fleury, the typically happy-go-lucky goofball that has recently made leaps and bounds of progress in the defensive end after adding a healthy dose of ‘snarl’ to his game, should be very high on the list of players Ron Francis is looking at taking from the Carolina Hurricanes.

Fleury, drafted 7th Overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft by Ron Francis himself, was on a trajectory to be a bust just two or so short years ago. That is no longer the case, as Fleury has gone from a 7th D at best to a Top 4 defenseman in the course of 75% of a season.

Fleury is now one of the Carolina Hurricanes’ best young defenseman and could see even more improvement as he gains more and more trust from Canes’ bench boss Rod Brind’amour.

Francis knows exactly what kind of player Haydn Fleury is, and exactly how he’d fit into his plans for the Kraken going forward. On an expansion roster like we’re sure to see, Fleury could easily fit right into the top defensive pairing, and I’m sure he’d do more than excel in the role.

Having Fleury snatched from the organization just as he has seemingly found a groove and hit his stride would surely cause the Carolina Hurricanes’ fanbase to collectively groan, but I believe this next player would prove to be even more of a pain to lose, especially in the coming years.