1. Jake Bean
Topping my list of potential targets in the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft is Jake Bean and for several very good reasons.
I’ve been high on Jake Bean since the year before he was drafted. The kid is sure to be a Dougie Hamilton 2.0, but slightly more defensively sound. Slightly.
Bean, drafted 13th Overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft (also by Ron Francis), led the AHL defensemen in scoring last season, and in any other organization that doesn’t have insane defensive depth, would easily be a 2nd or 3rd pairing defenseman.
The Carolina Hurricanes haven’t given him much of a shot in the NHL as of yet, but the team that does is guaranteed to have quite the gem on their hands.
If Bean does, indeed, explode onto the Seattle Kraken roster, it will be a source of torment for those of us who have been practically begging for the kid to be given a string of games at the NHL level for the past year or two.
In any of these three scenarios, the Seattle Kraken are going to gain a very good player from the Carolina Hurricanes. Like I said before, I don’t think we’ll be able to escape relatively unscathed from this Expansion Draft as we did in 2017, but my fingers are crossed all the same.
Question for CC Readers: Which player do you think the Kraken are likely to select from the Carolina Hurricanes?