The Los Angeles Kings’ expansion draft protected list was revealed yesterday, with the Kings protecting seven forwards, three defensemen and a goalie. To recap, here’s the list:
FORWARDS (7): Lias Andersson, Viktor Arvidsson, Dustin Brown, Alex Iafallo, Adrian Kempe, Anze Kopitar, Trevor Moore
DEFENSE (3): Drew Doughty, Matt Roy, Sean Walker
GOALIE (1): Cal Petersen
Among the players available are Andreas Athanasiou, Carl Grundstrom, Brendan Lemieux, Blake Lizotte, Olli Maatta, Kurtis MacDermid, Jonathan Quick and Austin Wagner. I thought I’d take this article in a slightly different direction, looking at which player available from the Kings could provide the most value for Seattle.
Up front, Seattle does have some young depth forwards to choose from, as any of Grundstrom, Lemieux, Lizotte or Wagner could be effective members of a bottom-six group. That said, each player has a ceiling and there are going to be many other depth forwards available in the expansion draft. Andreas Athanasiou would be the forward with the highest offensive upside but he’s about to turn 27 years old and is still in need of a new contract. Plus, given Seattle seems set on retaining cap space where possible, it might be unlikely they’d go for Athanasiou, just to have to negotiate an extension that could cost more than they want to spend anyways.
On the back end, the Kraken should stay away from Olli Maatta and Kurtis MacDermid. Neither was overly defensively reliable for the Kings this year and with both players approaching their late 20s, there are definitely better options available.
In net, we can assume Jonathan Quick won't be selected, based on his age and contract status. Seattle could also take a look at players like Martin Frk, Matt Luff or Austin Strand, but it does seem unlikely that one of them would be selected.
The best option for the Kraken would instead be defenseman Kale Clague.
Clague is 23 years old and was originally selected by the Kings in the second round of the 2016 NHL Draft. He split this past season between the NHL and AHL, scoring six points in 18 games with the Kings and 12 points in 23 games with the Ontario Reign.
Despite the limited NHL action, Clague could have top-four potential and likely has the most upside of any of the players available from the Kings. He’s someone the Kings would certainly like to keep around but by using a 7-3-1 format, they didn’t have the room to protect him.
Clague would likely continue getting into more NHL game action with the Kings next season, but he’d probably have an even better opportunity with the Kraken, as one of the team’s young defenders. Seattle should have a pick of some solid veteran left-side defenders as well, and Clague could potentially both learn from – and be sheltered by – the likes of Mark Giordano.
While Seattle does have some options, Clague has the highest potential and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Clague have long-term success with the Kraken, if he is selected.
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Do you think Kale Clague would be the best pick for Seattle?
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