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Good morning my friends and welcome to the start of our Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft! I hope all my Canadian friends enjoyed their Thanksgiving weekend and got in some prime sports watching as well. I for one happily enjoyed the Seahawks once again win in dramatic fashion.
We've spent the last couple weeks waiting in preparation but now I as the Seattle Kraken GM will begin to select my team which will hit the ice for the start of the 21/22 season. Free agency is well underway with some moves occurring that should shake up some people's lists.
Today we start with the Anaheim Ducks
Unfortunately I did not have someone approach me to make these picks for the Ducks..... until the last minute when my very good and real friend John Schmalocknee came to the rescue. Here is what John has for us.
ANAHEIM DUCKS PROTECTION LIST
FORWARDS
Jakob Silfverberg - RW
Rickard Rakell - C/LW
Danton Heinen - C/RW
Troy Terry - C/RW
Isac Lundestrom - C
Sam Steel - C
Max Jones - LW
The Ducks are a team in rebuild and will be prioritizing their young core which includes players such as Sam Steel, Max Jones, and Troy Terry. Captain Ryan Getzlaf will be a free agent this summer but I expect him to sign another one year deal with the Ducks. He can be left unprotected and I don't see the Kraken pursuing him too hard, allowing Anaheim to essentially protect another roster player.
Newly signed Kevin Shattenkirk and Adam Henrique would be the two players I am most concerned about losing but both also fit the requirements for having to expose players who have played a certain number of games.
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Thank you so much John!
Looking at the remaining players, here are the names that stand out for me:
Adam Henrique: 30 year old centre signed for another three seasons (at expansion) at 5.825 million a year. Capable of putting up at least 40+ points a season.
Sonny Milano: 24 year old who has put up one decent year with 14 goals with the Blue Jackets but otherwise has underwhelmed. Has one year on his deal at 1.7 million and remains an RFA afterwards.
Kevin Shattenkirk: Right shot defenseman who can put up solid point production and could be used as a top PP player. Had a resurgence year with the Tampa Bay Lightning after a couple mediocre seasons with the Rangers.
Jacob Larsson: Young defensive defenseman who currently has 113 games under his belt. At 23 still has plenty of room to grow and after one more year at 1.2 million, remains an RFA.
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SEATTLE SELECTS......
Adam Henrique
Henrique checks plenty of boxes for me. At 30 years old he still can play an effective game and with three years remaining on his deal at the time of selection, should be able to play at a high end level the entire time. Depending on how the remainder of this draft goes, Henrique may end up being the top line centre for the Kraken on opening night 2021.
LINEUP
As we move through the draft, I will continuously update the lineup to help give a sense of where the areas of need are.
Seattle Kraken Blogger • 
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