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Kraken Expansion Draft - Detroit Red Wings

October 29, 2020, 6:21 PM ET [11 Comments]
Sean Maloughney
Seattle Kraken Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Hopefully many of you are either done or almost done your work day. Reward yourself for almost finishing another week with another Expansion Draft List. This time from reader Feds91Stammer.

DETROIT RED WINGS PROTECTION LIST

FORWARDS

Anthony Mantha - RW - the often injured scorer is by far the teams best player.
Dylan Larkin - C - the face of the franchise and likely awarded the C before the season.
Tyler Bertuzzi - LW - just received an arbitration award. Team likely wants to see what he can accomplish away from Larkin and Mantha.
Robbie Fabbri - LW - running out of good forwards to protect. Solid middle 6 guy.
Vladislav Namestnikov - LW - see Fabbri.
Evgeny Svechnikov - LW - this is where the debate begins. I’m protecting the forwards I still believe have the highest ceiling.
Michael Rasmussen - LW - see Svechnikov.

DEFENSE

Filip Hronek - RD - best d man by far. Can potentially be a top pair guy.
Troy Stecher - RD - best contract for quality d man on team.
Dennis Cholowski - LD - some will prefer Lindstrom but I feel Cholowski is the only remaining option that has full time NHLer potential.

GOALIE

Thomas Greiss - only goalie option that makes sense.

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Thanks so much for your list and input!

The available options for the Red Wings certainly are... options. There is a reason this team was so bad last season and that isn't magically changing over the course of a year. Here are the best of the available names.

Dominic Turgeon: The 24 year old has yet to post an NHL point but has only seen 9 games. Was a solid bottom six forward and PK option for Grand Rapids.

Frans Nielsen: The 36 year old centre fell off a cliff offensively last season with a mere 9 points in 60 games. The year prior he posted 35 points through 72 games. Some talk of a buyout lingers for Nielsen.

Danny DeKeyser: DeKeyser missed almost all of last season due to a back surgery but should once again play this year. Will likely see some top 4 time on the blueline with the likes of Stecher and Hronek.

SEATTLE SELECTS.....

Frans Nielsen

Yup, bear with me for a moment here.

With the roster as it stands right now, there are a huge amount of players set to be UFA I simply can't look at. I fully expect this selection to change between now and next off-season.

Nielsen and Dekeyser both offer something of value for the Kraken; a player with a cap hit that will help the Kraken reach the floor. Nielsen has a cap hit of 5.25 million while DeKeyser has a cap hit of 5 million. DeKeyser may win in terms of his age (30 vs 36) but Nielsen only has to be paid 3 million in actual salary next season while DeKeyser is owed 5 million. Both of these contracts expire after one season, allowing Seattle to put that money to better use later.

Until some other pending UFA's get signed, I believe this is the best choice.

LINEUP

x-Henrique-x
x-Compher-x
x-Bennett-x
x-Nielsen- Stenlund

Zadorov-Miller
Bean-Lauzon
x-x

Khudobin
Hill

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