# 2021 NHL expansion draft

The 2021 NHL expansion draft was an expansion draft that was conducted by the National Hockey League (NHL) on July 21, 2021, at Gas Works Park in Seattle. The draft took place to fill the roster of the league's expansion team for the 2021–22 season, the Seattle Kraken. The Kraken selected 30 players from 30 of the league's 31 teams, and 25 ultimately ended up playing for the team.

## Background

On December 4, 2017, the Seattle City Council voted 7–1 to approve a memorandum of understanding between the city of Seattle and the Los Angeles-based Oak View Group, co-founded by Tim Leiweke, for renovations of KeyArena. Renovations for the arena began in 2018 and were completed in 2021. The original roof remains in place, as it is considered a local historical landmark. Three days later, the NHL Board of Governors agreed to consider an expansion application from Seattle, with an expansion fee set at US$650 million.
On February 13, 2018, the Oak View Group filed an application with the NHL for an expansion team and paid a $10 million application fee. At the time, the earliest a Seattle NHL team could have begun playing was the 2020–21 season pending the completion of arena renovations. On October 2, another step towards an expansion team was taken when the NHL Executive Committee unanimously agreed to recommend the expansion bid to a vote of the Board of Governors in December. On December 4, the NHL Board of Governors voted unanimously to approve the addition of Seattle's expansion team into the league.
On July 18, 2019, the organization hired Ron Francis to serve as their general manager to initiate operations for the team. As general manager, Francis oversees all of the club's hockey operations, including facets like player personnel, coaching staff, scouting, and minor league operations. Francis later stated that three things he wanted to prioritize in the Kraken's roster were speed, character, and competitiveness.
In July 2020, the franchise announced their team name—the Seattle Kraken—as well as their team colors, branding, and home jersey.
On April 30, 2021, the franchise paid the final installment of the US$650 million expansion fee, officially making the Seattle Kraken the 32nd team of the NHL. On May 12, the Kraken signed their first player—Luke Henman—to a three-year, entry-level contract. In June, the Kraken named Dave Hakstol as their inaugural head coach. "Dave possesses great experience, a strong work ethic, a solid technical understanding of the game, and the remarkable ability to communicate clearly and effectively. I look forward to working with Dave as we strive to build a team our fans will be proud of," Ron Francis stated about Hakstol.

## Rules

Seattle followed the same rules for the draft as the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2017 NHL expansion draft, with the provision that Vegas was exempt from losing a player in exchange for forgoing a share of the Kraken's expansion fee. The 30 other teams submitted their lists of protected players on July 18. Teams could protect eight skaters and a goaltender, or seven forwards, three defensemen, and a goaltender; and they had to expose at least two forwards and one defenseman who were under contract for the 2021–22 season and played in at least 27 games in the 2020–21 season, or more than 54 games in the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons combined. Teams also had to expose a goaltender under contract for the 2021–22 season or who would be a restricted free agent (with a qualifying offer received) in 2021. Teams were required to protect any contracted players with no-move clauses (NMCs) with one of the team's slots for protected players, unless:
* The contract expired on July 28, 2021, in which case the NMC was considered void for the draft.
* The player with an NMC continuing past July 28, 2021, was deemed to have a career-threatening injury and is thus declared exempt from selection and use of a protection slot.
* The player with an NMC waived his no-movement clause for the expansion draft.
Any player picked in the expansion draft could not have his contract bought out until after the completion of the 2021–22 season.
At least twenty of the thirty players selected by Seattle had to be under contract for the 2021–22 season, and the team was required to select a minimum of fourteen forwards, nine defensemen, and three goaltenders. Furthermore, the 2021–22 salaries of the thirty players selected (as measured in terms of what is counted against the salary cap, had to add up to between 60% and 100% of the 2020–21 salary cap (i.e., the full nominal cap, not the prorated cap for the shortened 56-game season that was played). Seattle was granted a 48-hour window prior to the draft to sign any unprotected pending free agent (restricted or unrestricted, one per team). Teams that lost a player to Seattle during the signing window did not have a player selected from its roster during this draft as the signed player counted as Seattle's selection.

## Protected players

On July 18, the protected player list, a list of players who the Kraken were not allowed to select during the draft, was released.
Italics indicate player was protected for contractual reasons.

### Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division :
| Position | Boston | Buffalo | Detroit | Florida | Montreal | Ottawa | Tampa Bay | Toronto |
| Forwards | Patrice Bergeron | Rasmus Asplund | Tyler Bertuzzi | Aleksander Barkov | Josh Anderson | Drake Batherson | Anthony Cirelli | Mitch Marner |
| Forwards | Charlie Coyle | Anders Bjork | Adam Erne | Sam Bennett | Joel Armia | Connor Brown | Nikita Kucherov | Auston Matthews |
| Forwards | Jake DeBrusk | Jack Eichel | Robby Fabbri | Anthony Duclair | Jake Evans | Logan Brown | Brayden Point | William Nylander |
| Forwards | Trent Frederic | Casey Mittelstadt | Dylan Larkin | Patric Hornqvist | Brendan Gallagher | Nick Paul | Steven Stamkos | John Tavares |
| Forwards | Brad Marchand | Victor Olofsson | Michael Rasmussen | Jonathan Huberdeau | Jesperi Kotkaniemi | Brady Tkachuk | | |
| Forwards | David Pastrnak | Sam Reinhart | Givani Smith | Mason Marchment | Artturi Lehkonen | Austin Watson | | |
| Forwards | Craig Smith | Tage Thompson | Jakub Vrana | Carter Verhaeghe | Tyler Toffoli | Colin White | | |
| Defensemen | Brandon Carlo | Rasmus Dahlin | Filip Hronek | Aaron Ekblad | Ben Chiarot | Thomas Chabot | Erik Cernak | T. J. Brodie |
| Defensemen | Matt Grzelcyk | Henri Jokiharju | Nick Leddy | Gustav Forsling | Joel Edmundson | Victor Mete | Victor Hedman | Justin Holl |
| Defensemen | Charlie McAvoy | Rasmus Ristolainen | Gustav Lindstrom | MacKenzie Weegar | Jeff Petry | Nikita Zaitsev | Ryan McDonagh | Jake Muzzin |
| Defensemen | | | | | | | Mikhail Sergachev | Morgan Rielly |
| Goaltender | Daniel Vladar | Linus Ullmark | Thomas Greiss | Sergei Bobrovsky | Jake Allen | Filip Gustavsson | Andrei Vasilevskiy | Jack Campbell |
Metropolitan Division :
| Position | Carolina | Columbus | New Jersey | NY Islanders | NY Rangers | Philadelphia | Pittsburgh | Washington |
| Forwards | Sebastian Aho | Cam Atkinson | Jesper Bratt | Mathew Barzal | Pavel Buchnevich | Nicolas Aube-Kubel | Teddy Blueger | Nicklas Backstrom |
| Forwards | Jesper Fast | Oliver Bjorkstrand | Nico Hischier | Anthony Beauvillier | Filip Chytil | Sean Couturier | Jeff Carter | Lars Eller |
| Forwards | Warren Foegele | Boone Jenner | Janne Kuokkanen | Cal Clutterbuck | Chris Kreider | Claude Giroux | Sidney Crosby | Evgeny Kuznetsov |
| Forwards | Jordan Staal | Patrik Laine | Michael McLeod | Anders Lee | Artemi Panarin | Kevin Hayes | Jake Guentzel | Anthony Mantha |
| Forwards | Andrei Svechnikov | Gustav Nyquist | Yegor Sharangovich | Matt Martin | Kevin Rooney | Travis Konecny | Kasperi Kapanen | T. J. Oshie |
| Forwards | Teuvo Teravainen | Eric Robinson | Miles Wood | Brock Nelson | Ryan Strome | Scott Laughton | Evgeni Malkin | Daniel Sprong |
| Forwards | Vincent Trocheck | Jack Roslovic | Pavel Zacha | Jean-Gabriel Pageau | Mika Zibanejad | Oskar Lindblom | Bryan Rust | Tom Wilson |
| Defensemen | Brett Pesce | Vladislav Gavrikov | Ryan Graves | Adam Pelech | Libor Hajek | Ryan Ellis | Brian Dumoulin | John Carlson |
| Defensemen | Brady Skjei | Seth Jones | Damon Severson | Ryan Pulock | Ryan Lindgren | Ivan Provorov | Kris Letang | Dmitry Orlov |
| Defensemen | Jaccob Slavin | Zach Werenski | Jonas Siegenthaler | Scott Mayfield | Jacob Trouba | Travis Sanheim | Mike Matheson | Trevor van Riemsdyk |
| Goaltender | Alex Nedeljkovic | Joonas Korpisalo | Mackenzie Blackwood | Semyon Varlamov | Alexandar Georgiev | Carter Hart | Tristan Jarry | Ilya Samsonov |

### Western Conference

Central Division :
| Position | Arizona | Chicago | Colorado | Dallas | Minnesota | Nashville | St. Louis | Winnipeg |
| Forwards | Lawson Crouse | Henrik Borgstrom | Andre Burakovsky | Jamie Benn | Joel Eriksson Ek | Filip Forsberg | Ivan Barbashev | Kyle Connor |
| Forwards | Christian Dvorak | Alex DeBrincat | Tyson Jost | Radek Faksa | Kevin Fiala | Tanner Jeannot | Jordan Kyrou | Andrew Copp |
| Forwards | Conor Garland | Brandon Hagel | Nazem Kadri | Denis Gurianov | Marcus Foligno | Luke Kunin | Ryan O'Reilly | Pierre-Luc Dubois |
| Forwards | Clayton Keller | David Kampf | Nathan MacKinnon | Roope Hintz | Jordan Greenway | | David Perron | Nikolaj Ehlers |
| Forwards | Phil Kessel | Patrick Kane | Valeri Nichushkin | Joe Pavelski | Ryan Hartman | | Brayden Schenn | Adam Lowry |
| Forwards | Johan Larsson | Dylan Strome | Logan O'Connor | Alexander Radulov | Nico Sturm | | Oskar Sundqvist | Mark Scheifele |
| Forwards | Nick Schmaltz | Jonathan Toews | Mikko Rantanen | Tyler Seguin | Mats Zuccarello | | Robert Thomas | Blake Wheeler |
| Defensemen | Kyle Capobianco | Caleb Jones | Sam Girard | Miro Heiskanen | Jonas Brodin | Alexandre Carrier | Justin Faulk | Josh Morrissey |
| Defensemen | Jakob Chychrun | Connor Murphy | Cale Makar | John Klingberg | Matt Dumba | Mattias Ekholm | Torey Krug | Neal Pionk |
| Defensemen | Oliver Ekman-Larsson | Riley Stillman | Devon Toews | Esa Lindell | Jared Spurgeon | Dante Fabbro | Colton Parayko | Logan Stanley |
| Defensemen | | | | | | Roman Josi | | |
| Defensemen | | | | | | Philippe Myers | | |
| Goaltender | Darcy Kuemper | Kevin Lankinen | Philipp Grubauer | Anton Khudobin | Cam Talbot | Juuse Saros | Jordan Binnington | Connor Hellebuyck |
Pacific Division :
| Position | Anaheim | Calgary | Edmonton | Los Angeles | San Jose | Seattle | Vancouver | Vegas |
| Forwards | Nicolas Deslauriers | Mikael Backlund | Josh Archibald | Lias Andersson | Rudolfs Balcers | Drafting | Brock Boeser | Exempt |
| Forwards | Max Jones | Dillon Dube | Leon Draisaitl | Viktor Arvidsson | Logan Couture | Drafting | Jason Dickinson | Exempt |
| Forwards | Isac Lundestrom | Johnny Gaudreau | Zack Kassian | Dustin Brown | Jonathan Dahlen | Drafting | Bo Horvat | Exempt |
| Forwards | Rickard Rakell | Elias Lindholm | Connor McDavid | Alex Iafallo | Tomas Hertl | Drafting | J. T. Miller | Exempt |
| Forwards | Jakob Silfverberg | Andrew Mangiapane | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | Adrian Kempe | Evander Kane | Drafting | Tyler Motte | Exempt |
| Forwards | Sam Steel | Sean Monahan | Jesse Puljujarvi | Anze Kopitar | Kevin Labanc | Drafting | Tanner Pearson | Exempt |
| Forwards | Troy Terry | Matthew Tkachuk | Kailer Yamamoto | Trevor Moore | Timo Meier | Drafting | Elias Pettersson | Exempt |
| Defensemen | Cam Fowler | Rasmus Andersson | Ethan Bear | Drew Doughty | Brent Burns | Drafting | Olli Juolevi | Exempt |
| Defensemen | Hampus Lindholm | Noah Hanifin | Duncan Keith | Matt Roy | Erik Karlsson | Drafting | Tyler Myers | Exempt |
| Defensemen | Josh Manson | Christopher Tanev | Darnell Nurse | Sean Walker | Marc-Edouard Vlasic | Drafting | Nate Schmidt | Exempt |
| Goaltender | John Gibson | Jacob Markstrom | Stuart Skinner | Cal Petersen | Adin Hill | Drafting | Thatcher Demko | Exempt |

## Pre-draft

On July 19, a three-day period where the Seattle Kraken could talk to unrestricted free agents (UFAs) begun. On the morning of the draft day, July 21, the Kraken signed defensemen Adam Larsson and Jamie Oleksiak and goaltender Chris Driedger to a four-year $16 million deal, a five-year $23 million contract, and a three-year $10.5 million deal, respectively. Larsson, Oleksiak, and Driedger would count as the pick from their respective teams (Edmonton, Dallas, and Florida, respectively).

## Draft selections

The Kraken's draft selections are listed below:
Key: Left wing = LW, Center = C, Right wing = RW, Defenseman = D, Goaltender = G
| Number | Player | Position | Team drafted from |
| 1 | Jeremy Lauzon | D | Boston Bruins |
| 2 | Will Borgen | D | Buffalo Sabres |
| 3 | Dennis Cholowski | D | Detroit Red Wings |
| 4 | Chris Driedger | G | Florida Panthers |
| 5 | Cale Fleury | D | Montreal Canadiens |
| 6 | Joey Daccord | G | Ottawa Senators |
| 7 | Yanni Gourde | C/LW | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| 8 | Jared McCann | LW/C | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 9 | Morgan Geekie | RW/C | Carolina Hurricanes |
| 10 | Gavin Bayreuther | D | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 11 | Nathan Bastian | RW | New Jersey Devils |
| 12 | Jordan Eberle | RW | New York Islanders |
| 13 | Colin Blackwell | C | New York Rangers |
| 14 | Carsen Twarynski | LW | Philadelphia Flyers |
| 15 | Brandon Tanev | LW | Pittsburgh Penguins |
| 16 | Vitek Vanecek | G | Washington Capitals |
| 17 | Tyler Pitlick | C | Arizona Coyotes |
| 18 | John Quenneville | C | Chicago Blackhawks |
| 19 | Joonas Donskoi | RW | Colorado Avalanche |
| 20 | Jamie Oleksiak | D | Dallas Stars |
| 21 | Carson Soucy | D | Minnesota Wild |
| 22 | Calle Jarnkrok | RW | Nashville Predators |
| 23 | Vince Dunn | D | St. Louis Blues |
| 24 | Mason Appleton | C | Winnipeg Jets |
| 25 | Haydn Fleury | D | Anaheim Ducks |
| 26 | Mark Giordano | D | Calgary Flames |
| 27 | Adam Larsson | D | Edmonton Oilers |
| 28 | Kurtis MacDermid | D | Los Angeles Kings |
| 29 | Alexander True | C | San Jose Sharks |
| 30 | Kole Lind | RW | Vancouver Canucks |

## Post-draft

On July 22, the Kraken made their first trade in team history, giving expansion draft pick Tyler Pitlick to the Calgary Flames in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2022 NHL entry draft. Five days later, the Kraken traded draft pick Kurtis MacDermid to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2023 NHL entry draft. On July 28, the first day of free agency, the Kraken traded draft pick Vitek Vanecek to the team he was selected from, the Washington Capitals, in exchange for a second-round draft pick in 2023. That same day, draft pick Gavin Bayreuther re-signed as a free agent with his former team, the Columbus Blue Jackets. On September 5, draft pick John Quenneville signed as a free agent with ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League
All other expansion draft players would feature for the Kraken at least once during their inaugural season.

## Guest appearances

Several Seattle sportspeople and celebrities made appearances to announce the draft picks, including Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton of the Seattle SuperSonics, as well as former Sonics coach Lenny Wilkens; Marshawn Lynch and Bobby Wagner of the Seattle Seahawks; Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm via video conference as she was in Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Olympics; Kyle Lewis of the Seattle Mariners; Brad Evans and Jordan Morris of the Seattle Sounders FC; Kraken scout Cammi Granato, and Seattle based rapper Macklemore. Western Washington Female Hockey members, Anchorage Hockey Association members, Kraken season-ticket holders, and construction workers from Climate Pledge Arena were also featured during the event. Kraken co-owner Jerry Bruckheimer and general manager Ron Francis also participated.