The list of 11 players that the Bruins are shielding from the clutches of the Kraken was revealed on Sunday morning — and there really wasn’t much in terms of surprise from Boston’s camp.
Here is the full list, with Boston opting for the 7-3-1 format (seven forwards, three defensemen, one goaltender) that we predicted during Saturday’s notebook:
Forwards (7):
Patrice Bergeron
David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand
Charlie Coyle
Craig Smith
Jake DeBrusk
Trent Frederic
Defensemen (3):
Charlie McAvoy
Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk
Goaltender (1):
Dan Vladar
As such, the following Bruins will now be exposed to the Kraken when the NHL’s 32nd franchise can begin plucking a player off 30 rosters on Wednesday night.
Forwards:
Nick Ritchie
Curtis Lazar
Chris Wagner
Ondrej Kase
Defensemen:
Connor Clifton
Jeremy Lauzon
Jakub Zboril
Goaltender:
Callum Booth
Pending UFAs like David Krejci, Tuukka Rask, Taylor Hall and Mike Reilly did not have to be protected ahead of Wednesday’s draft. Granted, Seattle does have a window to negotiate with pending UFAs now, and if they are able to sign a player (let’s just say they ink Reilly to a deal in this scenario), that would count as their one pick from the Bruins.
Once the mandated pause on roster transactions is lifted for the rest of the NHL following the expansion draft, the Bruins will still have a week to negotiate exclusively with their pending UFAs before they hit the open market on July 28th.
In addition, first and second-year players who did not meet the appropriate games played and other usage requirements were also exempt, meaning youngsters like Jeremy Swayman and Jack Studnicka were not going to be available to the Kraken.
Based on the list of players that teams opted not to protect due to cap issues, a roster squeeze and plenty of other factors — it sure seems like the Kraken are going to be able to field a competitive team right off the bat.
Some appealing names left unprotected include:
Vladimir Tarasenko, Jonathan Quick, Carey Price, James van Riemsdyk, Nino Niederreiter, Jason Zucker, Matt Duchene, Ryan Johansen, Josh Bailey, Jared McCann, Alex Kerfoot, Mark Giordano, Alex Killorn, Jakub Voracek, Ondrej Palat, Yanni Gourde, Tyler Johnson, Dylan DeMelo, Vince Dunn and Brendan Dillon.
BSJ Analysis
As noted above, there really aren’t that many surprises among Boston’s list of protected players — with our projected list from Saturday following a similar strategy to the one that Don Sweeney and the B’s eventually mapped out in order to protect their top assets from Seattle.
Ritchie stands as the top option for Seattle if they want to target a forward — with both DeBrusk and Frederic standing as the last men in on Boston’s protected list. While some fans might be steamed with DeBrusk’s inclusion, it’s downright dreadful asset management to let a guy like DeBrusk walk for nothing if Boston is intent on moving him later this summer, while Frederic is still a cheap player with term that should have a regular role carved out for him next season so long as he impresses in camp.
Ritchie’s place on Boston’s roster next season might be a bit tougher to project, especially if DeBrusk returns and/or Boston adds more middle-six wingers to the team during what should be a busy offseason.
Not only might there be concern on Ritchie’s ceiling given that his past season (with a career-high 15 goals) was still undercut by the winger running out of steam in the playoffs, but perhaps the top reason why Boston might want Seattle to take the winger off their hands is that Ritchie is due for a nice raise as an RFA — with a potential arbitration case likely handing him a steady chunk of cash given his baseline production.
With Boston needed all of the cap space it can to improve this roster, the B’s might be alright with the Kraken snagging Ritchie and have them open their wallets in order to pay the inconsistent winger.
While that might be Boston’s preferred scenario as for how this draft goes, it sure seems like the obvious choice for Seattle is one of Clifton or Lauzon – giving the Kraken a cost-controlled, young, physical blueliner that Dave Hakstol can pencil into the lineup night in and night out.
Seattle should have plenty of options when it comes to building the top of its forward corps, the pool of defensemen becomes a bit scarce beyond some of the pricy headliners like Giordano, with one of Lauzon/Clifton likely offering top value as a third-pairing stalwart.