An early look at the Seattle expansion draft and the Rangers

A new franchise in Seattle will be joining the NHL in the 2021-22 season.  How will the New York Rangers be impacted by the expansion draft?

It’s time to take another look at the 2021 expansion draft and how it will affect the New York Rangers.  There are still some contractual issues to be resolved (Tony DeAngelo and Brendan Lemieux), but with training camp about to begin, we can look at which player the Rangers could potentially lose.

The most important thing to know is that regardless of which player it is, the impact on the Rangers will be minimal. It won’t be one of their budding young stars or established star players.  No matter who they lose, that player will be replaced by a player from the organization with the best prospect pool in the NHL.

The Seattle team will be the 32nd team in the NHL and that will mean that each o f the four divisions will have eight teams.  Seattle will be in the Pacific Division with the Arizona Coyotes moving to the Central Division.

What will they be called?  No one knows yet, but the ownership group registered the following names as possibles:

Cougars, Eagles, Emeralds, Evergreens, Firebirds, Krakens, Rainiers,  Renegades, Sea Lions, Seals, Sockeyes, Totems and Whales.

This summer the team hired former Carolina Hurricanes executive and player Ron Francis as their general manager and also just announced that Ricky Olczyk  (Ed’s brother) will serve as assistant general manager.

Expansion draft rules

The rules for expansion will be the same as they were when Vegas join the NHL in 2017.

Each team will be able to select one of two options:

1. Protect seven forwards: three defensemen and one goalie
2. Protect eight skaters (forwards or defensemen) and one goalie.

All first and second year professional players as well as unsigned draft choices will be exempt from the draft.  Professional means AHL or NHL.  That means that any player who will play this 2019-20 season with New York or Hartford as a first year professional is exempt.

Any players with a “No Movement” clause in their contracts must be protected unless they waive the clause.

Every team MUST expose two forwards who are under contract for the 2021-22 season and played in at least 40 NHL games the prior year or 70 NHL games in the two prior years.

Every team MUST expose one defenseman who is under contract for the 2021-22 season and played in at least 40 NHL games the prior year or 70 NHL games in the two prior years.

Every team must expose one goaltender who is either under contract for 2021-22 or is an RFA and receives a qualifying offer before the expansion draft.

Any player who is injured and has missed more than 60 consecutive games prior to the draft cannot be used to satisfy the three exposure requirements just described.

Seattle must draft a player from all 30 teams (except Vegas).  There are some other rules that  won’t mean much to the Rangers.