Who will the New York Rangers lose in the expansion draft
One of these players will hear “Release the Kraken” every home game next season
The draft rules keep 23 of the New York Rangers current contracted players from the clutches of the Seattle Kraken. The remaining 22 players however, unless chosen to be listed as part of the protected list, are in danger to be poached. This includes the following players.
Forwards
Pavel Buchnevich
Ryan Strome
Filip Chytil
Brett Howden
Brendan Lemieux
Julien Gauthier
Kevin Rooney
Colin Blackwell
Jake Elmer
Patrick Newell
Ty Ronning
Anthony Greco
Tim Gettinger
Gabriel Fontaine
Defensemen
Anthony Bitetto
Brandon Crawley
Tony DeAngelo
Mason Geertsen
Libor Hajek
Ryan Lindgren
Goaltenders
Alexandar Georgiev
Keith Kinkaid
Of these players, the Rangers will choose four forwards, two defensemen and one goaltender to add to their protected list. However, when doing so, they must also make available to the Kraken players that meet a specific criteria.
"* One defenseman who is a) under contract in 2021-22 and b) played in at least 40 NHL games the prior season or played in at least 70 NHL games in the prior two seasons. * Two forwards who are a) under contract in 2021-22 and b) played at least 40 NHL games the prior season or played in at least 70 NHL games in the prior two seasons. * One goalie who is under contract in 2021-22 or will be a restricted free agent at the end of his current contract immediately prior to 2021-22. If a team elects to make a restricted free agent goalie available to meet this requirement, that goalie must have received his qualifying offer prior to the submission of the team’s protected list."
During the off season, the Rangers signed Keith Kinkaid, Anthony Bitetto, Kevin Rooney and Colin Blackwell to meet this criteria. While each of these players has added positively to the teams depth, they should not be seen as players to protect at the risk of losing the teams drafted and/or traded for younger assets.
Of the four forwards remaining to be protected Pavel Buchnevich, Ryan Strome and Filip Chytil will most certainly be chosen to be protected. As will Ryan Lindgren on defense and Alexandar Georgiev in net. The remaining available protection slots for one forward and one defensemen will show the organization’s hand in how it values the players on its depth chart.