The expansion draft in June 2017 saw then-Vegas Golden Knights general manager George McPhee use the rules to his advantage to stockpile talent and draft picks.
At the time, multiple GMs made deals with Vegas, sending a solid return of depth players and picks to solidify the safety of an unprotected core of players.
The result of that strategy turned into an expansion team in the Stanley Cup final in its inaugural season.
In addition, the assets collected in the expansion draft gave a base for Vegas to build one of the top teams in the NHL.
Now it’s Seattle’s turn. The expansion draft is set for July 23 and the Kraken will have the same set of expansion draft rules as Vegas did.
A popular move in 2017 saw teams give up players to clear cap space. That could be the case again as the NHL is now operating with a flat cap.
A key difference in the Seattle expansion draft is GMs won’t be giving away as much to protect players.
Each NHL team has been through the expansion process and knows what to expect.
They will lose a good player and they will survive it.
Which means Seattle may not hit the jackpot like Vegas did — proving once again the house always wins.
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