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Anaheim Ducks: Looking Towards The Seattle Expansion Draft

By Ben Thomasian

ANAHEIM, CA - JANUARY 29: Anaheim Ducks center Derek Grant (38) on the ice with his teammates after the Ducks defeated the Arizona Coyotes 4 to 2 in a game played on January 29, 2020 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. (Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CA - JANUARY 29: Anaheim Ducks center Derek Grant (38) on the ice with his teammates after the Ducks defeated the Arizona Coyotes 4 to 2 in a game played on January 29, 2020 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. (Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Anaheim Ducks
EVERETT, WA – DECEMBER 01: An Everett Silvertips fan wears a vintage Seattle Metropolitans jersey and holds an NHL Seattle hat before a game between the Kootenay Ice and the Everett Silvertips on Saturday, December 1, 2019 at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, WA. (Photo by Christopher Mast/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Rules for the Expansion Draft

The expansion rules for the Seattle draft will be as they were for the Vegas Expansion Draft, back in the summer of 2017. The Seattle team (still to be named) will choose one player from each current NHL team. Of these players, 20 must be under contract for the 2021-2022 regular season and must fill somewhere in the range of 60-100% of the 2020-2021 salary cap. They cannot buy out players earlier than the summer of their first regular season, which is to say, that they cannot take on an onerous contract and immediately buy it out.

However, that doesn’t necessarily pertain to the Anaheim Ducks. While the Ducks do have several long-term contracts on their books, few are actively going to inhibit them from embarking upon a rebuild. Thus, what does matter to them?

The Ducks will have to choose between two categories of player protection: 1) protecting seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goalie, or; 2) eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goalie.

Naturally, there are clauses and provisions to these selections. These are as follows:

  • All players with No-Movement Clauses (NMC) at the time of the draft, who elect not to waive their rights to those clauses, must be protected. They will be counted towards the teams’ protection limits.

Fans will recall the discussions around Kevin Bieksa prior to the Vegas draft. At the time many fans simply believed he would waive his rights he had deliberately included in his contract, just because Bob Murray asked him to. In the end, the Ducks elected to protect Bieksa, although it is unknown if he was asked to waive his NMC at that time.

  • All first- and second-year NHL players, and all unsigned draft choices, will be exempt from the selection draft process. Teams will be able to “protect” them, and they will not count towards the protection limits.

This means that current prospects such as Sam Steel, Troy Terry, and Max Jones, will not automatically be protected, while Benoit-Oliver Groulx, Max Comtois, and Trevor Zegras will be.

To add further wrinkles to the process, the Anaheim Ducks must also ensure that they fulfill the following requirements on who they do expose for selection:

  • One defenseman who is 1) under contract in 2021-2022, and 2) has played in at least 40 NHL games in the 2020-2021 or 70 combined games over the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons.
  • Two forwards who are 1) under contract in 2021-2022, and 2) have played in at least 40 NHL games in the 2020-2021 or 70 combined games over the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons.
  • One goalie who is under contract in 2021-2022, or who is a restricted free agent (RFA) eligible for a new contract leading into the 2021-2022 season. If the Ducks chose to allow an RFA netminder to be available to the Seattle team, that goalie must receive a qualifying offer prior to the Ducks submitting their protected players’ list to the NHL.
  • Players with potential career-ending injuries, and who have missed the previous 60 consecutive games (or have been confirmed to have career-ending injuries) may not be made available to the Seattle team without the NHL’s permission. These players may also not count towards the Ducks protection limits.

As we move forward with this article we will visit the question: who should the Anaheim Ducks protect and who should they expose?

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