Montreal Canadiens expose Carey Price in upcoming Seattle Kraken expansion draft

After backstopping the Montreal Canadiens to the Stanley Cup final, Carey Price has been left unprotected for the Seattle Kraken expansion draft on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.

price carey 210702 1180 — Carey Price’s goaltending ability, off-ice marketability and ties to the Pacific Northwest could make the star goalie an attractive option in Wednesday’s Seattle Kraken expansion draft, even with a salary cap hit of $10.5 million US for five more years. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

After backstopping the Montreal Canadiens to the Stanley Cup final, Carey Price has been left unprotected for the Seattle Kraken expansion draft.

Price could become the face of the NHL’s 32nd franchise if general manager Ron Francis and his staff decide to take on one of the biggest contracts in hockey, though both TSN and Sportsnet reported Price might have to have surgery on his knee.

Told that Carey Price is scheduled to see a doc in New York this week regarding a knee issue which could potentially lead to surgery. The hope is that it’s not too serious.
—@PierreVLeBrun

The league released the protected lists of all 30 teams eligible for the expansion draft on Sunday morning. Seattle will pick one player from every team except Vegas — which just went through this process in 2017 — and announce those selections at the expansion draft on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.

Price agreed to waive a clause in his contract to be exposed so Montreal could protect cheaper backup Jake Allen, but his goaltending ability, off-ice marketability and ties to the Pacific Northwest could make Price an attractive option even with a salary cap hit of $10.5 million US for five more years.

The 2015 MVP and Vezina Trophy winner is the biggest star left unprotected for the Kraken to select, but there’s plenty of other talent available.

St. Louis winger Vladimir Tarasenko is an option two years removed from hoisting the Stanley Cup after asking the Blues for a trade. Calgary exposed captain and 2019 Norris Trophy-winning defenceman Mark Giordano. And Carolina surprisingly made forward Nino Niederreiter available.

Price is the most intriguing for Seattle, and the location likely helped convince the soon-to-be 34-year-old to waive his no-movement clause to be exposed. He played for the Western Hockey League’s Tri-City Americans a few hours’ drive away, and his wife, Angela, is from Kennewick, Wash.

Benefit of salary cap space

That could make Price a natural cornerstone for the Kraken to build around, like the Golden Knights did with goalie Marc-André Fleury, who was fresh off winning the Cup with Pittsburgh. Price and the Canadiens lost to Tampa Bay in five games in the final.

The back-to-back champion Lightning have easily the deepest pool of available players. Top-line winger Ondrej Palat, longtime forward Alex Killorn, third-line centre Yanni Gourde and young defenceman Cal Foote are all exposed. Squeezed by the cap that’s remaining flat at $81.5 million, they could also work out a side deal with the Kraken to take Spokane native Tyler Johnson and his $5-million price tag for three more seasons.

Seattle has all the leverage and the benefit of cap space.

“The one thing that we think is extremely, extremely valuable in this environment is cap space,” Francis said on Saturday. “We’ve got $81.5 million of cap space to play with, so that’s certainly something that we want to make sure we try and take advantage of moving forward.”

Seattle has certain minimums it must meet in the expansion draft, including selecting at least 20 players under contract for next season with salaries totalling at least $48 million. The Kraken must pick at least 14 forwards, nine defencemen and three goaltenders.

There’s no shortage of options:

Beyond Price, Dallas’s Ben Bishop, Florida’s Chris Driedger and Washington’s Vitek Vanecek are among the available goalies. Driedger is a pending free agent, but the Kraken have an exclusive negotiating window until Wednesday to sign him and others to a new contract.
Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog, Toronto’s Alex Kerfoot and newly acquired Jared McCann, Pittsburgh’s Jason Zucker and Philadelphia’s James van Riemsdyk join the Lightning trio, Niederreiter and Tarasenko as the most productive forwards available.
Tarasenko’s Blues teammate Vince Dunn, New Jersey’s personable P.K. Subban and Washington’s Justin Schultz are among the unprotected defencemen, a position not quite as deep in high-end talent. That’s by design.

“Teams knew we were coming, and they’ve had four years to prepare,” Francis said.

WATCH | Get ready for a wild NHL off-season:

NHL Crazy Period Thumb.jpg?crop=1

Thanks to the Seattle Kraken, hockey fans will have plenty to keep them busy over the next few weeks. 2:57

Calgary Flames

Available

Byron Froese (F)
Glenn Gawdin (F)
Justin Kirkland (F)
Josh Leivo (F)
Milan Lucic (F)
Joakim Nordstrom (F)
Matthew Phillips (F)
Zac Rinaldo (F)
Brett Ritchie (F)
Buddy Robinson (F)
Derek Ryan (F)
Dominik Simon (F)
Mark Giordano (D)
Oliver Kylington (D)
Nikita Nesterov (D)
Alexander Petrovic (D)
Michael Stone (D)
Louis Domingue (G)
Tyler Parsons (G)

Protected

Mikael Backlund (F)
Dillon Dube (F)
Johnny Gaudreau (F)
Elias Lindholm (F)
Andrew Mangiapane (F)
Sean Monahan (F)
Matthew Tkachuk (F)
Rasmus Andersson (D)
Noah Hanifin (D)
Christopher Tanev (D)
Jacob Markstrom (G)

Edmonton Oilers

Available

Tyler Benson (F)
Alex Chiasson (F)
Adam Cracknell (F)
Tyler Ennis (F)
Joseph Gambardella (F)
Seth Griffith (F)
Dominik Kahun (F)
Jujhar Khaira (F)
Cooper Marody (F)
James Neal (F)
Alan Quine (F)
Patrick Russell (F)
Devin Shore (F)
Anton Slepyshev (F)
Kyle Turris (F)
Bogdan Yakimov (F)
Tyson Barrie (D)
Oscar Klefbom (D)
Slater Koekkoek (D)
Dmitry Kulikov (D)
William Lagesson (D)
Adam Larsson (D)
Kris Russell (D)
Mikko Koskinen (G)
Mike Smith (G)
Alex Stalock (G)

Protected

Josh Archibald (F)
Leon Draisaitl (F)
Zack Kassian (F)
Connor McDavid (F)
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (F)
Jesse Puljujarvi (F)
Kailer Yamamoto (F)
Ethan Bear (D)
Duncan Keith (D)
Darnell Nurse (D)
Stuart Skinner (G)