Before we dive into the expansion draft, here’s some things to take note of:
- Montreal lost in the Stanley Cup Final to Tampa Bay in 5 games, still a great accomplishment nonetheless
- GM Marc Bergevin has 1 year left on his contract, and he will “honour it”, a sign of things to come maybe
- Montreal will be picking 31st in the upcoming NHL Draft, with 10 more picks after that
- Shea Weber has potentially played his last game in the NHL due to multiple injuries
- The NHL Expansion Draft for the Seattle Kraken is tomorrow at 8pm
With Montreal losing in the Stanley Cup Final, it was a heartbreaking loss, but at the same time, looking down the road, the future is very bright. Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Alexander Romanov, just to name a few. For general manager Marc Bergevin and co., it’s been a rollercoaster ride this season, riddled with injuries, Covid-19, losing streaks, etc. But now, they must refocus and get into the groove of the offseason, which now consists of the expansion draft for the newly welcomed team, the Seattle Kraken. For those who don’t know, when a new team joins the league, every present team must give up one player to the new expansion team, while teams can protect either 7 forwards, 3 defensemen and 1 goalie, or 8 skaters and 1 goalie(4 forwards, 4 defensemen). Here’s the official protected list for Montreal, which they 7-3-1:
Forwards:
Josh Anderson
Tyler Toffoli
Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Arturri Lehkonen
Jake Evans
Joel Armia
Brendan Gallagher
Defensemen:
Jeff Petry
Ben Chiariot
Joel Edmundson
Goalie:
Jake Allen
Yes, Shea Weber and Carey Price are the most notable from the team to not be protected, but you can understand why. There have been reports that Shea Weber is likely to not play again due to long standing injuries with knee and ankle, and could be forced into retirement once he consults with doctors. With 5 more years at 7.8 million per year, if he does retire, it affects Nashville more than it does Montreal, because of the recapture penalty. Nashville would have to pay 4.9 million for the next 5 years, while Montreal would pay 550k for 5 years. We’ll see what’ll happen with in the coming weeks. For Carey Price, he actually approached Marc Bergevin to waive his no-movement clause so the Canadiens would not lose Allen in the expansion draft, because Price looks to have off-season knee surgery, and will potentially miss the first 2 months of the upcoming season, so Montreal to start next season would have no goalies if Allen was left unprotected. Pretty selfless if you ask me. With 5 more years at 10.5 million per year, who knows if Seattle will bite the dust on Price and his contract.
Jonathan Drouin is another name that’s intriguing. He took a personal leave back in April and nothing has been reported since, other than Bergevin at his end of year conference saying that Jo is doing a lot better, whatever that means. Drouin has 2 years remaining at 5.5 million per year, but it’s still unknown whether he will be returning to play, but will that be with Montreal or another team? A lot of unknowns with Drouin at the moment.
The person I think is most likely getting picked from Montreal is Paul Byron. At a time like this, every team is throwing smoke screens with anything and everything. The players that don’t get the most attention are the ones likely to get picked. Paul Byron is exactly that. He has a reasonable cap hit at 3.4 million for 2 more years. While he’s not the player who scored 20 goals in back to back seasons a couple years ago, he’s still a serviceable player. He can play up and down your lineup, great speed, great on the PK, great leader on and off the ice. Another player is Cale Fleury. 22 years old, right shot D, didn’t play last year cause of injury, but he’s big, can skate, hes physical, and has potential to be a top 4 D. Those are the 2 players I would think Seattle would consider selecting.
However this thing goes, Marc Bergevin will do everything to improve the team, regardless of the expansion draft.
JV Sports Blog 