*This was originally published in May 2017
With NHL expansion to Seattle having recently occurred, the discussion around hockey will eventually turn to the deadlines for protected lists and possible players that teams will look to keep. With that, here’s a refresher for those interested in how the NHL Expansion Draft Rules work and how the NHL’s newest club will come to fruition.
So, with that in mind, here’s how the NHL Expansion Draft broke down.
Protected Players List
The basic NHL expansion draft rules
For teams already in the league, they will have to submit a protected players list that Seattle won’t be able to draft from. To do this, they will have two options.
They can either choose to protect:
- Seven forwards, three defencemen and one goaltender
- Eight skaters (forwards or defencemen) and one goaltender.
Players who currently have no-movement clauses as a part of their contracts at the time of the Expansion Draft (and refuse to waive it) have to be protected by their respective franchise and will count towards the team’s protected list.
To add to that, all first and second-year professional skaters (including unsigned draft picks) will not be available for Seattle to select from and won’t be counted as part of the protected player’s list.
Players Available for Expansion Draft Selection
You will see some surprises:
With respect to the players that are available for Seattle to select in the expansion draft, each team must meet certain requirements.
They have to expose one defenceman who is a) under contract in 2021-22 and b) played in 40 or more NHL games the prior season OR played in 70 or more NHL games in the prior two seasons.
They will have to have two forwards available for selection who are a) under contract in 2021-22 and b) played in 40 or more NHL games the prior season OR played in 70 or more NHL games in the prior two seasons.
Finally, one goaltender from each club has to be made available. They have to be under contract in 2021-22 or will be a restricted free agent at the expiration of his current contract immediately prior to 2021-22. However, clubs choose to make a restricted free agent goalie available in order to meet this requirement, that goaltender must have received his qualifying offer prior to the submission of the club’s protected list.
Players with potential career-ending injuries who have missed more than the previous 60 consecutive games may not be used to satisfy a club’s player exposure requirements unless approval is received from the NHL. The league may also deem these players exempt from selection. For example, the Detroit Red Wings would not be able to satisfy the Expansion Draft requirements by exposing Henrik Zetterberg (if he remains out of the lineup for the entirety of the 2020-21 season).
From there, we turn to the incoming franchise. How will the rules and regulations of the draft affect the Seattle franchise?
How the Seattle Franchise Was Formed
The team selected one player from each presently existing club for a total of 30 players. However, if a team was in violation of Expansion Draft rules, Seattle could acquire additional players due to the penalty.
In addition, the new franchise had to select the following positions – 14 forwards, nine defencemen and three goaltenders. From the 30 players that Seattle selected, 20 of them had to be under contract for the 2021-22 season. The players selected had to have a combined value of between 60 to 100 percent of the previous season’s salary cap ceiling.
While they only had a select few to choose from for each existing franchise, Seattle wasn’t able to buy out any of the players selected in the Expansion Draft until after their first full season (or until the summer of 2022).
Following the release of teams’ protected players lists, the Seattle franchise and GM Ron Francis had the opportunity to sign UFAs and unprotected RFAs within a 72-hour window. Following that, the team was expected to have their roster in place.
