The Golden Knights struck gold in their expansion draft when the Penguins' salary cap constraints and the rise of Matt Murray allowed Marc-Andre Fleury to fall into their lap.
Fleury was the clear No. 1 goalie off the bat, and helped lead the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season. Now in his fourth season in Vegas, Fleury is a Vezina candidate for the league's best goaltender for the first time in his career.
The Seattle Kraken don't appear to be quite as lucky in the goaltending department in their expansion draft, but there are still some quality candidates out there.
The Kraken must select a minimum of three goaltenders in the July 21 expansion draft. Each of the existing teams in the league (minus Vegas) can protect just one goaltender, leaving the rest up for grabs for Seattle.
As with skaters, first-year and second-year players are exempt from being selected and don't have to be protected, and players with no-movement clauses (but not no-trade clauses) must be protected. At least one goalie exposed by each team must be under contract for the 2021-22 season or be a restricted free agent this offseason.
Who are some goaltending candidates to be chosen by the Kraken in the draft? Let's take a look at a few of them.
JAKE ALLEN - CANADIENS
Allen and Carey Price split the duties in net for the Canadiens in the regular season, and Allen actually finished with the better save percentage of the two at .907. With the way Price has carried Montreal in the playoffs, though, there's really no doubt that Price (who has a no-movement clause anyway) will be protected and Allen will be exposed. If Allen is chosen, that would also open up a spot for the Canadiens' 21-year-old rising goaltending prospect Cayden Primeau, who would benefit from learning from 33-year-old Price at this point in his career.
For the Kraken, the 30-year-old Allen would seem to be the leading candidate for a starting goaltender. Allen was the Blues' starting goaltender for several years before being supplanted by Jordan Binnington en route to the Stanley Cup in 2019.
Allen is under contract for two more years after signing an extension in October that carries a very affordable cap hit of $2,875,000, which would give the Kraken more flexibility to spend in other areas in these first couple of seasons.
CAM TALBOT - WILD
Talbot was the Wild's starter this season, but will likely be exposed to Seattle so the Wild don't lose young goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen instead.
Talbot played in 33 regular-season games for the Wild, going 19-8-5 with a .915 save percentage. He played all seven games for the Wild in the playoffs, posting two shutouts and a .923 save percentage.
It's not a given that Talbot will be exposed. But Talbot will turn 34 this summer, and 24-year-old Kahkonen is the goaltender of the future for the Wild. He was Minnesota's backup this season, and appeared in 24 games, going 16-8 with a .902 save percentage.
Talbot has two years left on a contract that carries a $3,666,667 cap hit.
Talbot had a strong season and playoffs for the Wild and has a team-friendly cap hit. But his age may steer the Kraken in a different direction, with younger options available.
CHRIS DRIEDGER - PANTHERS
Driedger is set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer, and it's almost certain that he won't return to Florida. The Panthers have the $10 million man Sergei Bobrovsky under contract for another five years, and first-round pick Spencer Knight ready to make the jump to the NHL.
Starting the morning after protected lists are submitted on July 17, the Kraken have the opportunity to speak with unprotected players who are set to be free agents this summer in order to gauge interest if they were to select them, since the Kraken would then have exclusive negotiating rights with the player until free agency opens a week after the expansion draft. So while Driedger is set to hit unrestricted free agency on July 28, he could potentially get claimed by the Kraken in the draft and get a contract worked out before any other teams have the opportunity to speak with him.
Driedger, 27, went 14-6-3 for the Panthers in the regular season and posted a .927 save percentage as Bobrovsky's backup. The 2020-21 season was the first of Driedger's career in which he spent the full season in the NHL. He split the 2019-20 season between the AHL and NHL, and the 2018-19 season between the AHL and ECHL. He's still relatively unproven enough at this level that teams likely wouldn't seek him out as a clear No. 1 goaltender, but he would be a good option to work in a tandem with someone like Allen if chosen.
LINUS ULLMARK - SABRES
Like Driedger, Ullmark is also set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
The Sabres have an interesting conundrum though when it comes to protecting a goaltender in the draft. Only two goaltenders are under contract for next season in Dustin Tokarski and Ukko-Pekka Lukkonen, and the latter isn't eligible for the draft as a result of his limited experience. Their only restricted free agent goaltender, Stefanos Lekkas, isn't eligible either. That means Tokarski must be exposed, since he's the only goaltender the Sabres have that meet the requirements of one goaltender who must be exposed.
That means the Sabres will protect either Ullmark or Carter Hutton in the expansion draft, even though both are set to be unrestricted free agents. Michael Houser, who played goal for the Sabres at the end of the season, is also a pending unrestricted free agent but is exempt from the draft.
Ullmark, 27, appeared in 20 games for the Sabres this season and posted a 9-6-3 record with a .917 save percentage.
Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams has spoke of a desire to re-sign Ullmark in the offseason, so Ullmark may be the goaltender protected in the expansion draft. If he doesn't want to return to Buffalo, though (does anyone?) then he could still be an option for the Kraken once free agency opens.
BRADEN HOLTBY - CANUCKS
The Canucks are going to be in a cap crunch next season, and one of the ways to alleviate that would be to lose Holtby in the expansion draft, either organically or by enticing general manager Ron Francis with a trade for expansion draft considerations in the way the Penguins did with Fleury.
The Canucks' starting goaltender is the 25-year-old Thatcher Demko, whose five-year contract with a $5 million cap hit kicks in next season. Holtby, who turns 32 this offseason, has one year left on his deal that carries a $4.3 million cap hit.
Holtby struggled this season in Vancouver, going 7-11-3 with a .889 save percentage and a 3.67 goals-against average. If the Kraken were to take Holtby off the Canucks' hands, it would almost surely be for a backup role, and even then, it would likely take a draft pick or other asset from Vancouver to make the pick happen.
The $4.3 million cap hit wouldn't necessarily be much of a deterrent for the Kraken if that ends up being the case. The Kraken likely won't come near the $81.5 million salary cap ceiling, and will need to take on some higher-salary contracts in order to reach the $60.2 million floor. Some of the other options in goal (like Allen) have very affordable cap hits, so the Kraken still really wouldn't be paying too high of a price for a goaltending tandem with Holtby as the backup.
VITEK VANECEK - CAPITALS
Vanecek came into the season as the Capitals' third goaltender, and was elevated to the backup role after Henrik Lundqvist was forced to miss the season. With starter Ilya Samsonov also missing stretches of the season after contracting COVID-19, Vanecek spent time as the Capitals' starter, and appeared in 37 games, going 21-10-4 with a .908 save percentage.
Vanecek is 25, and has one more year left on his contract that carries a $716,667 cap hit. He could be an option for a young backup goaltender with the potential to be a starter down the line.
FREDERIK ANDERSEN - MAPLE LEAFS
It's not a lock that Andersen will be the goaltender exposed to Seattle, but it seems like a strong possibility.
Andersen, 31, is a pending unrestricted free agent. As with the other free agents mentioned above, if Andersen is left unprotected the Kraken would have a period in which they would be allowed to speak with Andersen before the draft to gauge interest and discuss potential terms for a deal. Jack Campbell, 29, has a year left on his contract that carries a $1,650,000 cap hit. Andersen and Campbell split most of the starts for Toronto this season, with Campbell stepping up into the starting role when Andersen was sidelined with an injury.
Andersen had a 2.96 goals-against average and a .895 save percentage in the regular season. Campbell had a 2.15 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage. Andersen was healthy for the playoffs, but Campbell was the one in net for all seven games. If that's any indication, Campbell would seem to be the goaltender Toronto will protect.
The Leafs also have David Rittich set to be an unrestricted free agent. Rittich, 28, was the Flames' starting goaltender in the previous two seasons, but was the backup to Jacob Markstrom this year until he was traded to Toronto midseason. He could be a potential backup option for the Kraken as well. If the Leafs do protect Campbell and expose Andersen and Rittich, who are both set to be free agents, they do have Michael Hutchinson under contract to fulfill the exposure requirements.
