Chicago Blackhawks: They Released the Kraken…Now What?

The list of things to do for Stan Bowman and the Blackhawks front office is extensive this offseason.

There are RFAs, UFAs, the Draft, and assembling a roster that can build on the surprising play of the 2020-2021 truncated season. But up next on the docket is the arrival of the Seattle Kraken, and their expansion draft which will impact the Chicago Blackhawks.

According to NHL.com, the rules for this expansion draft are the same as they were for the Vegas Golden Knights, with one exception: The Golden Knights are excluded from the pool of teams the Kraken can choose from. Here is an article that explains the rules from NHL.com.

There are guidelines for both the Kraken and the other 30 teams in the Expansion Draft:

• Kraken Will Select 1 player from each eligible team (excluding Vegas) – 30 total
• Must select at least 14 F, 9 D, and 3 G
• Must choose at least 20 players that are currently under contract for ’21-‘22, and reach 60% of the Upper Limit of the Salary Cap
• Cannot buy out any contracts until after the conclusion of their first season in the league

Participating Team Guidelines:

• Can protect players from the Expansion Draft (7 F/3 D/ 1 G, OR 8 Skaters/ 1 G)
• All players with No-Movement Clauses must be protected, and count towards the protected group (in the case of the Blackhawks, that means Kane, Toews, Keith, and Seabrook count in the protected group)
• Must expose a player that meets the following criteria:
  • 1 D who is under contract for ’21-’22, AND played either 40+ games in the prior season, or 70+ games the prior two seasons
  • 2 F who are under contract for ’21-’22 AND played either 40+ games in the prior season, or 70+ games the prior two seasons
  • 1 G who is under contract for ’21-’22, or will be an RFA this offseason. If RFA is chosen, the qualifying offer must be tendered prior to expansion draft.
• Players with potential career-ending injuries or have missed 60+ consecutive games MAY NOT be used to satisfy a team’s exposure requirements unless approved by the NHL (Seabrook and Shaw could fall under this distinction)

By Saturday, July 17th, teams are required to submit their lists to the NHL, so the Kraken know who the pool of available players are they can choose from.

Ok, so that’s the what of Expansion Drafting for the Kraken. Which brings us to the Blackhawks. Any player they own the rights to but has not signed an entry-level contract is exempt, so we will ignore that group for now. Also, any first or second-year professionals are exempt from selection, so that automatically protects a group of players, without counting against the total. I will take a look at that group in a future article, as there is some appeal to not only the Kraken, but other teams as well.

First, the Hawks have to decide who to protect.  We are going to take a look at each position group, and review all the players eligible for protection or exposure in the Expansion Draft. I will provide a brief assessment of the player based on stats and my own observations, and then provide both a verdict of what I would do, and the risks associated with doing it my way. We’ll start with the easiest one first:

The Goalies

Kevin Lankinen, Malcolm Subban, and Colin Delia are all eligible for the Expansion Draft. The Hawks can only protect 1 of them, regardless of which method they choose for their Expansion Draft List. Let’s take a look at each, and then decide what the Hawks Could or Should do:

Kevin Lankinen:  Has decent size at 6’2”, 185. Was considered the 3rd wheel in the goalie competition in training camp, but when given the opportunity to audition for the job, seized it and held the #1 G spot for the majority of the season. Played in 37 games, and finished with a 3.01 GAA, and a 0.909 save percentage. Based on what I saw, he wore down towards the end of the season, and his numbers reflected the slide down the stretch. He is a solid technical goalie and puts himself in position a lot of the time. His weak spot seems to be blocker side high, and teams attacked that as the season wore on. Under contract for ’21-’22 for a bargain $800K Cap Hit (Cap Friendly).

Malcolm Subban:  Also a 6’2 goalie, about the same size as Lankinen. The most experienced of the 3 goalies coming into camp, with 86 professional games in his career. He struggled early, but settled in to the #2G role, and played pretty well. Finished the year with a 3.20 GAA, and an even 0.900 save percentage.

Subban is highly athletic, and regularly makes the highlight reel save that makes you ooh and aahhh, but if there is an area where he “struggles,” it’s rebound control. Too many rebounds ended up in front, giving the opposition second shots on him too often.

A lot of that can be attributed to poor defense in front, but those rebounds need to go to poor-angle areas of the zone to allow recovery time to the G. Under contract for ’21-’22 for a bargain $850k Cap Hit (Cap Friendly)

Colin Delia:  The Hawks seem to like 6’2, 185-190 lb goalies, as Delia checks in at the same measurement. Coming into camp, most assumed it was his job to lose, and he apparently did that in his first two outings, giving up a heavy handful of goals in each game. He spent the majority of the year after that in Rockford or on the Taxi Squad, only appearing in 6 games in the NHL, but only 4 games for Rockford.

A forgotten man for most of the year, he made the most of his final appearances, looking solid at the end of the year, but not spectacular. He is a solid technician, but lacks the “wow” factor of Subban, and the consistency of Lankinen in positioning. He has a $1M Cap Hit in ’21-’22 (Cap Friendly).

Verdict: I believe there is no question the Hawks protect Lankinen for the Expansion Draft, as he was clearly their #1 option for the ‘20-‘21 season. With some conditioning, some work on his blocker side, which I am sure Jimmy Waite is already working on, and a more balanced workload, he should be the #1 G again, and the hope has to be that the Hawks will see more of the 0.920 Save Percentage, 2.4-2.6 GAA player they had for chunks of this past season.

Risk: The Hawks are at mild risk of losing either Subban or Delia to the Expansion Draft, but given the players, the Hawks will have to expose at F and D, I believe the risk is very low that they will lose either of them. If one does go, I believe it will be Subban, for his abilities on the “wow” side as a backup G.

FORWARDS:

Johnathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat, Brett Connolly, Dylan Strome, Ryan Carpenter, Vinnie Hinostroza, David Kampf, Adam Gaudette, Brandon Hagel, Henrik Borgstrom, Andrew Shaw, Zach Smith, Alex Nylander, Brandon Pirri, and John Quenneville are all eligible for exposure in the Expansion Draft. Toews and Kane have Full No-Movement Clauses in their contract, so they are required to be protected. As with Keith and Seabrook, I do not anticipate either of them waiving their no-movement clauses. Based on the assumptions we are using for this exercise, the Hawks are protecting 7 F. There are a lot of interesting conversations to be had with this group, so we’ll dive right in:

Johnathan Toews: First, let’s assume the Captain is coming back next season and will be back to the form we saw in 2019-2020. We can argue whether he is or isn’t a premier Centerman anymore, but he is a plus faceoff guy, a 2 way workhorse, and can be on the ice in any situation. You need that on your team. His full NMC notwithstanding, I would protect Toews regardless. He is another in the “Hawk for Life” pantheon.

Patrick Kane: Kane did it all for this team, while dealing with a mystery issue that slowed him down considerably down the stretch. But when he was on, he was still electric in the offensive zone. While he will never be a true 2-way forward, he put forth a lot more effort on the forecheck, in the neutral zone, and in his own zone than I have seen in several years. This one’s a no-brainer, even without the NMC. Kane is the last of the 4 “Hawk for Life” members on this current roster.

Alex DeBrincat: As clear-cut as this could be as far as protecting him, you could make a case that an exciting player like DeBrincat would be a huge boost to a team like Seattle, and lend the team some excitement right out of the gate. DeBrincat could be “the guy” in Seattle, rather than playing second fiddle to Kane in Chicago. I don’t know that he wants that, but it is something that could generate further discussion down the line between the Hawks and the Kraken. But his emergence as a 2-way STUD this season would lead me to protect him without blinking.

Brett Connolly: Brett is a solid veteran player, and does several things well enough to be a fixture on a 3rd or 4th line. Problem is, Hawks have a ton of those guys already, and most of them are younger and cheaper than Connolly. I think he gets exposed, but I don’t see him getting selected by the Kraken.

Dylan Strome: Here’s the first firecracker of the group, one that will generate strong opinions on both sides. I could see the Kraken taking him for a 2nd or 3rd line Center, but I could just as easily see them passing him over for another player. He clearly is out of favor with the coaching staff in Chicago, but he is still under contract for another year at $3M. I highly doubt the Hawks see him as a part of their future right now.

Ryan Carpenter: I see him much the same as Connolly. Solid vet, can play in a number of situations, but likely gets squeezed by a younger player, especially after how well Hardman and Entwistle showed down the stretch.

Vinnie Hinostroza: Vinnie is a guy I wouldn’t mind seeing on the roster again, but I don’t think it’s in the cards. Good skater, solid playmaker, works hard in all areas of the ice. He would be a great bottom 6 addition for the Kraken, but I don’t think they will waste their Expansion Draft selection on him. I think he could end up there anyway after his contract expires.

FORWARDS (cont’d)

David Kampf: The coaching staff loves Kampf, and they trust him in a lot of situations. He has been a 52% Faceoff guy for the last 2 seasons (per Hockey Reference), which is solid. The big question for me is whether there is any room for him with all the Centermen the Hawks have in the organization?

Adam Gaudette:  He is dealt to the Hawks, and sees limited action for the remainder of the season. But he is something the Hawks don’t have a lot of on the roster right now: a bigger forward with offensive skill. I believe he could be an attractive target for the Kraken.

Brandon Hagel:  Might have been the best story of the Blackhawks ’20-’21 season. I don’t know that there was a single person out there that would have predicted 24 points (9G, 15 A) out of this kid. His effort on every shift was relentless, his hustle contagious, and he earned critical minutes as the season wore on. It was impossible NOT to notice him on the ice, and you can bet the rest of the league noticed too.

Henrik Borgstrom:  This one is interesting to me because the player was not getting what he wanted in Florida, so he went to play for Liiga this season after spending most of last year (49 games) in the AHL.

As soon as this season ended, the Hawks signed him to a 2-year deal averaging $1M per year. He’s a big F who was a strong scorer in the NCAA, and again, the Hawks are lacking for size WITH skill, so he may be a part of their long-term plan.

Andrew Shaw: I feel bad for Shaw because he wasn’t able to leave the game under his own terms. By all accounts, he was well-liked by his teammates and kept the fun in the game for a lot of them.

But he is done playing, with 1 year left on his contract at a $3.9M cap charge. The Hawks could do a number of things, such as buy him out or leave him on LTIR, but he won’t factor into the Expansion Draft unless the Hawks swing a side deal to trade Shaw’s contract in exchange for leaving a more desirable player exposed.

Zach Smith: An UFA after this season winds down, Smith is another player bit by the injury bug. He has not been able to get his back healthy, so I don’t believe he will factor into the Expansion Draft. Most likely will retire when his contract expires.

Alex Nylander: Another firecracker. Nylander was hyped as an offensive force, but inconsistency has plagued him at that end of the ice, and his defensive effort has been far from stellar. He is an RFA this offseason, and the biggest question is whether Bowman is ready to move on from him, or if he still feels he needs to salvage something out of the Jokiharju trade? This could be a controversial move to protect Nylander, but coming off a knee injury, he doesn’t rise to the top of the list of potential unprotected players in my opinion.

Brandon Pirri: Journeyman who will be a UFA. I don’t expect the Hawks to protect him, and likely will move on from him after this season.

John Quenneville: will be a Group 6 UFA after this season, which means by age 25, he has not played in 80 NHL games, making him a free agent. I don’t know that we need to go any further than that. I don’t think he will be back with the organization.

Verdict: Kane and Toews MUST be protected, as they carry full NMCs in their contract. That leaves 5 spots to fill. DeBrincat in my mind is a no-brainer, and after that, the water gets muddy. My choices would be Gaudette, Borgstrom, Hagel, and Strome. Not because I believe Strome will be with the organization moving forward, but because I believe they can trade him at the draft and get something in return.

Risk: The Hawks would likely not lose any of the players not protected, as the most attractive players on the entire exposed list would be DeHaan or Stillman. I would call this a mild risk.

CONCLUSION

In summary, if they followed my recommendations, the Hawks would be protecting: Lankinen, Keith, Seabrook, Murphy, Toews, Kane, DeBrincat, Gaudette, Borgstrom, Hagel, and Strome.

Rather than repeat the exercise for the second option of 8 Skaters, 1 Goalie, I would protect:

Toews, Kane, Keith, Seabrook, DeBrincat, Murphy, Hagel, Borgstrom, and Lankinen. I might swap Gaudette for Borgstrom, but that would be the only question mark for me.

The interesting part of this exercise to me is that you have to try and read the minds of the front office and coaching staff, delving into the short and long-term strategies they are executing. You also have to start thinking about what the Kraken would want, and where you can take risks in leaving players unprotected while maintaining a solid chance of keeping them if you want them.

Hopefully, you enjoyed going through this with me. I would love to know where you disagree with me, and who you would protect in the place of the disputed player.  The Hawks have some important decisions to make this offseason; Expansion Draft, Entry Draft, Restricted and Unrestricted Free Agency, and Roster Decisions. It all gets started in a little over a month when they have to turn their list into the league.

Chicago Blackhawks: Five prospects to get excited about

From that point, the team picture of the 2021-2022 Chicago Blackhawks will start to come into focus. I will be watching carefully.