3 best players the Seattle Kraken can pick in the expansion draft

TORONTO, ON - APRIL 13: Mark Giordano #5 of the Calgary Flames skates against the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on April 13, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Flames defeated the Maple Leafs 3-2 in overtime. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /

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With the reveal of who they can pick, here are the three best players the Seattle Kraken can take in the upcoming expansion draft.

The other NHL teams, minus the exempt Vegas Golden Knights, had to submit protected lists for Wednesday night’s expansion draft on Saturday. On Sunday morning the results were made public, and now we know who the Seattle Kraken can pick from on Wednesday night.

The Kraken now have an exclusive window to court pending free agents before Wednesday night’s draft. If they sign someone, like Gabriel Landeskog or Chris Driedger, that player becomes Seattle’s pick from the team they were on this past season.

But here we’re going to focus on who is under contract for next season, and thus available for the Kraken to pick when the proceedings start Wednesday night. With cap concerns across the league (it isn’t going up), they will have a lot of good players to pick from.

Here are the three best players the Kraken can take in the expansion draft.

3 best players the Seattle Kraken can take in the expansion draft

Scouting Report. Tampa Bay Lightning. Ondrej Palat. 3.. player. 23. Pick Analysis. LW

Tampa Bay won’t be able to keep the back-to-back Stanley Cup-winning band together, which led to them leaving some good players unprotected for the expansion draft (Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn, Yannick Gourde).

Palat was also let unprotected. He has topped 40 points in each of the last two regular seasons (15 goals and 31 assists this past season), with a total of 31 points over the last two Cup-winning postseasons for the Lightning. He has also been an asset to Tampa Bay’s power play as a top-line guy, with 20 power play points (seven goals, 13 assists) this past season.

Palat is not a huge star, but holding down a spot on Tampa Bay’s top lines for as long as he has means something and he has play-making chops with at least 24 assists in eight straight seasons. The Kraken will get to pluck someone good from the Lightning, and Palat should be their top choice.

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