I think Jarnkroak over Johanson, and i'm guessing Toronto is gonna make a deal with Seattle to keep mcann since they just traded for him/

Apparently Pittsburgh and Toronto made this deal as they knew that Seattle was interested in both Kerfoot and McCann. This way, Seattle will only get one of them... I chose McCann.

Interesting perspective on this team @MacAttacks, and thanks for putting real thought into it. I like reading the thought process into things.

Only playerss that stand out to me are:
1) Drouin obviously. I would think that RF is reaching out to Danault for same/similar money to take him instead.
2) Alex Wennberg. I just don't like how he plays, and think there are better for the same price.
3) Jared McCann. I'd take Kerfoot instead, he's better and fills your Wennberg hole.
4) Joonas Donaski. He would be my second pick from Colorado. I would take JT Compher instead.
5) Dougie Hamilton. He's a great player, but I just couldn't see my way clear to 8 x $9M.
6) I think Dunn and Larsson are slightly overpaid as free agents.

Overall, great list. If I were RF, I'd keep $6 - $8M of cap space available for trade deadline dumps and to re-sign some RFAs next year. I think this Kraken team could make the playoffs, and could afford to rent a player or two.

Hey, thanks for your comments.
So I will also take the time to answer back 😎

1) I agree RF is touching base with Danault. Quick math: For a 5MX6, Danault would make ~13M in Seattle instead of ~10M for that same contract in Montreal (after escrow, agent fees and income tax). Montreal has the highest Income tax rate of the entire league and Seattle will now share the lowest rate with 5 other teams: DAL,NSH,VEG,FLA and TB. So if Danault is "stuck" at 5M per season maximum because of the flat cap, then at least he can take in an extra 3M being in Seattle... As you can see for those other 5 teams: VEG has no cap space, TB we wont even talk about... That would leave FLA, NSH and DAL. They won't have as good a team as Seattle. So very possible Danault chooses Seattle. But it's still not a lock, he might want to stay in Montreal "if" they can upper the ante. But I agree the mountain hike is pretty steep...

2) I agree Wennberg is not the ideal candidate, but the jury is still out... (see my other answers below)

3) For Kerfoot, I agree with you that I like alot of his playing. There is one key element missing in his play... I think if you are to be a #2 center on a strong contending team, you have to also be able to win more than half your faceoffs. Here are Kerfoot stats for this season:

Player Team FO% FO Games FO per game
Alexander Kerfoot TOR 40.8% 304 56 5.4

So for FO%, he isn't even in the top 100 of the league. If you count that there are 31 other teams, that means that on average there are 3+ centers better than him on FO on every team.
I just don't think you can be a bona fide #2 center with such a low number.

Also Kerfoot's size is on the smallish side, and out west you better be ready for Rock n' roll...

That put's him in probably as a #3 center. But in that case, I prefer McCann's size and versatility as my #3 LW, and he costs less than Kerfoot. But it's close.

4) For Donskoi, I agree with the switch to Compher. Nice suggestion. Approved

5) Getting a #1 right-handed RD is probably the hardest position to fill on the roster. Right-handed is much less abundant than left-handed, so that also costs a premium. Just for the fun of it, take a look at the players most GM's protected in the expansion draft. In the slots left to fill after the obvious superstars each team had to protect, GM's protected their big right-handed players (Except Pierre Dorion who protected Victor Mete as his 3rd defenseman, but he always does things out of sync... 🤣 It's as if other GM's just don't talk to him?!) So back to Hamilton. I have to think it is a blessing that Hamilton is a UFA at the same time that Seattle is coming in... My take is this: RF does not have a choice, he must sign Hamilton "whatever it takes" He will be the team leader and will normally be the highest paid player on the team. (Also, re: my Danault comments on income tax. If Hamilton wants the most money, Seattle is it. He can only get 8 years from Carolina or Seattle, and will pay less taxes in Seattle. RF should be able to get him.)

6) Yup, I agree. I can lower Dunn as he is RFA and not UFA. Larsson on the other hand is touchy as he is UFA. By how much? .5M ? Let me know for both and I will adjust.

7) If you have other ideas for a Wennberg replacement or more suggestions overall, I'm listening.
And would be glad to hear your opinion on my comments.

8) Your name and especially your picture are just cruel... LOL!

Cheers! 🍺🍺

Chicago would like to offer you this:

We give you Brett Connolly if you select Calvin De Haan

I mean, a player that cleared waivers and was then sent back to school 🤣 on the taxi squad + an injury prone overpriced D, hmmm... Sure! Let's get 'em while they're still hot!! 🤣🤣🤣

I personally think the biggest deficiency is clearly center when looking at all the good wingers available, great goalies and pretty good puck movers. I count Gourde, Johansen, Duchene, Kerfoot, Henrique and maybe McCann as the only real decent ones. Hell, St Louis actually protected Barbachev at center (tho i know that had a little to do with exposing Tarasenko instead).

Johansen would be quite the favour to Nashville when you could probably trade for him at no cost. Why not just grab Trenin or Ingram or Jarnkrok? Its the same as Tarasenko. There's little value in taking Tarasenko full cap hit in expansion when you can trade a few picks for his full cap hit. Thats why i think it's paramount that Seattle stays close to the minimum cap projection on expansion draft day. That way you can accumulate picks and prospects to trade for Tarasenko and Johansen at little cost. The most valuable asset Seattle has is cap space and Ron Francis has repeated this fact many times.

#SeaKraken GM Ron Francis: "The one thing we think is extremely, extremely valuable in this environment is cap space."

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) July 17, 2021

They'll be somewhere between 50-60M so they can be a salary cap broker or team that can take on salary dumps.

If your talking about the "Draft Cap Hit", that number is not even a real number. If for example Seattle chooses a player that has an ending SPC this year, but that player had already signed a new extension with his "club", his "Draft Cap Hit" won't be the cap hit of his new extension, but will be the cap hit of his expiring contract. For Example, take a look at Miro Heiskanen. His "Draft Cap Hit" is 900k, but his actual Cap Hit will be 8.5M!

When the rules where decided, this was put in place so that GM's could not artificially inflate the value of a player by having him sign a "bloated" 1 year extension right before the draft to overvalue said player. But in doing this, Seattle's actual team cap hit will have nothing to do with this irrelevant "Draft Cap Hit". Jake Allen would of been an exception, as he signed an extension for which his cap hit is lower than his previous cap hit. Allen's actual cap hit would of been lower than said "Draft Cap Hit". But since Montreal protected Allen, this is moot.

And concerning NHL teams real cap , these are the official numbers:
Upper Limit = $81.5 Million
Lower Limit = $60.2 Million

So Seattle can't be between 50 and 60 like you said. They must be above the lower Limit (by season start of course).

Cheers

Of course. The minimum number is a thing at 48M but it is simply a target not a real salary commitment with these expansion picks. 50 and 60M would be the target before taking on bad money before the season starts. Cap compliance only needs to be adhered once the season begins. See my point?

Allright, so we're both talking about t the same thing. 👍

Cheers

Firstly, before I respond to this post, I'd like to point out that for any other ACGM out there....THIS is how you should think about your teams and your posts, and THIS is how you should defend them. More good work MacAttacks.

1) Columbus - who to pick? Who....to.....pick...? They selection they are providing is weak....very weak. Since I'm really not a fan of Zach Hyman, I'd say to pass on signing him and select Max Domi instead. Worst case scenario, flip him at the trade deadline for a couple of picks as a rental. Failing that, go young instead and bet on the development of either Cliff Pu or Kevin Stenlund.

2) Personal income tax rates being low in Washington State. This was a good find. It has been an important factor for people wanting to play for Tampa and Florida, it will no doubt be a factor for Seattle as well. This may hurt Vancouver in the long run for people wanting to move 'home'.

3) I reverse my stance on Kerfoot vs McCann. I saw the analytics comparing the two, McCann is superior, and not just by a little. For a cap savings of half a million, it makes sense.

4) Larsson and Dunn, those numbers look better.

5) If I were RF, I'd still push hard for Danault, but pass 100% on Drouin. Seattle could pick up Mike Hoffman, Brandon Saad, Mikael Granlund or Zach Parise for same/similar/lower dollars and get a more assured result.

6) I see your points on Dougie Hamilton, but 8 x $9M is reserved for elite, and DH has shown flashes of elite, but is the tier just below elite. I'd look at TWO of Brandon Montour, Ryan Suter, David Savard, Tyson Barrie, Sami Vatanen or Travis Hamonic for less money, and buy one more scoring forward as this d-core is solid.

For the record @MacAttacks, I like your team better than the real Seattle team.

I will give RF the benefit of the doubt. I am sure the team will look nowhere like it currently does when the season starts.

But I am still scratching my head to the fact that not even one package was acquired by RF in the expansion draft... It looks like they simply selected 30 players.

Since then I know he's traded Pitlick for a 2022 4th, but that so far is really slim pickings...

Maybe something happens tonight at the entry Draft, but gotta say I am not overly hopeful right now.

Also I know they selected Donskoi and not Compher, but I have a feeling that they'll trade Donskoi before Oct.23rd and therefore you'll have your wish of not having Donskoi on the team 😉

*As a side note, If the schedule stays as it is, I just noticed that Seattle, after receiving the Canucks for their Home Opener, will be receiving the Canadiens as their second team. Will really be an intense start!

And finally, thanks for your awesome comments 😎

Cheers! 🍺