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The NHL is expanding to 32 teams beginning with the 2021-22 season, as the Seattle Kraken will join the Pacific Division. This sets up a natural regional rivalry with the Vancouver Canucks and brings the sport back to the city whose Metropolitans were the first team awarded the Stanley Cup in 1917.

While the hirings on the management and coaching side continue — and construction on Climate Pledge Arena continues, with a mid-October opening date still the goal — the roster of players remains to be determined as well. The next step in that process is the expansion draft.

If you aren’t entirely caught up, we’ve got you covered, with intel on how the franchise came to be, broadcast details on the expansion draft itself, rules and restrictions for the Kraken and the other NHL teams, and insights into what kind of players could land with Seattle for its inaugural season.

Who are the Seattle Kraken?

Wyshynski: After over two decades of failed attempts to bring an NHL team to Seattle, momentum started to pick up around 2012, with construction of a new arena being the key component.

In summer 2013, the Phoenix Coyotes nearly relocated to Seattle before the Glendale City Council in Arizona approved a new arena lease. In 2015, three ownership groups discussed submitting bids for an NHL expansion team but none did, as Las Vegas was the lone expansion franchise approved by the league.

Then, in 2017, the NHL announced it was considering a bid from Seattle with a $650 million expansion fee — $150 million more than Vegas paid. Rather than build a new arena — something that torpedoed other bids — an ownership group led by majority owner David Bonderman and minority owners Jerry Bruckheimer and David Wright worked with Oak View Group on a proposal for a privately financed renovation of Key Arena, the former home of the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics, to house an NHL team.

Seattle was unanimously approved by the NHL’s Board of Governors as the league’s 32nd franchise in Dec. 2018, which placed them in the Pacific Division beginning in the 2021-22 season. Former Carolina Hurricanes general manager Ron Francis was hired in 2019 to lead the hockey operations department, which quickly gained recognition for the diversity of its hiring practices and focus on analytics.

In summer 2020, the team revealed its nickname, the Kraken, chosen from a pool that included Steelheads, Sockeyes and Metropolitans. In June 2021, the Kraken announced former Philadelphia Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol as their first head coach.

When and where is the expansion draft?

Kaplan: The expansion draft will be held on July 21, 5 p.m. PDT/8 p.m. EDT in Seattle, and broadcast on ESPN2. Teams’ protected lists are due on Saturday, and those lists will be announced on Sunday.

Have the rules changed since the Vegas Golden Knights‘ expansion draft?

Wyshynski: The Kraken are drafting under the same rules that the Vegas Golden Knights benefitted from in 2017. They have the same positional and salary cap roster requirements; the other 30 teams in the expansion draft have the same protection limitations that could hand over the eighth-best forward, fourth-best defenseman or second-best goalie to the Kraken.

That includes a provision that could help the Kraken in landing a significant player seeking a max contract. For the Vegas draft, the NHLPA negotiated a “no loss of status or rights” provision in which players who are claimed in the expansion draft or acquired in a trade prior to the conclusion of the expansion draft would be eligible to sign an eight-year max contract with the Golden Knights prior to free agency. The same provision, with slightly altered dates due to the late end of the 2021 season, is in place for the Kraken in this expansion draft.

Why is Vegas exempt from the expansion draft?

Kaplan: The Golden Knights do not have to give up a player in the expansion draft, a deal owner Bill Foley struck with the NHL in their original franchise agreement in 2016. The only downside for Vegas? Foley doesn’t get a cut of Seattle’s $650 million expansion fee, which equates to a $21.67 million check for the other 30 teams.

This was a typical practice for the NHL in the frenzied 1990s, when the league added nine teams over course of the decade. For example, when the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets held a joint expansion draft in 2000, they didn’t select players from the Atlanta Thrashers (who joined in 1999) or Nashville Predators (1998), as they were the two new kids on the block still finding their way.

What are the rules for teams protecting players?

Wyshynski: The 30 teams in the expansion draft can protect seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie; or they can protect eight skaters and one goaltender. All first-year and second-year NHL players, and all unsigned draft picks, are exempt from the expansion draft, and won’t count toward a team’s protection total.

There are minimum requirements for players exposed in the expansion draft. There must be at least two forwards and one defenseman exposed who are under contract for the 2021-22 season who played at least 40 games last season or 70 games over the last two seasons; and one goalie exposed who is under contract for the 2021-22 season or will be a restricted free agent this offseason — as long as that pending RFA goalie has received his qualifying offer this summer.

One important thing to remember for these requirements: Players who have “potential career-ending injuries” that have missed more than 60 straight games — or have a confirmed career-threatening injury — can’t be used to satisfy a team’s player exposure requirement unless the NHL signs off on it.

How do no-trade and no-movement clauses play into this?

Kaplan: If a player has a no-trade clause, he can be exposed. If a player has a no-movement clause, he must be protected — unless he agrees to waive it for the purpose of being exposed. There’s already an example of at least one player doing this: Calgary Flames veteran forward Milan Lucic.

The 32-year-old, who has two years remaining on his seven-year contract, said he loves it in Calgary and wants to stay with the Flames, but agreed to waive his no-movement clause so that the team can prioritize protecting other players.

Tuesday was the deadline for teams to ask players to waive their no-movement clauses, for the sole purpose of being exposed in the expansion draft (like Lucic). Players have until July 16 to make that decision.

Some teams were put in a tough situation by having too many no-movement clauses during the Golden Knights expansion draft. A great example was the Blue Jackets, who were forced to protect Sergei Bobrovsky, Brandon Dubinsky, Nick Foligno and Scott Hartnell because of their NMCs. That meant Columbus had to expose players like Josh Anderson, Ryan Murray and Joonas Korpisalo, and GM Jarmo Kekalainen didn’t want to lose any of them.

So, Kekalainen made a side deal with Vegas GM George McPhee. The Golden Knights agreed to pick William Karlsson in exchange for a first-round pick, a second-round pick and taking on the expensive contract of David Clarkson. Karlsson glowed up in Vegas, transforming from a six- to 43-goal scorer, thanks in part to a more featured role. The Blue Jackets have not handed out any no-movement clauses since.

Do the Kraken have to take a certain amount of each position?

Wyshynski: Seattle will select one player from each team — besides Vegas — with the requirements being that they must take at least 14 forwards, nine defenseman and three goalies. It must choose a minimum of 20 players under contract for the 2021-22 regular season, ones who have “an aggregate expansion draft value that is between 60%-100%” of the $81.5 million salary cap ceiling.

The Kraken are restricted from buying out players selected in the expansion draft until summer 2022.

What are the rules regarding Seattle signing a free agent before the draft?

Kaplan: From Sunday to July 21, the Kraken have an exclusive negotiating window with any pending free agents not protected by the other 30 teams. If Seattle signs one of these players, it counts as their selection from that club. And if Seattle signs that player to a deal before free agency begins on July 28, then the Kraken can offer an eight-year max extension. After that, Seattle can only give out seven-year deals this summer.

What kind of players should Kraken fans expect on the roster from the draft?

Wyshynski: Under the same draft rules, the Golden Knights selected seven centers, six left wings, two right wings, 13 defensemen and three goalies. The imbalance shouldn’t be a surprise, considering that every team was theoretically giving up their No. 4 defenseman. In fact, all six defenseman on their opening night roster in 2017-18 were selected in the expansion draft, as was their starting goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury. It would be a surprise if the Kraken didn’t draft a veteran netminder, considering how many intriguing options will be available.

The kinds of players the Kraken select will be guided by three things: Who is available in the player pool; the mandatory requirements for their roster; and the philosophy of the front office. Seattle has been emphatic in its dedication to data analysis, so expect several “analytics darlings” to join the team via the draft.

However, head coach Hakstol told ESPN to also expect the Kraken to draft players that are in the image of the way GM Ron Francis competed as a player. “He places a ton of value on players that can think the game. Intelligent players. The pace of the game is a really big aspect. But most importantly, the competitiveness,” said Hakstol.

Do any NHL players have ties to the area?

Kaplan: The two most well-known Washington-born players in the NHL are Washington Capitals veteran forward T.J. Oshie (born in nearby Mt. Vernon) and Tampa Bay Lightning veteran forward Tyler Johnson (born in Spokane).

Oshie has long been speculated to be the Kraken’s face of the franchise in Year 1, but the 34-year-old wants to stay in D.C.

“I signed an eight-year deal here because this is where I wanted to spend the rest of my career and retire here,” Oshie said during his end-of-season media availability. The winger is under contract with Washington through 2024-25. Capitals GM Brian MacLellan may have put some of the speculation to bed in May, calling Oshie “a big part of our organization.”

“It would hurt our team and our organization if we lost him in the expansion draft,” MacLellan said. “I don’t know if we’ve made any decisions fully on that but ideally, we’d like to keep him around.”

It’s likely the Lightning will expose Johnson, whom they twice put on waivers last season. But no other team had interest in helping Tampa Bay shed Johnson’s $5 million salary, and it’s unclear if the Kraken will either.

Seattle has two local major junior teams that play in the WHL. The Seattle Thunderbirds have a decent list of alumni that play in the NHL: Mathew Barzal, Ethan Bear, Brenden Dillon, Keegan Kolesar, Shea Theodore, Patrick Marleau and Nate Thompson. The Everett Silvertips are the former team of Radko Gudas, Carter Hart, Jujhar Khaira and Ryan Murray.

Have the other teams learned anything from the 2017 expansion draft?

Wyshynski: Yes, they learned that the NHL has stacked the deck against them because an expansion ownership group spent hundreds of millions of dollars to join the league. So they’ve done their best to get their rosters in order ahead of this draft. They’ve opened the lines of communication with GM Francis well ahead of the expansion lists being submitted to try to make trades.

As Nashville Predators GM David Poile said recently, “It may not guarantee that we do anything with them, but … if I could make a deal that I liked with him, I would probably prefer that.”

If these teams have learned anything, hopefully it’s not to overreact to potential player losses. Among the treasure that Vegas acquired after agreeing not to draft certain unprotected players from teams: Defenseman Shea Theodore, wingers Reilly Smith and Alex Tuch and three first-round picks.

How good will the Kraken be in their first season?

Kaplan: The Golden Knights opened their first season with 500-1 odds to win the Stanley Cup, then made it to the Stanley Cup Final, rewriting expectations for expansion franchises across sports. Before Vegas, of the 64 expansion teams among the four major U.S. sports leagues since 1960, no team posted a winning record in its first season.

Oddsmakers learned their lesson. Seattle opens with 100-1 odds, the same as five other teams and above the Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings.

Kraken management has been careful not to assign a timeline to success. As Francis told me shortly after he was hired two years ago: “I think if you go back and listen to the comments that Vegas had leading up to the expansion draft, their plan was to draft and develop well and be patient in the process. I think George [McPhee] and Kelly [McCrimmon] did a fantastic job. They had an unbelievable first season, and the franchise has been in good position ever since. So hopefully we can draft some good players in the expansion draft, and draft some good players in the amateur draft, and take the time to develop those guys.”

Sounds like someone who is trying not to overpromise, only over-deliver.

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Landeskog scores 1st NHL goal in nearly 3 years

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Landeskog scores 1st NHL goal in nearly 3 years

Perhaps the only detail more emphatic than the goals in the Colorado Avalanche‘s 4-0 win over the Dallas Stars Saturday night, was the impact provided by their captain, Gabriel Landeskog.

Landeskog, who returned in Game 3 of this Western Conference first-round series after missing nearly three seasons while recovering from a knee injury, scored his first goal since June 20, 2022, in a multi-point performance that saw the Avalanche tie the series at 2-2 in Game 4 at Ball Arena. Game 5 is Monday in Dallas.

“It means a lot,” Landeskog told reporters after the win. “Obviously, I’ve envisioned scoring again for a long time. There obviously days when I didn’t know if I was ever going to score again. It obviously feels good. It’s a tight playoff series in a big game here at home. To get to do it here at home in front of our fans obviously means a means a lot. Super exciting. Hopefully more to come.”

A short-handed goal from Logan O’Connor midway through the first period followed by a late power-play goal from Nathan MacKinnon staked the Avalanche to a 2-0 lead entering the second period.

That set the stage for Landeskog, who was in the slot when Brock Nelson fed a pass that the 32-year-old winger launched for a one-timer that beat Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger for a 3-0 lead.

Landeskog, who was playing on the second line, was instantly mobbed by his teammates on the nice such as Samuel Girard, Valeri Nichushkin, Devon Toews and Nelson, who joined the Avalanche at the NHL trade deadline.

As Landeskog returned to the bench, he was congratulated by the entire team which also included a hug from a smiling MacKinnon, who along with Landeskog, have been with the franchise for more than a decade.

“I was just proud of him again,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar told reporters after the game. “I was proud of him regardless of if he scores or not because I know what he’s gone through, and I know how difficult that was. I think that takes it to another level. You know he wants to come back and contribute like he did in the past and he’s off to a great start.”

Landeskog’s goal was the latest milestone in what’s been a lengthy recovery from a chronically injured right knee. He missed what amounted to 1,032 days since his last NHL game.

In that time, the Avalanche have remained in a championship window but have dramatically altered their roster. The Avs have nine players from that championship team who have remained with the franchise and have since reshuffled a roster that led to them re-acquiring defenseman Erik Johnson, one of Landeskog’s closest friends, in their bid for the fourth title in franchise history.

Even with all the changes, there were still questions about when they could see Landeskog return to the lineup. And if Landeskog did return, what he could look like?

His first professional game in three years came April 11 with the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate where he logged 15 minutes. Landeskog would then score a goal and get an assist in his second and final game.

And much like his AHL stint, all it took was two games for Landeskog to score and have another two-point performance.

While Landeskog’s goal became the most celebrated moment of the evening, what he did to help create the Avalanche’s fourth goal was an example of why he’s so crucial to their title aspirations.

Landeskog played a pass to Nelson who then found a Girard for a shot from the point that gave the Avs a 4-0 lead in the fourth. In the time Landeskog passed the puck, he anchored himself at the net front to gain position on 6-foot-7 Stars defensemen Lian Bichsel to screen goaltender Casey DeSmith, who replaced Oettinger for the third period.

Jockeying with Bichsel, who is six inches taller and 16 pounds heavier, allowed Landeskog to test both his strength and that right knee to gain leverage.

The result? Girard’s shot found space in traffic with Landeskog making it hard for DeSmith to see the puck.

“He’s a big boy,” Landeskog said with a smile. “He’s a big strong guy, a physical player and hard to play against. I was trying to get in front of their goal, and he was trying to get me out of there. It was a good battle.”

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Former Cardinals, Reds GM Jocketty dies at 74

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Former Cardinals, Reds GM Jocketty dies at 74

ST. LOUIS — Walt Jocketty, a three-time baseball executive of the year and former general manager for both the Cardinals and Reds, has died. He was 74.

Jocketty died Friday in the Phoenix area, former Cardinals manager Tony La Russa told the team after speaking with Jocketty’s wife, Sue.

The Cardinals announced the death Saturday. Jocketty had been battling health issues for the several years.

St. Louis won the National League Central seven times under Jocketty’s leadership. The Cardinals also won National League championships in 2004 and 2006 and their 10th World Series title in 2006.

“On behalf of the entire St. Louis Cardinals organization, I would like to offer condolences to Walt’s family and his many friends,” Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said in a statement. “Walt was our first GM when we purchased the ballclub and he helped to lead our baseball operations through some of the franchises most successful and memorable years.

“He will be sorely missed but long remembered for his distinguished career in baseball.”

Jocketty became the general manager in St. Louis on Oct. 14, 1994. After the team was sold in 1995, the new ownership kept Jocketty in his job. His biggest move was hiring La Russa in 1996. The two men had worked together in Oakland.

La Russa would go on to be the winningest manager in the Cardinals history and a Hall of Famer.

Jocketty revamped the roster, and in 1996, the Cardinals returned to postseason play for the first time in nine seasons.

In his tenure with St. Louis, Jocketty either drafted or acquired such stars as Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, Mark McGwire, Adam Wainright, Chris Carpenter, David Eckstein, Jason Isringhausen, Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen.

With Jocketty at the helm, St. Louis put together seven consecutive winning seasons. In 2004 and 2005, the Cardinals won more than 100 games.

He was named the MLB Executive of the Year in 2000, 2004 and 2010.

Leading up to the 2000 season, Jocketty became the first general manager in baseball history to trade for a 20-game winner (Darryl Kile from Colorado) and a 40-home run hitter (Edmonds from Anaheim) in the same offseason.

After he was fired by the Cardinals in 2007 because of differences with ownership, Jocketty was hired by the Reds as a special adviser on Jan. 11, 2008. He was named general manager after Wayne Krivsky was fired on April 23, 2008. He served in that role until Dick Williams replaced him on Dec. 27, 2016.

Jocketty was replaced by John Mozeliak in St. Louis.

“He was a great man,” Mozeliak said after Saturday’s game. “In terms of baseball, he loved it. His influence on myself and this organization was huge. Trying to sum it up in a sentence or two is difficult but his impact is something that I think will always be remembered. His legacy will age well.”

Despite replacing him when he was fired, Mozeliak said the two remained close.

“That was a different time, of course,” Mozeliak said. “In the end, we ended up being friends again. We both understood this is part of the business. I think he was proud of the success I ended up having.”

The Reds made the playoffs three times when Jocketty served as general manager, in 2010, 2012 and 2013. They have made the playoffs only once since.

Jocketty is survived by his wife and two children, Ashley and Joey.

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Duran steals home, leaves Red Sox in amazement

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Duran steals home, leaves Red Sox in amazement

CLEVELAND — Jarren Duran barely had time to catch his breath after tripling in the third inning. It didn’t matter, he had already made up his mind to run again.

Duran pulled off Boston’s first straight steal of home plate in exactly 16 years, scoring on the next pitch from Doug Nikhazy as the Red Sox beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday.

“(Third base coach Kyle Hudson) heard him tell the umpire that he was working from the stretch, so I decided I was going to go on the first pitch,” Duran said. “It was just to keep the offense going and cause a little chaos. I knew I had it.”

As Nikhazy went from the windup, Duran broke for home. He slid headfirst and slapped his right hand on the plate ahead of Bo Naylor‘s tag. Umpire Brock Ballou’s safe call was upheld in a video review.

“Under the new rules, he’s kind of the perfect player,” Boston manager Alex Cora said of Duran. “We saw a window there and he took advantage of the situation.”

It marked the first straight steal of home plate by the Red Sox since Jacoby Ellsbury against the Yankees on April 26, 2009. Duran’s two previous thefts of home were part of double steals last season at Tampa Bay on May 21 and at the White Sox on June 7.

“It was really a cool play and a cool sequence of events there,” Red Sox pitcher Walker Buehler said. “He’s one of the most exciting players in baseball. After watching him from afar, it’s been fun to see him up close this season.”

Nikhazy, a 25-year-old left-hander, was making his major league debut and had already allowed five runs in 2 2/3 innings. With Rafael Devers in the batter’s box, he said he took “a peek” at Duran before delivering the ball.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt praised Duran for making “a head’s up baseball play” because third baseman José Ramírez was off the line, but his starting pitcher blamed himself.

“He had taken a big jump and he took off immediately,” Nikhazy said. “In the moment, I chose to make the pitch as opposed to stepping off. Ultimately, when I saw him, I should have stepped off.”

Duran went 3 for 5 with three runs and two RBI in the nightcap. He was hitless in four at-bats in the first game, which Cleveland won 5-4.

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