PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Wednesday night is the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft for the brand new Seattle Kraken. Over the weekend, we learned who the Flyers left protected and unprotected for the Kraken to pick from.
Among those unprotected were high-priced forwards Jake Voracek and James van Riemsdyk. Voracek’s average annual value is $8.25 million and van Riemsdyk’s is $7 million.
Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere was also left available for taking, along with his $4.5 million AAV.
Notably, van Riemsdyk was left unprotected after 17 goals and 26 assists in 56 games last season, while Nicolas Aube-Kubel was protected after compiling only 12 points in 50 games.
The Kraken will pick one player from each team, except the Vegas Golden Knights.
In addition to Aube-Kubel, the others left protected were:
• Sean Couturier (arguably the team’s best player)
• Flyers Captain Claude Giroux
• Kevin Hayes
• Travis Konecny
• Scott Laughton
• Oskar Lindblom
• Carter Hart
• Ivan Provorov
• Travis Sanheim
• Ryan Ellis (the new defenseman the Flyers acquired in a trade on Saturday for Nolan Patrick and Phil Myers)
We’ll find out who the Kraken will choose Wednesday at 8 p.m.