Colin Blackwell, Jordan Eberle, and Nathan Bastian are headed west, as those three players were officially named as the locals’ losses in the NHL Expansion Draft for the Seattle Kraken Wednesday night.
With the picks announced in alphabetically by team by division, Bastian was technically the 11th pick, with the Devils falling in the third spot in the Metropolitan Division. The 23-year-old forward had three goals and seven assists and a team leading 136 hits in 41 games for New Jersey last season, and the former 2016 second-round pick has 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in 48 NHL games.
He is under a two-year contract, and NHL.com’s Dan Rosen said in his draft analysis that Bastian is a “quality depth selection who could fit into a bottom-six role for the Kraken” as a center or wing, as he has “some offensive upside but is more of a grinding, bruising third- or fourth-line forward who can contribute on the penalty kill.”
Up next were the Islanders, and they lost Eberle, who had 16 goals and 17 assists in 55 games and then 11 more points (four goals, seven assists) in 19 playoff games. The 31-year-old winger was a first-round pick of Edmonton in 2008 and has 241 goals and 310 assists in 779 games in his career with Edmonton and the Isles.
Eberle, who has three years left on the deal he signed with the Islanders two Junes ago, is pegged by Rosen as “Seattle’s first- or second-line right wing, depending on the chemistry he develops with a center,” with the expert saying “his value is his production” and the Kraken should expect 20 goals and 50 points minimum.
The Rangers were then up at 13, and the Kraken selected Blackwell, a 28-year-oldforward who had 12 goals and 10 assists in 47 games in 2021. He was a seventh-round pick of the Sharks in 2011, and had just three goals and seven assists in 33 NHL games prior to this season.
Blackwell has one year on his deal, and Rosen pegged him as a “solid” pick who is “more of a bottom-six forward but can jump up and play in a top-six role for a stretch of games if necessary,” as he is “energetic and strong on the forecheck.”
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