The Blackhawks were forced to part ways with 2015 Stanley Cup champion defender Trevor van Riemsdyk in June 2017 when the Golden Knights selected him on their expansion project. The blueliner was sent to the Carolina hurricanes for a recruiting selection a day later.
The Hawks will again be tasked with deciding who to protect and who to prepare to part with before the Seattle Kraken expansion draft during the offseason of 2021 when the Kraken, who was named after his team on Thursday, will take a player from the Blackhawks.
Each NHL club, except the exempt Vegas Golden Knights, may protect any combination of seven forwards, three defenders and a goalkeeper, or eight skaters (any combination of forwards and defenders) and a goalkeeper.
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It is noteworthy that emerging Hawks like defenders Nicolas Beaudin, Adam Boqvist and Ian Mitchell, along with forwards Kirby Dach and Dominik Kubalik, will be exempt from the expansion draft because they would have played two or fewer seasons earlier.
Here are the six players the Blackhawks would likely end up throwing at the Kraken:
6. Olli Maatta
If the Hawks don’t buy Maatta this offseason, chances are he’ll be exposed in the expansion draft. A new wave of young Blackhawks defenders is coming, led by Mitchell, who will sooner or later see Maatta, who was generally skating in the Hawks’ bottom pairing, out of the lineup. That said, an expansion kit could certainly come in handy for the veteran defender.
5. David Kampf
Kampf’s defensive play has been a benefit to the Hawks’ underdog group of forwards, but they could bet on finding a similar center with a more scoring touch within the organization or elsewhere. Seattle could go for a strong defensive striker, especially in the middle of one of its bottom two lines.
4. Drake Caggiula
The Hawks wouldn’t want Caggiula to be the one who got away in the expansion draft, but that might be the case. Caggiula owes a new contract after this season and the Blackhawks may be forced to protect the players in front of him. The Kraken would be lucky to have its claws (does the Kraken have claws?) On the wrecking ball forward with a touch of touchdown.
3. Matthew Highmore
Highmore, 24, has played 49 games with the Hawks in the past two seasons, recording eight points (four goals, four assists). He seems to have a bright future to be a top-for-bottom cash for the last six in the NHL … Why not for Seattle?
2. Dylan Sikura
I hate to say it, it has been easy to cheer on Sikura as she has received a glimpse of the Blackhawks over parts of the past three seasons, but has not yet fitted in well enough to be a player every night. There have been flashes of offensive brilliance for the 25-year-old winger, but he has only been able to contribute one goal and 13 assists in 47 games with Chicago. That’s not enough for a skill player in a Hawks sweater. An expansion team like the Kraken could give Sikura more ice time with top players to see if he can regularly contribute offensively.
1. Collin Delia
The Blackhawks will only be able to protect a goalkeeper in the expansion draft. Despite so many questions about Corey Crawford’s health and professional longevity, he was one of the best goalkeepers in the NHL hiatus, posting a .928 save percentage in his last 20 starts. Crawford needs a new contract after this season, but whether or not he is able to catch the net in Edmonton after missing the first 12 days of Phase 3 training camp due to a previous COVID-19 diagnosis, if seen Well during the 2020- ’21 season they will probably protect the two-time Stanley Cup champion from Delia.
That is not a blow to Delia, who is locked up during the 2021-’22 season. She had a great second half of the season this year with the Hawks’ AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, and had a good summer camp. What’s more, he would be Crawford’s backup if Crawford brought him back. But, if Crawford is not re-signed, Delia is only capped at $ 1 million. Whether it’s on the line with the Hawks or on another team like Seattle, Delia deserves a shot to be the No. 1 goalkeeper somewhere. He has some pipe experience for the Blackhawks, going 7-5-3 with an average of 3.65 goals against and a .906 save percentage.
