Earlier this month, we revisited the 2017 Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft, so naturally, we will now take a look at the 2021 Seattle Kraken expansion draft. Although Seattle joined the league just three years ago, it seems like ages ago in Calgary, as the franchise has seen massive turnover since the expansion draft in the summer of 2021.
The Flames’ protected list
Like most teams, the Calgary Flames opted to protect seven forwards, three defencemen, and one goalie. Below is a list of who the team protected.
| FORWARDS | DEFENCEMEN | GOALTENDERS |
|---|---|---|
| Mikael Backlund* | Rasmus Andersson* | Jacob Markstrom* |
| Dillon Dube | Noah Hanifin | |
| Johnny Gaudreau | Chris Tanev | |
| Elias Lindholm | ||
| Andrew Mangiapane* | ||
| Sean Monahan | ||
| Matthew Tkachuk |
Overall, the Flames protected three of the same forwards from the 2017 expansion draft in Mikael Backlund, Sean Monahan, and Johnny Gaudreau. None of their three defencemen protected in 2021 were on the roster in 2017. Same goes for Jacob Markstrom, who was not in Calgary in 2017.
Another wild and frankly depressing fact is that just four of the Flames’ 11 protected players from the 2021 expansion draft are still in Calgary. Those players are Backlund, Andrew Mangiapane, Rasmus Andersson and Markstrom. Given the recent rumours surrounding Markstrom, there’s a good chance that number drops to three within the next month. It’s a frankly stunning turnaround for an organization to see eight of their 11 protected players gone just three years later.
In particular, Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk—both considered franchise cornerstones at the time of the expansion draft—spent just one more season in Calgary and were out of the organization a year after the expansion draft. Similarly, Sean Monahan would spend just one more year in Calgary before being traded in the summer of 2022.
This past season also saw a mass exodus of protected Flames from the 2021 draft, as Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev, and Noah Hanifin were all traded mid-season less than three years after being protected. Dillon Dube was also removed from the active roster this past season as a result of investigations into the 2018 World Junior sexual assault case.
Players the Flames exposed for expansion
Now, let’s take a look at the players that the Flames chose not to protect. The list goes as follows:
| FORWARDS | DEFENCEMEN | GOALTENDERS |
|---|---|---|
| Byron Froese | Mark Giordano | Louis Domingue |
| Glenn Gawdin | Oliver Kylington* | Tyler Parsons |
| Justin Kirkland | Nikita Nesterov | |
| Josh Leivo | Alex Petrovic | |
| Milan Lucic | Michael Stone | |
| Matthew Phillips | ||
| Zac Rinaldo | ||
| Brett Ritchie | ||
| Buddy Robinson | ||
| Derek Ryan | ||
| Dominik Simon |
Unlike the 2017 expansion draft where the Flames left no one of note exposed, the 2021 expansion draft saw the Flames leave two notable names available for the picking. In particular, the Flames had arguably the most prominent player exposed in the entire draft in then-captain Mark Giordano.
Protecting a then 37-year-old Giordano didn’t make much sense, but it’s still puzzling that the team didn’t pay Seattle to leave Giordano alone or simply trade him to Seattle ahead of time. Losing your long-time captain for nothing is never a great look, and Seattle ended up taking Giordano and naming him the first captain in franchise history.
Past Giordano, the only other player of interest was Oliver Kylington. Just 24 years old at the time and with multiple strong AHL seasons under his belt, Kylington would’ve been a big loss for the Flames had he been drafted by Seattle. Luckily, he remained in Calgary and has since become a key part of their blue line.
Outside of Kylington, none of the other exposed players are still active in the Flames organization. Michael Stone stuck around the longest, playing in Calgary until 2023 before retiring and joining the organization in a player development role.
A time of change
Despite not losing any key future pieces in the 2021 expansion draft, the Flames failed to capitalize on their luck, as the protected core would really only spend one more season together before being broken up. Now, just three years later, only four players remain from the 2021 expansion draft, with that number seemingly getting lower every few months.
