Avalanche release protection list ahead of expansion draft

NEW YORK (July 18, 2021) — The National Hockey League announced today the Available and Protected Lists for the 30 NHL Clubs who will provide players to the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft presented by Upper Deck.

The Kraken’s selection of 30 players, one from each NHL Club with the exception of the Vegas Golden Knights, will be revealed live from Seattle in a special 90-minute broadcast on Wednesday, July 21, at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2 in the U.S. and Sportsnet, SN NOW and TVA Sports in Canada.

ESPN’s Chris Fowler will host and be joined by former NHL player Dominic Moore. Fellow NHL alumnus Kevin Weekes, who has provided commentary and analysis for NHL Network and Hockey Night in Canada, will be reporting from various iconic Seattle locations.

The 2021 NHL Expansion Draft is being conducted under the same rules for the Kraken as the Golden Knights in 2017. Current NHL teams were able to protect seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender, or eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goaltender. More Expansion Draft rules are available here.

Avalanche Protection List

Nathan Mackinnon

Mikko Rantanen

Andre Burakovsky

Nazem Kadri

Tyson Jost

Logan O’Connor

Valeri Nichuskin

Cale Makar (RFA)

Devon Toews

Sam Girard

Philipp Grubauer (UFA)

Avalanche Available List

Travis Barron
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
Matt Calvert
J.T. Compher
Joonas Donskoi
Sheldon Dries
Vladislav Kamenev
Gabriel Landeskog
Ty Lewis
Jayson Megna
Liam O’Brien
Brandon Saad
Miikka Salomaki
Kiefer Sherwood
Carl Soderberg
T.J. Tynan
Mike Vecchione
Kyle Burroughs
Dennis Gilbert
Erik Johnson
Jacob MacDonald
Patrik Nemeth
Dan Renouf
Devan Dubnyk
Jonas Johansson
Hunter Miska