ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Blues have some tough decisions to make this offseason. Some of those are starting now, with the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft on the horizon.
The team had to submit its list of protected players the Kraken wouldn't be allowed to draft on Saturday, and the Blues released that list to the public on Sunday. The Blues opted to protect seven forwards, three defensemen and a goalie.
Here's who Seattle can't take from the Blues' roster:
Fowards
Ivan Barbashev
Jordan Kyrou
Ryan O'Reilly
David Perron
Brayden Schenn
Oskar Sundqvist
Robert Thomas
Defense
Justin Faulk
Torey Krug
Colton Parayko
Goalie
Jordan Binnington
A number of other players in the organization will be exempt from being taken as well. Here's the list of exempt players in the Blues' system:
Forwards
Nikita Alexandrov
Erik Foley
Dakota Joshua
Klim Kostin
Mathias Laferriere
Hugh McGing
Jake Neighbours
Evan Polei
Alexei Toropchenko
Keean Washkurak
Defense
Scott Perunovich
Tyler Tucker
Goalies
Colten Ellis
Joel Hofer
So, who could be heading to Seattle? Here's everyone the Kraken could steal away from St. Louis:
Forwards
Sam Anas
Sammy Blais
Tyler Bozak
Kyle Clifford
Mike Hoffman
Tanner Kaspick
Mackenzie MacEachern
Curtis McKenzie
Austin Poganski
Zach Sanford
Jaden Schwartz
Nolan Stevens
Vladimir Tarasenko
Nathan Walker
Defense
Robert Bortuzzo
Vince Dunn
Niko Mikkola
Mitch Reinke
Steven Santini
Marco Scandella
Jake Walman
Goalies
Evan Fitzpatrick
Jon Gillies
Ville Husso
Vladimir Tarasenko, Vince Dunn, Zach Sanford and Sammy Blais are among the notable players up for grabs for Seattle. Tarasenko recently expressed his desire to move on from St. Louis, where he's spent his entire career to this point.
The 2021 NHL Expansion Draft will take place at 7 p.m. CT on July 21 and will air on ESPN2. The Kraken will only get to take one player from the Blues' roster.