It appears as if Colin Blackwell is the inital target for the Seattle Kraken, but there appears there could be a trade in the works that would let the Rangers keep Blackwell and add veteran defenseman Mark Giordano – the current 37 year old captain of the Calgary Flames.
We probably won’t find out officially until tomorrow when trades can be announced, but Blackwell’s tenure with the Seattle Kraken could be relatively short lived if the teams do in fact make a trade after the expansion draft is announced tonight.
If the rumor prefers to be true, then Giordano would add the veteran presence on the blueline that the Rangers desire, and even at 38 he still remains an effective blueliner. He lead the Flames with 1284 minutes of ice time last season, including 170 minutes shorthanded (2nd on the team) and 132 of power play time (2nd amongst defensemen on the team).
The Toronto born left handed defenseman has played his entire fifteen NHL seasons with the Calgary Flames and has 143 goals, 366 assists and 759 penalty minutes in 949 career games. He’s also appeared in 23 playoff games. He also has one year left on his contract with a cap hit of $6.75M, something the Rangers would easily be able to accommodate for one year.
For the team to make this deal work, they’re probably going to have send a roster player back, and who that might be is unknown at this stage.
[UPDATED July 22nd – 6:44PM EASTERN]
As we near the official announcements for the draft, it appears that a player of interest for the Kraken might be Ryan Strome. There are reportedly several teams interested in Strome, including Buffalo and Seattle according to Mollie Walker of the New York Post. Earlier in the week we heard fron Andy Strickland who covers the St. Louis Blues, that Ottawa was also interested.
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