Rangers' Colin Blackwell goes to Seattle Kraken in expansion draft
The Rangers' Colin Blackwell skates as players warm up for an NHL game against the Devils on Feb. 16 at Madison Square Garden. Credit: AP/Elsa
Colin Blackwell, who enjoyed a breakout season with the Rangers in 2021, was selected by the expansion Seattle Kraken in Wednesday’s expansion draft and will be a member of the NHL’s 32nd team when the Kraken begins play in the fall.
Though Seattle had to submit its list of selections to the NHL and NHLPA by 10 a.m. Wednesday, their picks were officially revealed on television, on ESPN 2 at 8 p.m., with a few Seattle area athletes and celebrities taking part of the broadcast. Former Seattle Sounders captain Brad Evans announced the selection of Blackwell, though Blackwell’s name, as was virtually every other player selected, had leaked out during the day on social media.
Blackwell, 28, had bounced around the minor leagues before signing a two-year, $1.45 million contract with the Rangers entering the 2020-21 season. He was supposed to be a depth forward, ticketed to be on the Rangers’ taxi squad or in the minor leagues, and he did start on the taxi squad. But he soon got a chance, and scored a goal in his Rangers debut in a game in Pittsburgh in late January. He ended up with 12 goals and 10 assists in 47 games.
"This guy’s a guy that comes and works hard every single night,’’ Seattle GM Ron Francis said on the broadcast, in explaining why he chose Blackwell. "He had a good run last year, scoring goals. We’re hoping he can do the same thing for us moving forward.’’
Francis opted to take Blackwell, a 5-9 forward who can play center or wing and profiles as a bottom six forward, over 23-year-old Julien Gauthier, a 6-4, 227-pound, former first round pick by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2016 who Francis had chosen while he was the Hurricanes’ GM.
The Kraken had to select 30 players – one from each NHL team except the Vegas Golden Knights, who entered the league four years ago – and teams were allowed to protect either seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender, or eight skaters and a goaltender.
First- and second-year professionals, and unsigned draft picks, were exempt from the draft, so second-year forwards Kaapo Kakko and Vitali Kravtsov and rookie Alexis Lafreniere were exempt, as were second-year defenseman (and Norris Trophy winner) Adam Fox, and first-year pro (and all-rookie team selection) K’Andre Miller, and goaltender Igor Shesterkin, a second-year pro.
The Rangers opted for the 7-3-1 option, and the seven forwards they protected were Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, Ryan Strome, Pavel Buchnevich, Filip Chytil and fourth-line center Kevin Rooney; the defensemen were Jacob Trouba, Ryan Lindgren and Libor Hajek, and the goaltender was Alexandar Georgiev.
Among the players exposed by the Rangers, besides Blackwell and Gauthier, was defenseman Tony DeAngelo, who was banished from the team in January after a series of behavioral missteps, the last of which was instigating a fight with Georgiev after an overtime home loss to Pittsburgh.
DeAngelo, who signed a two-year, $9.6 million contract before last season, is expected to be bought out by the Rangers, perhaps as soon as Thursday.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
