Well, it's also about exposing. You need to expose forwards, defensemen and a goalie who meet certain criteria. If they sign Smith to a 1-year extension for the purpose of exposing him, it does help to know what position he would be designated to: Forward or Defenseman
Unless Hajek plays 40 games, he is not eligible to be one of the exposed players. We may have to expose Lindgren if not Smith
i guess this is my day for language semantics
Hajek is totally
eligible to be exposed to Seattle and
claimed by Seattle. Howden too.
But as noted in quoted, NYR exposed list
must include 2Fs and 1D who both are
-
signed for at least the '21-22 season, or RFA (considered 'under team control')
AND
- have played
40 NHL games in most recent season, or 70 across prior 2 seasons
also must expose a Goalie. signed for '21-22 or RFA
Seattle does NOT have pick only from guys who meet the requirement,
but NYR exposed list must include at least 4 (2F, 1D, 1G) that meet them
so NYR will need to address this by either
- assuring Hajek plays 40, or
- bringing a player who qualifies, or who they dress enough to qualify
Maybe they can pry Kulak and McNiven from Habs
(... for Staal to chase a Cup w Price, Weber would nice...)
that would meet NYR's G and D requirements
for F's that should be less of a challenge, Howden plus maybe among guys they might re-sign : Mckegg, Strome, Fast
NYR can only lose 1 player in Exp draft, and it may not be the one that seems obvious or most valuable; Vegas chose Oscar Lindberg...
[ btw I just cannot imagine the possibility that Gorton lets himself get cornered into exposing Georiev (if still w NYR) or Lindgren]