DCHL Seattle Expansion Projection

Arizona Coyotes

With the DCHL season now over the half way point, that mean that the Seattle expansion is just around the corner. Without further ado, here is the projected protection list for the DCHL Arizona Coyotes.

Expected to go 7-3-1
Forwards
Aleksander Barkov                 2 year $6,062,500 RFA
Evander Kane                         5 year $7,119,000 UFA
Christian Dvorak                    4 year $4,165,200 RFA
Adam Lowry                            1 year $2,730,000 RFA
Tanner Pearson                      1 year $1,750,000 RFA
Kevin Stenlund                       1 year $900,000 RFA
Valeri Nichushkin                   3 year $795,600 RFA

Notable Exempt Forwards
Evgeny Kuznetsov                 UFA
Andrie Svechnikov                Age Exempt

Notable Exposed Forwards
David Krejci                           2 year $7,718,400 UFA
Danton Heinen                      4 year $2,620,800 RFA

Defence
Cam Fowler                          4 year $7,475,000 UFA
Torey Krug                            2 year $6,825,000 UFA
Ivan Provorov                       5 year $6,318,000 RFA

Notable Exempt Defence
Dante Fabbro                      Contract Exempt
Jacob Larsson                    Contract Exempt
Evan Bouchard                   Age Exempt
Jake Bean                           Contract Exempt

Notable Exposed Defence
Cody Ceci                            2 year $4,024,800 RFA

Goalies
Laurent Brossoit                1 year $1,274,000 RFA

Notable Exempt Goalies
Frederik Andersen             UFA
Jake Oettinger                   Age Exempt

Notable Exposed Goalies
None

At the current moment, DCHL Arizona appears to be a great destination to target if a team has mutiple goalies worth proection. As it stands, back up goaltender Laurent Brossoit is the only goalie eligible for the expansion draft on the roster and can easily be switched out for any goaltender coming in.
Arizona also has the ability to switch out one of their younger players at forward for veteran David Krejci if the team wants to remain competitive. However, with the expected ratings boost to Christian Dvorak next season, it is expected that Dvorak will begin to push his way into the 2C role, making Krejci a solid target for Seattle.
Finally, while not ideal to leave an RFA defencemen exposed, Ceci becomes expendible with the exempt core of defencemen that the Coyotes have slowly been accumulating.