Hey, we got a 5th for Eddy thanks to Brindy overplaying him and Bergevin obsessing over getting the gritty. It wasn't ALL bad!

In all seriousness, I'm thankful that Skjei and Pesce are going to hold down the 3/4 spots for at least a few years.

I've watched Bean many times in Charlotte. He's very good. He really cleaned up a lot of his defensive mishaps that he got into his first couple of years in the AHL. Canes are notoriously patient with prospects, so I would not look too deeply into them not playing him yet.

He is not exempt. Every mock draft I have seen has Carolina going the 7/3/1 route with them protecting Slavin, Pesce, & Hamilton on defense. There's no way they can go 4/4/1 without leaving one of Aho, Svechnikov, Terevainen, or Trocheck exposed, which they're not going to do. Seattle would be crazy to take Gardiner over Bean. I could see an argument for Skjei, but I don't think they will pass on Bean for him. Bean is 4½ years younger and significantly less expensive.

I could see them leaving Trocheck exposed. He only has one year left after the expansion draft. The Francis regime in Carolina was known for prioritizing team controlled players. My view is that an 8-1 setup would have Carolina protecting the following:

Aho
Svechnikov
Teravainen
Staal (NMC)
Hamilton
Pesce
Slavin
Bean
Nedeljkovic

With Seattle taking Fleury.

I'll be very honest here. He is good in Charlotte. Arguably a top player in the AHL. Just the thing is, he needs to show NHL potential to yield a package such as this. Simple as that.

Now hold on, you cant say Bean is overrated then pretend Lundkvist is not. They are almost identical players

I don't have time or energy for this one but I appreciate the response!

If Trocheck is exposed, Seattle is taking him, no question. He'd be among their best forwards on day 1.

Perhaps. Which defensemen would you think that Seattle would take if not Fleury?

I think Seattle would take Bean over Fleury. Two extra years of rights' protection.

Here are several mock drafts that show both Fleury and Bean exposed, including two from The Athletic with Seattle taking Bean over Fleury:

https://theathletic.com/1899817/2020/07/02/mock-expansion-draft-4-0-what-the-seattle-nhl-team-might-look-like-next-year/

https://theathletic.com/2253127/2020/12/14/seattle-kraken-roster-expansion-draft/

https://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=108000

https://puckprose.com/2020/07/28/seattle-kraken-build-foundation-nhl-mock-expansion-draft/5/

Then I found this one from Sports Illustrated that apparently has Carolina leaving Trocheck exposed and Seattle wisely taking him over a defenseman.

https://www.si.com/hockey/news/seattle-mock-expansion-draft-1-who-cracks-the-kraken-roster

Out of all the mock drafts I could find, I couldn't find a single one that has Seattle selecting Fleury.

i mean bean won the best d man in the AHL last year. the canes should be high on him. this year alone he had slavin hamilton pesce skije vatanen fluery TVR and Gardiner above him. i personally believe if he played for almost any other organization he would be a cemented top 6 d man. he is just getting the short end of the stick in the canes D log jam.

If he played in any other organisation, he's a top 4 OFD.