Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog is not on the team's protected list for the expansion draft, according to Mike Chambers of The Denver Post.
By omitting Landeskog, who is a pending unrestricted free agent, the Avalanche will give the Seattle Kraken an exclusive opportunity to negotiate with the 28-year-old before free agency opens on July 28.
This will be the case for all unprotected free agents heading into the draft. The Kraken will have between Sunday morning, when protected lists are released, and Wednesday night when the expansion draft itself takes place to work toward deals without competition.
If Seattle and Landeskog come to an agreement prior to the expansion draft, then Landeskog will count as the Kraken's selection from the Avalanche.
A member of the Avalanche for 10 years and the team's captain for nine, Landeskog's pending free agency comes at a time the club must also sign star restricted free agent defenceman Cale Makar and Vezina finalist Philipp Grubauer.
“We’ll see what happens," Landeskog told The Athletic in a recent interview. "I’m still hopeful that we can agree on something and come to terms, but if it was up to me, I would have liked it to be done eight months ago, 10 months ago.”
In 54 regular-season games last season, Landeskog scored 20 goals and added 32 assists.
The expansion draft takes place Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET, and can be seen on Sportsnet.
