The first GWMHL expansion draft in over two decades took place this week and last, and saw 60 players join either the Clarington Coyotes or the Hershey Bears. With the 20 existing teams largely protecting their more promising young players, Clarington and Hershey had their pick of several bigger veteran names, including Mark Giordano, Paul Stastny, and Dustin Brown.

See the complete 2021 Expansion Draft results here.

Who was hit the hardest?

Every team lost three players, meaning no one really avoided losing a regular roster contributor, but a few teams felt the pain more than the rest.

Farmington gave up Stastny (35 goals last year) alongside Tanner Pearson (23 goals) and prospect defenseman Andrew Peeke. They’ll need youngsters Drake Batherson, Josh Norris, and Conor Garland to step up and fill the void in the top nine. The newly crowned champs, El Dorado, lost two key depth pieces in Mats Zuccarello (21 goals in 50 games) and Brown (19 goals), along with checking centre Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. In losing Brown and Bellemare, they enter next season without either of the players they acquired in a mid-season trade with Parry Sound.

Also of note, the West Virginia River Rats two veteran defensemen — including Giordano (23 points in 59 games) — and goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who they may have been banking on shouldering quite a few starts next season. The Vancouver Night Train were relieved of goalie Chris Driedger (2.33 and .932 in 14 game), steady two-way defenseman Dmitry Orlov (24 points in 56 games) and Adam Henrique, who scored 39 goals last season — the most among the drafted players — while riding shotgun with Mat Barzal.

Finally, the Baltimore Crab lost two key players nursing serious injuries, winger Vladimir Tarasenko and defenseman Hampus Lindholm to Clarington and Hershey, respectively. Their new clubs hope they can both bounce back. If they do, the losses could prove costly for the Crab.

A look at the expansion teams’ rosters

So where do things stand? With trading set to open and both Clarington and Hershey now spilling over with depth, we could see a flurry of moves. But if the season started today, this is what the Expansion Draft has added to these teams’ rosters.

Clarington Coyotes

Already on the roster: F Vitaly Abramov, F Jack Studnicka, D Cale Fleury, D Riley Stillman, G Sergei Bobrovsky

C Nazem Kadri
C Paul Stastny
C Nick Bonino
C Lars Eller
C Blake Lizotte
C Mitchell Stephens
LW Tanner Pearson
LW Nick Paul
LW Scott Laughton
LW Jeff Skinner
LW Artturi Lehkonen
LW Brock McGinn
LW Tyler Benson
RW Mats Zuccarello
RW Vladimir Tarasenko
RW Jeff Carter
RW Joel Armia
RW Josh Archibald
RW Jake Virtanen
D Alex Goligoski
D Jamie Oleksiak
D Brendan Smith
D Calvin de Haan
D Connor Clifton
D David Savard
D Justin Braun
D Dennis Cholowski
G Jacob Markstrom
G Braden Holtby
G Jaroslav Halak

Hershey Bears

Already on the roster: F Jesper Boqvist, F Pierre Engvall, F David Gustafsson, F Nikolai Prokhorkin, F Eric Robinson, F Carter Verhaeghe, F Mikhail Vorobyev, D Dennis Gilbert, G Adam Werner

C Chandler Stephenson
C Adam Henrique
C Radek Faksa
C Tyler Bozak
C Alexander Kerfoot
C Colton Sissons
C Ivan Barbashev
C Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
C Brandon Sutter
C Aleksi Saarela
C Alexander True
LW Calle Jarnkrok
LW Boone Jenner
LW Valeri Nichushkin
RW Dustin Brown
RW Warren Foegele
RW Luke Glendening
D Mark Giordano
D Dmitry Orlov
D Kevin Shattenkirk
D Danny DeKeyser
D Brady Skjei
D Patrik Nemeth
D Travis Hamonic
D Hampus Lindholm
D Andrew Peeke
D Martin Fehervary
G Mike Smith
G Chris Driedger
G Antti Raanta