SEATTLE — The memory and feeling still is fresh a few years later for Kelly McCrimmon and he’s sure it will be for Ron Francis too.

It’s surreal, McCrimmon recalled, to have the entire NHL hit pause and wait for your decisions that will influence the rest of the league’s landscape. It happened four years ago for McCrimmon and the Vegas Golden Knights ahead of their expansion draft.

It’s about to happen for Francis and the Seattle Kraken.

“When you finally get the list, the hockey world stands still waiting for you. That’s a really different feeling,” said McCrimmon, the current Vegas general manager and assistant GM to George McPhee four years ago. “It’ll never happen again in their careers. It never happened again in our careers. But when you get that list, everyone is waiting for you. There’s no one making a trade, there’s no one having discussions. The hockey world is going through Seattle for that period of time after those lists are submitted. That’s a unique once in a lifetime feeling.”

The NHL pause arrived Saturday after a busy day of league-wide deals that helped teams solidify rosters and make decisions on what players would exposed to Seattle ahead of Wednesday’s expansion draft.

Teams submitted their protected player lists to the league and those who are protected — or more importantly left unprotected — will be released early today. From there, it will be a three-day whirlwind of decisions, phone calls and likely some deals on the side that eventually will make up the Kraken roster that gets announced.

“This has been a long journey,” Francis said. “Our people have worked extremely hard in some tough situations, with COVID and having to watch certain things on video versus live. Finally getting to watch some stuff live. The introduction of a taxi squad changed things dramatically ... and ultimately it challenges us a little bit more of what we’re doing. But our guys have worked extremely hard to get to this point and I think everybody’s just excited that tomorrow morning we’re going to get these lists and in three days we’re gonna announce it.”

Francis, who was hired two years ago today as the first GM of the Kraken, said his staff has gone through hundreds of mock drafts in the past 18 months building toward the decisions that will be made this week. Seattle has certain minimums it must meet in the expansion draft, including selecting at least 20 players who are under contract for next season and have salaries totaling at least $48 million.

But one of Seattle’s biggest benefits going into the draft is its salary cap space.

“The one thing that we think is extremely, extremely valuable in this environment is cap space,” Francis said. “We’ve got $81.5 million of cap space to play with so that’s certainly something that we want to make sure we try and take advantage of moving forward.”

While most of Francis’ front-office staff has been in place for close to a year, he said the input of new coach Dave Hakstol, who was hired in late June, has been and will be important during the next few days.

Ultimately, those 80 or so hours between the release of the protected lists today and the announcement of Seattle’s roster Wednesday will show how well other general managers learned from what Vegas accomplished four years ago and how well Francis and his staff were able to counter.

“Teams knew we were coming and they’ve had four years to prepare,” Francis said.

NHL Expansion Draft

Available Players List

Expansion Draft: Wednesday

ANAHEIM — Forwards: Andrew Agozzino, David Backes, Sam Carrick, Chase De Leo, Ryan Getzlaf, Derek Grant, Danton Heinen, Adam Henrique, Vinni Lettieri, Sonny Milano, Andrew Poturalski, Carter Rowney, Nick Sorensen, Alexander Volkov. Defensemen: Trevor Carrick, Haydn Fleury, Brendan Guhle, Jacob Larsson, Josh Mahura, Kevin Shattenkirk, Andy Welinski. Goalies: Ryan Miller, Anthony Stolarz.

ARIZONA — Forwards: Derick Brassard, Michael Bunting, Brayden Burke, Michael Chaput, Hudson Fasching, Christian Fischer, Frederik Gauthier, John Hayden, Dryden Hunt, Andrew Ladd, Lane Pederson, Tyler Pitlick, Blake Speers, Tyler Steenbergen. Defensemen: Jason Demers, Cam Dineen, Alex Goligoski, Jordan Gross, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Ilya Lyubushkin, Dysin Mayo, Aaron Ness, Jordan Oesterle, Vili Saarijarvi. Goalies: Josef Korenar, Marek Langhamer, Antti Raanta.

BOSTON — Forwards: Anton Blidh, Paul Carey, Peter Cehlarik, Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, Taylor Hall, Cameron Hughes, Ondrej Kase, Alex Khokhlachev, Joona Koppanen, David Krejci, Karson Kuhlman, Sean Kuraly, Curtis Lazar, Greg McKegg, Nick Ritchie, Zach Senyshyn, Chris Wagner. Defensemen: Linus Arnesson Connor Clifton, Steven Kampfer, Jeremy Lauzon, Kevan Miller, John Moore, Mike Reilly, Jarred Tinordi, Jakub Zboril. Goalies: Callum Booth, Jaroslav Halak, Tuukka Rask.

BUFFALO — Forwards: Drake Caggiula, Jean-Sebastien Dea, Cody Eakin, Steven Fogarty, Zemgus Girgensons, Andrew Oglevie, Kyle Okposo, Tobias Rieder, Riley Sheahan, Jeff Skinner, C.J. Smith, Defensemen: Will Borgen. Brandon Davidson, Matt Irwin, Jake McCabe, Colin Miller, Casey Nelson. Goalies: Michael Houser, Carter Hutton, Dustin Tokarski.

CALGARY — Forwards: Byron Froese, Glenn Gawdin, Justin Kirkland, Josh Leivo, Milan Lucic, Joakim Nordstrom, Matthew Phillips, Zac Rinaldo, Brett Ritchie, Buddy Robinson, Derek Ryan, Dominik Simon, Defensemen: Mark Giordano, Oliver Kylington, Nikita Nesterov, Alexander Petrovic, Michael Stone, Goalies: Louis Domingue, Tyler Parsons.

CAROLINA — Forwards: Morgan Geekie, Steven Lorentz, Jordan Martinook, Max McCormick, Brock McGinn, Nino Niederreiter, Cedric Paquette, Sheldon Rempal, Drew Shore, Spencer Smallman. Defensemen: Jake Bean, Jake Gardiner, Eric Gelinas, Jani Hakanpaa, Dougie Hamilton, Maxime Lajoie, Roland McKeown, Joakim Ryan, David Warsofsky. Goalies: Antoine Bibeau, Jeremy Helvig, Petr Mrazek, James Reimer, Dylan Wells.

CHICAGO — Forwards: Ryan Carpenter, Brett Connolly, Josh Dickinson, Adam Gaudette, Vinnie Hinostroza, Brandon Pirri, John Quenneville, Zack Smith. Defensemen: Calvin de Haan, Anton Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov. Goalies: Collin Delia, Malcolm Subban.

COLORADO — Forwards: Travis Barron, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Matt Calvert, J.T. Compher, Joonas Donskoi, Sheldon Dries, Vladislav Kamenev, Gabriel Landeskog, Ty Lewis, Jayson Megna, Liam O’Brien, Brandon Saad, Miikka Salomaki, Kiefer Sherwood, Carl Soderberg, T.J. Tynan, Mike Vecchione. Defensemen: Kyle Burroughs, Dennis Gilbert, Erik Johnson, Jacob MacDonald, Patrik Nemeth, Dan Renouf. Goalies: Devan Dubnyk, Jonas Johansson, Hunter Miska.

COLUMBUS — Forwards: Zac Dalpe, Max Domi, Nathan Gerbe, Mikhail Grigorenko, Ryan MacInnis, Stefan Matteau, Cliff Pu, Kole Sherwood, Kevin Stenlund, Calvin Thurkauf, Daniel Zaar. Defensemen: Gavin Bayreuther, Gabriel Carlsson, Adam Clendening, Michael Del Zotto, Scott Harrington, Dean Kukan. Goalies: Cameron Johnson.

DALLAS — Forwards: Nick Caamano, Andrew Cogliano, Blake Comeau, Justin Dowling, Tanner Kero, Joel L’Esperance, Adam Mascherin, Matej Stransky. Defensemen: Taylor Fedun, Ben Gleason, Joel Hanley, Niklas Hansson, Julius Honka, Jamie Oleksiak, Mark Pysyk, Andrej Sekera, Sami Vatanen. Goalies: Ben Bishop, Landon Bow, Colton Point.

DETROIT — Forwards: Riley Barber, Kyle Criscuolo, Turner Elson, Valtteri Filppula, Sam Gagner, Luke Glendening, Darren Helm, Taro Hirose, Vladislav Namestnikov, Frans Nielsen, Bobby Ryan, Evgeny Svechnikov, Dominic Turgeon, Hayden Verbeek. Defensemen: Alex Biega, Dennis Cholowski, Danny DeKeyser, Christian Djoos, Joe Hicketts, Dylan McIlrath, Marc Staal, Troy Stecher. Goalies: Jonathan Bernier, Kevin Boyle, Kaden Fulcher, Calvin Pickard.

EDMONTON — Forwards: Tyler Benson, Alex Chiasson, Adam Cracknell, Tyler Ennis, Joseph Gambardella, Seth Griffith, Dominik Kahun, Jujhar Khaira, Cooper Marody, James Neal, Alan Quine, Patrick Russell, Devin Shore, Anton Slepyshev, Kyle Turris, Bogdan Yakimov. Defensemen: Tyson Barrie, Oscar Klefbom, Slater Koekkoek, Dmitry Kulikov, William Lagesson, Adam Larsson, Kris Russell. Goalies: Mikko Koskinen, Mike Smith, Alex Stalock.

FLORIDA — Forwards: Noel Acciari, Patrick Bajkov, Juho Lammikko, Ryan Lomberg, Brad Morrison, Aleksi Saarela, Frank Vatrano, Lucas Wallmark, Alex Wennberg, Scott Wilson. Defensemen: Lucas Carlsson, Kevin Connauton, Tommy Cross, Radko Gudas, Noah Juulsen, Brady Keeper, Brandon Montour, Markus Nutivaara, Ethan Prow, Anton Stralman. Goalies: Philippe Desrosiers, Chris Driedger, Sam Montembeault.

LOS ANGELES — Forwards: Andreas Athanasiou, Michael Eyssimont, Martin Frk, Carl Grundstrom, Bokondji Imama, Brendan Lemieux, Blake Lizotte, Matt Luff, Drake Rymsha, Austin Wagner. Defensemen: Mark Alt, Daniel Brickley, Kale Clague, Olli Maatta, Kurtis MacDermid, Jacob Moverare, Austin Strand, Christian Wolanin. Goalies: Troy Grosenick, Jonathan Quick.

MINNESOTA — Forwards: William Bitten, Nick Bjugstad, Nick Bonino, Joseph Cramarossa, Gabriel Dumont, Marcus Johansson, Luke Johnson, Victor Rask, Kyle Rau, Mason Shaw, Dmitry Sokolov. Defensemen: Matt Bartkowski, Louie Belpedio, Ian Cole, Brad Hunt, Ian McCoshen, Brennan Menell, Dakota Mermis, Carson Soucy. Goalies: Andrew Hammond, Kaapo Kahkonen.

MONTREAL — Forwards: Brandon Baddock, Joseph Blandisi, Paul Byron, Phillip Danault, Laurent Dauphin, Jonathan Drouin, Michael Frolik, Charles Hudon, Corey Perry, Michael Pezzetta, Eric Staal, Tomas Tatar, Lukas Vejdemo, Jordan Weal. Defensemen: Cale Fleury, Erik Gustafsson, Brett Kulak, Jon Merrill, Gustav Olofsson, Xavier Ouellet, Shea Weber. Goalies: Charlie Lindgren, Michael McNiven, Carey Price.

NASHVILLE — Forwards: Michael Carcone, Nick Cousins, Matt Duchene, Mikael Granlund, Rocco Grimaldi, Erik Haula, Calle Jarnkrok, Ryan Johansen, Sean Malone, Michael McCarron, Rem Pitlick, Anthony Richard, Brad Richardson, Colton Sissons, Yakov Trenin. Defensemen: Frederic Allard, Matt Benning, Mark Borowiecki, Erik Gudbranson, Ben Harpur, Josh Healey, Tyler Lewington. Goalies: Connor Ingram, Kasimir Kaskisuo, Pekka Rinne.

NEW JERSEY — Forwards: Nathan Bastian, Christoph Bertschy, Brandon Gignac, A.J. Greer, Andreas Johnsson, Ivan Khomutov, Nicholas Merkley, Brett Seney, Ben Street, Marian Studenic. Defensemen: Will Butcher, Connor Carrick, Josh Jacobs, Ryan Murray, David Quenneville, Colby Sissons, P.K. Subban, Matt Tennyson, Colton White. Goalies: Evan Cormier, Aaron Dell, Scott Wedgewood.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS — Forwards: Josh Bailey, Cole Bardreau, Kieffer Bellows, Casey Cizikas, Austin Czarnik, Michael Dal Colle, Jordan Eberle, Tanner Fritz, Joshua Ho-Sang, Ross Johnston, Otto Koivula, Leo Komarov, Kyle Palmieri, Richard Panik, Dmytro Timashov, Travis Zajac. Defensemen: Sebastian Aho, Braydon Coburn, Andy Greene, Thomas Hickey, Mitchell Vande Sompel, Parker Wotherspoon. Goalies: Ken Appleby, Cory Schneider.

NEW YORK RANGERS — Forwards: Colin Blackwell, Jonny Brodzinski, Phillip Di Giuseppe, Gabriel Fontaine, Julien Gauthier, Tim Gettinger, Barclay Goodrow, Anthony Greco, Ty Ronning. Defensemen: Anthony Bitetto, Brandon Crawley, Tony DeAngelo, Nick DeSimone, Mason Geertsen, Jack Johnson, Darren Raddysh, Brendan Smith. Goalies: Keith Kinkaid.

OTTAWA — Forwards: Vitaly Abramov, Michael Amadio, Artem Anisimov, J.C. Beaudin, Clark Bishop, Evgenii Dadonov, Jonathan Davidsson, Ryan Dzingel, Micheal Haley, Jack Kopacka, Zachary Magwood, Matthew Peca, Logan Shaw, Derek Stepan, Chris Tierney. Defensemen: Josh Brown, Cody Goloubef, Mikael Wikstrand. Goalies: Joey Daccord, Anton Forsberg, Marcus Hogberg, Matt Murray.

PHILADELPHIA — Forwards: Andy Andreoff, Connor Bunnaman, David Kase, Pascal Laberge, Samuel Morin, German Rubtsov, Carsen Twarynski, James van Riemsdyk, Jakub Voracek, Mikhail Vorobyev. Defensemen: Chris Bigras, Justin Braun, Shayne Gostisbehere, Robert Hagg, Derrick Pouliot, Nate Prosser, Tyler Wotherspoon. Goalies: Brian Elliott, Alex Lyon, Felix Sandstrom.

PITTSBURGH — Forwards: Pontus Aberg, Anthony Angello, Zach Aston-Reese, Josh Currie, Frederick Gaudreau, Mark Jankowski, Sam Lafferty, Sam Miletic, Evan Rodrigues, Colton Sceviour, Brandon Tanev, Jason Zucker. Defensemen: Cody Ceci, Kevin Czuczman, Mark Friedman, Jesper Lindgren, Andrey Pedan, Marcus Pettersson, Juuso Riikola, Chad Ruhwedel, Yannick Weber. Goalies: Casey DeSmith, Maxime Lagace.

SAN JOSE — Forwards: Ryan Donato, Kurtis Gabriel, Dylan Gambrell, Jayden Halbgewachs, Maxim Letunov, Patrick Marleau, Matt Nieto, Marcus Sorensen, Alexander True. Defensemen: Christian Jaros, Nicolas Meloche, Jacob Middleton, Greg Pateryn, Radim Simek. Goalies: Martin Jones.

ST. LOUIS — Forwards: Sam Anas, Sammy Blais, Tyler Bozak, Kyle Clifford, Jacob de la Rose, Mike Hoffman, Tanner Kaspick, Mackenzie MacEachern, Curtis McKenzie, Austin Poganski, Zach Sanford, Jaden Schwartz, Nolan Stevens, Vladimir Tarasenko, Nathan Walker. Defensemen: Robert Bortuzzo, Vince Dunn, Petteri Lindbohm, Niko Mikkola, Mitch Reinke, Steven Santini, Marco Scandella. Goalies: Jake Walman, Evan Fitzpatrick, Jon Gillies, Ville Husso.

TAMPA BAY — Forwards: Alex Barre-Boulet, Blake Coleman, Ross Colton, Yanni Gourde, Tyler Johnson, Mathieu Joseph, Boris Katchouk, Alex Killorn, Pat Maroon, Boo Nieves, Ondrej Palat, Taylor Raddysh, Gemel Smith, Otto Somppi, Mitchell Stephens, Daniel Walcott, Luke Witkowski. Defensemen: Andreas Borgman, Fredrik Claesson, Sean Day, Cal Foote, Brian Lashoff, Dominik Masin, Jan Rutta, David Savard, Luke Schenn, Ben Thomas. Goalies: Christopher Gibson, Spencer Martin, Curtis McElhinney.

TORONTO — Forwards: Kenny Agostino, Joey Anderson, Adam Brooks, Pierre Engvall, Nick Foligno, Alex Galchenyuk, Zach Hyman, Alexander Kerfoot, Kalle Kossila, Denis Malgin, Jared McCann, Riley Nash, Stefan Noesen, Nic Petan, Scott Sabourin, Wayne Simmonds, Jason Spezza, Antti Suomela, Joe Thornton. Defensemen: Zach Bogosian, Travis Dermott, Ben Hutton, Martin Marincin, Calle Rosen. Goalies: Frederik Andersen, Michael Hutchinson, David Rittich.

VANCOUVER — Forwards: Sven Baertschi, Justin Bailey, Jay Beagle, Travis Boyd, Loui Eriksson, Jonah Gadjovich, Tyler Graovac, Jayce Hawryluk, Matthew Highmore, Lukas Jasek, Kole Lind, Zack MacEwen, Petrus Palmu, Antoine Roussel, Brandon Sutter, Jimmy Vesey, Jake Virtanen. Defensemen: Madison Bowey, Guillaume Brisebois, Jalen Chatfield, Alexander Edler, Travis Hamonic, Brogan Rafferty, Ashton Sautner, Josh Teves. Goalies: Braden Holtby.

WASHINGTON — Forwards: Daniel Carr, Nic Dowd, Shane Gersich, Carl Hagelin, Garnet Hathaway, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Alex Ovechkin, Garrett Pilon, Brian Pinho, Michael Raffl, Michael Sgarbossa, Conor Sheary. Defensemen: Zdeno Chara, Brenden Dillon, Nick Jensen, Lucas Johansen, Michal Kempny, Paul LaDue, Cameron Schilling, Justin Schultz. Goalies: Craig Anderson, Pheonix Copley, Zach Fucale, Vitek Vanecek.

WINNIPEG — Forwards: Mason Appleton, Marko Dano, Jansen Harkins, Trevor Lewis, Skyler McKenzie, Mathieu Perreault, Paul Stastny, CJ Suess, Nate Thompson, Dominic Toninato. Defensemen: Nathan Beaulieu, Jordie Benn, Dylan DeMelo, Derek Forbort, Luke Green, Sami Niku, Nelson Nogier, Tucker Poolman. Goalies: Mikhail Berdin, Laurent Brossoit, Eric Comrie, Cole Kehler.