Lightning's Ondrej Palat: Made available to Seattle

Palat was left off Tampa Bay's protected-player list ahead of Wednesday's Expansion Draft.

It's no secret that there's simply too many cooks in the kitchen with the Lightning, as they were only able to protect four forwards (Anthony Cirelli, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos) due to their needs on defense. Palat has spent his entire nine-year career in Tampa as an excellent two-way forward with some scoring flash, most recently finishing with 46 points in 55 games last season. With a year left on his deal that carries a $5.3 million cap hit, one has to assume Seattle is taking a long, hard look at the 30-year-old.