Most of Canada to receive emergency alert test today
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
The Kraken expansion draft lacked drama after all 30 picks leaked out hours before they were revealed, but it had plenty of Seattle to introduce the NHL's 32nd franchise.
One pick was announced by an octopus from the Seattle Aquarium. Another came written on a fish thrown in the city's legendary Pike Place Market.
As far as the players selected, the Kraken got their goaltender in late-blooming Chris Driedger, perhaps their first captain in defenceman Mark Giordano and veteran forwards Jordan Eberle and Jared McCann. They passed on big-money goaltender Carey Price fresh off backstopping Montreal to the Stanley Cup Final, choosing instead to sign Driedger to a $10.5 million, three-year contract.
"When I kind of came to terms, I had no clue who my goalie partner would be," Driedger said. "I'm kind of just betting on myself in that situation. In the NHL there's going to be competition wherever you go."
Price's cap hit of $10.5 million -- annually -- for the next five seasons, plus the 34-year-old's questionable injury history, led to Seattle passing on him.
"Any time you see a name like Carey Price available, you have to consider it," Kraken general manager Ron Francis said. "Certainly we did that, we had a lot of discussions. And at the end of the day, we made the decision that we did to go in a different direction."
Seattle also took goalies Vitek Vanecek from Washington and Joey Daccord from Ottawa. Driedger and Vanecek combine to cost less than half of Price.
Giordano, 37, has the biggest cap hit of any player the Kraken selected but could soon wear the "C" when they open their inaugural season at Vegas and then open Climate Pledge Arena Oct. 23 against Vancouver.
"It feels a little bit different today, but it's been crazy last day or so," Giordano said. "This is the first time in my career I've ever been drafted, so thank you to the Kraken and I'm happy to be here."
Eberle, one of a handful of players on site at Gas Works Park on Lake Union, called it a "new challenge."
"You don't get many opportunities to be part of a new franchise," said Eberle, who came from the New York Islanders. "Any time you get that opportunity to bring the Cup to a city that's never had it before, it's pretty special."
Seattle had the Stanley Cup once before in 1917 when the city's team was the Metropolitans.
It's up to Francis and the Kraken to try to bring it back, and the expansion strategy seemed to mimic the Vegas Golden Knights making some off-the-board picks rather than taking big stars.
"I have a tremendous amount of faith in Ron Francis' ability to build a team," Driedger said. "He knows what he's doing."
Along with Driedger, Francis agreed to terms with pending free agent defencemen Adam Larsson and Jamie Oleskiak. Larsson got a $16 million, four-year deal to become the pick from the Edmonton Oilers, and Oleksiak got $23 million over five years.
Boston defenceman Jeremy Lauzon will go down in the record books as Seattle's first expansion draft selection. Kole Lind from rival Vancouver was the 30th, and the Kraken did not announce any trades -- a far cry from Vegas' wheeling and dealing in 2017.
"A great list of guys here," Oleksiak said about Seattle's initial roster. "It's a new team team and it offers a lot of opportunities for guys and it's going to be a lot of fun."
------
AP Hockey Writers Stephen Whyno and John Wawrow contributed to this report.
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has made headlines with his recent arrival in the U.K., this time to celebrate all things Invictus. But upon the prince landing in the U.K., we have already had confirmation that King Charles III won't have time to see his youngest son during his brief visit.
An Ontario man found out that a line of credit he thought was insured actually isn't after his wife of 50 years died.
After more than a century, Boy Scouts of America is rebranding as Scouting America, another major shakeup for an organization that once proudly resisted change.
A first-of-its-kind Canadian research study is working towards a major medical breakthrough for a brain disorder, believed to be caused by repeated head injuries, that can only be detected after death.
In March, Indonesian officials and local fishermen rescued 75 people from the overturned hull of a boat off the coast of Indonesia. Until now, little was known about why the boat capsized.
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
An Ontario woman said it would have been impossible to buy a house without her mother – an anecdote that animates the fact that over 17 per cent of Canadian homeowners born in the ‘90s own their property with their parents, according to a new report.
Canadian immigrants threatened by hostile regimes are urging parliamentarians to quickly pass the 'Countering Foreign Interference Act' so they can feel safe living in their adopted home.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.