The Seattle Kraken made moves last summer signaling their intention to be a competitive team right from their first-ever game, just as the Vegas Golden Knights were in their first season. They signed Philipp Grubauer, Jaden Schwartz, and others in free agency, all with the idea of potentially being in the mix for a playoff spot in what was seen as a weak Pacific division. That didn’t happen, though, and the Kraken finished third-to-last in the entire NHL with a 27-49-6 record. The team only scored 216 goals, which ranked them fourth from last in the NHL, and had only one player cross the 50-point mark, Jared McCann, who had 50 points exactly. Some have speculated that this poor season would set the Kraken on the path of a more traditional rebuild, seeing them bottom out in the standings, chasing young, high-end talent. That doesn’t appear to be their preferred route to contention, though.
TSN’s Chris Johnston reports that the Kraken were among the teams in the mix to acquire Minnesota Wild forward Kevin Fiala “right until the end,” and that they are interested in utilizing their cap space in search of a “high-end forward” or someone who can add to their scoring depth. Johnston adds that he expects the Kraken to come forward with “big offers” for some of the top free-agent forwards should they become available on July 13th. The two biggest names currently slated to hit free agency are Filip Forsberg and Johnny Gaudreau, play-driving wingers who have scored at above a point-per-game pace. If the Kraken want one of those two players, they will undoubtedly have to beat the offers of a multitude of other suitors. Beyond just Forsberg and Gaudreau they could also target other names such as Evander Kane, Andre Burakovsky, or Ryan Strome.
Now, for some other notes concerning this offseason’s biggest storylines:
- Pierre-Luc Dubois’ name has attracted a lot of attention in the rumor mill recently, as his desire to test free agency in 2024 has become public. This has led to many speculating that he will be traded this summer, so that the Winnipeg Jets could get as much long-term value out of Dubois as possible. According to Darren Dreger of TSN, a trade isn’t what’s most likely. Per Dreger, if a team such as the New York Rangers or Montreal Canadiens wants to add Dubois this summer, it will take a “very substantial offer” to get Winnipeg to agree. Dreger names a few Rangers players specifically in Filip Chytil, Braden Schneider, and Kaapo Kakko as examples of headliners in a Dubois trade, and says that it could even take “a first-round pick on top of that.” Unless an interested team can offer a lucrative package of assets headlined by players such as the aforementioned group to acquire Dubois, Dreger states that Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff won’t trade Dubois this offseason.
- Johnny Gaudreau could be the biggest name in this summer’s free-agent market, and according to Pierre LeBrun of TSN, despite a major offer from the Flames, the situation with Gaudreau is unchanged. Per LeBrun, Gaudreau’s camp has “not communicated” where the contract situation is headed, and there seems to be a growing divide in terms of how Gaudreau wants to handle his free agency and what the Flames are willing to tolerate as they attempt to construct next year’s roster. LeBrun reports that Gaudreau “wants to keep the Flames in the mix” while also getting to “take a peek” at the offers from other teams on July 13th. The Flames, though, would reportedly be uncomfortable with the saga dragging on to that point, and would potentially need to begin to pivot to other options, as LeBrun puts it. Flames GM Brad Treliving has previously stated that he would move “heaven and earth” to retain Gaudreau, so it remains to be seen if “heaven and earth” includes tolerating the uncertainty of Gaudreau’s free agency in order to maintain their chance of getting his signature on an extension.
Like I said before Seattle is going to be a sleeper for Gaudreau.
What do you possibly think Gaudreau’s incentive to go to Seattle is? There are a number of contenders who’d be just as happy to give him a big payday.
If anything, I figure that the “high priced forwards” interested in Seattle are going to be ones with (a) nothing to prove, (b) no real professional goals to meet, and (c) are either too old, too banged up or too touchy for a real contender to give big term. (That, or the guys who just wait too long, and the few contenders with serious cap space will have already grabbed the free agents they wanted.)
Can anyone see, for instance, Seattle offering Evgeni Malkin $10MM AAV, four years? As a prestige move? Look, fans, superstar and future Hall of Famer? Pittsburgh would be insane to offer him that, and with ten slots to fill and only $22MM with which to do it Seattle would too, but they *could*.
I really hope they don’t. Should stick with the young guns: Donato and Lind coming up; McCann and Tanev coming along; Gourde, Wennberg, and Eberle more “veteran like,” then Sprong and potentially Kuhlman bringing solid depth. Beniers of course, maybe the 4th OA, then if they got someone like Strome or dream of dreams Zacha or Bratt from NJ (Devils have a good team brewing)… imho, that would be awesome, fun and maybe they could play the fast game they showed in the preseason before bringing on Johansson :( And get rid of Rask of course. Not holding my breath though. And yeah, I agree with your overall assessment. I just think it would be way better to stay young and pay Strome or Bratt or even PLD if there’s anything to his rumors.
I agree with you. Honestly, I didn’t think at the time that Seattle’s draft was all that bad — sure, could’ve been better, but they did grab a good number of decent middle-six forwards that you’d have thought would create offense by committee, at least. If the players had just scored what they had the year before, Seattle would’ve had at least thirty more goals than they did, and that’d would’ve won them a few more games.
A good bit of bad luck, a hefty bit of underachieving (who had a *clearly* superior season to the previous one other than Donato and Soucy?), injuries to key people … but heck, if there was a team that needed a coaching change, this one was it.
Francis will have to overpay bigly in order to land a big UFA. That’s how bad a job he did in putting together that expansion roster.
I like Fiala just fine, but thank goodness he didn’t end up on the Kraken. We need a lot more than what he can offer at the price. Same with Kane, Burakovsky and probably Forsberg as well. Terrifying rumors!
Seattle is setting themselves up to have a lottery pick for the next seven years.
Could the Habs do the unthinkable?
#1 OA + Dvorak for PLD + #14 OA
If PLD is traded, I think Montreal could offer more than NYR
I prefer the proposed Rangers trade, Dvorak imho isn’t nearly good enough to get that deal done and I don’t think the Jets would take that deal serious compared to what the Rangers have to offer. Assuming the Habs and their fans wouldn’t agree to Suzuki being traded, I doubt the 1st overall pick is good enough to get the trade done because Wright is unproven at the NHL level and could be similar to Alex Lafreniere who hasn’t quite lived up to expectations yet. The Jets also want someone ready to play and not a young prospect or draft that often needs up to 2-3 years of AHL seasoning before they’re ready. If it’s the last 2 years with Dubois and/or Scheifele, they will want players that can play instead of picks/prospects which is why the Rangers proposal is better. Look at their history with Laine, Copp and Trouba and you’ll see they will wait for the right deal.