1:36 PM: The team has formally announced the signing via a press release.
11:44 AM: The Seattle Kraken and blueliner Cale Fleury have reached a deal on a contract extension prior to their arbitration hearing, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Per CapFriendly, the deal is a two-year, one-way $800k AAV contract that will see Fleury make $775k in 2023-24 and $825k in 2024-25.
The 24-year-old right-shot blueliner was set to press his case in arbitration after a 2022-23 campaign spent mostly as a healthy scratch. Fleury was a press-box regular for Seattle last season, at one point going a stretch of 31 straight games outside the lineup.
He didn’t play at all in the AHL as the Coachella Valley Firebirds made a run to Game Seven of the Calder Cup Finals. The Kraken were likely unwilling to expose the player to the waiver wire mid-season and potentially see him claimed by a team in need of a right-shot blueliner.
Fleury was an original Kraken expansion draft selection, acquired from the Montreal Canadiens. The 2017 third-round pick already had some success on his resume as a former WHL captain who racked up 102 hits in just 41 games as an NHL rookie.
He played most of his first season with the Kraken in the AHL, serving as an alternate captain for the Charlotte Checkers. He scored a healthy 33 points in 58 games, a career-high by a wide margin.
Fleury’s success in the AHL and his time spent with Seattle as mostly a healthy scratch last season have earned him a one-way contract extension spanning the next two seasons.
While the Kraken already have Adam Larsson, Will Borgen, Justin Schultz entrenched on the right side of their defense, Fleury could be first in line to take one of their spots in case of an injury. Or, he could end up on the waiver wire and claimed by a club willing to give him a more regular opportunity to play NHL games.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
I’m hoping this guy is on the roster when the kraken win their first cup. I like his style.