Mark Giordano

In recent weeks, the Seattle Kraken made the decision that they would be trading Mark Giordano. He and Ron Francis, Kraken general manager, sat down and discussed the future and came to the conclusion that the team would trade its first captain, thinking of the future of the franchise above all else. Emily Kaplan of ESPN reports that though Giordano has a 10-team no-trade clause, he “has not even bothered giving it” to Francis and the Kraken front office, as he expects to go to a contender.

Kaplan lists the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers, St. Louis Blues, and Carolina Hurricanes among those who have shown the most interest.

Giordano, 38, was a Norris Trophy winner in 2018-19, and still is producing at a high level for the Kraken. With 23 points in 50 games he is their highest-scoring defenseman, and with more than 21 minutes of ice time a night, he plays more than everyone except Adam Larsson. Any acquiring team wouldn’t likely be asking him to do as much, which could perhaps improve his performance even further for a short postseason run.

The Rangers have been linked to basically every player on the market this year as they try to parlay an incredible season by Igor Shesterkin into true contender status. With the relative youth of their blueline–Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, K’Andre Miller, Braden Schneider, Libor Hajek, Nils Lundkvist, and Zac Jones are all 24-and-under–Giordano would offer something that they don’t have in spades: experience.

In Toronto, the Maple Leafs already have Giordano’s old partner in T.J. Brodie, the player who helped him to that Norris season a few years ago. With Jake Muzzin’s future up in the air after suffering multiple concussions, a Giordano-Brodie pairing could actually be considered the top unit, freeing Morgan Rielly to play in more offensive situations.

For Florida, adding one more defenseman could put them over the top as they’re already one of the deepest teams in the league at every position. With Aaron Ekblad, MacKenzie Weegar, and Gustav Forsling already in place, Giordano would likely be able to feast on more manageable minutes and matchups. The same could be said about Carolina, though Kaplan notes Francis may be loath to help his old club.

In St. Louis, the loss of Scott Perunovich and the disappointing play of Marco Scandella has opened up a potential spot on the left side to add a defenseman. Head coach Craig Berube was almost even a teammate of Giordano’s decades ago, playing two final seasons in Calgary just a year before the undrafted defenseman joined the organization. With a style predicated on quick puck movement and physicality, the veteran Giordano could actually seem like a perfect fit for the Central Division club.

In recent weeks, Seattle hadn’t finalized their plans for veteran defenseman Mark Giordano as they wanted to meet with him first to see if he’d be open to extending his stay with them.  In the end, however, Pierre LeBrun reported in the latest TSN Insider Trading segment (video link) that after meeting with the blueliner, the Kraken have shifted their focus towards finding a trade for their captain.

The 38-year-old has had a decent season with the expansion franchise, leading their rearguards in scoring with 22 points in 44 games while logging more than 21 minutes a night.  While he’s no longer the top-pairing fixture he was in Calgary for a large chunk of his career, he’s still a capable top-four option that should garner some interest on a rental blueline market that projects to be a strong one between now and next month’s trade deadline.

Giordano is in the final year of a six-year, $40.5MM contract that carries some trade protection in the form of a 12-team no-trade clause.  While that means GM Ron Francis has 19 teams to trade the veteran to, it seems likely that they’ll try to work with Giordano to get him to one of his preferred destinations.

In order to do so, Seattle will almost certainly have to retain the maximum of 50% of Giordano’s AAV which works out to $3.375MM.  LeBrun notes that they’re willing to get creative to fully utilize their cap space – more than $21MM currently, per CapFriendly – so it stands to reason that they’ll be willing to retain on Giordano to maximize their return.

At that price tag, several contending teams should be interested in Giordano’s services so Francis should be able to generate a strong return.  Back in expansion, their reported asking price was a first-round pick along with a third-rounder for them not to take him, a price Calgary clearly wasn’t willing to pay.  Considering that type of return was what David Savard yielded a year ago as a rental, there’s a chance Seattle could get close to that in a move.  Now that it’s known that he’ll be traded, the Kraken should be fielding several phone calls about their captain if they haven’t been in touch with other teams already which makes Giordano someone to keep an eye on over the coming weeks.

The Seattle Kraken have made official what many suspected, announcing Mark Giordano as the first captain in franchise history. He’ll be joined by Jordan Eberle, Yanni Gourde, Adam Larsson, and Jaden Schwartz, who will all serve as alternates this season.

Giordano, 38, was an obvious selection for the Kraken when the Calgary Flames decided to leave him unprotected in the recent expansion draft. Despite his age and expensive contract, he also represents a true top-pairing defenseman that took home the Norris Trophy as recently as 2019. There was immediate speculation about whether the Kraken would flip him to another team, adding future assets instead of the veteran defenseman, but have embraced him as the leader of their group instead.

The question now becomes how long he will actually serve as captain, given Giordano’s contract expires at the end of this season. He’s still effective and is worthy of an extension, though it’s not even clear if he will want to play past this season, let alone do so in Seattle. Still, the decision to name him captain suggests that there is a good relationship between Giordano and the front office, perhaps pointing to him sticking around for a little while. The Vegas Golden Knights for instance decided not to name a captain right away, waiting for a player like Mark Stone, who was signed to a long-term deal instead.

At the very least, the Kraken start the year with a strong leadership group that can help to market the game in Seattle. Giordano is well-respected around the league, and the quartet of alternates have quite a bit of NHL experience between them. Gourde and Schwartz are both recent Stanley Cup champions and should be huge parts of the team’s offensive unit. Larsson meanwhile signed a four-year deal to be a pillar of the team’s defense for the next several seasons. In fact, it’s in the alternates that there will be some stability. All four are signed for at least the next three seasons, with Eberle expiring first in 2024.

During the lead-up to this year’s expansion draft, the rumor mill was in high gear. Speculation surfaced that Mark Giordano, the Calgary Flames captain who would be selected by the Seattle Kraken, may not be on the expansion roster very long. When the Kraken brought him out to the stage during the event itself, it seemed to confirm that wouldn’t be the case. Now, speaking with TSN’s Salim Valji, Giordano explained that not only is he looking forward to playing for the Kraken, but intends on taking a leadership role in the team’s inaugural season:

Yeah, I think myself, obviously being the oldest guy on the team, you go in and you want to embrace those leadership qualities. You want to help out the young guys as much as you can, but with the NHL today, most of the superstars are anywhere from low- to mid-twenties, to be honest. So I’m looking forward to being around the young guys on our team and having good leaders, guys like Jordan Eberle are there, and a bunch of different guys I should mention but will leave it for later. I’m just looking forward to being around a good, solid, young core group who’s going to provide a lot of energy for me. I’m looking forward to that, just as much as hopefully guys are looking forward to playing with me.

Giordano, 37, will likely be looked at as the team’s de facto captain this season, even if he isn’t given the letter. It is also unclear how long the veteran defenseman will actually be there. His contract expires after the 2021-22 season and he will be 39 before the 2022-23 season starts, likely with more than 1,000 games played.

• The Kraken have said goodbye to one of their pro scouts, as Stu Barnes leaves the organization to take the head coaching role with the Tri-City Americans. Barnes is a co-owner of the WHL team and played there for two seasons before his long NHL career. In fact, Barnes holds the second and third-best offensive seasons in Tri-City history. A veteran of more than 1,100 NHL games, he served as an assistant coach with the Dallas Stars for two different periods since his retirement and was hired by the Kraken last summer.
• Speaking of hirings, the Kraken are expected to make a decision on a goaltending coach within a week according to Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times. Baker assumed that Andrew Allen, currently working as a pro scout, would take that role given he held it with the Buffalo Sabres previously, but also notes there are few other prominent names like Mike Buckley—recently fired by the Pittsburgh Penguins–out there right now.