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West Notes: McLeod, Addison, Dunn

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The Oilers don’t have a lot of financial flexibility right now.  Per CapFriendly, they have around $5.6MM in room at the moment but with defenseman Evan Bouchard and center Ryan McLeod both needing new deals, that might not be enough.  To that end, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli suggested (audio link) that Edmonton might have been the biggest losers from the Philipp Kurashev arbitration award, one that saw the Chicago forward get $2.25MM per season.  Seravalli believes that the Oilers were likely hoping to get McLeod’s deal done for a little less than $2MM but that might be hard to do now.  McLeod (11 goals, 12 assists in 57 games) is coming off a better platform year than Kurashev (nine goals, 16 assists in 70 contests) so if his case gets to a hearing, it’s safe to say they’ll be using the Kurashev contract as a comparable.

More from the West:

  • The Wild are hoping to get defenseman Calen Addison signed for just above the league minimum, Joe Smith and Shayna Goldman of The Athletic note (subscription link). Minnesota tendered him a qualifying offer of $787,500 and it would appear that they’re holding firm to that offer for now.  They have around $5.93MM of cap room per CapFriendly with the bulk of that earmarked for goaltender Filip Gustavsson whose arbitration hearing is scheduled next Friday.  By pushing for Addison to take a one-year agreement, GM Bill Guerin is hoping to have enough cap space left over after Gustavsson gets his new deal to allow them to have a reasonable-sized cushion for in-season movement.
  • Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn met with the media today including Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times following his four-year, $29.4MM contract from last week. The medium-term agreement raised some eyebrows and Dunn acknowledged that a factor was the possibility to try to land another sizable deal when he’s 30 in what should be a bigger salary cap environment.  Dunn did make it clear that he has no desire to leave Seattle when his contract expires in the 2027 offseason.

Kraken Unable To Buy Out Chris Driedger In Post-Arbitration Window

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One of the oft-overlooked benefits of heading to arbitration with a player is some potential additional salary cap flexibility in the form of a second buyout. It’s a window granted to teams for a 48-hour period beginning three days after they settle their last arbitration case. The Seattle Kraken did so with defenseman Vince Dunn today, inking him to a rather significant four-year, $29.4MM pact.

A rather obvious candidate for a buyout on the Kraken is netminder Chris Driedger, who the team was aggressively trying to shop earlier this summer. He missed most of the season with injury and couldn’t work his way back into the Kraken lineup when healthy, instead playing 14 games for the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds and slipping to fourth on the team’s goalie depth chart. He didn’t see a single second of action in the Firebirds’ run to Game 7 of the Calder Cup Final in their first season.

He’s third now with the departure of Martin Jones in free agency, but his $3.5MM cap hit is incredibly steep for a third-string netminder. However, Seattle will not be able to use a buyout on Driedger – players bought out during the conditional second window must have a cap hit of at least $4MM (and have been on the team’s reserve list at the prior season’s trade deadline).

It leaves Seattle with no other likely buyout options in the second window, so don’t expect them to take advantage of that early next week. The Kraken are now within $2MM of the salary cap’s $83.5MM Upper Limit after signing Dunn, a testament to the team’s quick rise to relevance with a payroll that reflects it.

The team will likely continue its attempts to move Driedger as the season draws nigh, as even getting rid of him at 50% salary retention is preferable to burying him in the minors, which would only bring his cap hit down to $2.35MM.

Philadelphia is the only team to utilize its post-arbitration buyout window this offseason, parting ways with defenseman Tony DeAngelo and the final season of a two-year, $10MM contract last week.

Seattle Kraken Extend Vince Dunn

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6:17 p.m.: Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Dunn’s new contract will come in at a four-year deal worth $29.4MM, or $7.35MM per season. It’s top-pairing money for the Kraken’s number-one defender, who could very well exceed that contract’s value if he continues on his current path. CapFriendly reports the breakdown of the deal is as follows:

2023-24: $9MM salary
2024-25: $8MM salary (full no-trade clause)
2025-26: $7MM salary (16-team no-trade list)
2026-27: $5.4MM salary (16-team no-trade list)

Seattle promptly confirmed the contract. Dunn will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of his deal, when he’ll be 30 in the offseason of 2027.

3:58 p.m.: By far the team’s most important restricted free agent heading into this summer, Kevin Weekes of ESPN reports the Seattle Kraken are closing in on an extension for defenseman Vince Dunn. After almost doubling his career-high in points this past season, Dunn was due for a healthy raise from the Kraken front office.

Dunn, who was originally the 56th overall pick of the St.Louis Blues back in the 2015 NHL Draft, never got a huge shot with the Blues. Seemingly capable of playing top-four minutes in his last year with St.Louis back during the 2020-21 season, Dunn was behind the likes of Justin Faulk, Torey Krug, Colton Parayko, and Marco Scandella on the team’s depth chart.

Nevertheless, he was always a capable contributor during his time with the Blues, scoring anywhere from 20-35 points a season, averaging a tad over 17 minutes a night in four seasons. Thankfully for Dunn, an opportunity came knocking during the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft, as St.Louis opted to protect Faulk, Krug, and Parayko, leaving Dunn exposed for the Kraken to select him at no cost.

As expected, most of the upstart Seattle roster struggled during their inaugural season in 2021-22, but Dunn managed to match a career-high in points, scoring seven goals and 28 assists in 73 games played. He was given ample opportunity on the team’s powerplay, a situation that was previously rare to him during his time with the Blues. The Kraken powerplay struggled overall in the team’s first year, only producing at a 14.55% clip, good for 29th in the league.

As the team grew closer, added more talent last offseason, and absorbed head coach Dave Hakstol’s tactics, Dunn and the Kraken put up an exceptional 2022-23 season. Early on, Dunn immediately earned the spot as the team’s top defenseman, quarterbacking a powerplay that took a 5.2% jump in one season. Overall, Dunn would score 14 goals and 50 assists in 81 games played, while 15 of those points would come on the Kraken powerplay.

Not only would Dunn lead all Seattle defensemen in points, but he also finished second on the team overall, only sitting behind forward Jared McCann by six points for the team lead. In 14 playoff games, Dunn would score one goal and six assists, helping the team eliminate the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Colorado Avalanche, in the first round of the postseason.

Still only 26 years old, Dunn picked a fantastic time to have a breakout campaign, as the Kraken currently have a decent cap situation to retain him for as long as they’d like. Proving to be the most offensively gifted defenseman on the roster, Dunn could become a staple on Seattle’s blue line for quite some time.

PHR Playoff Primer: Dallas Stars vs. Seattle Kraken

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With the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs now underway, PHR makes its first foray into playoff series analysis with our 2023 Playoff Primers. Where does each team stand in their series, and what storylines could dominate on and off the ice? We begin our second-round coverage with the Western Conference matchup between the Dallas Stars and Seattle Kraken.

The Seattle fanbase waited a long time for a team to cheer for and the Seattle Kraken have given them something to cheer about in just their second season by knocking off the defending Stanley Cup champions in seven games. The Dallas Stars on the other hand were able to dispatch of the Minnesota Wild in just six games on the back of incredible goaltending from Jake Oettinger. Their second-round matchup will mark the first time the two teams have met in the playoffs.

What a difference a season makes. A year ago, Kraken general manager Ron Francis looked as though he’d butchered the expansion draft as Seattle finished near the bottom of the NHL standings. But, fast forward one year later and the Kraken have their first 100-point season, a playoff series victory, and the opportunity for more.  For Dallas, they are just three years removed from a Stanley Cup finals appearance in which they lost in six games to the Tampa Bay Lightning. While the Stars do still have several of the core pieces from that 2020 team, they’ve added a lot of elite young talent to mix in with their older core pieces.

It’s hard to get excited for a series in which the two teams have never met in the playoffs before, but Dallas quietly had one of the most exciting series of the first round, and Seattle provided ample fireworks of their own. This series might not have the draw that some other series may have, but there will be plenty of star power on the ice for Dallas, while Seattle has one of the most balanced lineups in the entire NHL and can outwork almost any team.

Regular Season Performance

Dallas Stars: 51-22-9, 111 points, +43 goal differential
Seattle Kraken: 46-28-8, 100 points, +33 goal differential.

Head-To-Head

March 11, 2023: Dallas 4, Seattle 3 (OT)

March 13, 2023: Dallas 5, Seattle 2

March 21, 2023: Seattle 5, Dallas 4 (OT)

Dallas takes the season series 2-0-1

Team Storylines

One might not think these teams would have much in the way of a rivalry, however for ten days in mid-March they saw a lot of each other. The teams played three times and developed a bit of hate in that time. While a lot has happened since then, there could be carryover.

The biggest storyline in this series will be the high-end skill of the Dallas Stars against the workmanlike attitude of the Seattle Kraken. Dallas has the offense and the goaltending to make a deep run in these playoffs and have much higher expectations than the Kraken, however Seattle has shown an incredible amount of heart this season and are playing with house money at this point. Sometimes the pressure can cause a team to wilt, and sometimes no pressure at all can make a team play fast and loose. It’ll be interesting to see it play out.

The Dallas Stars play with a ton of skill and a ton of speed, led by Jason Robertson, they can put the puck in your net in several ways and can push the pace, or slow down the game if they need to grind out a win. They still possess Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and a few other players from the 2020 run to the finals that know how to get the job done in the playoffs. They have the confidence in their group and their goalie to get it done. Seattle on the other can also play with a lot of pace, they come at you in waves, line after line can contribute on the offensive end. Every line can score, but they don’t have the gamebreakers that Dallas has.

On the backend, both teams have strong blue lines that can help generate offense. Seattle has the size advantage with a couple of towering forces that can crash and bang and clear the front of the net, but Dallas may possess the strength advantage with a physically imposing lineup in which every man in the unit is over six foot. Dallas has the most elite puck mover in Miro Heiskanen, but this year’s version of Vince Dunn isn’t far off, and Seattle has a better collection of point producers and a deeper unit of six. While the Stars defense can do it all, Seattle’s defense can all do it. Coach Dave Hakstol has somehow managed to spread his defensive minutes about as evenly as you will ever see for a defensive unit. I would give the advantage to Seattle in this area as they seem to find an extra gear late in games and have a good track record of shutting the door on their opponents.

In goal, Dallas boasts one of the best goaltenders in the world in Jake Oettinger. His playoff resume is short, but it is strong. He was dominant in the first round, and should he play at that level in this series, Dallas will be tough to beat. Regular season numbers would tell us that Oettinger gives Dallas a huge advantage over Seattle in net, but in round one Seattle received elite goaltending as well. Philipp Grubauer finally gave Seattle the goaltending they thought they were getting when they signed the former Avalanche goalie to a six year $35.4MM contract in 2021. The German netminder hasn’t been able to sustain much success over his two years with the Kraken, but if he can build on his impressive stretch of play in round one, Seattle will have a punchers chance to advance.

Prediction

Anytime an elite goaltender is involved in a series it is always difficult to bet against them. Jake Oettinger has proven himself to be one of the best in the world and so far, has shown an ability to rise to the occasion when the games mean the most. If he can steal a game or two in this series, it will give Dallas a sizeable advantage and could be the difference in the series.

The other element that comes into play is experience. Dallas has a ton of players who have been here before, and while Seattle has some veterans with Stanley Cup playoff experience, it isn’t on the same level. This small detail could be the difference maker for the Stars if they can draw on that experience and find that extra push.

The prediction: Dallas win in seven games.

West Notes: Dunn, Borgen, Blues, Brodin

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The Kraken started contract extension talks with pending RFA defensemen Will Borgen and Vince Dunn but agreed to push those until after the season, notes Kate Shefte of The Seattle Times.  Borgen is in his first season as a regular and has 16 points in 62 games while logging over 16 minutes a night.  Arbitration eligible, the 26-year-old should be able to more than double his $945K qualifying offer this summer.

As for Dunn, he leads all Kraken rearguards in scoring this season with 11 goals and 36 assists in 62 games; his 47 points put him tenth in the league for points by a blueliner.  He’s also arbitration-eligible this summer with one year of team control remaining.  Dunn is well-positioned to land quite a bit more than the $4MM he has made in each of the last two seasons while a long-term agreement will likely be coming his way as well.

Elsewhere in the West:

  • Considering the Blues were selling, it may have come as some surprise that they picked up wingers Kasperi Kapanen and Jakub Vrana before the trade deadline. However, GM Doug Armstrong told reporters including Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic (subscription link) that his preference would be to not get involved in the free agent market this summer and would rather have players on shorter-term deals that they can decide on later.  Both Kapanen and Vrana have one year left on their contracts after this one so St. Louis has elected to go with them over handing out multi-year agreements to other players on the open market in July.
  • The Wild will have to wait a little longer to get Jonas Brodin back. While the original hope was that the blueliner would accompany the team on the road with the possibility of returning on the trip, Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press notes that he now isn’t expected to even skate until after their road trip which wraps up today.  The 29-year-old has been out for a week and a half with a lower-body injury and is once again logging big minutes for Minnesota, averaging nearly 23 minutes a night in 49 games this season.

Snapshots: Caufield, Dunn, Kindl

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After finishing last in the NHL in 2021-22, the Montreal Canadiens have gotten off to a surprisingly strong start this season. Martin St. Louis has his squad sitting above .500 with a 12-10-1 record, and that early success has come in large part thanks to his team’s dynamic top line. Captain Nick Suzuki is leading the way with 25 points in 23 games, while offseason acquisition Kirby Dach looks like he could be beginning a breakout year with 17 points in 23 games. Leading the Canadiens in goals is 21-year-old sniper Cole Caufield, who happens to be playing in the final year of his entry-level contract.

Caufield’s agent, Pat Brisson, confirmed to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun that “preliminary” conversations with the Canadiens on a contract extension have begun. (subscription link) LeBrun writes that his “sense is that [the Canadiens] have entered this negotiation willing to be flexible and do whatever ends up being the best combination of cap hit and term.” Seeing as Caufield has played like an elite scorer since the moment St. Louis stepped behind Montreal’s bench, it seems like pulling the trigger on a long-term pact might be in the Canadiens’ best interests.

Some other notes from across the NHL:

  • As part of his larger piece looking at potential RFAs, LeBrun also dove into the contract situation regarding Vince Dunn and the Seattle Kraken. The 26-year-old blueliner is currently scoring at a 57-point pace and is playing over 23 minutes per night. Dunn is currently playing on a $4MM cap hit, and will be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent before being able to hit unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2024. While the Kraken already have significant dollars pledged to their 2023-24 team, they should have the room on their books to be able to sign Dunn to the sort of major extension his play warrants.
  • Former NHL defenseman Jakub Kindl has found a team for the 2022-23 season. Per a team announcement, the 35-year-old veteran of over 33o NHL games has signed with Storhamar, a club in Norway. Kindl spent last season captaining HC Plzen in the Czech league, scoring 10 points in 43 games.

Jeremy Lauzon, Alex Wennberg Placed In COVID Protocol

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Jan 3: The Kraken have now added Alexander Wennberg to the protocol, joining Lauzon. The team already had their upcoming game against the Ottawa Senators postponed, meaning they will have time to get both back before their next game on January 10, should they test out of the protocol.

Jan 1: The Seattle Kraken have Vince Dunn and Ryan Donato back from the COVID protocol today as they took morning skate, but it’s not back to full strength just yet. The team still has Mason Appleton unavailable and he’ll now be joined on the sidelines by Jeremy Lauzon, who has entered the protocol today.

Lauzon, 24, was the Kraken pick from Boston in the expansion draft and he has played 27 games for the team this season. A second-round selection from 2015, the young defenseman still hasn’t quite come into his own at the NHL level. He does provide a level of physical play that the Kraken defense has become known for, ranking third on the team in hits and first in penalty minutes, but Lauzon has just five points so far on the year.

Notably, Lauzon has avoided Group VI unrestricted free agency by landing a regular gig with the Kraken to start the year. He had just 76 matches to his name before this season, with 80 being the threshold to avoid UFA status. Instead, he’ll be a restricted free agent this summer coming off his two-year deal from 2020. Arbitration-eligible, a good showing this season could result in a healthy raise should the Kraken decide he’s worthy of a qualifying offer.

Two Seattle Kraken Enter COVID Protocol

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The Seattle Kraken tweeted Sunday evening that forward Ryan Donato and defenseman Vince Dunn entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.

They join defensemen Carson Soucy, Adam Larsson, and Jamie Oleksiak on the protocol list for the Kraken.

Dunn’s been Seattle’s most productive defenseman in their inaugural season, posting 12 points through 28 games. Donato’s been fairly productive too after joining the team on a one-year deal, scoring eight goals and 13 points in 28 games.

If they’re confirmed positive tests, they’re likely out for Seattle’s next four games and could return January 5th.

Snapshots: Islanders, Norlinder, Fix-Wolansky

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The New York Islanders were dealt a tough hand to start the season with a 13-game road trip, but things aren’t exactly looking up with the news that defenseman Ryan Pulock will miss the next four to six weeks with a lower-body injury. The Islanders sit with a 5-6-2 record, and while it’s certainly recoverable, especially considering their track record, they find themselves in an extremely competitive division with seven teams ahead of them. With a defense core that’s looked troubling at times, the team could look to get outside help via the form of a trade. The Athletic’s Arthur Staple says that while the team could put faith into their staff in AHL Bridgeport to help bridge the gap until Pulock’s return, there’s a variety of trade targets they could examine. While D-men who have experience playing on the right side aren’t usually available for trade, he lists Seattle’s Vince Dunn as a potential option who could still prove to pay dividends on the power play once Pulock returns, a role that hasn’t been filled properly since the departure of Devon Toews.

More from around the NHL:

  • Montreal Canadiens prospect Mattias Norlinder is set to make his NHL debut on Thursday. The defenseman is healthy after a preseason injury sidelined him up until the last week, where he spent three games with the AHL’s Laval Rocket on a conditioning stint. The 64th overall pick in 2019 is expected to play on the second pairing alongside veteran David Savard, who’ll give him what should be a reliable defensive partner to open his NHL career.
  • It’s another prospect returning to the lineup as Columbus’ Trey Fix-Wolansky is making his season debut for AHL Cleveland tonight after an eight-month absence. The Hockey Writers’ Mark Scheig notes that the forward had ACL surgery in March. Fix-Wolansky wasn’t picked until the seventh round in 2018, likely due to his 5′ 8″ height, but proceeded to light up the WHL the following season with the Edmonton Oil Kings, scoring 37 goals and 102 points in just 65 games. After having an impressive first professional go-around with Cleveland last year as well, look for Fix-Wolansky to get an NHL look sooner rather than later.

Injury Updates: Oilers, Varlamov, Foote, Rust, Dunn, Maatta

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Oilers winger Zack Kassian will suit up tonight after missing Edmonton’s season opener while in concussion protocol, the team announced (Twitter link).  He suffered the injury in a fight late in the preseason when his helmet came off.  To make room for Kassian, Edmonton has placed forward Devin Shore on IR with an undisclosed injury, notes Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic (Twitter link).  The placement is retroactive to last Saturday which means he’ll have missed seven days already which means Shore could be activated as soon as Tuesday’s game against Anaheim.

Other injury notes from around the NHL:

  • Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov missed training camp due to nagging soreness with head coach Barry Trotz expressing optimism that the veteran wouldn’t miss much time. However, Newsday’s Andrew Gross relays that while the netminder took a few shots at the end of practice on Friday, there remains no timetable for a return.  Trotz ruled out the possibility of a conditioning stint but it remains unclear when Varlamov will actually be able to suit up for New York.
  • Lightning defenseman Cal Foote is roughly a week away from returning, notes Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). He had surgery last month to repair a torn tendon in his hand which caused him to miss all of the preseason.  Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising if Tampa Bay asked him to start with a short conditioning stint first; he’d have to agree to the move as he’s no longer waiver-exempt.
  • The Penguins have ruled out winger Bryan Rust for tonight’s game against Chicago, head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters including Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The 29-year-old was injured early in the third period on a hit from Florida’s MacKenzie Weegar on Thursday.  The team is still evaluating Rust’s injury so there’s no timetable yet for his return although he has been placed on IR.
  • Vince Dunn will miss tonight’s game for the Kraken, relays Ryan S. Clark of The Athletic (Twitter link). The blueliner is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed issue.  Haydn Fleury will take Dunn’s place in the lineup.
  • The Kings announced (Twitter link) that they’ve activated defenseman Olli Maatta off injured reserve. He’ll take the roster spot of Christian Wolanin who was claimed off waivers earlier today by Buffalo.  The 27-year-old had a sparing role with Los Angeles last season, logging less than 17 minutes a game in 41 appearances while recording just four assists.

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