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Joey Daccord Re-Signs With Kraken

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Seattle won’t be letting Joey Daccord test the open market tomorrow.  Instead, the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve re-signed the netminder to a two-year contract.  The deal will carry an AAV of $1.2MM.  CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that the salary is an even $1.2MM per season with no signing bonuses.

The 26-year-old was eligible to reach unrestricted free agency as a Group Six player as he has just 19 career NHL appearances under his belt over parts of five professional campaigns.  Five of those top-level contests came this season with the Kraken where he put up a 3.14 GAA and a .900 SV%, numbers that were an improvement on his career averages of 3.64 and .884, respectively.

Daccord spent most of the season with AHL Coachella Valley, performing quite well for the Firebirds.  He finished fifth in the minors in both GAA (2.38) and SV% (.918), helping to lead his team to the second-best record in the AHL.  He found another gear in the playoffs, posting a 2.22 GAA and a .926 SV% but Coachella Valley fell in the seventh game of the Calder Cup Finals earlier this month to Hershey.

With Martin Jones set to hit the open market tomorrow, there’s an opening between the pipes in Seattle for a partner with incumbent starter Philipp Grubauer.  It’s quite possible that Daccord and veteran Chris Driedger could battle for that number two spot with the loser going on waivers and returning to the Firebirds if he clears.  If that happens with Daccord, all but $50K of his cap hit would be cleared off the books, limiting the risk that the Kraken are taking with this type of commitment for someone who has been a third option for the majority of his career.  But as far as insurance policies go in goal, Daccord has shown himself to be one of the stronger ones.

Latest On Eduard Sale

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  • Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek reports that Eduard Sale, the Seattle Kraken’s recent first-round pick, is going to play for the OHL’s Barrie Colts next season. Sale has played the last two seasons in Czechia’s top pro league for Brno Kometa, and now will get the chance to play against his peers in major junior hockey. He’s an exceptionally skilled offensive player, so Colts fans should expect Sale to be among their top scorers if all goes well.

Kraken Defenseman Carson Soucy Likely Headed To Free Agency

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Another player that is likely headed to the free agency market is defenseman Carson Soucy. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff is reporting that the Seattle Kraken and the hulking defenseman had discussions about an extension, but it appears that at this point he is going to unrestricted free agency and will be in a new uniform next season.

This past season Soucy finished last in Kraken defensemen for points and ice time, however, he will still be a significant loss on the backend for Seattle. Together with offensive defenseman Justin Schultz, they formed one of the top third-defensive pairings in the NHL last season, which is what will ultimately price Soucy out of Seattle.

Soucy had three goals and 13 assists in 78 games last season and while he will never an offensive defenseman, he may be paid like one given that he’ll be entering a very weak free-agent market for defensemen. Soucy can bring a lot to a new team, he can play on both sides of the ice, has a bomb from the point, and is a good penalty killer. The one caveat to Soucy’s recent success is that he’s played sheltered minutes for the past two seasons. If a team pays him like a second-pairing defenseman, they might be very disappointed with the results.

Given what is known about Soucy’s game it seems unlikely that a team will dramatically overpay him. Daily Faceoff is projecting a three-year contract for him with an average annual value of $2.5MM, while The Athletic is projecting a $2.6MM annual value also on a three-year deal. Those numbers are more in line with a third pairing defensemen and that is a role the Soucy can flourish in as demonstrated by the past two seasons.

Seattle Kraken Re-Sign Gustav Olofsson

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The Seattle Kraken have announced that defenseman Gustav Olofsson has been re-signed to a two-year, two-way contract carrying a league-minimum $775k AAV. Per CapFriendly, the deal carries a $350k AHL salary.

Olofsson, 28, has spent the last two years in the Kraken organization since signing with them in August 2021. He’s largely been a reliable AHL blueliner, and this past year he earned his first NHL games with the Kraken, earning his first NHL games since 2019-20. An AHL All-Star in 2015-16, Olofsson was counted on by head coach Dan Bylsma during the Coachella Valley Firebirds’ run to Game Seven of the Calder Cup Finals.

He isn’t much of an offensive player (Olofsson’s career-high in points as a professional is 24) but he offers decent size standing six-foot-two 200 pounds and has 62 games of NHL experience as well as some value as a locker-room leader. Olofsson’s been an alternate captain for both the Kraken’s affiliates and his former team, the Montreal Canadiens.

In locking him up for the next two seasons at an eminently affordable cost, the Kraken have ensured some continuity on their AHL blueline. They’ve also guaranteed that a familiar face will be waiting for them as a potential call-up should they run into injury issues on defense over the course of the next two seasons.

While GM Ron Francis has maybe more significant business to get done this summer, such as re-signing breakout blueliner Vince Dunn, this is extension will certainly help the Firebirds as they look to go on another long playoff run next year.

Multiple Teams Engaging In Erik Karlsson Trade Talks

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An expectedly hot trade market could soon see a rather Earth-shattering trade. Newly-crowned Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson of the San Jose Sharks has been on the trade block for quite some time, and he’s made it known he’d like to get dealt to a contender.

Now, we have some clarity on some teams EK65 could suit up for next season. The Toronto Maple Leafs, Carolina Hurricanes, and Seattle Kraken have reportedly initiated discussions with the Sharks regarding the possibility of acquiring the star defenseman, says Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. LeBrun also indicates, though, that Karlsson has not yet provided Sharks general manager Mike Grier with a list of preferred destinations, leaving the trade negotiations as an “open canvas.”

Karlsson boasts a massive $11.5MM cap hit through 2027 and has long been considered one of the most dynamic defensemen in the league. However, injuries had plagued the Swedish defenseman in recent seasons, dampening his on-ice impact. 2022-23 saw him shake off most of the rust, though, becoming the first defenseman to record 100 points in a season since Brian Leetch in 1991-92. Nevertheless, his defensive deficiencies combined with the concern for re-injury will likely involve the Sharks, and potentially a third party, retaining massive amounts of his salary.

The Maple Leafs are definitely the team who would need the most help via salary retention to get a deal done. They are slated to have around $14.75MM in cap space with defenseman Jake Muzzin headed for long-term injured reserve, but they need to fill at least five roster spots at forward and get a new contract signed for netminder Ilya Samsonov. A trade, however unlikely it may seem, could include T.J. Brodie, who’s locked in at a $5MM cap hit next season and is a UFA in 2024. Karlsson would essentially replace his spot in the lineup.

Few teams would complement Karlsson’s puck-moving style as well as Carolina. This is likely a fallback option for them if they can’t reach an extension with Brett Pesce, although it’s hard to imagine two players at further ends of the defense spectrum. One would have to wonder about the necessity of acquiring Karlsson for the ’Canes, though, as a former teammate of Karlsson’s,  Brent Burns, is already under contract through 2025, and they’re still working on acquiring Anthony DeAngelo from the Philadelphia Flyers (which, legally, can’t be completed for another few weeks for cap circumvention purposes).

As for the Kraken, the budding franchise has apparently wasted no time in trying to solidify themselves as a championship contender after winning their first playoff series this spring. They’ve got a bevy of talented forwards and a true four-line attack, but their biggest roster hole lies with a second-pairing right-shot defenseman behind shutdown stalwart Adam Larsson. They do have the cap room to make it work – their only notable expenditure this offseason will be re-signing blueliner Vince Dunn, which could cost them around $7MM per season. It still would leave them with about $13MM in cap space and very few other roster holes to fill, making this a very doable task for the Kraken with 35-50% salary retention.

More to come…

Matty Beniers Wins 2023 Calder Memorial Trophy

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Seattle Kraken forward Matty Beniers has been crowned the Calder Memorial Trophy winner as the league’s top rookie. Beniers beat out Edmonton Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner and Buffalo Sabres defenseman Owen Power for the award.

Beniers was drafted by the Kraken second overall in 2021 and burst onto the scene this year, finishing the year tied for the rookie lead with 24 goals while he led all rookies with 57 points. The 20-year-old was asked to do a lot for the Kraken and was a big part of why the club reached the playoffs in just their second season of existence.

The native of Hingham, Massachusetts, played over 17 minutes a night in his rookie season and was a solid two-way contributor for the team. Despite being a rookie, Beniers rarely resorted to cheating, as he took just a single minor penalty this season and appeared extremely detail-oriented in the defensive zone.

Beniers continued his good showing in the playoffs helping Seattle knock off the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in the first round. He had three goals and four assists in 14 playoff games and was a big reason Seattle was able to push for their first series win.

The Calder Trophy puts a cap on what has been an incredible rookie season in what is sure to be a long and productive NHL career.

Offseason Checklist: Seattle Kraken

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The offseason is now fully underway after Vegas took home the Stanley Cup which means that it’s time to examine what each team will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Seattle.

2022-23 was a storybook campaign for the fresh-off-expansion Seattle Kraken. The team set the record for improvement in the standings from year one to year two of an expansion franchise, at least since the Original Six era. Their 100 points were only good enough for a Wild Card spot in a tight Pacific Division race, though it didn’t matter – they knocked off the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in a seven-game First Round battle. After nearly vindicating the Dallas Stars, losing 2-1 in Game 7 of the Second Round, Kraken general manager Ron Francis needs to push the right buttons to keep the team’s momentum in a decidedly forward direction.

Solidify The Crease

Seattle got vintage Philipp Grubauer in the postseason, although his .903 save percentage and 2.99 goals-against average were both still the worst marks of his four playoff runs as his team’s full-time starter. Inconsistency and truthfully horrid play between the pipes at times has been the franchise’s largest weakness over the past 24 months, although the team’s depth has developed to a point where it can largely mask that shortcoming. In 94 games as a Kraken, Grubauer’s regular-season record is much less kind – a .891 save percentage and 3.04 goals-against average are simply not good enough for a team to contend for a championship. That’s nearly 35 more goals conceded than an average netminder given the same workload. Pending UFA Martin Jones posted a sparkling 27-13-3 record when in net for Seattle this season but had just a .886 save percentage, getting plenty of goal support.

The team has some flexibility with Jones surely headed to the open market, but Grubauer is locked in at a $5.9MM cap hit through 2026-27. Moving on from him likely isn’t realistic this summer – he’s still shown flashes of solid play and is a well-liked teammate in the room. If they were to trade him, though, the time is now after a temporary boost in stock from his playoff performance.

Seattle isn’t too pressed for cap space, although much of their projected $20MM of availability (CapFriendly) will go to a new deal for defenseman Vince Dunn. Could the team go internal for Grubauer’s partner, possibly Joey Daccord? They’ll need to re-sign him, as the 26-year-old is a pending Group VI UFA, but he rode a .926 save percentage in 26 playoff games for the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds in their first season before bowing out in the final. The team is sure to move out Chris Driedger and his $3.5MM cap hit, as the 29-year-old didn’t play in the NHL this season after being sidelined due to injury to start the season and then slipping to the AHL behind Jones, Grubauer, and later Daccord. Among goalie options on the open market, there are certainly a few with more experience than Daccord that could be had for Driedger’s money (or less).

Long-Term Deal For Dunn

Seattle’s success came by committee this season – especially among their offense, where all of their top 12 forwards contributed between 0.4 and 0.9 points per game. The 26-year-old Dunn (mentioned earlier) was absolutely a standout among his defensive counterparts, though, recording team-highs in assists (50), time on ice (23:40), and plus-minus (+28). He notched a career-high 64 points on the whole, spectacular value for just a $4MM cap hit.

A restricted free agent with arbitration rights, he’s due a sharp raise this offseason – one Seattle absolutely has the cap room to accommodate. Advanced metrics have hinted at a Dunn breakout for many years, although maybe not one of this scale.

He’s of the perfect age to sign a longer-term deal. While the maximum eight years may be a little much, given he’d be 34 when the contract expires, it wouldn’t last too far into his decline (if at all). He may not be a perennial elite defender (and shouldn’t get paid like one), but he’s shown he can be a bonafide top-pairing player.

Start Extension Talks With Beniers

The Kraken don’t have much in the way of true star power, but they’re only a season or two away from having one. 20-year-old Matthew Beniers is a surefire bet to take home the Calder Trophy next week, and he’s grown into the team’s de facto number-one center after just 90 career games. He struggled in the faceoff circle heavily this year, but other than that, he scored 24 goals and 57 points in 80 games and took just one minor penalty all season.

That being said, he’s entering the final season of his entry-level deal. The Kraken would be wise to negotiate an extension with him as soon as possible, trying their best to keep Beniers’ cap hit down on a long-term agreement – if Beniers is willing to discuss one.

The 6-foot-2 Massachusetts product excelled defensively in his rookie year, showing he’s on track to become the two-way force the Kraken thought they were getting when they selected him second overall in 2021. This much offense so soon in his development bodes well for him to become one of the more complete centers in the NHL in a few years’ time – the type of player they’d need to pay an extreme premium for at the end of a bridge deal.

Add On Defense

The Kraken are more than apt on offense, with youngsters like Shane Wright and Tye Kartye already on the outside looking in when it comes to the team’s opening night depth chart. The team will have some cap space to utilize after signing Dunn to an extension and rectifying their goalie situation, though, and they’ll be able to use it to pursue a right-shot defender on the open market to complete their top four.

Justin Schultz is a spectacular power-play quarterback but best suited for third-pairing usage at even strength. With Dunn, Adam Larsson, and Jamie Oleksiak comprising the trio of the most oft-used Kraken defenders, the team’s obvious hole is a more skilled partner for the hulking Oleksiak.

William Borgen has turned into a full-time NHLer, but for a team on the upswing and looking at Stanley Cup contention in a few years, he’s not the best fit in a top four. Could they pursue a Matt Dumba, Radko Gudas, or Scott Mayfield type to fill out their only depth weakness? A potential Oleksiak-Gudas pairing would be more than enough for Pacific Division rivals to approach the offensive zone with fear.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Kraken Looking To Move Chris Driedger

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Add another netminder to a trade market for goalies that started out thin but has seen several players added to it in recent weeks.  This time, it’s Kraken goaltender Chris Driedger being made available as Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports (video link) that Seattle is looking to move the veteran.

It has certainly been an eventful few years for the 29-year-old.  A journeyman for the bulk of his career, Driedger had a stellar showing as the backup in Florida in 2020-21, posting a 2.06 GAA and a .927 SV% in 23 games, setting him up nicely for unrestricted free agency.  However, Seattle opted to make him their selection in expansion, signing him to a three-year, $10.5MM contract, quite a price tag for someone that never had a seven-figure AAV before.

Driedger wasn’t able to repeat that level of success in Seattle’s first season, putting up a 2.96 GAA with a .899 SV% in 27 games but still earned himself an invitation to play for Canada at the World Championship that spring.  Unfortunately, he tore his ACL in the tournament, causing him to miss the first half of the season.

With the Kraken bringing in Martin Jones as Driedger’s replacement this season, they quickly waived Driedger when he was cleared to return, sending him to AHL Coachella Valley.  Driedger had a decent showing during the regular season with them, compiling a 2.61 GAA with a .908 SV% in 14 games.  However, he hasn’t seen a second of ice time during the Firebirds’ run to the Calder Cup Finals with Joey Daccord, a pending UFA, seeing all the action.

Driedger has one year left on his contract with a $3.5MM price tag that is on the high side with how things have gone for him over the last two seasons.  Notably, his salary jumps to $4.5MM with the deal being a back-loaded one.  Seattle would certainly like to free up some extra cap flexibility this summer and moving him would be one way to accomplish that.  However, given the number of teams needing to open up cap space, clearing his contract outright could be a challenge.

If Seattle is willing to move on from Driedger, one other option over the next couple of weeks could be a buyout.  Doing that would drop his cap charge to just $500K for next season but would add $1.5MM in dead cap space for 2024-25.  Alternatively, taking a contract back in the swap to help balance the money could help facilitate a move.  Either way, the fact they’re in this situation isn’t ideal, especially when it looked like Driedger’s career was on the rise just a couple of years ago.  Now, they just have to hope that another team thinks he’ll be able to recover his form from his final season in Florida.

Kraken Sign Jani Nyman

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The Kraken have signed one of their draft picks from 2022 as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that they’ve signed forward Jani Nyman to a three-year, entry-level contract.  The deal will carry an AAV of $950K and breaks down as follows:

2023-24: $775K salary, $95K signing bonus, $80K games played performance bonus
2024-25: $855K salary, $95K signing bonus
2025-26: $855K salary, $95K signing bonus

The 18-year-old was a second-round pick last year (49th overall) following a strong season in Finland’s second-tier Mestis league.  This season, Nyman moved up to the SM-liiga, the top division in Finland, on a full-time basis and didn’t look out of place playing for Ilves, scoring 10 goals in 29 games while averaging over 12 minutes a night.  He also suited up for the Finns at the World Juniors, picking up two goals and an assist in three games.

Nyman still has one year left on his deal with Ilves and it seems likely that Seattle will opt to let him stay and play at home for next season.  If that happens, his contract will slide, meaning it will still have three years left on it heading into the 2024-25 season.

Free Agent Focus: Seattle Kraken

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Free agency is less than a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Seattle Kraken.

Key Restricted Free Agents

D Vince Dunn – Dunn, who will be 27 next season, is by a wide margin the most significant pending free agent the Kraken have on their roster.

The left-shot blueliner is set to receive a sizeable raise from the $4MM AAV he played this season on after scoring 14 goals and 64 points this past season, a total that tied him for tenth in the NHL in scoring by a defenseman.

Dunn has quickly emerged as a dominant force in transition and the type of blueliner that can make a significant impact in the offensive zone.

He’s not a sheltered, offense-only contributor either as he logged nearly 24 minutes per night for the Kraken, the highest average on his team. It seems as though it’s only a matter of time before Dunn becomes the highest-paid player on Seattle’s books.

F Daniel Sprong – While not quite to the same degree as Dunn, Sprong had an impressive breakout 2022-23 campaign. Despite averaging just 11:25 time on ice per night, Sprong finished his season with 21 goals and 46 points in 66 games, which is a 26-goal, 57-point 82-game pace. There aren’t many players who could manage those types of numbers with such little ice time, yet Sprong, owner of a lethal shot, managed to do exactly that.

A former top prospect of the Pittsburgh Penguins, it had been long believed that Sprong held some untapped offensive upside but until this year he had failed to show more than sporadic flashes of offensive brilliance. The question for the Kraken to answer, then, is whether they believe Sprong’s breakout is sustainable.

If they think he can repeat this performance as a productive bottom-sixer, he’ll easily earn a sizeable raise from his $750k AAV. But if Seattle is more uncertain about his future, perhaps weary to invest too greatly into a player with a track record of inconsistency (who didn’t have a good playoffs despite Seattle making it to the second round) then these negotiations could get dicey, especially since Sprong is arbitration-eligible.

D Will Borgen – Borgen took a major step forward in his career in 2022-23, playing in all 82 games for the Kraken as well as all 14 of their playoff contests. He was a steady presence on the Kraken’s second and third pairings who also pitched in on the team’s second-unit penalty kill, and his play this season likely merits a decent raise from the $900k he cost the team on his last deal.

Other RFAs: F Morgan Geekie, F Kole Lind, D Cale Fleury

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

D Carson Soucy – Operating in a similar role to Borgen, Soucy managed to play nearly all of the Kraken’s games this past season and averaged just over 16 minutes time on ice with nearly two minutes each night spent on the penalty kill.

His offensive production declined slightly (from 21 points in 64 games last season to 16 in 78 games this year) but overall his play remained steady. He was a dependable defensive defenseman and offers the type of size and muscle on the blueline that many teams covet.

The Kraken are likely to want to keep Soucy around to maintain the quality of their defense, but given how well he’s done in Seattle the team may have a tough time matching the outside offers that come his way.

With 2021 35th overall pick Ryker Evans a breakout star in his first AHL campaign (he has 19 points in 20 playoff games at the time of writing for the Coachella Valley Firebirds) and likely to be pushing for an NHL spot in training camp, perhaps the Kraken feel comfortable letting Soucy walk and opening the door for Evans to claim his vacated spot on the left side of the team’s defense.

G Martin Jones – 33-year-old netminder Martin Jones’ numbers weren’t much to write home about, with his .887 save percentage in 48 games an especially weak mark, he does have one number really working in his favor: 27. That’s the number of games Jones won for the Kraken, and he posted an overall 27-13-3 record. He gave Seattle enough to take home two points in the vast majority of the games he played, and in a backup role there’s a lot of value in that.

With Chris Driedger and Philipp Grubauer already on their books and Daccord also in the mix, it seems relatively unlikely that Seattle will opt to bring Jones back. But although his save percentage was quite poor, he did win far more often than he lost and therefore put forth a solid argument to receive a new contract similar to the $2MM one he received last summer.

G Joey Daccord – Like the aforementioned Evans, Daccord has played extremely well with AHL Coachella Valley and his current performance likely places him firmly in the NHL conversation heading into next season. He could possibly end this season as a Calder Cup-winning goalie and he has posted a .927 save percentage through 20 games for the Firebirds. He was solid in the regular season as well, and at 26 years old looks ready to take the next step and become an NHL backup.

Whether he takes that step in Seattle is an open question, as Driedger remains on the books at a $3.5MM cap hit next season and Grubauer firmly re-established himself in Seattle by leading the franchise to their first-ever playoff series win.

In any case, he looks to be this year’s Charlie Lindgren, as Lindgren placed himself in a similar circumstance a year ago via strong performances for the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds and that summer earned himself a $1.1MM AAV deal to become the backup for the Washington Capitals. Perhaps that’s what’s in store for Daccord should he hit the open market.

Other UFAs: F Ryan Donato, F Joonas Donskoi, F Jesper Froden, F John Hayden, F Austin Poganski, F Alex True, F Carsen Twarynski, D Gustav Olofsson, D Brogan Rafferty, G Christopher Gibson

Projected Cap Space

This is where Seattle are in decent shape. CapFriendly projects them to have over $20MM in cap space, though that figure will be eaten into considerably by an extension for Dunn. With significant dollars set to expire in the near future (Jordan Eberle has one year and $5.5MM left on his deal, and Alexander Wennberg has one year and $4.5MM left on his contract, to give two examples) the Kraken are in a prime position to invest significant dollars in their team this summer. So far they’ve opted to build a team that prioritizes balance and depth, but maybe the significant financial flexibility they have this summer will lead them to chase some stars, similar to what the Vegas Golden Knights did following their first experience of playoff success.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

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