- The Seattle Kraken have returned Kole Lind to the minor leagues, despite his strong play last night in a win over the Nashville Predators. Lind recorded his second NHL point and generated five shots on goal, but will have to wait patiently for his next opportunity.
Kraken Rumors
Kraken "Open For Business" As Trade Deadline Nears
The Seattle Kraken are “open for business” in regards to being a third-party broker for trade deadline deals or even a parachute for bad contracts, according to general manager Ron Francis. Francis spoke with Ryan S. Clark of The Athletic and was quite clear that he has already told every other GM in the league that they are willing to spend cap space and money to acquire other assets.
Seattle Kraken Sign Tye Kartye
The entry-level contracts continue, with an expansion team this time getting into the mix. The Seattle Kraken have signed Tye Kartye to an entry-level contract according to general manager Ron Francis, who spoke with Ryan S. Clark of The Athletic. Kartye, 20, is an undrafted forward currently playing for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL. Today was the first day teams are eligible to sign players to entry-level contracts for the 2022-23 season; Kartye’s age means he’ll be signing a three-year deal.
Kartye should already be very familiar with the Kraken, as he took part in their first development camp last summer. Like many Greyhounds in the past, he was also part of a Toronto Maple Leafs development camp, this time in 2019. The Kingston-born winger went undrafted, but has taken his game to an entirely new level this season, scoring 33 goals and 58 points in 45 games.
The fact that Francis is a legendary Greyhounds alumni likely didn’t hurt negotiations, but there is also an immediate attraction for free agent prospects when it comes to expansion teams. The Kraken will need all the young players they can get in the coming years as they try to build the program from the ground up, and Kartye will likely be one of the first members of the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the AHL team set to begin play next season. Originally selected 158th overall in the 2017 OHL Priority Selection, all of Kartye’s hard work has paid off. He scored just four goals in his first OHL season, missed all of 2020-21 because of COVID restrictions, and now has an NHL contract with his name on it.
Kraken To Explore Trade Market For Mark Giordano
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.
Jared McCann Placed On Injured Reserve
If there’s a player the Seattle Kraken couldn’t afford to lose for an extended period of time, it’s Jared McCann. The 25-year-old forward has been the team’s best offensive player all season, leading the squad in both goals and points so far. Unfortunately, McCann has now landed on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury, with the Kraken recalling Kole Lind from the AHL to replace him on the roster.
McCann is an interesting case study for those who want to know how the Kraken will approach the next few years. A restricted free agent at the end of this season, he’s put himself in prime position for a substantial raise, either through a long-term extension or the arbitration process. The question now becomes whether it’s the Kraken that are the other signatory on that next contract, or if McCann will be sold off for future assets at some point. That could come at the trade deadline or the offseason, depending on what kind of offers come in the next few weeks (and what kind of injury he’s currently dealing with).
There’s a real argument to be made that any extension with McCann would cover years when the Kraken are still not competitive in the Pacific Division, though the same might have been said during the unrestricted free agent period last summer. Instead of holding onto their cap space and building through the draft, general manager Ron Francis signed multi-year contracts with free agents like Philipp Grubauer, Jaden Schwartz, Jamie Oleksiak, Adam Larsson, and Alexander Wennberg, players that were already in their late-twenties and likely aren’t going to experience much improvement over the production they had already shown. It seemed, at least at the time, like the Kraken were targeting a playoff spot in year one, something that hasn’t come to fruition.
So a long-term deal with McCann would certainly be following their previous path, though the wisdom in that strategy is still up for debate. Alternatively, selling him off at some point before UFA status–he’ll reach the open market in the summer of 2023 if not signed–would signal that perhaps those initial moves were mistakes and that it will take quite a bit longer for the Kraken to reach playoff contender status.
There is of course also the possibility that McCann doesn’t want to stay in Seattle at all and an extension isn’t even possible, though with 21 goals and 33 points through 48 games, he’s already having the best season of his career with the improved offensive deployment.
Mark Giordano Talks On Trade Rumors
- One of the other names on the list is Mark Giordano, appearing near the top as he did on The Athletic’s version last month. Giordano spoke with Ryan S. Clark of The Athletic for a piece released today and indicated that he still hasn’t spoken to Seattle Kraken general manager Ron Francis about the impending deadline decision. Giordano doesn’t actually have full control of that process as his no-trade clause only lists 19 teams he can be traded to, but as a respected veteran and the first captain in team history, he’ll be consulted along the way. Giordano admits to Clark that he doesn’t exactly want to be traded, but understands that there is “a business side to this sport.”
Seattle Kraken Claim Dennis Cholowski
As expected, the Seattle Kraken have reclaimed Dennis Cholowski off waivers from the Washington Capitals according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The young defenseman had been lost at the beginning of the season without ever actually suiting up for Seattle.
Cholowski, 23, ended up playing in just seven games for the Capitals during his time in Washington, spending more time in the press box than in the lineup. That’s sort of been the story of his career the last few years, as the first-round pick has played just 59 NHL games since the start of 2019-20. That is only a few more than he had as a rookie in 2018-19 when he came almost directly to the Detroit Red Wings lineup in his first year of professional hockey.
It was from Detroit that Cholowski was originally selected by the Kraken in the expansion draft. He ended up on waivers at the beginning of the season though thanks to an overloaded defense corps and ended up heading east. His return to the Kraken depth chart is an interesting one, given where the team now sits in the standings. With the trade deadline approaching, there could be some opportunities for the Seattle front office to flip some of their more veteran defensemen, thus opening up an opportunity for someone like Cholowski.
Still, he’ll have to show more consistency than he has to this point if he wants to lock down a full-time NHL job. Because the Kraken were the only team to put in a claim this time around, he can be immediately assigned to the minor leagues. The team did so, sending him to the Charlotte Checkers, the AHL club they are sharing this season.
Seattle Kraken Claim Austin Czarnik
The Seattle Kraken have nabbed a depth forward off waivers, selecting Austin Czarnik from the New York Islanders according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The veteran minor leaguer will join Seattle’s active roster.
Czarnik, 29, will actually be an interesting player to follow with the Kraken, given his obvious offensive upside. The 5’9″ forward has lit up the minor leagues over the years, routinely putting up point-per-game seasons. Even in the NHL he’s been relatively productive with 43 points in 136 career games, including five this year in 11 with the Islanders. If he’s given a more offensive role with the expansion club, perhaps some of that production can make its way to the Kraken scoresheet.
The fact that he carries a cap hit of just $725K also makes him a potential deadline trade piece, should a contender be dealing with any injury issues. Not that he’d bring much back in any deal, but a waiver claim from the Kraken does nothing but add an asset to the organization while they continue to try and find their way forward. It also could represent some insurance for a different trade, with players like Calle Jarnkrok and Marcus Johansson in the rumor mill as pending unrestricted free agents.
In any case, the move from New York to Seattle will probably be a good one for Czarnik, who should see some playing time when he arrives and gets acclimated. The Kraken are in action tomorrow night and have nine games left in February alone.
Ruhwedel, Borgen Enter COVID Protocol
5:34 pm: It turns out that it was likely a false positive that put Ruhwedel on the COVID protocol list. The Penguins defenseman is off protocol the same day he entered, and is available for tonight’s game against Washington.
11:04 am: In the coming days, players entering the COVID protocol will become much less common. The league has amended its procedures to no longer require daily testing for fully vaccinated individuals, and has removed the testing requirement for close contacts. Those are set to come into effect following each club’s final game before the All-Star break, however, meaning that for today and tomorrow, things are business as normal.
It’s not surprising then to see two more players enter the protocol today. The Seattle Kraken have announced that Will Borgen is now in it, meaning he’ll be unavailable for the team’s final pre-All-Star games this week. Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan also announced to reporters including Seth Rorabaugh of the Tribune-Review that Chad Ruhwedel is in the protocol and unavailable tonight.
In Borgen’s case, it’s unfortunate timing given he had started to find a home in the Kraken lineup. The 25-year-old defenseman played just a hair under 16 minutes on Sunday against the New York Rangers, his 15th game of the season. One of the interesting expansion draft selections given how little NHL experience he had with the Buffalo Sabres, Borgen signed a two-year, one-way contract with the Kraken in August and was expected to be a full-time option for the club. Now halfway through the season and he has just a handful of games under his belt after the team loaded up on other defensemen that have sat ahead of him on the depth chart.
For Ruhwedel, it couldn’t come at a worse time, given how he has finally been a regular in the Pittsburgh lineup. The 31-year-old veteran has never played more than 44 games in a single season but has already suited up 41 times this year, as the Penguins continue to deal with injuries to various players. Even tonight, the team has announced that Brian Dumoulin is a game-time decision due to “wear and tear” meaning there may have been even more ice time up for grabs. Instead, he’ll have to miss and likely give Juuso Riikola–recalled to the taxi squad this morning–a chance to get back into the NHL lineup.
NHL Postpones Saturday’s Kraken-Islanders Game
There have been plenty of postponements throughout the NHL this season due to COVID. However, Friday’s announcement that Saturday’s contest between the Kraken and the Islanders will not be played as scheduled is not the next on that list. Instead, a weather-related state of emergency in New York is the reason why this game won’t be played.
The Isles were set to begin the first half of a back-to-back set with both games at home. Sunday’s contest against Minnesota hasn’t been affected at this time. As for Seattle, they were set to play both New York teams in matinees this weekend and are next set to play against the Rangers, barring a weather-related postponement for that one as well.
Both teams will have a slightly shorter All-Star break as a result of Saturday’s postponement. The game has been rescheduled for February 2nd, meaning both teams will be playing on the back half of a back-to-back at that time while they won’t resume play after that contest until one week later.