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Trade Deadline Primer: Seattle Kraken

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As the calendar turns to March, the trade deadline is inching closer. Where does each team stand and what moves should they be looking to make?  We continue our look around the league with the Seattle Kraken. 

It hasn’t been the year that Seattle expected, with brutal goaltending and an anemic offense sinking the ship almost immediately. With Vegas the gold standard for expansion teams right in their face, the Kraken have been unable to find their sea legs to this point and now face a deadline as pure sellers. General manager Ron Francis has been open about the fact that he’ll have to move on from some of the names he picked in the expansion draft, including the first captain in franchise history. The word is also out that they will happily take on bad money or be third-party in a trade to add draft picks, something that may be extremely valuable to contenders looking to squeeze the most talent under a flat cap.

Record

17-34-4, 8th in the Pacific

Deadline Status

Seller

Deadline Cap Space

$7.13MM today, $25.02MM in full-season space, 0/3 retention slots used, 44/50 contracts used per CapFriendly

Upcoming Draft Picks

2022: SEA 1st, SEA 2nd, SEA 3rd, SEA 4th, CGY 4th, SEA 5th, SEA 6th, SEA 7th
2023: SEA 1st, SEA 2nd, WPG 2nd, SEA 3rd, SEA 4th, COL 4th, SEA 5th, SEA 6th, SEA 7th

Trade Chips

The most notable piece that the Kraken have to offer is captain Mark Giordano, who is on an expiring contract and carries a cap hit of $6.75MM. Earlier today it was reported that Giordano hasn’t even submitted his partial no-trade list, knowing that wherever he goes will be a contending team. He’s going somewhere though, as both the veteran defenseman and general manager have agreed on that already. Giordano could be a pretty substantial addition for anyone, especially if the Kraken are willing to retain half his contract so that more teams can fit him in financially. Last season, pending free agent David Savard landed the Columbus Blue Jackets a first- and third-round pick, while they also had to give up a fourth in order for a third party to retain salary. Some would argue that Giordano can still make a bigger impact than Savard, meaning that potentially could be the starting point, depending on how the market works out this season.

Beyond the captain though, there are many other expiring deals. Calle Jarnkrok, Marcus Johansson, Riley Sheahan, and Colin Blackwell could all carry varying levels of value for contenders, with the former two being the most intriguing. Jarnkrok and Johansson are both extremely versatile players with history at center (though both are likely better wingers at this point) and could slide into a team’s bottom-six with ease. While they may not be the most impactful acquisitions, they also probably won’t cost much in terms of assets.

Then there are players like Jared McCann, who is a pending restricted free agent and could potentially make a much more thorough impact on a contender this season. Seattle’s leading scorer, McCann has 21 goals and 33 points in 48 games. Obviously, that’s a player who could continue to help the Kraken in the future, but given he is a pending RFA just one year away from unrestricted free agency, they might want to cash in now.

Others, like Joonas Donskoi and Carson Soucy, are signed through 2022-23 but will hit the open market after that. The 29-year-old Donskoi is having a brutal year with just one goal in 54 games, but has proven in the past that he can be a nice complementary player if given the right linemates. Soucy too is an effective defenseman who probably shouldn’t be playing in a contender’s top-four, but could add some pretty nice depth on an inexpensive $2.75MM cap hit (before potential retention).

Others To Watch For: G Chris Driedger, F Mason Appleton, D Haydn Fleury

Team Needs

1) Draft Picks: It’s simple, the Kraken need to load up and build through the draft. Their expansion experience wasn’t good enough to make them a playoff contender right out of the gate and the free agent splurges were misplaced entirely. Matty Beniers is going to be the first true face of the franchise when he turns pro, but he’s going to need help. By the time March 21 is over, the Kraken should have another 2022 first-round pick in their hands, or the day might very well be considered a failure.

2) Flippable Contracts: There will be an opportunity though, to acquire players this deadline who are having a bad season and potentially flip them down the line when they are closer to expiring. You can see the Arizona Coyotes trying this tactic with names like Shayne Gostisbehere and Nick Ritchie–take them now with a sweetener, and send them out later for another asset. They’ll have to dig for the opportunities, but they are out there if you look hard enough.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Latest On Mark Giordano

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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.

Kraken "Open For Business" As Trade Deadline Nears

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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

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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

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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

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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

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  • 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

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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

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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.

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