Seattle Kraken Sign Dennis Cholowski
The Seattle Kraken have reached a contract with Dennis Cholowski, signing him to a one-year, two-way deal. Interestingly enough, the contract will carry an NHL salary of $900K, more than most two-way deals pay.
Kraken GM Ron Francis released a short statement
Dennis is a young defenseman with offensive upside that we were excited to add to our group. We like his strong skating and puck moving ability and are looking forward to working with him.
The 23-year-old Cholowski was the 20th overall pick in 2016, but has just 104 NHL games to his name at this point. He played 52 as a rookie in 2018-19, but was unable to establish himself as a full-time member of the Detroit Red Wings in either of the last two years. In 2020-21, he played just 16 games with Detroit, recording three points.
That high NHL salary–$150K more than the NHL minimum–may actually be built in to give the Kraken some extra waiver protection. If the team wants to send Cholowski down, which seems likely given how many other NHL defensemen they have under contract, he’ll have to clear waivers for the first time in his career. A $900K salary will only help him do that, given the tight cap situation of so many other teams.
It’s a long, talented depth chart on defense for the Kraken, meaning the young Cholowski will have quite a challenge if he wants to break camp with the team. Still, an expansion franchise is exactly the kind of team where talented-but-underperforming players like him could reach the next level. He will still be a restricted free agent next offseason.
Snapshots: Kotkaniemi, Hurricanes Cap, Quenneville
It’s been an unusually busy weekend in the hockey world, with yesterday’s successful Jesperi Kotkaniemi offer sheet and Christian Dvorak trade dominating headlines. Both of those moves have some corresponding implications that reach into today’s news cycle, including Kotkaniemi’s future as a playing member of the Carolina Hurricanes. General manager Don Waddell stated in his press conference this morning that the team’s plan is to start Kotkaniemi at the left-wing position in Carolina. It won’t be anything completely new for the 21-year-old Finnish forward, who’s played wing sparingly at times during his tenure with the Montreal Canadiens, but was mostly used as a bottom-six center there. Given his still-tantalizing potential and $6.1MM price tag, it’s likely that Kotkaniemi could slot in the top six along with Vincent Trocheck, but it’s all speculation until training camp begins. What’s for certain is that Carolina aims to give Kotkaniemi more opportunity and a better supporting cast than he’s had previously, hoping to get the most out of Kotkaniemi for the gamble of a price.
Some more fallout from the Kotkaniemi offer sheet, as well as a note about a Seattle Kraken expansion draft selection:
- With today’s news of Jake Gardiner‘s back and hip surgery and pending long-term injured reserve placement, the Carolina Hurricanes now have some salary-cap maneuvering to do. PuckPedia notes that Carolina will be able to exceed the cap by $4.05MM, the average annual value of Gardiner’s contract. The team currently sits at $1.5MM over the cap after the Kotkaniemi deal became official. PuckPedia also surmises that Carolina won’t have to go through too much trouble in order to maximize their salary cap relief, only sending two players down to be as close to the Upper Limit as possible before placing Gardiner on LTIR. Martin Necas remains the only non-waiver-eligible player on the roster and considering his role on the team, it’s unlikely he’ll be involved in a paper transaction. Steven Lorentz and Brendan Smith seem likely candidates to be waived and sent down in order to make the team cap-compliant.
- The ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League announced today that they’ve signed former NHL forward John Quenneville to a contract after signing him to a professional tryout last month. Quenneville is one of a few Seattle Kraken expansion draft selections to not remain with the team into the 2021-22 season. Their selection from the Chicago Blackhawks, Quenneville was a pending unrestricted free agent and wasn’t signed by the Kraken. A first-round pick of the New Jersey Devils in 2014, the now 25-year-old Quenneville never secured a full-time role in the NHL and will likely see much more opportunity overseas. Quenneville appeared in 42 NHL games between 2016 and 2020, scoring two goals and five points.
Seattle Kraken Sign Riley Sheahan
The Seattle Kraken have added some depth to the lineup, signing Riley Sheahan to a one-year contract. The deal will carry a salary of $850K. Kraken GM Ron Francis released a short statement on the signing:
We’re excited to add an experienced veteran like Riley to our organization. His versatility, strong penalty-killing ability and skill in the faceoff circle make him a valuable addition to our forward group.
Sheahan, 29, has been around the league for a long time, filling out a bottom-six role on several teams. He made his NHL debut in 2011-12 with the Detroit Red Wings after being selected in the first round and has 566 games under his belt. In 2020-21 he played with the Buffalo Sabres, recording just four goals and 13 points in 53 games, but is an effective enough penalty killer to still be worth the one-way deal near the league minimum.
The fact that Sheahan can play both center and wing is probably the most important factor for Seattle, who don’t have a lot of depth down the middle. There are players with a bit of experience at center, but several of them will likely be asked to play a top-six wing position thanks to a lack of real scoring options. With that in mind, perhaps Sheahan slides in as the full-time fourth-line center, giving them an experienced veteran to surround by the less experienced players they selected in the expansion draft.
Still, this is certainly not a needle-pusher for the Kraken, who are still facing a potential roster crunch on defense as the season approaches.
Seattle Kraken Sign Gustav Olofsson
The Seattle Kraken have added some more depth on defense, signing Gustav Olofsson to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal will be worth $750K at the NHL level. Olofsson reached Group VI unrestricted free agency this summer after his most recent one-year deal with the Montreal Canadiens expired. GM Ron Francis released a short statement on his newest player:
Gustav is a smart, two-way defenseman. We believe his size and willingness to play with physicality matches the style we want to play and are happy he is joining our blue line.
As we examined recently, the Kraken are in an unusual situation in regards to their NHL roster. The team has a strong depth chart on defense, but all of them are no longer waiver-exempt and many would be at risk of a claim. Adding players like Olofsson, who will likely clear waivers without issue (as he has several times in the past) gives Francis and company some insurance to stash in the minor leagues.
That’s not to say that Olofsson can’t play in the NHL in a pinch. The 26-year-old defenseman has 59 games under his belt, most of which came with the Minnesota Wild in 2017-18. His last appearance was with the Canadiens in 2019-20, as he spent the entire 2020-21 season on the taxi squad or with the Laval Rocket, racking up 12 points in 24 games.
The Kraken are now 11-deep at defense, with Dennis Cholowski still to sign. There could be more movement to change the makeup of that group, but additions like this ensure that they’ll have call-up options even if they lose a player or two in a preseason roster crunch.
Jaden Schwartz Almost Didn't Play In 2020-21
- Jaden Schwartz endured a poor season on the ice in 2020-21, but he almost didn’t play at all. The new Seattle Kraken forward spoke with Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic and acknowledged that after the sudden passing of his father last year, he considered forfeiting his salary and skipping this season. Now heading into a new chapter in his career, leaving the only team he has ever known in the St. Louis Blues for an expansion club, Schwartz tells Rutherford he feels “fresh again.” The 29-year-old Schwartz signed a five-year, $27.5MM contract with the Kraken on the first day of free agency.
- The U.S. team took home a 3-0 victory over Finland at the IIHF Women’s World Championship last night and there was some history made in the process. Hilary Knight scored her 44th goal in tournament history, tying her with Cammi Granato for the most all-time. The 32-year-old Knight already has eight World Championship gold medals to her name and will almost certainly cement herself as the all-time goals leader at the Worlds over the next few days. Granato meanwhile was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011 and is now working as a pro scout for the Kraken.
Matty Beniers Still Could See NHL Action With Seattle Next Season
- While Matty Beniers will be heading back to Michigan for his sophomore year, GM Ron Francis told Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times that he isn’t ruling out the possibility of the second-overall pick suiting up for the Kraken at some point this season. The NCAA Frozen Four tournament (should Michigan make it that far) will end well before the NHL’s regular season ends (April 29), allowing for the possibility for Beniers to sign and suit up for a few games down the stretch. The nine-game threshold for burning the first year of his contract would still apply as Beniers would still only be 19 at the time of signing the deal.
Seattle Kraken Sign Antoine Bibeau
The Seattle Kraken had just three goaltenders in the organization, meaning they needed to add at least one more before the season began just for depth purposes. Today they’ve done just that by signing Antoine Bibeau to a one-year, two-way contract that will carry an NHL cap hit of $750K. GM Ron Francis released a short statement on the signing:
After a strong season in Chicago last year, we’re excited to add Antoine to our mix of goaltenders. His experience at both the NHL and AHL levels make him a valuable addition to our organization.
There’s no doubt that the Kraken goaltending tandem to start the year will be Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger, but every team needs third and fourth-string options in case of injury. Seattle also has Joey Daccord under contract after selecting him from the Ottawa Senators, but he is both inexperienced enough to still need development time in the minor leagues and coming off a serious injury. If you need someone to call up as a backup for a few games, Daccord isn’t really the best option as he needs playing time to continue his transition to professional hockey.
Bibeau on the other hand is very experienced at the professional level, having played nearly 200 games at the AHL level. The 27-year-old is coming off a season with just eight appearances for the Chicago Wolves, though he did post a .912 save percentage in those games. He also has four appearances at the NHL level, including two for the Colorado Avalance in 2019-20.
Though he’ll need waivers to go to the minor leagues, that shouldn’t be an issue for Bibeau who has cleared several times in the past including once in January. The interesting part will be where he plays if he does go to the AHL, as the Kraken were only expected to provide one goaltender for the Charlotte Checkers this season. Because they don’t have a primary affiliate until next season, Seattle is giving just a handful of players (and a coach) to the Checkers, who are the affiliate of the Florida Panthers.
Roster Crunch Coming For Seattle Kraken
The Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft took place on June 21, 2017. That night, the league announced ten trades that the Golden Knights had made with expansion draft considerations in mind, but they weren’t done there. Over the next two weeks, they completed seven more trades to fix the roster construction. After all, an expansion process usually doesn’t leave you with a perfect mix of players, and free agent frenzy had also provided some opportunities to add to that initial group.
Starting with Trevor van Riemsdyk, the Golden Knights shed the extra defensemen they selected in the expansion draft, collecting a number of draft picks in the process. There was van Riemsdyk, David Schlemko, Marc Methot, and Alexei Emelin to move, since they simply couldn’t keep all the NHL defensemen that were targeted in the draft.
The Seattle Kraken, now nearly a month after their own expansion draft, have made three trades. One of those was to send goaltender Vitek Vanecek back to his original team, while Kurtis MacDermid and Tyler Pitlick were also flipped for fourth-round picks. But the problem that Vegas faced four years ago now faces Seattle as well–there are still just too many defensemen.
Not even counting Dennis Cholowski, who is currently an unsigned restricted free agent the Kraken have ten defensemen under contract for the 2021-22 season. None of them, not even 22-year-old Cale Fleury, are waiver-exempt. That means unless they’re going to carry more defensemen than any other team in the league this season (even playing a couple of them at forward) some will have to be either traded or exposed on waivers before the season begins. Sure, Connor Carrick, the team’s lone defensive free agent signing can likely clear without worry after a disappointing season in New Jersey, but even he has 241 games of NHL experience. None of the other defensemen are risk-free when it comes to waivers, meaning something has to give in the next few months.
The odd balance here is that, even though they’re facing a roster crunch, the actual depth chart isn’t very long. Because the Kraken won’t have a full-time minor league affiliate this season and are just sending a handful of players to the Charlotte Checkers, the list of defensemen actually ends at Carrick–number ten on the chart (until Cholowski is signed). A few training camp injuries and suddenly you’re looking extremely thin on the back end, scrambling for some insurance options just to make an active roster. While that situation might solve the issue of waivers for a while, when those players healed the Kraken would be in trouble once again, having to push players through midseason. Worse, what if they were to lose one or two players on waivers and then suffer a few injuries in the early part of the season?
A potential fix is to sign a few more players like Carrick—with NHL experience but likely to clear waivers at the start of the season—while also trading a few of the current options in the meantime. The problem is that many of the league’s teams have basically locked their rosters and may not be jumping to trade for another defenseman after spending in free agency. Perhaps the plan is to wait for training camp injuries to happen around the league, but it is a tricky situation that Seattle finds themselves in right now, with a risky depth chart that essentially is both too full and too short at the same time.
Seattle Kraken Sign Carsen Twarynski, Cale Fleury
One of the more surprising moves from this summer’s expansion draft was the Seattle Kraken selecting Carsen Twarynski from the Philadelphia Flyers. The team immediately defended the pick though, saying they felt the young forward could help the depth of the organization, and now he’s agreed to a contract. The Kraken have signed Twarynski to a one-year, two-way contract worth $750K in the NHL.
He’s not alone in inking a deal with the Kraken though, as CapFriendly reports that the team has also signed Cale Fleury to a one-year, two-way deal worth $750K at the NHL level. Both players were restricted free agents but not eligible for salary arbitration.
Twarynski, 23, was a third-round pick of the Flyers in 2016 and has 22 games of NHL experience under his belt. Seven of those came this season, but he was held scoreless meaning his total of a single goal remains. The 6’2″ forward is likely never going to be a big scoring threat at the NHL level, but does bring some size and physicality to the lineup in a bottom-six role. Kraken GM Ron Francis released a short statement on the young forward:
Carsen plays a physical, high-energy game. We like his tenacity and willingness to compete. He plays a responsible game and we like his motor.
Those aren’t things that will make you jump out of your seat, but every team does need depth options like Twarynski to fill out the organizational chart. On an expansion team, he very well could get regular minutes if he manages to make the opening day roster. Given he is no longer waiver-exempt, that seems like a real possibility.
Fleury on the other hand was the team’s selection from the Montreal Canadiens after deciding to pass on Carey Price. It seems like it will be much harder for him to see any real NHL time this season given how many NHL defensemen the Kraken still have on the roster, but he too is eligible for waivers. The 22-year-old played 41 games for Montreal in 2019-20, but spent this year entirely in the minor leagues or on the taxi squad. The brother of fellow Kraken defenseman Haydn Fleury, he hasn’t quite yet managed to reach his potential as a two-way defender.
If either of these two clear waivers and is sent to the minor leagues, they’ll be joining the Charlotte Checkers, where the Kraken are going to send some players this season. In fact, in the original announcement of the AHL partnership, Seattle indicated that they would be sending “between eight and 12 players” to the Checkers. At this point, the team has only seven players under contract to send if they want to keep a 23-man roster. More work is still left to do for Francis and company, and those moves will shed more light on whether Twarynski or Fleury will see NHL time this season.
Seattle Kraken Announce Coaching Hires
The announcement came with a plan when the Seattle Kraken signed an agreement with the Charlotte Checkers to share them as an AHL affiliate during the 2021-22 season. The Kraken would provide a certain number of players to the minor league team, which is the primary affiliate of the Florida Panthers, but would also hire an assistant coach to join the Checkers staff. That way their prospects would be overseen by someone directly connected to the NHL organization.
Today they’ve made that hire, adding former Jack Adams winner Dan Byslma as an AHL assistant. Kraken GM Ron Francis released a statement explaining the move:
Dan joins our organization with an impressive resume and his experience speaks for itself. He has a proven track record and we look forward to him coaching our prospects in Charlotte alongside Geordie Kinnear.
Bylsma served as an assistant with the Detroit Red Wings for the last three seasons and will probably be the most overqualified AHL assistant in the league. His record as an NHL head coach is 320-190-55, including a Stanley Cup championship in 2009 with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He won the Jack Adams in 2011 when he led the Penguins to a 49-25-8 record despite Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin each playing no more than 43 games. Since the Kraken are only using the Checkers for one season before their own Palm Springs AHL team begins play, it will be interesting to see if Bylsma is the choice for their minor league coach a year from now.
The Kraken have also officially announced Andrew Allen as the team’s goaltending coach. Allen had originally joined the team as a pro scout, but will transition to the coaching role now that they are approaching their inaugural season. Interestingly enough, Allen actually received his first NHL coaching job under Bylsma in Buffalo during the 2015-16 season. He spent four years as the goaltending coach for the Sabres, after previously working with the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL.