The Seattle Kraken had an exceptional 22-23 season, far exceeding the expectations that most hockey fans had for them following their debut a year ago. Making the postseason for the first time on the merit of rookie Matty Beniers, Andre Burakovsky, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and plethora of solid defenders, the Kraken headed into the offseason with a solid foundation from which to expand upon. The Kraken made a series of veteran free agent acquisitions, while allowing non-core, but talented players to walk in free agency. 

Seattle allowed six moderate and above contributors from last season to walk in free agency: Joonas Donskoi, Daniel Sprong, Morgan Geekie, Carson Soucy, and Martin Jones. Martin Jones was great for Seattle during the 21-22 campaign; however, after posting a -21.52 GSAA during the 22-23 season, a change of scenery is once again in order for the veteran journeyman. At this stage of his career, Jones’ trajectory appears to be mirroring that of NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, where he has been able to right the ship for a team, but has been unable to string together a multi-year run in which he became the face of the franchise. Seattle also did not bring in another outside goalie to replace him, which is not particularly inspiring as Grubauer, Driedger, and Daccord have all failed to achieve a GSAA above 0 over the past two seasons despite playing behind one of the NHL’s more defensively oriented rosters. Donato and Soucy depart in moves that seem to boil down to GM Ron Francis making hard decisions due to having too many roster players of similar value and skills. Donskoi’s single year run in Seattle coming to an end came as no surprise as it seemed he was unable to get his legs under him in the offensive zone in Dave Hakstol’s system. An unfortunate situation, as Bjorkstrand and Burakovsky saw success coming over from other teams. Geekie’s release can be chalked up as a similar situation to Donato’s, except that Geekie can shake his fist at the development of 2022 4th overall pick Shane Wright as the player who is likely replacing him on the fourth line. Sprong is the most interesting player not returning to Seattle next year, as he seemingly put his whole game together under Hakstol, and broke out as a star level producer. Curious to see him go, and even more curious to see if Detroit uses him as poorly as every team before Seattle did.

Moving on to additions, Seattle brought over three veterans of note: Connor Carrick, Brian Dumoulin, and Kailer Yamamoto. Carrick figures to come in as Seattle’s seventh-defenseman, giving them more depth at a position that they are well stocked at. Dumoulin, on the other hand, comes in as a third-pairing defenseman to replace what was lost in Soucy. The intrigue I have with Dumoulin is that he has played with Kris Letang on and off in Pittsburgh for a decade, and has been an up-and-down defender (mainly due to injuries and team structure) over that span. Dumoulin did post a career-high 25 points last season,  and figuring he will be playing in a reduced role, much like Letang following the Karlsson acquisition,  I will be curious to see if he can have a career year with the Kraken. Also of note with the signing of Dumoulin, Seattle now has half of Pittsburgh’s 2019 D-corps with Jamie Oleksiak and Justin Schultz already on the roster. Yamamoto is the most interesting player to be available this off season.  Edmonton and Detroit seemingly gave up on a viable young middle-six producer  with a reasonably stout defensive game.  Seattle gets a player who does more than Sprong in his own zone, more than Geekie in the offensive zone, and is effectively just a superior Ryan Donato at this point. 

Looking at the draft, the Kraken had five selections in the first three rounds, and in stark contrast to the last expansion franchise in Vegas, they used all five of them on an interesting group of players. Eduard Sale was Seattle’s first selection in this year’s draft,  a 6 ft 2 14.43 game producer in the Czech Men’s League.  Sale’s offensive numbers did not pop out at me but we’ll get a better idea of his offense this year for the Barrie Colts of the OHL. Carson Rehkopf  posted  59 points and 68 games for the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers. At this stage in their development Sale and Rehkopf both look like 50/50 prospects who will slide into Seattle’s bottom-six in the long term barring any offensive development over the next several seasons.  Seattle may have also gotten one of the best value selections in this year’s draft.  at 57th overall Seattle selected Lukas Dragicevic. Dragicevic was the best offensive defenseman in this year’s draft, posting 75 points in 68 games in The WHL. Players with his developmental trajectory traditionally are selected with the top 10 picks with names like Zach Werenski, Zach Bogosian, and Rasmus Dahlin. The primary thing I saw from scouts was questions about his defensive game transitioning to the NHL which is a straw man argument provided he will see at least two to three years of coaching between the CHL and AHL before he even sees an NHL game. This pick has the potential to give Seattle an elite defenseman within the next five years.

Overall, Ron Francis had a very interesting off-season. The Kraken are going to rely on young players taking the next step in Beniers, Wright, Tolvanen, and Yamamoto To give them a more productive forward group in the offensive zone, so that they can better compete on a Stanley Cup run against top dogs in the Western Conference this season. Ron Francis is also gambling that Philip Grubauer will pick up where he left off in the postseason rather than his regular season output. Beyond all of that, Seattle will continue to rely on their deep versatile blue line, as well as the litany of two-way forwards on their roster. I will give Francis and the Kraken a B for their off-season. Ultimately, as many likable moves as they made; not addressing goaltending, which has been a sore spot on their roster over the last 2 years, feels like madness in somehow expecting a different result this time around. The Kraken should compete in the Pacific Division but if Calgary and Vancouver figure things out, making the postseason will be substantially more daunting than it was last season.

-Christian