The NHL now has 32 teams. On Friday, the Seattle Kraken made the final installment of a $650MM franchise expansion fee and was given official NHL standing. That means the team immediately gains the ability to sign free agents, make trades and vote on league proposals. They have a seat at the table, so to speak. Commissioner Gary Bettman released a short statement:
On behalf of the Board of Governors, I am delighted to officially welcome the Seattle Kraken to the NHL as our 32nd Member Club. Congratulations to David Bonderman, the Bonderman Family, their partners, the entire Seattle Kraken organization, the city of Seattle and Kraken fans as the Club continues on its exciting journey towards puck drop in October.
In 2017, the Vegas Golden Knights were given official standing on March 1 and just five days later signed the first player in franchise history. Reid Duke, a free agent junior player who had originally been drafted by the Minnesota Wild but never signed, inked an entry-level contract with the Golden Knights. Two months later they would sign Vadim Shipachyov out of the KHL to a two-year, $9MM deal. A few weeks before the expansion draft, they would add Czech forward Tomas Hyka to an entry-level deal.
None of those players made a big impact on the Golden Knights and similarly, though the Kraken can now sign contracts of their own, don’t expect their pre-expansion signings to be any key players. Still, even though the college free agent market has been picked clean, Francis could potentially still nab some undrafted junior players. He told Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times that they are looking at some OHL and WHL players, along with some free agents from Europe. The true fun will happen for Seattle when the draft approaches and teams around the league are forced to make side deals, protecting extra assets or convincing Kraken GM Ron Francis to take some bad money.
Welcome to the NHL, Seattle.
Hopefully they make the right decision on their head coach..
Is Kraken both singular and plural or should the individual players be called Kraki or something?
Be interesting to see whether Francis tries to win now or build slower.
VGK got lucky we had to move Fleury, SEA won’t have that.
One advantage they might have…VGK didn’t sign any big name UFA’s. Maybe that was strategy. Maybe they couldn’t initially lure players to an expansion team expected to lose. The Knights’ success might allow Francis to fill his holes that way.
A quick look at a few mock drafts show (no surprise) center to the the weakest position available to them. Could they fill that through free agency and win now? Along the same lines, both of the Strome brothers might be available in salary dumps.
Apparently Kraken and Krakens are both acceptable as the plural. Krakens sounds weird though.
The Preds will allow Francis to take both Duchene and Johansen in the expansion draft to address their center position. :D
Release the Kraken!
I’m sorry, but that logo on the Kraken’s jersey looks like an angry Pelican. That’s the best they could come up with?
And here I was thinking they weren’t ‘Official’ until they had their very own RUMORS BY TEAM-Kraken Rumors section!!! ;) Let’s Get KRAKEN!!! :)
They’ve had that for a long time.
I kinda want this team to take on Kraken Rum as their drink of choice. So they can “release the Kraken” with the team, graphics, and some crazy shots for fans in the stands.
And Kraken crypto exchange so they can give out free bitcoins