The Seattle Kraken will not be selecting any of the players available in Edmonton or Dallas. Instead, they are expected to reach contracts with unrestricted free agent defensemen Adam Larsson and Jamie Oleksiak, according to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet adds that the contract with Larsson is expected to be a four-year deal and carries an average annual value of $4MM.
When looking at what was available from the Oilers and Stars, targeting free agents made a lot of sense for the Kraken.
Unless the team was going to select an unknown commodity like Ben Bishop, there wasn’t much else available in Dallas. Oleksiak, 28, was going to be one of the most interesting UFA defensemen this summer, after really settling into a top-four role this year for the Stars. Logging over 20 minutes a night for the first time in his career, the 6’7″ behemoth added six goals and 14 points in 56 games. Oleksiak’s breakout really began during the 2020 playoff bubble, when he logged nearly 22 minutes a night for a Dallas team that went to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Losing Oleksiak hurts the Stars, but losing Larsson may be crippling to the Oilers. The team recently brought in Duncan Keith, expecting to put him on a second pair beside the shutdown defenseman as contract talks had progressed well through the early part of the summer. Ryan Rishaug of TSN reports that the team had multiple offers on the table for Larsson, even ones with comparable term and money to the one he will sign in Seattle. Instead, the 28-year-old defenseman has just decided on a change of scenery, a tough blow to the Oilers offseason that seemed to have him penciled into the lineup for next season.
The Oilers defensive depth is now extremely thin, with Darnell Nurse being only reliable name in the mix. While Keith likely still has enough to contribute positively in a limited role, the team will need to find him a partner if he’s to log top-four minutes on a consistent basis. Ethan Bear is now the team’s top right-handed defenseman, unless Evan Bouchard takes a big step forward.
For the Kraken, the two defensemen are a great start. The team should have plenty of options on the back end, but now at least have two reliable shutdown options to ice every night, potentially even as a pair. Seattle’s penalty-killing should be strong with these two in the mix, while a four-year commitment to Larsson is more than reasonable. It’s a heck of a start for GM Ron Francis as he looks to bring the league’s 32nd team into the spotlight.
Guess that rumor Larsson had a deal with oilers not true. Wonder barrie returns to edmonton now.
Wow. Haven’t even played their first game and they already have one of the best shut down pairings in the league. At decent AAV’s it seems. Nice work.
Hope they want Zucker, doubting they need Pettersson at this point.
This also allows one to draw a few conclusions about SEA’s plans tonight…they want to win now and they probably aren’t going to take a huge ticket item like Price or Tarasenko, instead spreading their talent around a la VGK in 2018.
I’m on the Price train. I think it’s Price,Dreiger,DeSmith,Tokarski as their goalies. With the signings already that eliminates Bishop & Koskinen.
As long as they patch their bottom 6 and 5-7 D,they can get both Price and Tarasenko.
I should say they probably aren’t to take a huge ticket item to KEEP like Price or Tarasenko. Larsson and Oleksiak fill two of the spots that Vince Dunn could have…perhaps that makes a Tarasenko draft and trade more likely, actually.
Especially if reports are true that Francis is talking to a third team about laundering even more of his cap hit.
Not sure of the cost and term for Oleksiak,and maybe a bit high for Larson (but not by much),but Seattle just cemented their second pairing.
Imagine being the GM who lost no one exposed but was unable to extend a UFA during the season.
Going to be an interesting day today for sure.
They won’t select Price, sounding more like Kulak is going to be picked from MTL for the Kraken.
Most of the mock drafters in the media (and me) think that Kulak’s the fellow. We’ll see!
I can assure you the Oilers fan base has declined by at least a quarter this off season.
There will be many Disgruntled Doug types calling/texting into EDM sports talk shows today, renouncing the team and cancelling their season tickets. Things look to really be going sideways there.
i mean, they lost a UFA. for all we know they dont resign him even if not selected.
MacJab
One of my staffers (my capologist)had
Vanecek
Daccord
Dreiger
I should always listen to The Cap Man.
No steak dinner. You know I don’t come off of those!
@DarkSide830 – The prevailing winds were recently blowing “for” EDM to get it done, but the usual term/$ junk was delaying things (intentionally or otherwise) and speculation was also about delaying until after the expansion draft if a “handshake deal” was already in place. Now, however, Pepe Le Pew has entered the room…
@Dave – Nice work by him, and by you for hiring him in the first place! :)
I gave myself an unnecessary headache last night just trying to find the best high-danger scorers (on naturalstattrick) over a three-year span to see where Vladdy ended up to show a guy who commented on that article that he is, indeed, a sniper. Unfortunately, that list had too much chaff, like Hornqvist, because we all know he only snipes from the blue paint! Steak dinner sounds fantastic right about now, too!
Fire Holland.
Thanks to the transitive property, now we know Taylor Hall’s value. 16MM/4years