- Kraken free agent winger Marian Studenic has inked a two-year deal with SHL Farjestad, per a team release. The 25-year-old spent most of the year with AHL Coachella Valley, recording 15 goals and 29 assists in 64 games, earning him a two-game recall to Seattle. Studenic also added 11 points in 18 playoff contests for the Firebirds. However, rather than stick around in the minors, he’s opting to try his hand overseas.
Kraken Rumors
Kraken Allowing Kailer Yamamoto To Speak With Other Teams
- The Kraken have given winger Kailer Yamamoto permission to speak to other teams, GM Ron Francis told team broadcaster Alison Lukan (Twitter link). Yamamoto signed with them as an unrestricted free agent after he was non-tendered by Detroit last summer just after his rights were acquired from Edmonton. The 25-year-old had a quiet season, notching eight goals and eight assists in 59 games while averaging less than 12 minutes a night after logging at least 16 in each of the last four years. Yamamoto’s qualifier comes in at $1.5MM but carries arbitration rights where his past production could push the price tag past the $2MM mark. It appears that’s a price they don’t want to pay as it looks like he’ll be non-tendered once again on Sunday.
Kraken Linked To Patrik Laine
With Patrik Laine now officially on the trade block, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet says that the Kraken are a team to watch in talks for the scoring winger (audio link to “32 Thoughts”). It’s not clear how much Seattle general manager Ron Francis has explored a move, but Friedman believes there’s a “real push in that organization to be more aggressive” this summer as the team enters its fourth season of existence.
Few expected scoring to be a major issue for the Kraken this season after their capable death-by-depth offense erupted for 289 goals last year, but their shooting percentage cratered this season en route to finishing 29th in the league in goals. A major hiccup has been the health of top-six winger André Burakovsky, who’s missed nearly half the campaign with injuries in back-to-back years. While he was effective last season when healthy, the same couldn’t be said in 2023-24. His 16 points in 49 games worked out to 0.33 points per game, tied for the lowest of his 10-year NHL career.
Acquiring Laine would add a player with even more exaggerated issues staying healthy over the past couple of years, but he’d immediately become the highest-ceiling scoring option on the roster. The Kraken have been largely comfortable with Jared McCann as their top sniper, averaging 32 goals per season in a Kraken uniform, but Laine’s sparkling career 14.7 shooting percentage is hard to pass up.
It is impossible to ignore Laine’s availability issues over the past three seasons. Injuries limited him to 129 out of 246 games, missing 47.6% of regular-season action during that time. He played just 18 games this season, although he also spent much of the year in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program after dealing with an upper-body injury in the first few months of the campaign.
However, during the two campaigns that he logged 50+ games in Columbus, he was worth his $8.7MM cap hit when in the lineup. The 2016 second-overall pick arguably had the best offensive showings of his career, pacing out for 38 goals and 82 points in 2021-22 and 33 goals and 78 points in 2022-23. Neither would have eclipsed his career high of 44 goals set with the Jets in 2017-18, but they would have both marked a career-best single-season point total.
There’s also breakout potential for Laine if he can stay healthy in a Kraken system that encourages puck possession. While they will have some different schemes next season under head coach Dan Bylsma, Seattle has consistently been a better even-strength puck possession team than Columbus over the past few years, and there’s little reason to see that not continuing without much roster turnover expected this summer. That means more opportunities for Laine to shoot and gives him a half-decent chance of sniffing the 40-goal plateau once again, especially if reunited with a skilled playmaker like former Blue Jackets teammate Oliver Bjorkstrand.
His power-play impact would also be beneficial. Laine led the league in power-play goals with 20 during his breakout sophomore campaign, and he’d help charge up a Kraken man-advantage unit that’s clicked at 18.4% over the past three seasons, 28th in the league during that time.
The Kraken aren’t a team that loves big cap hits, though. Defenseman Vince Dunn is their most expensive player annually at $7.35MM. Laine’s $8.7MM cap hit is worth it for his goal-scoring ability, but it’s hard for a lot of teams to justify absorbing it for a player who hasn’t played 60-plus games since before the pandemic.
But they do need scoring, and as Friedman articulates, their coaching change is indicative of a clear desire to return to postseason play in 2025. They have the financial flexibility to pull off a move with $23.424MM in projected cap space, although they do still need new deals for notable RFA forwards Matthew Beniers and Eeli Tolvanen.
Kraken Sign Oscar Fisker Mølgaard To Entry-Level Deal
The Kraken have signed center prospect Oscar Fisker Mølgaard to his three-year, entry-level contract, the team announced Friday. It carries a cap hit of $950K, the maximum for a rookie deal.
Mølgaard, 19, was a second-round pick of Seattle in last year’s draft. Taken 52nd overall, he was the middle of three second-round selections the Kraken owned in the 2023 draft, joining left winger Carson Rehkopf (50th overall) and right-shot defenseman Lukas Dragicevic (57th overall).
The Danish pivot has a good shot to cap off a well-rounded two-way game. Standing at 6’0″ and 168 lbs, he has some room to grow into his frame before he’s ready for NHL action. But he has spent most of the past two seasons in a top-level professional league, suiting up for HV71 of the Swedish Hockey League.
In 50 games with HV71 this season, Mølgaard had nine goals and 21 points with a -4 rating and was extremely disciplined, logging only 6 PIMs. He finished seventh on the team in scoring and added three assists in their seven-game relegation series win over IK Oskarshamn, helping them stay up in the SHL for the third year in a row.
Mølgaard has also been a fixture on the Danish national junior team, appearing at all the IIHF U18 and U20 events he’s been eligible for since 2022. He also made his senior national team debut this year at the World Championship, scoring a goal and three assists in seven games as the Danes finished seventh in Group A and avoided relegation to next year’s Division IA tournament.
Since he played in the SHL during his draft year, he’s subject to the transfer agreement the NHL has with Swedish leagues. As he was not drafted in the first round, the Kraken must offer him back to HV71 next season before assigning him to their AHL affiliate. He’ll likely challenge for a top-six role on HV71 next season, so they’ll likely gladly take him back on loan.
And, since his 20th birthday doesn’t fall until 2025, the first year of his entry-level deal will slide if he plays fewer than 10 NHL games next season. In that likely event, he’ll receive his first-year signing bonuses but nothing else. His contract will then begin in earnest in the 2025-26 season, keeping him under his rookie deal through the 2027-28 campaign. He will be a restricted free agent upon expiry.
Kraken Begin Extension Discussions With Matthew Beniers
The Kraken have begun preliminary contract discussions with top pending restricted free agent Matthew Beniers, per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. Their first draft pick in franchise history just completed the final season of his entry-level contract and is in need of a new deal this summer.
Beniers, still 22, turned pro to end the 2021-22 campaign after returning for his sophomore season with the University of Michigan. After ending the season on a tear with nine points in his first 10 NHL games, he took over first-line center duties entering 2022-23. His 24 goals were second on the team, his 57 points ranked fourth, and his +14 rating and 17:09 average time on ice helped him win the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie.
This year, Beniers endured a bit of a sophomore slump. Most of his underlying metrics remained the same, as he actually had more individual shot attempts than last year and maintained a CF% in the 51% range, but his production dropped to 15 goals and 37 points in 77 games. He was one of many affected by a major team-wide swing in shooting percentage, finishing at just a 9.1% rate this season compared to 11.6% in 2022-23.
It’s still unclear if he has the offensive upside to carry a team to a championship as their first-line center, but those concerns have persisted since his draft day. His floor as a high-end, defensively responsible pivot has already been realized, and he’s projected to again hold down first-line minutes next season with the team stating its preference to keep top goal-scorer Jared McCann on the wing.
Notably, Pagnotta says Kraken general manager Ron Francis isn’t yet sure if he wants to ink Beniers to a bridge deal, allowing them to sign him once again as an RFA in a few years, or go long-term immediately in hopes of getting a discount on his market value through his mid-20s. Evolving Hockey projects an eight-year extension for Beniers to cost $7.2MM annually, which could pay dividends if he can be a consistent 60-to-70-point player. If not, though, that’s a bit pricey for a player better served as a matchup second-line center. A three-year bridge deal, however, projects to cost just $5MM annually.
Either way, Pagnotta indicates negotiations are expected to kick into high gear after the scouting combine wraps up next week. There’s no huge sense of urgency to get a deal done before July 1, but it would give Francis a higher degree of cost certainty as he looks to improve his roster in free agency.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Latest On Martin Necas’ Trade Market
Martin Nečas’ availability in a potential trade has been one of the dominant early storylines of the 2024 offseason. The Hurricanes have been considering moving his signing rights as contract negotiations with the pending restricted free agent remain in a stalemate, and while there was a sense they may make one last pass at re-signing him with interim GM Eric Tulsky now at the helm temporarily, that seems unlikelier with each passing day.
To that end, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli said on the site’s podcast today that a Nečas trade may come over the wire as soon as this week. Previously, we’ve covered reports that the Canucks, Flames and Canadiens have displayed some level of interest in his services. Recently, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period confirmed that at least 12 teams have Nečas “on their radar” and added the Flyers, Kraken and Predators to the existing list of teams that have dictated their interest to Carolina.
Notably, no single team has been named a frontrunner throughout the reporting process over the last few weeks. It’s also been quiet about what the Hurricanes might be able to get in return for their 2017 12th-overall pick, who has 52 goals and 124 points in 159 games since the 2022-23 season.
Nečas, 25, still has another offseason of RFA status ahead of him, but it’s clear he wants to ink a long-term deal this summer. Contract projection models indicate his value is likely in the $7.5MM area on a max-term deal, a figure the Hurricanes don’t seem willing to oblige with the younger Seth Jarvis surpassing him on the depth chart and also needing a new deal this summer. They have a multitude of UFAs to try to retain this summer as well, including one of the best forwards available in Jake Guentzel, who Pagnotta also reported Monday will likely test the market next month before deciding whether to return to Carolina.
Free Agent Focus: Seattle Kraken
Free agency is now just a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free-agent situation for the Kraken.
Key Restricted Free Agents
F Matthew Beniers – Beniers took a step back this past season after being asked to carry the offensive load for a team that lacks a high-end offensive threat. Beniers dropped from 24 goals and 33 assists in 80 games during the 2022-23 season to just 15 goals and 22 assists in 77 games this past season. While it was a disappointing campaign for the 21-year-old, Beniers remains on track to become an elite scorer in the NHL. The former second overall pick seemed like a lock to get a long-term deal this summer, but given his struggles last year, and his iffy work in the defensive zone, it might hurt his earning potential in the short term. Seattle may still elect to lock Beniers up long-term while he’s coming off a down season, but a bridge deal could be likely as well. Beniers figures to earn $4-5MM on his next deal if he goes for a short-term deal and would likely have a higher AAV if he goes for max term.
F Eeli Tolvanen – Tolvanen has been a very different player since arriving in Seattle from the Nashville Predators during the 2022-23 season. The 25-year-old had shown glimpses in Nashville but was never able to put it all together and struggled in his last two seasons with the Predators. With the Kraken, the former first-round pick has played a physical game, keeping plays alive with his physicality and being a force in board battles. On the offensive side, Tolvanen had 16 goals and 25 assists last season in 81 games and continued to trend upwards. He made $1.45MM last season in the final year of a three-year deal and figures to double that number on his next deal which should come with a similar term.
F Kailer Yamamoto – Yamamoto’s offensive game dropped another level this season as he fell to just eight goals and eight assists in 59 games. The former first-round pick signed with Seattle last season after being traded and bought out of the final season of his contract. With his qualifying offer set at $1.5MM, Seattle may elect to run it back one more time with the talented 25-year-old to see if he can post similar results to the ones he saw in Edmonton two seasons ago. Yamamoto is undersized and is average defensively if you are being generous, but he is very effective on the power play and plays with good pace, something that Seattle could use more of.
Other RFAs: C Luke Henman, F Ville Petman, D Peetro Seppala
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
F Pierre-Édouard Bellemare – Bellemare signed with the Kraken last July for the league minimum on a one-year contract and playing sparingly, producing four goals and three assists in 40 games. At 39 years old, Bellemare might be ready to hang up his skates; however, given that he was 29 years old when he made his NHL debut, he might choose to extend his career if he can find an NHL contract. The native of Le Blanc-Mesnil, France, played just under 10 minutes per game last season, but his underlying numbers at even strength were quite good, as his CF% was 54.9%. Bellemare doesn’t provide much offense and never really has, he also isn’t particularly physical, but he could be a good 13th forward for a team that is looking for a veteran presence.
D Justin Schultz – Schultz is well removed from his days in Pittsburgh when he quarterbacked the Penguins power play to a Stanley Cup. However, he remains a talented offensive defenseman who doesn’t offer much defensively. Schultz is still very good at skating pucks out of the defensive zone and offering a solid first pass, but he struggles when pinned in the defensive zone and doesn’t play with much physicality. Schultz should find work on a multi-year deal due to his right shot status as well as his ability to man a power play.
F Tomas Tatar – Tatar had to wait until September 12th last summer to find an NHL contract, signing a one-year $1.5MM contract with the Colorado Avalanche. He then proceeded to have a forgettable season that saw him score just nine goals and 15 assists in 70 games. The 33-year-old is unlikely to do better this summer, given that his game is built largely on offense, and he wasn’t able to provide much of it last year. A knock-on Tatar has been his consistency year to year, but he is still a good buy-low candidate for a team that needs to add secondary scoring but doesn’t have much in the way of cap space.
Other UFAs: D Connor Carrick, G Chris Driedger, F John Hayden, F Cameron Hughes, F Kole Lind, LW Max McCormick, C Andrew Poturalski, D Mitch Reinke, D Jimmy Schuldt, F Devin Shore, G Ales Stezka, F Marian Studenic
Projected Cap Space
The Kraken enter the offseason with a tad over $23MM in available cap space and several pending needs to address. A chunk of that space will go to re-signing restricted free agents, but after their internal business is complete, Seattle will have some cap space to make improvements. The Kraken have good depth up front, but lack high-end talent which could lead them to make a pitch to a player such as Sam Reinhart even though it would eat most of their available room under the cap. Seattle will also need to address their defensive core and will be in the market for an offensive defenseman with the likely departure of Justin Schultz. Seattle will feel pressure to have a strong summer after taking a step back and missing the playoffs this past season.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Snapshots: Firkus, McCoshen, Tung
Seattle Kraken forward prospect Jagger Firkus has won the CHL’s David Branch Player of the Year Award, after posting a Canada-leading 126 points in 63 games with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors. He was the star of a Moose Jaw team rife with NHL talent, including Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Brayden Yager, who took home the league’s ‘Sportsman Player of the Year’ Award. Firkus and Yager were joined by Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Denton Mateychuk in Moose Jaw, forming a dominant team that won the WHL Championship and recently ranked third in the Memorial Cup.
Firkus signed his entry-level contract with Seattle ahead of the Memorial Cup and will now turn his sights towards pushing for the NHL lineup this off-season. The Kraken boast a strong prospect pool, including Shane Wright, Carson Rehkopf, and Jani Nyman – all players who could vie for an NHL opportunity of their own next season. That’ll mean plenty of competition for Firkus as he looks to adjust his aggressive offense to much tougher competition.
Other notes around the league:
- Former Florida Panthers defenseman Ian McCoshen has signed a one-year contract with the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star (Twitter link). The move continues McCoshen’s tour across international hockey, after bouncing from a 2022 stint in Finland to a 2023 stint in Czechia, where he scored 12 points in 50 games with Liberec Bili Tygri HC. McCoshen is a veteran of just 60 NHL games, scoring seven points, though he did play in 174 games across five seasons in the AHL. He managed a season-high of just 11 points over his AHL career, a number he’s since topped in both Finland and Czechia. He’ll look to do the same in China next season, though the one-year deal could suggest another move coming soon.
- BCHL goaltender Callum Tung will be attending both the Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers development camps, shares his Alberni Valley Bulldogs (Twitter link). Tung took over the Bulldogs’ starting role this season, posting 22 wins and a .917 save percentage across 38 regular season games. He managed to get even hotter in the postseason, winning 11 of 18 games and setting a .940 save percentage, though Alberni Valley ultimately fell to the Penticton Vees in the BCHL Championship. Tung remains eligible for the 2024 NHL Draft, after going overlooked in 2022 and 2023. Tung isn’t currently committed to the NCAA either, suggesting he could be ready for a big challenge should he earn it at an NHL development camp.
Kraken Promote Dan Bylsma To Head Coach
May 28: Bylsma was officially announced as the Kraken’s head coaching hire in a release on Tuesday. General manager Ron Francis issued the following statement on his hiring:
Dan is a winner with a proven track record of developing both young and veteran talent, and his leadership will help our team as we move forward. He has had success at every level, winning the Stanley Cup in 2009, earning a Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top coach in 2011, and he led the Firebirds to Game 7 of the Calder Cup Finals last year in the team’s first season. He knows our franchise and has worked with several of our NHL players. We are excited to have him behind the bench and guiding our team next season.
May 27: The Kraken are expected to promote Dan Bylsma from their minor-league affiliate to fill their head coaching vacancy, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports.
Bylsma, who won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in his first season behind an NHL bench in 2008-09, has been with the Kraken organization since its inception. He served as an assistant coach for the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, whom they shared as their affiliate with the Panthers in their inaugural season, before being named the head coach of their current affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, ahead of the 2022-23 campaign.
After winning in Pittsburgh, he stayed on as their head coach until being fired after the 2013-14 season. He took one year off before landing his second NHL head coaching gig with the Sabres, a post he held for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 campaigns.
The 53-year-old has a career regular-season record of 320-190-55 (.615 winning percentage), including a pair of sub-.500 seasons with the Sabres in the early days of their attempted Jack Eichel-led rebuild. He also had a strong 43-35 (.551) playoff record in his six seasons with the Pens, advancing past the first round four times.
Friedman indicated on Monday’s episode of “32 Thoughts: The Podcast” that things were trending toward Bylsma landing the gig. Kraken assistant Jay Leach was also reportedly being considered for an internal promotion, advancing along with Bylsma to the second round of interviews. Former Wild coach Dean Evason and ex-Kings bench boss Todd McLellan, who were both fired midseason, were also connected to the job as late as last week.
Bylsma takes over as the second head coach in franchise history. The Kraken relieved Dave Hakstol, who led them to one postseason appearance through their first three seasons, of his duties last month.
Unlike his days in Pittsburgh or Buffalo, Bylsma takes control over a roster without a star number-one center. Matthew Beniers may be on his way there after winning the Calder Trophy in 2023, but a difficult season production-wise (15 goals, 37 points in 77 games) this year has tempered expectations.
Perhaps no one will be more affected by Bylsma’s hiring than 2022 fourth-overall pick Shane Wright. After a rocky draft year and a tumultuous 2022-23 campaign, the 20-year-old has excelled in Coachella Valley under Bylsma in his first professional season. The Ontario-born pivot had 47 points in 59 regular-season games and has added five points in six playoff games thus far.
Latest On Kraken Coaching Search
While he hasn’t interviewed for the position yet, former Wild coach Dean Evason is becoming a candidate to watch for the Kraken’s vacancy behind the bench. Mike Benton of 93.3 KJR reported last night that Evason was becoming a “dark horse” for the job, which was later seconded by The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta.
Pagnotta also confirmed Thursday that the Kraken are discussing a pair of internal promotions: AHL bench boss Dan Bylsma and NHL assistant Jay Leach. In fact, they’re likely the front-runners to replace Dave Hakstol, who was fired shortly after the regular season came to a close. They’ve advanced to the second round of interviews, Pagnotta said, although it doesn’t appear a decision is imminent. Bylsma’s season isn’t over yet as AHL Coachella Valley is still alive in the Calder Cup Playoffs, advancing to the Western Conference Final for the second year in a row. They’re awaiting the winner of the Central Division Final series between Grand Rapids and Milwaukee.
- The Kraken also let go of assistant coach Paul McFarland when firing Hakstol late last month after he’d served on Hakstol’s staff for the franchise’s first three seasons. He’s landing on his feet, though. He’s expected to become the next head coach of the Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen, Jeff Marek of Sportsnet said Wednesday. McFarland has a few seasons of head coaching experience at the major junior level, holding the role for the Ontario Hockey League’s Kingston Frontenacs from 2014-15 to 2016-17 and again in 2020-21, although that season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He replaces longtime WHL coach Steve Hamilton, who won’t be returning after six seasons behind the Hitmen bench.