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Seattle Kraken Extend Vince Dunn

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6:17 p.m.: Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Dunn’s new contract will come in at a four-year deal worth $29.4MM, or $7.35MM per season. It’s top-pairing money for the Kraken’s number-one defender, who could very well exceed that contract’s value if he continues on his current path. CapFriendly reports the breakdown of the deal is as follows:

2023-24: $9MM salary
2024-25: $8MM salary (full no-trade clause)
2025-26: $7MM salary (16-team no-trade list)
2026-27: $5.4MM salary (16-team no-trade list)

Seattle promptly confirmed the contract. Dunn will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of his deal, when he’ll be 30 in the offseason of 2027.

3:58 p.m.: By far the team’s most important restricted free agent heading into this summer, Kevin Weekes of ESPN reports the Seattle Kraken are closing in on an extension for defenseman Vince Dunn. After almost doubling his career-high in points this past season, Dunn was due for a healthy raise from the Kraken front office.

Dunn, who was originally the 56th overall pick of the St.Louis Blues back in the 2015 NHL Draft, never got a huge shot with the Blues. Seemingly capable of playing top-four minutes in his last year with St.Louis back during the 2020-21 season, Dunn was behind the likes of Justin Faulk, Torey Krug, Colton Parayko, and Marco Scandella on the team’s depth chart.

Nevertheless, he was always a capable contributor during his time with the Blues, scoring anywhere from 20-35 points a season, averaging a tad over 17 minutes a night in four seasons. Thankfully for Dunn, an opportunity came knocking during the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft, as St.Louis opted to protect Faulk, Krug, and Parayko, leaving Dunn exposed for the Kraken to select him at no cost.

As expected, most of the upstart Seattle roster struggled during their inaugural season in 2021-22, but Dunn managed to match a career-high in points, scoring seven goals and 28 assists in 73 games played. He was given ample opportunity on the team’s powerplay, a situation that was previously rare to him during his time with the Blues. The Kraken powerplay struggled overall in the team’s first year, only producing at a 14.55% clip, good for 29th in the league.

As the team grew closer, added more talent last offseason, and absorbed head coach Dave Hakstol’s tactics, Dunn and the Kraken put up an exceptional 2022-23 season. Early on, Dunn immediately earned the spot as the team’s top defenseman, quarterbacking a powerplay that took a 5.2% jump in one season. Overall, Dunn would score 14 goals and 50 assists in 81 games played, while 15 of those points would come on the Kraken powerplay.

Not only would Dunn lead all Seattle defensemen in points, but he also finished second on the team overall, only sitting behind forward Jared McCann by six points for the team lead. In 14 playoff games, Dunn would score one goal and six assists, helping the team eliminate the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Colorado Avalanche, in the first round of the postseason.

Still only 26 years old, Dunn picked a fantastic time to have a breakout campaign, as the Kraken currently have a decent cap situation to retain him for as long as they’d like. Proving to be the most offensively gifted defenseman on the roster, Dunn could become a staple on Seattle’s blue line for quite some time.

Seattle Kraken Extend Head Coach Dave Hakstol

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The Seattle Kraken have announced that they’ve signed head coach Dave Hakstol to a contract extension that will keep him with the club through the 2025-26 season. No financial details have been released at this time but the two-year contract gives the 54-year-old some security coming on the heels of the first 100-point season in franchise history.

Hakstol led the franchise to a series of firsts in just their second season of existence. The Kraken made the playoffs for the first time and even knocked off the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in the opening round for their first playoff series win.

Hakstol oversaw one of the most dramatic turnarounds in recent history as he took the Kraken from a 30th overall finish in 2021-22 to the second round of the playoffs. Seattle went from just 60 points in 2021-22 to 100 points this past season. The team’s point percentage nearly doubled going from .366 to .610. It was by far Hakstol’s most successful season as a head coach in the NHL with his previous best coming while he was overseeing the Philadelphia Flyers in 2017-18. That year he led the Flyers to a 98-point regular season before they were dumped in six games by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the playoffs.

Hakstol might not have big-name recognition, but he fits with what Seattle has built throughout their lineup. They don’t have many big names in their lineup, but the club showed incredible resiliency and grit throughout this past season. Something Hakstol himself showed after an initially disappointing first season in Seattle.

Seattle Kraken Sign Eduard Sale

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07/16/23: The Kraken have now officially announced their signing of Sale, confirming the $950k AAV that was reported earlier.

07/15/23: The Seattle Kraken are reportedly close to signing their first-round pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, Eduard Sale, to a three-year entry-level contract. The contract will reportedly have an AAV of $950K each season, and pay Sale a base salary of $855K (Tweet Link).

At the time of the 2022 NHL Draft, Sale had already made some noise as a potential top-10 selection this year. During that year, Sale primarily played with HC Kometa Brno of the Czechia U20 league, and flat-out dominated, scoring 42 goals and 47 assists in only 39 games.

This past season, finally moving up to the professional leagues for HC Kometa Brno, Sale could only manage seven goals and seven assists in 43 games. Although the transition to professional hockey did not go as smoothly as desired for Sale, he still played well in international tournaments for Czechia, scoring 11 goals and eight assists in 18 games played for their U18 team, as well as three goals and seven assists in 11 games for their U20 team.

Sale is primarily an offensive talent at this point, still needing a bit of development on the defensive side of the puck. Next season, Sale is set to join the Barrie Colts of the OHL. The Colts originally drafted Sale with the 29th overall selection at the OHL’s Import Draft last summer.

Seattle Kraken Re-Sign Cale Fleury

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1:36 PM: The team has formally announced the signing via a press release.

11:44 AM: The Seattle Kraken and blueliner Cale Fleury have reached a deal on a contract extension prior to their arbitration hearing, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Per CapFriendly, the deal is a two-year, one-way $800k AAV contract that will see Fleury make $775k in 2023-24 and $825k in 2024-25.

The 24-year-old right-shot blueliner was set to press his case in arbitration after a 2022-23 campaign spent mostly as a healthy scratch. Fleury was a press-box regular for Seattle last season, at one point going a stretch of 31 straight games outside the lineup.

He didn’t play at all in the AHL as the Coachella Valley Firebirds made a run to Game Seven of the Calder Cup Finals. The Kraken were likely unwilling to expose the player to the waiver wire mid-season and potentially see him claimed by a team in need of a right-shot blueliner.

Fleury was an original Kraken expansion draft selection, acquired from the Montreal Canadiens. The 2017 third-round pick already had some success on his resume as a former WHL captain who racked up 102 hits in just 41 games as an NHL rookie.

He played most of his first season with the Kraken in the AHL, serving as an alternate captain for the Charlotte Checkers. He scored a healthy 33 points in 58 games, a career-high by a wide margin.

Fleury’s success in the AHL and his time spent with Seattle as mostly a healthy scratch last season have earned him a one-way contract extension spanning the next two seasons.

While the Kraken already have Adam Larsson, Will Borgen, Justin Schultz entrenched on the right side of their defense, Fleury could be first in line to take one of their spots in case of an injury. Or, he could end up on the waiver wire and claimed by a club willing to give him a more regular opportunity to play NHL games.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Seattle Kraken Sign Kole Lind

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One of the original Seattle Kraken from their expansion draft, the team has announced they have signed forward Kole Lind to a one-year, two-way contract. Aside from Vince Dunn and Cale Fleury, Lind was one of the only restricted free agents left on the team without a contract.

In the team’s inaugural season, Lind did see some playing time at the NHL level, suiting up in 23 games for the team, scoring eight points. Lind was primarily used as a fourth-line player, as he averaged just under 12 minutes a night.

Being one of the higher second-round picks of the 2017 NHL Draft, Lind showed quite a bit of offensive potential in juniors. In his draft year, Lind scored 30 goals and 57 assists for the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL. After the conclusion of his season, Lind was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks at 33rd overall.

Still only 24 years old, Lind’s offensive prowess he displayed in juniors has translated to his professional career, but thus far only at the AHL level. He became an outstanding forward for the Utica Comets during the 2019-20 season and showed more of the same since coming to the Kraken organization.

In 188 games played at the AHL level for both the Charlotte Checkers and Coachella Valley Firebirds, Lind has scored 47 goals and 50 assists, also scoring an impressive 31 points in 26 games during the Firebirds’ run to the 2023 Calder Cup Finals. Next season, expect much of the same for Lind, unless the Kraken run into injury trouble with their forward core.

Burakovsky Close To Return

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  • Missing just under half of the 2022-23 NHL season due to a lower-body injury, forward Andre Burakovsky expects to make a full comeback next year. According to General Manager Ron Francis, Burakovsky is feeling “stronger every day” (Tweet Link). Burakovsky’s addition back to the Seattle Kraken lineup will be a tremendous benefit for the team, as he scored 39 points in 49 games, shortly before the Kraken eliminated his former team, the Colorado Avalanche, in the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Seattle Kraken Re-Sign William Borgen

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The Seattle Kraken have re-signed defenseman William Borgen to a two-year contract. The deal will carry an AAV of $2.7MM and finish after the 2024-25 NHL season.

Drafted by the Seattle Kraken in their expansion draft from the Buffalo Sabres, Borgen took off significantly for the Kraken last year. Primarily used as an extra defenseman in the team’s first year, Borgen only managed eight points in 36 games, averaging just over 15 minutes a night. He did show off a decent amount of physicality, recording 89 hits in a little less than half a year. Spending time on the penalty kill and showing some true defensive prowess, Borgen was coming into his own as a defensive defenseman.

This season, the Kraken extended the leash on Borgen quite a bit, suiting him up for all 82 games. In the best statistical season of his career so far, the former 92nd overall pick scored three goals and 17 assists, averaging over 16 minutes a night. He still kept a lot of the physicality he showed off in his first season, blocking 89 shots and throwing 203 hits. Unfortunately, though, Borgen may have a difficult time moving up in the Kraken lineup.

Seattle already has Justin Schultz and Adam Larsson signed on the right side of their defensive unit, and Borgen plays a similar game to Larsson. Given that it will be a two-year pact, the Kraken may have plans for Borgen to eventually replace Larsson after he becomes an unrestricted free agent after the 2024-25 NHL season.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report the contract.

Seattle Kraken Sign Pierre-Edouard Bellemare

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The Seattle Kraken have bolstered their lineup with the addition of veteran center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. The team announced via Twitter that they’ve reached an agreement with the 38-year-old French center on a one-year contract worth the league-minimum $775K.

Bellemare brings 10 seasons and 660 games of NHL experience to the Kraken lineup despite not making his NHL debut until 12 seasons into his professional career, which began in France’s top league in the 2002-03 season. An undrafted free agent signing out of the SHL, Bellemare’s played for the Philadelphia Flyers, Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche, and most recently the Tampa Bay Lightning since joining the league in 2014.

He’s reached the Stanley Cup Final twice – once with Vegas in their inaugural season and in in 2022 with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Playing a key role as a bottom-of-the-lineup shutdown forward, Bellemare registered two goals and an assist in 23 games en route to Tampa’s 2022 Final loss to Colorado.

He comes to the Kraken as a serviceable fallback option for their fourth-line center spot, especially if 2022 fourth-overall pick Shane Wright fails to secure a spot out of training camp or gets sent back to juniors midway through the season, as he was last year.

After a rocky three seasons in Philadelphia, Bellemare’s become quite strong in the faceoff circle, holding a 53.4% win percentage since leaving the Flyers in 2017. While his defensive game did show recent significant lapses during last season with the Lightning, it’s an extremely low-risk signing and a solid veteran add for an already deep Kraken offense. It also marks a reunion with head coach Dave Hakstol, who Bellemare played under in Philadelphia from 2015 to 2017.

Last season, Bellemare recorded four goals and 13 points in 73 games. In his NHL career to date, he’s managed 60 goals and 131 points.

Kraken Sign Tucker Robertson To Entry-Level Deal

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The Kraken have agreed to terms with one of their prospects as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that they have signed Tucker Robertson to a three-year, entry-level contract.  The deal carries a cap hit of $870K and an AAV of $950K and breaks down as follows:

2023-24: $775K salary, $95K signing bonus, $80K GP bonus, $80K AHL salary
2024-25: $775K salary, $95K signing bonus, $80K GP bonus, $80K AHL salary
2025-26: $775K salary, $95K signing bonus, $80K GP bonus, $82.5K AHL salary

The 20-year-old was a fourth-round selection by Seattle back in 2022 (123rd overall) after going undrafted in his first year of eligibility.  That came on the hands of an impressive 2021-22 campaign.  After having a limited role in his rookie season, Robertson broke out with 41 goals and 40 assists that year, cracking the top 20 in scoring.

That was followed up by an even better showing in 2022-23 as Robertson picked up 36 goals and 54 assists in 68 games, good for a tie for 11th in league scoring.   He then finished second on the Petes in scoring in the playoffs, helping lead them to a league title and a spot in the Memorial Cup.

Robertson technically could return to the OHL next season for his overage year but after the two years he just had, that seems extremely unlikely.  Instead, he’ll get his feet wet in the pros and will likely suit up with AHL Coachella Valley in the fall.

Seattle Kraken Sign Connor Carrick

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The Seattle Kraken have brought back a familiar face. Defenseman Connor Carrick is returning for his second stint with the organization, signing a one-year, two-way deal with a $775K average annual value.

Carrick, 29, joined the Kraken a couple of months before the team played their first game, signing a one-year pact with them in free agency in August 2021. He didn’t appear in an NHL game for them, though, instead spending the entire season with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, Seattle’s affiliate for their inaugural season.

This is Carrick’s third straight one-year, two-way deal as he continues his career as a high-end AHL depth piece with some significant NHL experience. He spent last season with the Boston Bruins, leading their AHL affiliate in Providence in points from defensemen with 44 in 63 games. He made one NHL appearance with the Bruins in 2022-23, registering an assist, a +3 rating, two shots on goal, and playing 16:54 in an April 9 game against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Carrick, a right-shot defender, also did well in Charlotte, recording 10 goals and 32 points in 59 games. The past two seasons were Carrick’s first full-time AHL campaigns since 2015-16 with the Hershey Bears and Toronto Marlies, as he’d mainly stuck in the NHL as a seventh defenseman since then.

In his eight-season, 242-game NHL career, Carrick’s played for the Bruins, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Washington Capitals. He’s amassed 13 goals, 37 assists, 50 points, and a -19 rating.

Seattle’s NHL defense corps is filled up after signing former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin to a two-year contract on July 1. Because of that, Carrick is likely destined for another significant AHL role, this time with the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Seattle’s minor-league affiliate advanced to Game 7 of the Calder Cup Final in their inaugural campaign last year, losing to Hershey in overtime. Within the Kraken organization, he replaces the role of defenseman Brogan Rafferty, who led Firebirds defensemen in regular-season scoring with 51 points in 72 games and signed with the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.

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