SEATTLE – The Seattle Kraken announced Monday that the team made qualifying offers to all seven of the restricted free agents on its roster after last week’s Expansion Draft.
The NHL deadline for the offers expired at 3 p.m. Pacific on Monday afternoon. Had Seattle not extended these offers, the seven players would have become unrestricted free agents on Wednesday, free to sign with any team.
Receiving offers were Carsen Twarynski, Kole Lind, Alexander True, Vince Dunn, Will Borgen, Dennis Cholowski, and Cale Fleury. Qualifying offers are one year in length and give Seattle the right of first refusal to any offer sheets that are submitted to the seven players.
Any of the seven could refuse his qualifying offer, but the Kraken would retain the player’s rights and he would then remain a restricted free agent.
Twarynski was selected by the Kraken from the Philadelphia Flyers via the Expansion Draft. He was previously a third-round draft pick of the Flyers in 2016 and split his time last season between the NHL and the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Lind was the Vancouver Canucks pick for the Kraken. The former Kelowna Rocket winger spent most of last season in the AHL before a seven-game call-up at the end of the year.
True was selected from the San Jose Sharks but is most known for his time with the Seattle Thunderbirds. True spent 2014 to 2017 with Seattle, and the Danish center scored the series-winning goal for the Thunderbirds in overtime of Game 6 of the Western Hockey League Championship Series in 2017.
Dunn came to the Kraken from St. Louis, where the 24-year-old defenseman played a big role in the Blues’ Stanley Cup win in 2019. Borgen is a young defenseman from the Buffalo Sabres who has just 14 NHL games under his belt.
Cholowski was the Detroit Red Wings first-round pick during the 2016 NHL Draft and played 32 games with the Portland Winterhawks in 2018 following a trade from the Prince George Cougars. He has played in 104 NHL games, all with the Red Wings.
Fleury comes to the Kraken via the Montreal Canadiens and will join his brother Haydn in Seattle. Fleury is a 22-year-old defenseman who spent last season in the AHL with the Laval Rocket.
NHL free agency opens Wednesday at 9 a.m. Pacific time. According to Cap Friendly, the Kraken will have just over $30 million available to spend on free agents.
Stay tuned to Sound Of Hockey for updates on Seattle’s moves during the free agency period.