The Seattle Kraken, for the first time in their young franchise history, are facing a critical challenge—navigating the NHL salary cap with no wiggle room. With fewer than 30 days until the roster is locked, and barring an unfortunate injury that would require the use of long-term injured reserve, the Kraken will need to make a trade to create some roster flexibility.
A tight cap squeeze
Earlier this summer, fans applauded the announcement of Matty Beniers being locked up with a seven-year contract, but the $7.14 million AAV has pushed the Kraken close to the upper limit of the NHL salary cap for the 2024-25 season. Let’s take a closer look at the salaries on the roster.
We are reasonably certain that the 12th forward and 20th overall slot will be filled by Shane Wright, with a salary cap hit of $886,666. That leaves just $780K of cap space to cover the remaining roster spots, which is only enough to add a player on a league-minimum salary, such as defenseman Josh Mahura or forward Ben Meyers.
The maximum roster size in the NHL is 23 players for most of the season, with no size limit after the trade deadline. During the 2023-24 season, the Kraken averaged a roster size of 22.5 players up until the trade deadline last season, and 94 percent of the time, the Kraken had an active roster size of 22 or more. In other words, an active roster size of 21 players is extremely risky and uncommon.
No matter how you look at it, the Kraken do not have the cap space to carry a 22nd player on the roster right now.
Injuries happen
The Kraken dealt with a host of injuries last season. When a player is placed on short-term injured reserve, a roster spot opens up for a call-up, but the salary cap hit of the injured player still counts toward the team’s overall cap calculation. Last season, when you add up the scratches and players on injured reserve, the Kraken averaged 3.8 players per game that weren’t playing but needed to fit under the salary cap.
For example, in their game against the LA Kings on Dec. 20, they had 20 players in the lineup, three scratched players, and four players on injured reserve, for a total of 27 players that needed to fit under last season’s salary cap.
Long-term injured reserve
There are scenarios where a team will place a player on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) when they are expected to miss at least 10 games or 24 days. In those cases, the team is given salary cap relief for the duration of that player’s time on LTIR.
There was some concern about a possible injury to Oliver Bjorkstrand when he was out of the lineup for Denmark’s Olympic qualifying games at the end of August. If Bjorkstrand were expected to miss more than 10 games or 24 days, that could have been a short-term solution to the Kraken’s salary cap issue. Fortunately, we received confirmation from the Kraken organization that Oliver Bjorkstrand is expected to be fully ready for camp.
Lineup competition
Another reason it is important to have additional players on your roster is to maintain competition for roster spots. Extra players create competition for spots in the lineup every game, which helps maintain a high level of performance. When players know their place in the lineup is not guaranteed, it pushes them to continually improve their skills, work harder in practice, and perform at their best during games.
Additionally, it helps develop depth throughout the roster, as players who might otherwise become complacent are driven to stay sharp and ready to contribute whenever called upon. A good example of this level of competition was during the 2022-23 season when Ryan Donato, Daniel Sprong, and Morgan Geekie were often competing for two spots in the lineup. If the Kraken are unable to fit additional players into their lineup, it could lead to complacency among some individuals, even if it’s completely subconscious.
Is a trade coming?
All signs point to a trade not just being likely, but necessary, given the Kraken’s current situation. Ideally, the Kraken would move roughly $3 million off the roster, which would open up space for three additional roster spots for players on league-minimum contracts.
Looking at the current roster, the most likely candidate for a trade would be fan favorite Brandon Tanev. While Tanev still provides significant value in penalty killing and bringing energy to the lineup, Tye Kartye has been able to play a similar role at a third of Tanev’s $3.5 million salary cap hit. Of course, making a trade requires two sides to agree, and other teams might not see the same value in Tanev, which could mean that someone else would need to be traded. As painful as it is to say, Yanni Gourde is another candidate that would need to be considered. Gourde carries a $5.2 million cap hit and might require the Kraken to retain some salary in a trade.
Navigating the tight salary cap while maintaining a competitive roster will require some tough decisions, including the possibility of trading beloved players like Tanev or Gourde. These moves, though challenging, are necessary to create the roster flexibility Seattle will need to compete this season. As the season approaches, all eyes will be on the Kraken’s front office to see how they maneuver through this cap crunch.
What are your thoughts? How would you handle this situation if you were Ron Francis?
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