Jason Botterill’s Kraken roster reshape has begun after pair of notable trades

Newly promoted Seattle Kraken general manager Jason Botterill has stated on several occasions that he intends to be active this summer as he attempts to reshape the team’s roster into a playoff contender. While his promotion into the GM chair and Ron Francis’s simultaneous move to a president of hockey ops position may have felt like a half measure at the time, there is a distinct advantage for an executive moving up within an organization in which he has been immersed since Day 1.

“It’s exciting for sure,” Botterill said in his interview with the Sound Of Hockey Podcast last week. “It’s great to be back in the GM chair; certainly it’s what I aspired to do again. But it’s such a different experience, this time, knowing the entire organization.

“When you go to a new organization like I did from Pittsburgh to Buffalo [in 2017], you certainly have ideas of what goes on, ideas of the staff, ideas of the players. But it literally takes you a couple of years to figure it all out and figure out the nuances and the chemistry that goes on. That’s my big advantage here is just being a part of this since Day 1, being a part of all the discussions with Ron on different things.”

In short, Botterill came into the new role expecting to hit the ground running.

Indeed, he made two notable trades in a span of 72 hours last week, first taking advantage of the impending cap crunch in Dallas and snagging sizable, gritty winger Mason Marchment for a bargain return of a third-round draft pick in 2026 and a fourth-rounder in this weekend’s draft. (That fourth-rounder originally belonged to Dallas and was acquired by former GM Francis in the Alex Wennberg trade to the Rangers in March 2024.) The Marchment deal was—as they say—a nice bit of business.

Botterill followed that up by finding a creative solution to the Andre Burakovsky conundrum, trading the underperforming winger to the Chicago Blackhawks for depth center Joe Veleno.

If these trades were to happen in a vacuum and be Seattle’s only moves of the offseason, then they wouldn’t be enough to move the needle and get the Kraken back into contention next season. But I do believe Botterill is going to be aggressive in retooling the personnel this summer, and these moves are just the first steps in that process.

Marchment is a good fit

One thing we’ve heard from Botterill is that the team wants to be better at getting to the inside in the offensive zone while also doing a better job protecting the dangerous areas in the defensive end. Marchment certainly brings size (he’s 6-foot-5, 212 pounds) and grit and should be able to help his linemates by digging out pucks and barreling his big body into the crease.

“That is my game,” Marchment said in his introductory press conference on Tuesday. “I like to get in on the forecheck, get inside, get pucks back, strip guys on the backcheck. That’s stuff I take pride in and like to do well. So if I can help out that way, it’s going to be great. Getting to the net front, getting in the goalie’s eyes, that’s huge. Small things like that are things that help win games and help you get to the playoffs.”

While they’re different players at different stages of their careers, this acquisition reminds me of the Kaapo Kakko trade, in which Seattle brought in a big-bodied winger who was viewed as a player capable of creating space for his linemates. Sure enough, Matty Beniers—who had another slow start to the season—took off in the second half after Kakko arrived and was placed on his wing.

Can Marchment, 30, bring a similar impact for other players? I can’t help but envision Marchment alongside Chandler Stephenson, a center who prefers to play on the perimeter and utilize his deft passing skills, drawing attention from defenders at the top of the crease, while somebody like Jared McCann tees up a one-timer from the other side.

That’s what excites me most about Marchment’s profile: he brings a package of size and skill that could help unlock other Kraken players next season and get them scoring more steadily.

What I haven’t even mentioned yet is that—although I see him as a complementary piece to help create space—Marchment can also put the puck in the net. He’s had 22 goals in each of the last two seasons, notching that number in 81 games in 2023-24 and matching it in 2024-25 despite missing 20 games with injury. So, there’s some skill there, which means he’s not only replacing some of the grit lost when the Kraken traded Brandon Tanev and Yanni Gourde at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, but in a way, Marchment also replaces a good chunk of the offensive production lost when Oliver Bjorkstrand was dealt.

Considering what Botterill had to give up to bring in Marchment, my initial reaction was that this was a big win for the Kraken.

As for Marchment’s contract, he signed a reasonable four-year, $18 million deal to remain in Dallas in 2022. So, Seattle gets him at just a $4.5 million cap hit for 2025-26, and if the team doesn’t extend him, he will surely be a hot commodity at the trade deadline if the Kraken once again find themselves in a seller’s position.

A creative solution to the Burakovsky issue

As the season came to a close, we circled two players as buyout candidates for the Kraken. One of those was Philipp Grubauer, who remains on the roster as of the writing of this story, though the first buyout window has been open since Friday and will remain open until June 30.

The other was Burakovsky, who never fully returned to form after tearing his groin midway through his first season with Seattle in 2022-23. He showed flashes but just never got back to any semblance of consistent play.

After a second straight season of minimal offensive production from Burakovsky—he had 10 goals and 27 assists in 79 games—while carrying a significant salary, we assumed Seattle would have few options in getting Burakovsky’s $5.5 million cap hit off the books. One option would be to attach assets and/or retain significant salary in a trade.

The only alternative was a buyout. A buyout of Burakovsky’s contract would have been expensive, though, carrying a $1.96 million cap hit next season, $3.2 million in 2026-27, and then two more penalty years of $1.46 million per season. (Worth noting, a Grubauer buyout would be similar at $1.98 million, $3.08 million, then $1.68 million for the two penalty years.)

But, remarkably, Botterill pulled a rabbit out of his hat and got the Blackhawks to take Burakovsky with no salary retention in exchange for Veleno.

From Chicago’s point of view, taking Burakovsky’s contract actually helps the Blackhawks get to the cap floor for the next two seasons, and there is a chance he could flourish in a top-six role with a rebuilding team that features Connor Bedard. Meanwhile, Veleno was also viewed as a buyout candidate for Chicago, so it solves that problem as well.

Back to the Kraken perspective: Veleno has one year left on his contract at a $2.275 million cap hit before he becomes a restricted free agent. He could still be a buyout candidate and would be way cheaper to buy out than Burakovsky. Still just 25 years old, Veleno can be bought out for one-third of his 2025-26 salary. This means just $795K this season and $295K next season. He could also be stashed in the AHL, which would decrease his cap hit to $1.125 million while keeping him in the organization.

I’m guessing they’ll keep him on the roster, though, to backfill the fourth-line center spot that was vacated by Gourde’s trade to Tampa Bay.

Veleno has never quite hit his NHL stride, despite showing tons of promise as a youngster, earning exceptional status to join the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs at 15 years old. With that in mind, there is some speed, size, and talent in there, making Veleno’s inclusion at the bottom of the forward corps for next season very low-risk and, again, a nice bit of business for Botterill. Perhaps the right role and setting could unlock more of the promise that once showed for Veleno.

Projected depth chart

With Burakovsky out and Marchment and Veleno in, we can start to piece together a way-too-early depth chart for the Kraken next season. Botterill reminded us in his interview with the Sound Of Hockey Podcast that he does expect to give Berkly Catton a look on the NHL roster, and he doesn’t want to “block out” young players in the organization from having a chance to make the team.

So, I’m penciling in Catton and Jani Nyman on the fourth line for now (I know, neither belongs in that role), but the roster will surely continue to evolve throughout the summer.

Forwards

Jaden Schwartz // Matty Beniers // Kaapo Kakko
Jared McCann // Chandler Stephenson // Mason Marchment
Eeli Tolvanen // Shane Wright // Jordan Eberle
Jani Nyman // Berkly Catton // Joe Veleno
Tye Kartye

Defense

Vince Dunn // Adam Larsson
Ryker Evans // Brandon Montour
Jamie Oleksiak // Josh Mahura
Ville Ottavainen

Goalies

Joey Daccord
Philipp Grubauer