Kraken acquire Freddy Gaudreau in trade with Minnesota Wild – How he fits

Seattle Kraken general manager Jason Botterill continued to cook Thursday, swinging his third trade in a week by acquiring veteran center Freddy Gaudreau from the Minnesota Wild for a fourth-round pick in this weekend’s NHL Draft. The deal comes on the heels of a transaction last Thursday that landed winger Mason Marchment from the Dallas Stars, and another trade on Saturday that offloaded Andre Burakovsky to the Chicago Blackhawks and brought back Joe Veleno.

Gaudreau, 32, is a reliable bottom-six center who can pitch in offensively but is also responsible in the defensive end and kills penalties. In two of his last three seasons, Gaudreau has scored at least 18 goals (19 in 2022-23 and 18 in 2024-25) and added 19 assists in each of those campaigns. He had uninspiring numbers in 2023-24 but was hampered by injuries throughout and only played 67 games.

How Freddy Gaudreau fits with the Kraken

A big difference between this Gaudreau acquisition and the Marchment one is that Marchment only has one year left on his contract at a $4.5 million cap hit. Gaudreau, on the other hand, still has three years remaining on a five-year deal he signed with the Wild in 2023-24. That means he’ll be 35 years old when the deal expires.

The good news here is that Gaudreau’s cap hit isn’t crazy at $2.1 million. By the end of the deal, it will probably be more than they’d want to spend on a then-34-year-old (most likely) fourth-liner, but for now, it’s not a terrible number.

What’s perplexing at this point, though, is how all the pieces fit together. Botterill told us in his interview with the Sound Of Hockey Podcast that he doesn’t want to “block out” the young players in the organization from having a chance to make the team. But if you assume that includes Berkly Catton and, say, Jani Nyman, then they’re already reaching the limit of forwards they can keep in the lineup.

In the article I published on Tuesday, recapping the previous two trades, I haphazardly threw together a projected depth chart with the additions of Marchment and Veleno and the removal of Burakovsky.

Here’s what I came up with for the forward group at that time:

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

Does the addition of Gaudreau end up pushing another youngster out (potentially in addition to Tye Kartye)? Or does Joe Veleno fill the 13th/14th forward role and spend a lot of nights sitting out (heck, they could still end up buying him out, but I still don’t believe that’s the plan)?

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

Another thing to consider is that the Kraken are suddenly bursting at the seams with centers. Matty Beniers, Chandler Stephenson, Shane Wright, Gaudreau, Berkly Catton, and Veleno are all centers. So, at least one or two of those players will end up primarily on the wing. That’s not necessarily a problem, but it’s notable that Botterill continues to load up on players who can play the pivot.

I also wonder if this transaction marks the unofficial end of the short-lived Mikey Eyssimont Era in Seattle. The speedy depth winger, acquired at the Trade Deadline in the Yanni Gourde/Oliver Bjorkstrand trade, showed well in his time with the Kraken, but it does appear the roster is maxing out on its depth players.

More coming

With the trade for Gaudreau, the Kraken are now projected to have about $16.6 million in cap space before re-signing restricted free agents Kaapo Kakko, Ryker Evans, and Tye Kartye. When that dust settles, I’d think they’ll have around $7–8 million left.

I’m still convinced that Botterill is looking for a splashier acquisition—a top-line winger who can reliably score 30-plus goals. But as the roster spots continue to fill up and the surplus cap space dwindles, I’m even more convinced that whoever he brings in will require the departure of a key contributor from last season’s group.