As Kraken season ends with a thud, which players could be exiting this summer?

With a whimper, the Seattle Kraken season mercifully came to an end Thursday after they lost both games of a back-to-back, 4-1 at Vegas on Wednesday and 2-0 at Colorado on Thursday. Following the Olympic break, the Kraken posted an embarrassing 7-17-2 record in 26 games and took themselves from third place in the Pacific Division all the way down to the sixth-best odds in the NHL Draft Lottery.

Normally, we would use this space to provide you with Three Takeaways from the game(s). But considering there’s not much to really even write about from these two contests—save for some solid performances by the Kraken’s AHL goalie duo of Nikke Kokko and Victor Östman, who made his first NHL start and stopped 33 shots in Denver—we’re taking this in a different direction.

Last week, Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke promised a “prolific” offseason, which implies that big changes will be coming to the roster. Of course, such an implication would mean that the team will add talent, but to do that, spots also have to be cleared.

If things really are going to dramatically change, then multiple Kraken stalwarts will likely have to depart. Here are the players that may have played their last games in Kraken uniforms.

Unrestricted free agents

The Kraken UFA’s are pretty obvious candidates to be on their way out. Although the Kraken don’t have a deep prospect pool of defensemen, I’d be surprised if Jamie Oleksiak returns next season. I’d be even more surprised if Jaden Schwartz returns.

Both players have been around since Day 1 and have contributed in big ways, with Schwartz registering 79 goals and 89 assists in 301 games across five seasons and Oleksiak racking up 21 goals and 68 assists in 389 games while playing in a defense-first role. Both players are 33 years old, and the fact that Seattle re-upped Jordan Eberle before the trade deadline but did not do so with either of these players tells me they’re likely on their way to the market.

For the other two UFA’s—Eeli Tolvanen and Bobby McMann—I’m not sure what the future holds.

Tolvanen is in his prime at 26 years old and has received high praise at times this season from coach Lane Lambert for his versatility. He was one of the highly regarded moves Ron Francis made as general manager, claiming him off waivers from the Nashville Predators and watching him flourish into a key contributor. But he also saw his role diminish late in the season and even got healthy scratched. With that in mind, is there still mutual interest between the two parties?

Meanwhile, McMann is the most interesting question of the four. He personally had an outstanding showing as a member of the Kraken, with 10 goals in 18 games after being acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs at the NHL Trade Deadline. He also only said great things about the organization, but has he really been happy here? The team has been in turmoil since he arrived, imploding around him every step of the way and tailspinning out of the playoffs. McMann definitely saw the worst version of what this team can be, and he will be one of the more coveted free-agent options on the market this summer.

If he’s even interested in returning, we would expect the Kraken to have to pay out the nose to keep him.

Trade candidates

We at Sound Of Hockey also think the Kraken should be willing to listen on every player on the roster. If there’s a deal to be done that’s going to bring back some semblance of star power, GM Jason Botterill needs to at least consider it, even if moving a player out feels painful.

Here are a few players that—although it wouldn’t be fun to see any of them go—could be traded this summer.

On my recent Sound Of Hockey Podcast interview with Kraken broadcaster John Forslund (viewable below), he independently brought up Jared McCann as a player that could go.

McCann, who has registered 20 or more goals in all five of his seasons in Seattle and topped out at 40 in 2022-23, has one year left on his deal. His latest season was disrupted by injuries, leaving him to play just 52 games—the fewest he’s had by a long shot since joining Seattle.

Losing McCann would sting. But he’s one of those guys on the roster who could fetch real value, and if Botterill doesn’t see the 29-year-old as part of the long-term plan, then this is the summer to move him.

Likewise for Vince Dunn. Since the Kraken acquired Brandon Montour in free agency on July 1, 2024, I’ve always wondered if there was a world where Dunn could become expendable, given that the players have similar profiles, and the team is clearly committed to Montour, who still has four years left. With Dunn’s $7.35 million AAV contract also set to expire after next season, now is the time to move him if the front office is looking to maximize value.

And then, of course, there’s Shane Wright, whose name percolated in trade rumors for a good chunk of this season. By all accounts, Wright had a disappointing season. Everyone in Seattle expected him to take another big step and become one of the Kraken’s core players in 2025-26. That didn’t happen, plain and simple.

After scoring 19 goals and 25 assists under Dan Bylsma in 2024-25, Wright looked lost at times this season, while Lambert tried him in a wide variety of roles, including moving him to the wing to try to simplify things for him. In the end, he produced just 12 goals and 15 assists.

Surely the hope was that he’d emerge as the team’s No. 2 center this season, pushing Chandler Stephenson down the depth chart. Instead, you could tell Lambert was having a hard time trusting Wright and even worked around him for much of the campaign by having him take almost exclusively offensive-zone starts.

I don’t think Wright belongs on the wing, but I’m also suddenly having a hard time understanding where he fits in general when considering the longer term. Here’s why. Let’s say, for the sake of a thought experiment, that the Kraken acquire a true No. 1 center this offseason. That would move Matty Beniers into a No. 2 center role and Chandler Stephenson into a No. 3 center role—positions in which I believe both players would excel.

Being that Wright has not yet overtaken Stephenson, where does that leave him? On the wing? On the fourth line? I don’t want him in either of those spots, so packaging him as part of the deal to land said magical No. 1 center could be the way to go.

The thing that stinks is that Wright does appear to be a young player who would benefit from a change of scenery. Giving up on him right now could mean trading him for less than he’s worth—and what’s worse, you can just imagine him getting that change of scenery, getting to a new team, and blossoming into an outstanding player.

Still, it is feeling likely that he could be dealt this summer.

What say you, Kraken fans? Which other players could be on the move?

P.S. We’ll have lots more content in the coming days, but since the season has finally come to a close, I thought it was a good time to say thanks for following along all season. I appreciate you. Keep it friendly in the comments.