The Seattle Kraken have their first permanent emergency backup goalie (EBUG). Dolan Gilbert, a 25-year-old recent graduate of Michigan State University, will become the first player in franchise history to serve in the role after a change to the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement required every team to begin carrying a netminder they can plug into the lineup in a pinch.
“It’s pretty cool,” Gilbert said. “It’s fun getting to set the foundation and know that as long as this is the way it’s going, that you helped build it. I’ve chatted with a couple of the other guys I know that are doing it, and they feel very similarly.”
With the league’s rule change, gone are the days when a local Zamboni driver or accountant can suddenly wind up in an NHL game, perhaps even facing his hometown team. Instead, the NHL has shifted to having teams bring an extra goalie to every game, even on the road.
As the first to hold the position for the Kraken, Gilbert is still just feeling out what it will be like to be part of a professional hockey team, but he does have a general sense of what the job will entail.
“I’ll be traveling with the team per the new rules, so [participating in] scratch skates, injury skates, rehab skates or whatever they are, being available there. Giving some time off to the goalies on the Kraken, and let them be ready for game nights is the big thing.”
An unexpected call
A native of South Bend, Ind., Gilbert grew up a fan of Notre Dame, where his dad, Dave—who won an NCAA championship as a member of the Lake Superior State Lakers in 1992—served as equipment manager for the Irish. Dolan moved away from home at a relatively young age, playing AAA hockey for the 18U Ohio Blue Jackets, then spending two seasons with the Texas Jr. Brahmas in the NA3HL before going to Division III school Concordia University Wisconsin.
“I went [to Concordia] my freshman year. I didn’t love it, just as an environment, I felt like I wanted a change for myself personally and wanted more of an academic challenge. So I decided to transfer to Michigan State and semi-retire from hockey.”
After briefly thinking he was “hanging up” his skates for good, Gilbert ended up having a conversation with the coaching staff and skating a couple times when he arrived at MSU as a sophomore. As luck would have it, rising star Trey Augustine—a second-round draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings—made Team USA for the World Junior Championship. That meant the Spartans would be down a goalie throughout the holiday season.
“I realized that they were going to be a goalie short for a couple weeks while he was out and offered to be on campus and fill in for him. It was kind of my first big foot in the door, and then they offered me a full-time spot for the following year. I was there for two years and then graduated as a part of the team.”
With Augustine ahead of him, Gilbert unsurprisingly never got much playing time for the Spartans, appearing in just two games his senior year. So he was as surprised as anyone to get a recent call from Kraken goalie coach Colin Zulianello, gauging his interest in becoming Seattle’s first permanent EBUG.
“I still haven’t gotten the full story of how my name came up and whatnot,” Gilbert said. “They just wanted to get an idea if I was interested. We ended up chatting a little bit more, and then had an interview process and… got offered it.”
Gilbert assumes that, considering his minimal playing time in college, mutual connections between the MSU coaching staff and the Kraken are what led to his offer to join Seattle.
Now, just a couple years removed from thinking his playing career was over, and he would focus all his time on being a full-time student at Michigan State, Gilbert is a member of an NHL team and has a very real chance at one day playing in an NHL game.
Putting future plans on hold for now
It’s different talking to a guy like Gilbert—who knows an illustrious NHL career is likely not in the cards for him—compared with a full-time Kraken player, or even a youngster who has just been called up from Coachella Valley. Gilbert doesn’t have designs on backstopping a franchise to a Stanley Cup and becoming a household name. Instead, his plan is to one day work in sports psychology, a journey he’s temporarily paused while he sees through this remarkable and unexpected opportunity.
He got interested in that field playing for former pro hockey player Ben Eaves during his AAA days in Ohio. Being away from home for the first time was hard on Gilbert, and he said Eaves had a big impact on helping him work through some difficult times.
“[Eaves] is pretty dialed in. He got me interested in it. We talked about [psychology] a little bit at some lunches with each other, and then the more I dove into it and learned about it, I just fell in love with it and thought it was something that I was good at but also was interested in. It kept me in sports, and so I decided to pursue that through college.”
Already in Seattle and participating in informal captains practices with Kraken players, Gilbert did not think he’d still be in this position, strapping on the pads every day with NHLers.
“[Being an EBUG] was not on my radar. I had heard about it and kind of thought about it a little bit, obviously, with the rule change. And being a goalie, you’re kind of interested in it and whatnot… I was planning on just going to grad school [after earning a degree in psychology at MSU].”
In the meantime, he’s also going to work for the Kraken in a dual role in their research and development department, though the specifics of that position are still being worked out by the team. So while his sports psychology dreams are paused, he’s getting a crash course in both being a professional athlete and learning what happens behind the scenes.
“I think it’s an amazing experience, and getting to see more of the front office side of hockey is really cool. I’ve always seen the player side, so getting that side and getting my feet wet in that world is cool.”
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
Last month we hit the five-year anniversary of the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft. Since that momentous day in 2021, media and hockey fans have engaged in countless hours of debate over the Kraken’s strategy and success procuring talent in that process.
Did the Kraken overplay their hand or miss other opportunities to profit? Were NHL general managers “smarter” after getting exploited by the Golden Knights four years earlier?
The foundation the Kraken built on that pristine July day at Gas Works Park delivered one invigorating playoff run in the franchise’s second year. Otherwise, the team has finished in the bottom 10 in the standings every season. This track record caused the Kraken to fire multiple head coaches and sever ties with former general manager Ron Francis.
Five years on, it seems like a natural time to reflect on the expansion process. Of the many different ways one could do that, I settled on the following prompt: With the full benefit of hindsight, what team could the Kraken have built through expansion?
In addition to being a fun trip down memory lane, building this “best-case scenario” roster allows us some perspective to answer some of the more difficult expansion-related questions we’ve debated. Most notably, we can learn something about whether the opportunity actually existed to build an immediate contender.
2021 Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft, Gas Works Park, Seattle, WA
The re-draft rules
Of course, we’re going to follow the same basic rules the Kraken followed. Select one unprotected player from each of the other NHL teams except Vegas. The goal is to build a functional NHL roster that is cap-compliant and has some depth that can be slipped through waivers to the AHL level.
To avoid making assumptions that are unfair to the Kraken, though, we instituted two additional limitations on this thought exercise.
First, we will not sign any player who did not sign with Seattle in reality. For example, we will not suggest that the Kraken simply should have dropped a bag of money on Zach Hyman as a free agent. This is because we have no way of knowing if Hyman would have signed with Seattle or, if he would have, the type of contract it would have required.
Similarly, second, we will not assume that the Kraken are able to make any trades that they did not in fact execute. Again, a trade depends on the consent of an outside party that we have no way of fairly confirming.
This is a significant restriction on our flexibility going into this re-draft because, as we know, Seattle did not make any needle-moving draft-and-flip trades or side deals. It also prevents us from speculating about additional transactions.
As much as I wanted the Kraken to make a deal for Sam Reinhart in July, 2021, we cannot be sure that Buffalo would have accepted a first-round pick and an expansion-drafted goalie from Seattle over Florida’s superficially similar proposal. Buffalo might have been uniquely high on getting Devon Levi, or Florida may have upped its offer to get the player anyway.
The only fair way to approach this is to avoid these types of uncertain scenarios entirely.
The actual Kraken Expansion Draft
Here’s how the Expansion Draft actually went on July 21, 2021:
Two things stand out. First, the Kraken avoided a number of higher-priced players (like James van Riemsdyk, Vladimir Tarasenko, Matt Duchene, and others), preserving significant flexibility into the free agency period. The Kraken then wielded this advantage to secure Philipp Grubauer, Jaden Schwartz, Alex Wennberg, and others.
Second, the Kraken left some picks “on the table,” so to speak, selecting unsigned players Gavin Bayreuther and John Quenneville apparently without any plan to actually keep them. Quenneville and Carsen Twarynski never played an NHL game post-draft and Chris Driedger, Kole Lind, and Alex True each got into fewer than 30 games over the ensuing five years (worth noting, Driedger’s ACL injury at the IIHF World Championships in 2022 almost certainly shortened his tenure with the Kraken).
I continue to struggle with the logic behind some (not all) of these picks in retrospect. Of course, not all 30 players can go on an NHL roster. But even if trades were not there to be made, it would seem that other realistic depth options could have been acquired and stashed in the AHL. In our scenario below, we use the benefit of hindsight to avoid these types of value losses.
Kole Lind played 24 regular-season games for the Seattle Kraken. (photo/Brian Liesse)
The “Hindsight” Kraken Expansion Re-Draft
Before getting into it pick-by-pick, a few notes. I ended up selecting 12 of the same players the team did originally. With only a couple of understandable exceptions, the team did well selecting each of the very best players available.
In hindsight, above-average defensemen on reasonable contracts were very easy to find in this draft. I opted against drafting a number of quality unprotected defenders like Olli Määttä, Brett Kulak, Radko Gudas, and Mark Giordano, simply because there were superior alternatives, all things considered. This is the area where our restriction on “hypothetical” trades hurt the most. Ideally, I would have walked away with draft assets in return for either not selecting or flipping these players.
In contrast, the forward and goalie pools were relatively slim, even with our hindsight advantage. With respect to the forward group, one challenge was that a small handful of teams, notably Nashville and Tampa Bay, held several of the most appealing forwards, but we could only get one from each team. On the goalie side, many of the most productive players were unrestricted free agents going into the Expansion Draft. And given our “rules,” we were essentially limited to building a team around free agent Philipp Grubauer or the few viable candidates under contract (or team control) through the expansion process. This really limited the options and team upside.
OK, let’s analyze the draft picks team-by-team in alphabetical order. An asterisk indicates the player was Seattle’s original selection. After we go through that list, we’ll finish with a summary of the draft and some takeaways.
Anaheim Ducks – Adam Henrique | Pos: C | Shot: L | Age: 31
Other players considered – Sonny Milano, Danton Heinen, Anthony Stolarz
For much of the five years since the Expansion Draft, Henrique has been an offense-driving, second-line forward. The rest of the time, he has been sidelined with injuries. Injury risk was a known factor at the time of the draft, too. With 29 other picks yet to go, we can build in some center redundancy to protect ourselves. Offense is at a premium in this draft, and Henrique’s skill is too much to pass up. Henrique averages 20 goals a season over the three years remaining on his deal at draft time.
Milano has been an analytics darling but has never been able to secure a regular NHL role and recently signed in Europe. Heinen is an underrated middle-six winger. Stolarz is one of the best goaltenders available, and there is a very good case to take him, particularly given the positional scarcity. That said, the team feels a top-six forward short without Henrique.
Arizona Coyotes – Hudson Fasching | Pos: F | Shot: R | Age: 25
Contract – RFA (signed to $750,000 cap hit through 2021-22 post-draft)
Other players considered – Tyler Pitlick*, Michael Bunting (UFA)
Fasching is a depth forward who delivered solid results in a part-time, fourth-line role. He’d start as a 13th or 14th forward and could head to the waiver wire for assignment to the AHL in Year 1 if the team gets fully healthy at any point.
Another option would be to select Pitlick and flip him to the Flames for a fourth-round pick as the Kraken did originally, but Fasching offers more long-term value than a fourth-round pick. Bunting would be the obvious choice if he came with a contract or team control.
Boston Bruins – Curtis Lazar | Pos: C/F | Shot: R | Age: 26
Other players considered – Jeremy Lauzon*, Connor Clifton, Sean Kuraly (UFA)
Lazar is a fourth-line forward who brings strong defensive and penalty-kill value and right-side draw ability. His overall value is probably comparable to some of the alternatives listed, including original pick Lauzon, but the scarcity of forwards in the draft pushes us toward Lazar.
Lauzon had trade value for Seattle (he returned a second-round pick that became Jani Nyman), but there are other defensemen available to draft and flip that should have even better value.
Buffalo Sabres – William Borgen* | Pos: D | Shot: R | Age: 24
Contract – RFA (signed to $900,000 cap hit through 2022-23 post-draft)
Other players considered – Colin Miller (UFA), Jake McCabe (UFA)
Speaking of which, this brings us to Will Borgen, the Kraken’s actual pick from Buffalo. He remains the standout choice here, but would enter a crowded third-pair depth chart post-draft. The concept would be to seek a preseason trade for two of the other NHL-caliber defenseman selected (see Chicago and Minnesota) and keep Borgen as a developmental third-pair defenseman. Failing success on that front, it’s possible Borgen is lost on waivers before he skates in a game for Seattle.
Calgary Flames – Justin Kirkland | Pos: F | Shot: L | Age: 24
Contract – RFA (signed to $750,000 cap hit through 2021-22 post-draft)
Other players considered – Derek Ryan (UFA), Mark Giordano*
Kirkland is a 6-foot-3 depth forward who was stashed for much of the 2021-22 season in the AHL. That would be our plan for him. His five-year outlook is like the forward version of Cale Fleury: solid up-and-down depth.
Selecting Mark Giordano in this slot makes sense if you can flip him before the season for similar assets Seattle actually obtained at the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline. Two second-round picks are much more valuable than the depth Kirkland provides. Again, though, this is an assumption about the availability of such a trade that we did not want to make. Absent an assured trade, it didn’t seem right (professionally or financially) to take the long-time Calgary captain without a plan to actually play him.
Carolina Hurricanes – Morgan Geekie* | Pos: F | Shot: R | Age: 23
Contract – RFA (signed to $750,000 cap hit through 2021-22 post-draft)
Other players considered – Nino Niederreiter, Dougie Hamilton (UFA)
Morgan Geekie was the Kraken’s original choice, and he remains the correct one. With the benefit of hindsight, it should be a priority to work him into an offense-first role on the wing with skilled players within the first few years. He’s one of the youngest eligible players and projects to deliver top-10 value. The key is development and patience. With a bit more of that, he could help drive the offense by 2024-25.
Niederreiter is a second intriguing forward option who would provide more inaugural season value that Geekie, but I still prefer the younger forward over the long term. Carolina’s other intriguing players are unrestricted free agents, thus not a real consideration here.
Morgan Geekie (Photo/Brian Liesse)
Chicago Blackhawks – Nikita Zadorov | Pos: D | Shot: L | Age: 26
Other players considered – Calvin De Haan, Adam Gaudette
Both at the time and with the benefit of hindsight, there is little debate Zadorov was the most valuable player from Chicago’s roster available to be selected. He brings size, physicality, and some scoring to the blue line. On the downside, he was an unsigned 26 year-old restricted free agent looking for a big contract at the time of the draft.
As foreshadowed above, the concept would be to seek a pre-season trade of Zadorov. (In reality, Zadorov was traded during the summer of 2021, so this should be possible.) Failing such a deal, Zadorov would enter a crowded defense corps to begin the 2021-22 season. The goal would be to message patience to the player until a deal to break the logjam is stuck.
Author’s Note: Due to a necessary adjustment of the Vancouver pick (see below), I adjusted this pick as well away from forward Adam Gaudette after this article was originally posted.I chose Gaudette originally because he could start as AHL depth and would later establish himself as viable complementary NHL scorer. With the Vancouver selection shifting from a depth defenseman to a depth forward, however, I shifted this pick over to the blue line to re-balance the expansion roster.
Other players considered – Kiefer Sherwood, Brandon Saad (UFA)
Compher is a solid third-line scorer and play driver who can play center or wing. He gives us necessary cover to play up and down the lineup, with two other drafted centers (see Anaheim and Tampa Bay) bringing injury questions. On a two-year, $3.5 million AAV deal, he’s an easy piece to slot in or deal in the team’s first or second year if a reset is needed.
Sherwood arguably delivers more value over the five-year period, but that’s with very little production in the first few years. This raises doubts as to whether he could stick with the team long enough to realize those goals for the Kraken.
Joonas Donskoi was a reasonable pick at the time, but we know he would struggle to score in his only healthy season with the Kraken.
Columbus Blue Jackets – Kevin Stenlund | Pos: F | Shot: R | Age: 24
Contract – RFA (signed to $1,050,000 cap hit through 2021-22 post-draft)
Stenlund would begin as a depth piece, either as 13th or 14th forward or, more likely, spending the 2021-22 season in the AHL as he did for Columbus. After that, he’s an option in the 11th-14th forward range, bringing strong work on the face-off dot and a right shot with a 6-foot-3 frame.
Max Domi is an offense-only winger who would be an appealing pick if we could line up a side deal to flip him elsewhere. The Kraken’s need for offense is not so desperate in this scenario that it is worth taking on Domi in the lineup, particularly at his cap hit.
Dallas Stars – Jamie Oleksiak* | Pos: D | Shot: L | Age: 28
There are better short-term values to be found on the blue line than the five-year, $4.6 million AAV contract the Kraken signed Jamie Oleksiak to before the Expansion Draft. But Oleksiak’s first three years with Seattle were terrific, particularly defensively, and Dallas has very little else to offer. Ultimately, sticking with Seattle’s original sign-and-draft strategy achieved the best roster balance. Oleksiak was unfairly criticized in his time with the Kraken.
Detroit Red Wings – Vladislav Namestnikov | Pos: F | Shot: L | Age: 28
Namestnikov is a quality middle-six winger who can score and play solid defense. In a draft short on top-nine forwards, he’s an easy choice. With one year and $1 million left on his contract, he’s a trade deadline asset if the season doesn’t go well.
Stecher is a solid player, but there are probably a couple dozen better defensemen available.
Edmonton Oilers – Adam Larsson* | Pos: D | Shot: R | Age: 28
Similar to the situation with Oleksiak, it could be argued that there were better values to be found on the blue line, but two factors worked in Larsson’s favor. The first is the leadership and close on-ice working relationship we know he developed with Vince Dunn (more on Dunn in a minute). The other factor is that Edmonton didn’t have much else to offer beyond unrestricted free agents and depth pieces. All told, Larsson, who badly needed a change of scenery at the time, was an easy choice to sign-and-draft again.
Florida Panthers – Sam Montembeault | Pos: G | Age: 24
Contract – RFA (signed to $750,000 cap hit through 2021-22 post-draft)
5-yr outlook – Games: 206 GAA: 3.28 Save %: .897 EH GSAx: 50.74
Other players considered – Radko Gudas, Brandon Montour (UFA), Noel Acciari
Florida had a number of interesting pieces to consider. In particular, Radko Gudas would have brought identity and production to the top-four defensively. That said, Sam Montembeault has ascended on a path similar to fellow 24-year-old backstop Joey Daccord (more on him below). The chance to obtain a long-term tandem goalie was too much to pass up.
In the short term, Montembeault would project as the Kraken’s backup for the 2021-22 season. His production was not good that year, but shouldn’t cripple the inaugural team if he’s only used in sheltered matchups behind a better starter.
Los Angeles Kings – Blake Lizotte | Pos: C/F | Shot: L | Age: 23
This came down to a choice between Lizotte, who is an undersized, hard-working identity forward, or Maatta, a capable second-pair defenseman. Generally speaking, the abundance of defenders pushed us toward the offensive player. But Lizotte is also a good roster fit regardless. He is capable of playing anywhere in the bottom six, winning face-offs, and delivering quality penalty-kill results. Lizotte was a personal favorite originally at the time of the Expansion Draft, and he has overperformed even my optimistic view of him in the five years since.
Minnesota Wild – Carson Soucy* | Pos: D | Shot: L | Age: 26
Other players considered – Marcus Johansson (UFA), Nick Bjugstad (UFA)
Similar to the situation with the Buffalo pick, Seattle’s original selection, Carson Soucy, was clearly correct. This is in part because the player ultimately provided solid production in the years ahead and in part because the Wild had little else to offer beyond unrestricted free agents and goalie Kaapo Kähkönen, who flamed out.
As with Zadorov, my goal would be to find an immediate taker for Soucy in return for real draft capital. Failing that, he could start in (unfortunate) healthy-scratch territory. The priority would then be to communicate the situation with the player and continue to seek a trade over time. Soucy is good enough that a worthwhile trade should materialize at some point even if we cannot “predict” it under our rules.
Carson Soucy (Photo/Brian Liesse)
Montreal Canadiens – Cale Fleury* | Pos: D | Shot: R | Age: 22
Contract – RFA (signed to $750,000 cap hit through 2021-22 post-draft)
Other players considered – Brett Kulak, Jonathan Drouin, Charlie Lindgren (UFA)
I considered going with Brett Kulak—another capable, above-average defenseman available in this draft—but like Soucy, Zadorov, and/or Borgen before him, he wasn’t going to crack the lineup, and we’d be looking for an immediate trade. Similar to my calculus in avoiding the a few other competent defensemen, an overabundance of drafted blueliners becomes untenable and detrimental to the team’s leverage at a certain point.
In contrast, the team’s original pick, Cale Fleury, can serve as solid blue-line depth. As we know, he’d make it through waivers to spend time in the AHL and eventually earn an extra role with the NHL team. As one of the younger eligible players, having Fleury as a “next wave” and contingency plan is valuable.
Jonathan Drouin bounced back and offered some offensive value in the years ahead, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to take on the contract, particularly with other suspect offensive spends already on the books, like Henrique.
Nashville Predators – Matt Duchene | Pos: C | Shot: L | Age: 30
Other players considered – Yakov Trenin, Erik Haula (UFA), Mikael Granlund (UFA), Connor Ingram
In hindsight, Nashville had a number of valuable forwards to offer, a scarce thing in this draft. Seattle’s original pick, Calle Jarnkrok, was not a bad one, but he didn’t crack the top handful of options when I was whittling it down with the benefit of hindsight.
If you recall, Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen were two big-contract forwards coming off down seasons that seemed to bring a lot of risk at draft time. As it turns out, both players bounced back to provide positive value in the short term.
Between them, Duchene, with his 43 goals in the 2021-22 season, is the clear choice and a linchpin of our re-draft. He’s our first-line offensive center for the inaugural era. He’s below average in that capacity, all things considered, but it could be argued that the actual Kraken have not had any first-line center throughout their existence. Duchene brings needed offensive punch and a fighting chance at the playoffs in Year 1. (Even after his stellar 2021-22 season, Duchene would go on to average 24 goals per season over the final four years of his contract.)
New Jersey Devils – Scott Wedgewood | Pos: G | Age: 28
Contract – $825,000 cap hit through 2021-22
5-yr outlook – Games: 159 GAA: 2.58 Save %: .911 EH GSAx: 36.78
Other players considered – A.J. Greer
Wedgewood has emerged since the Expansion Draft as a productive tandem goalie. He’s not going to dominate, but there weren’t any other options materially better. He’d come to Seattle on just a one-year contract, but would be an early extension candidate if he posted an approximately average 2021-22 season, as he did for New Jersey in reality.
Bastian may have also been considered in this spot, but for our hindsight perspective on his actual dissatisfaction playing for the Kraken. Greer has been better than Bastian anyway and would have been a good depth-forward pickup but for the need for a goalie.
New York Islanders– Jordan Eberle* | Pos: F | Shot: R | Age: 31
Other players considered – Kyle Palmieri (UFA), Parker Wotherspoon
Eberle maintained his productivity for the five post-draft seasons in Seattle and has ultimately ascended to the role of team captain. In this scenario, he may have taken over that formal leadership mantle even earlier and upped his overall production by playing next to a capable finishing center like Duchene. In hindsight, the Islanders didn’t have any other options even close to Eberle.
New York Rangers– Julien Gauthier | Pos: F | Shot: R | Age: 23
Gauthier is a depth fill-in who would project to spend most or all of the 2021-22 season in the AHL. These players are essential for the first few years, until the team has built a prospect pipeline. Raddysh is a very interesting right-shot defenseman who broke out in 2025-26, but as a group-six unrestricted free agent without a contract, he was not a viable consideration under our rules.
5-yr outlook – Games: 164 GAA: 2.80 Save %: .904 EH GSAx: 43.56
Other players considered – Michael Amadio, Anton Forsberg (UFA)
Amadio has emerged as a quality middle-six forward and was quite tempting in a draft light on offensive impact. That said, the team’s actual pick, goalie Joey Daccord, remains the right pick. Daccord brings more value as a long-term starter or 1A goaltender. Add in Daccord’s leadership qualities, particularly through a couple of AHL playoff runs, and this was not a difficult choice.
Philadelphia Flyers – Shayne Gostisbehere | Pos: D | Shot: L | Age: 28
There was negative discourse about Gostisbehere’s contract and defense at the time of the Expansion Draft, but he has carried on to show that he adds a ton of value with his offensive play driving from the backend. Particularly on a team that can give him a first-unit power-play role and an offense-favorable, sheltered third-pair position, he can move the needle. In this scenario, we build the blue line with that role in mind for Gostisbehere.
James van Riemsdyk was a much-discussed player ahead of the draft, and he ultimately had something of a middle-road outcome. He didn’t go off the rails as some feared, but he also didn’t produce quite to the level of the contract. He wouldn’t have been a terrible pick in retrospect, but we can make the offense work without him, so we avoid taking on that contract.
Pittsburgh Penguins – Marcus Pettersson | Pos: D | Shot: L | Age: 25
Other players considered – Jason Zucker, Evan Rodrigues (UFA), Mark Jankowski, Zach Aston-Reese, Casey DeSmith
Back in 2021, Pettersson was an ascending, well-rounded defenseman, locked in for four years of his prime at a reasonable rate. Selected in tandem with Vince Dunn (see below), the Kraken would have the left side of their top-four defense corps locked in for the foreseeable future.
Though original pick Brandon Tanev brought value at times during his tenure in Seattle, he was not even in the top five or six most interesting Penguins players with the benefit of hindsight. I strongly considered Zucker to inject a little more offense into the inaugural team, but Pettersson being four years younger was just too appealing in the end.
San Jose Sharks – Jacob Middleton | Pos: D | Shot: L | Age: 25
From a relatively limited set of options, two names stood out on San Jose’s unprotected list: defenseman Jake Middleton and forward Ryan Donato. Donato was ultimately non-tendered by the Sharks and went on to sign with Seattle in free agency, so there was no “need” in this hindsight draft to select Donato (more on Donato in a moment). That left Middleton, who is an above-average third-pair defenseman on a cheap contract. Middleton would likely serve as healthy-scratch depth and valuable insurance on a stacked Kraken blue line in Year 1.
St. Louis Blues – Vince Dunn* | Pos: D | Shot: L | Age: 24
Contract – RFA (signed to $4,000,000 cap hit through 2022-23 post-draft)
Other players considered – Jake Walman, Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz (UFA)
In reality, the Kraken selected Vince Dunn, a young, high-upside defenseman. Dunn has proven that pick right. He has been one of the most valuable players left unprotected in 2021 and a stalwart on Seattle’s top pair (in the post-Giordano era, at least). He remains one of the three-or-four most valuable players obtained by the Kraken in this re-draft.
Tarasenko was a popular name at the time as one of the few “first-line” forwards available. He had taken a step back, was on a big contract, and there were injury questions casting doubt on whether he’d be worth it. In fact, Tarasenko likely was “worth it” as an offense-first player. But his defense has always been quite poor, and there were enough other options out there to avoid sacrificing the team’s defensive identity. Plus, Dunn is just a younger and better player. So, it was easy in the end. Similar to the situation with the Pittsburgh pick, I couldn’t justify moving to an older, slightly lesser player just because he could bring frontline scoring.
Tampa Bay Lightning – Yanni Gourde* | Pos: C/F | Shot: L | Age: 29
Other players considered – Alex Killorn, Ross Colton, Ondrej Palat, Blake Coleman (UFA)
Yanni Gourde was the on-ice standard-bearer and an off-ice leader for the Seattle Kraken for the length of his tenure. He was the team’s best player in a forgettable inaugural season and the driver of perhaps the best third line in hockey during the team’s second year. In some sense, he’s the only right pick from Tampa Bay.
That said, Tampa Bay had a lot to offer. I was at least momentarily tempted to pivot toward Alex Killorn, a top-six winger who continued to score in our five-year sample, and Ross Colton, a younger, ascending bottom-six player.
Yanni Gourde (Photo/Brian Liesse)
Toronto Maple Leafs – Jared McCann* | Pos: F | Shot: L | Age: 25
Other players considered – Zach Hyman (UFA), Frederik Andersen (UFA)
The easiest choice in this entire exercise is to draft Jared McCann again. According to Evolving Hockey, no other player eligible to be selected in the Expansion Draft has generated more on-ice shot-quality value than McCann. He is second only to Duchene in total points among unprotected players with team control at the time of the draft. McCann was a home-run pick then and the only choice again in retrospect. It’s chilling to think of what the Kraken’s first five years might have looked like without McCann.
Vancouver Canucks – Kole Lind* | Pos: F | Shot: R | Age: 22
Contract – RFA (signed to $874,125 cap hit through 2021-22 post-draft)
Other players considered – Jimmy Vesey (UFA), Jalen Chatfield (UFA), Guillaume Brisebois
If the Expansion Draft was a game for the 30 clubs potentially losing players, in a sense the Vancouver Canucks won it. No team had fewer viable players it could lose than Vancouver. So, that’s something for the Canucks to celebrate, I guess.
I stuck with the Kraken’s original pick Kole Lind. He has not established himself in the NHL, but he posted gaudy AHL numbers and was a big part of a few deep playoff runs at that level. He was solid depth to have during his time in the Kraken system.
Author’s Note: I had originally indicated I would select Jalen Chatfield in this position, but an astute reader pointed out that Chatfield was a “Group 6” unrestricted free agent and not a restricted free agent at the time of the draft. Given our rules, that takes him outside of our consideration. This caused me to adjust this pick and one other (Chicago) to rebalance the team’s depth.
Washington Capitals – Garnet Hathaway | Pos: F | Shot: R | Age: 29
Other players considered – Vitek Vanecek*, Nic Dowd, Brenden Dillon
Hathaway is a hard-to-play-against, defense-first, bottom-six player who can handle heavy penalty-kill minutes. His hitting, energy, and all-around hard-nosed approach fills the void created by passing on Tanev.
The original pick, goalie Vitek Vanecek, has some merit here. He has proven to be more like a backup-quality goalie over the course of his career, but that’s still a good player to have, particularly as insurance in Year 1. If there were a reasonable path toward keeping three goalies on the NHL roster, I may have done it.
Winnipeg Jets – Dylan DeMelo | Pos: D | Shot: R | Age: 28
DeMelo is a quality, prime-aged right-shot defenseman on a bargain contract (three years, $3 million AAV remaining). He’s an easy choice and would be a stalwart in the top four for the Kraken.
The Kraken’s real pick, Mason Appleton, had facts to recommend him at the time, but the fit in Seattle did not work.
* * *
Free Agency – Jaden Schwartz | Pos: F | Shot: L | Age: 29
Following the completion of the expansion process, we would have the Kraken sign Donato and Schwartz. Donato was a significant net positive in his first season, providing valuable depth goal scoring on a minimum contract. Schwartz missed a good deal of time over five years. But this re-drafted team needed another top-nine forward, and Schwartz always contributed when he was out there. It’s not a great contract to have, but maybe a necessary one.
Marcus Johansson was another cheap, quality signing that I considered, but with the benefit of hindsight, we can commit to Geekie as an offense-first winger in lieu of bringing in the veteran Swede.
Alex Wennberg was a very useful player for the Kraken, but with the selection of Henrique (and to a lesser extent Compher), there was just no place for him in the lineup. For a while, I considered drafting Stolarz and staying away from Henrique in favor of signing Wennberg again. But I landed where I did in an effort to generate more offense.
Contrasting narratives
The talking points surrounding this version of the Seattle Kraken going into Year 1 would have been quite different from what we actually got. In contrast with the praise for acquiring Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger, analysts would have (fairly) wondered whether this Seattle team had even one tandem-quality goaltender.
Beyond that, pundits would have questioned whether the Kraken erred in betting big on the risky, high-priced Matt Duchene and Adam Henrique. In comparison with the real Kraken draft, which eschewed any “bad” contracts, there would have been a narrative that Seattle may have made mistakes there.
Recapping the draft
Assuming that some type of pre-season trade can materialize for Soucy and Zadorov, our expansion process gets us the following 23-man roster (plus one player on IR) to begin the season:
If trades prove impossible for some reason, Will Borgen and Jake Middleton would likely go to waivers, and the team would likely lose both. Soucy and Zadorov would be a healthy scratches to start.
On the other hand, based on real-world events, it’s likely that the following players would make it through waivers for inaugural-season AHL assignment:
Assuming Zadorov and Soucy are out, the team’s five-year cap sheet would look like this:
This team would project to score in the range of 250 to 260 goals, which would be around league average. On the defensive side of things, the goaltending would be below average in Year 1. But the blue line should be a strength, probably ranking in the top quarter of the league.
All told, could this be a Year 1 playoff team? It’s close. The team should at least be in contention down the stretch.
What we learned
The Kraken left some future value on the table with their Expansion Draft picks. This is not surprising for a team notoriously bereft of a crystal ball.
That said, even a “best-case scenario” of draft picks and free-agent signings like the one set forth above yields only a competitive team, not a first-year Stanley Cup Finalist. This underscores that without a fundamentally different or more creative approach, a Vegas-style outcome wasn’t really on the table.
Could the team have been more inventive? I suspect so, but we cannot say that definitively. We just do not know what the conversations with other teams (and players) looked like at the time. It’s reasonable to believe other teams were more circumspect after dealing with Vegas years earlier.
Regardless, I hope you enjoyed that trip down memory lane as much as I did. Did it spur any thoughts for you? What would you have done differently? Let us know in the comments below.
Curtis Isacke
Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on Twitter and Bluesky @deepseahockey.
Washington is one of nine states with no state income tax. Within those nine states are six NHL teams:
Florida Panthers (Florida)
Tampa Bay Lightning (Florida)
Dallas Stars (Texas)
Nashville Predators (Tennessee)
Vegas Golden Knights (Nevada)
Seattle Kraken (Washington)
NHL teams span the United States and Canada, and income tax rates vary by country, state, province, and city.
Let’s start with a blanket disclaimer. Taxes vary significantly based on an individual’s situation. This article will focus on how income tax applies at a high level.
First, we’ll look at how NHL players are taxed and run through some hypothetical examples. Then we’ll determine whether the Kraken benefit from playing in a state without an income tax.
Types of income tax
Income taxes can be assessed at the federal, state or provincial, and city levels. Many jurisdictions use marginal tax rates.
This chart shows the top marginal tax rate for each team’s location, which provides a rough indication of how states rank from lowest to highest income tax.
Looking at this graph alone, it appears the Kraken and other no-income-tax teams have a significant advantage when it comes to signing players. But the way taxes are calculated is more complicated and is not based solely on a player’s team location.
Duty days
NHL players don’t just pay taxes where their team is based. They can also owe taxes in locations where they travel for work. These are calculated using “duty days.” Games, practices, team meetings, road travel, and other team-related activities can count as duty days.
There are 185 days in the NHL regular season. With training camp and preseason added, we’ll round that number to 200 duty days.
For example, the Seattle Kraken will travel to Boston this season. Let’s assume they spend two duty days in Massachusetts and the player makes $10 million per year (there are no Kraken players making $10 million currently, but this gives us easy math).
Massachusetts has a 5 percent state income tax if income is under $1 million. The player’s Massachusetts income would represent two of his 200 duty days.
The calculation would be:
This calculation continues for each state or province where the player works.
Crossing the U.S.-Canada border can add another layer. So can playing in cities that impose their own income taxes. You can see how this gets complicated quickly.
Profile players
Let’s look at estimated taxes for players across all 32 NHL teams.
We’ll use five salary levels: $900,000, $3 million, $6 million, $10 million, and $15 million.
The model assumes 88 games, including an 84-game regular season and four preseason games.
It also assumes two duty days for each of 44 road games. That produces 88 road duty days and 112 home duty days.
The 84-game regular-season schedule breaks down as follows:
Four games against each divisional opponent: 28 games
Three games against each non-divisional conference opponent: 24 games
Two games against each team in the other conference: 32 games
Divisional and interconference matchups have equal numbers of home and road games.
The three-game conference matchups are different. Some teams will play twice at home, while others will play twice on the road.
That creates some variability because the tax rate depends on where those additional road games are played.
Division and conference alignment also matter.
Division
Average tax rate
Pacific
46.8%
Atlantic
46.5%
Metropolitan
45.7%
Central
42.4%
Canada and California have some of the league’s highest income tax rates. The Pacific Division includes six teams from Canada and California which causes an uptick in the division due to road duty days in high-tax locations.
Residency
The player profiles above assume the player establishes tax residency where their NHL team is located. If they do not, taxes will also depend on the rules of their primary residence.
Every jurisdiction has different residency rules. However, several factors commonly help determine someone’s primary tax residence:
Maintaining a permanent year-round residence
Where a spouse or children live
How much time the person spends in a jurisdiction
Residency is highly dependent on each player’s circumstances. Establishing residency can be easier when a player’s spouse and children move with him and maintain a year-round home.
It can be more difficult for young prospects. Players on entry-level contracts may find it harder to afford a year-round residence, and without a spouse or children they may have fewer personal ties that support establishing residency there.
The key here is just because a player plays in a high-tax location, such as Toronto, does not necessarily mean all his income faces Toronto’s tax rate.
Signing bonuses
Another wrinkle in taxes is how NHL compensation can come in the form of salary or signing bonuses.
The Canada-U.S. tax treaty handles signing bonuses differently from regular salary. Tax on qualifying signing bonuses can be capped at 15 percent.
This can particularly benefit U.S. residents playing in Canada.
For example, a U.S. player in Canada would pay only 15 percent Canadian tax on a qualifying signing bonus. He would then owe up to an additional 22 percent (to get to 37 percent) in U.S. federal tax on that income, subject to applicable foreign tax credits.
Auston Matthews example
Auston Matthews is an Arizona resident for tax purposes. He maintains a year-round home there and has family ties to the state.
His contract also pays most of his compensation through signing bonuses.
About 94 percent of his four-year contract comes through signing bonuses, totaling $49.65 million of the $53 million contract.
His actual salary is therefore near the league minimum. Matthews is scheduled to earn $11.08 million in 2026-27. Of that, $10.18 million is a signing bonus and $900,000 is salary.
Here’s how the estimated tax bill breaks down:
$1.53 million: 15 percent Canadian tax on the $10.18 million signing bonus
$2.19 million: Approximately 22 percent additional marginal tax to the IRS
$254,000: Arizona state income tax at 2.5 percent
$451,000: Estimated duty-day taxes tied to his $900,000 salary
Despite Toronto’s overall top income tax rate of roughly 53.5 percent, Matthews’ estimated effective tax rate is about 39.9 percent.
That leaves approximately $6.66 million of his $11.08 million in compensation after income taxes.
Leo Carlsson example
Let’s look at another player who has been all over hockey news after signing an $18 million offer sheet.
Leo Carlsson is a Swedish citizen who plays in another high-tax location: Anaheim, California.
Roughly 95 percent of Carlsson’s $90 million contract, or $85.3 million, comes through signing bonuses.
For the upcoming season, he will receive a $19.95 million signing bonus and $850,000 in salary.
Here’s how the estimated tax bill breaks down:
$7.33 million: 36.75 percent federal income tax
$2.62 million: 13.15 percent California state income tax
$435,000: Estimated duty-day taxes on his $850,000 salary
Carlsson will earn $20.8 million and pay an estimated $10.39 million in taxes, an effective rate of 49.95 percent.
That assumes he is considered a California resident for tax purposes. Carlsson spends his offseason in Sweden. If Sweden is considered his tax residence, he could also be subject to Sweden’s tax rules. Using a Swedish income tax rate of 50.6 percent, Carlsson could owe roughly another $125,000 as a tax top-up.
Had Anaheim not matched the offer sheet, Carlsson’s estimated take-home pay in Philadelphia would have increased by about $870,000 to $11.26 million.
Stanley Cup champions
Going back to the 2005 lockout, 17 of the past 21 Stanley Cup champions come from teams that rank in the league’s lower half in terms of income tax rates.
The trend becomes even more pronounced recently.
The past seven Stanley Cup champions have come from eight teams ranked in the league’s lowest-tax quartile. Those eight include the six teams in states without an income tax, plus Colorado and Carolina.
Does this help the Kraken?
The short answer is yes, but the benefit depends heavily on each player’s tax residency.
When a player establishes residency where his team plays, the difference can be substantial. In some examples, take-home pay differs by 30 to 35 percent between the lowest- and highest-tax locations.
Across every salary level in this model, Seattle ranks among the six teams with the lowest estimated taxes. Those six are all the teams located in states without a state income tax. However, players need to establish Washington as their tax residence to realize the full benefit.
Philipp Grubauer lives in the Pacific Northwest year-round. Former Seattle Kraken, Jamie Oleksiak, used to call the Seattle area home year-round. Many players, however, spend their offseason somewhere else.
Non-U.S. players could receive a significant tax benefit from establishing residency in Washington. U.S. players can benefit as well, although the difference may be smaller unless they are coming from places such as California or New York City.
For the right player, the tax savings could make Seattle financially attractive.
Millionaires’ tax
Washington has passed a millionaires’ tax scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2028. That could significantly reduce Seattle’s current tax advantage for NHL players.
For stars earning north of $10 million, the new tax would put Seattle in the top third of the league’s highest tax locations.
For established middle-six players, Seattle would move closer to the middle of the league, while it would remain one of the lowest-tax locations for prospects and players earning near the league minimum.
Jason Robertson provides an interesting example.
Robertson recently rejected a $15 million contract from the Kraken and eventually signed a one-year, $12 million deal with Dallas.
At first glance, leaving $3 million on the table seems remarkable. But once Washington’s millionaires’ tax takes effect, the estimated take-home amounts become much closer. As shown above, a $15 million Seattle salary would produce approximately $7.7 million in take-home pay. Recognizing Robertson’s new deal will expire before the new tax kicks in, it’s still worth noting that a $12 million salary in Dallas would produce approximately $7.3 million in take-home pay.
That’s a difference of only about $400,000, and that’s before we take into account the fact that the cost of living is at least 25 percent cheaper in Dallas compared with Seattle.
It’s still meaningful money, but a $400,000 delta between the Seattle offer and the Dallas offer is nowhere near the $3 million discrepancy we saw on the contracts’ face values.
There is obviously more involved in Robertson’s decision than taxes. Still, the example illustrates how different income tax rates can produce surprisingly similar take-home pay.
Final thoughts
I know everyone’s favorite topic is taxes, but all good things must come to an end.
There are also factors beyond NHL salary, including endorsements or sales tax, that can further complicate a player’s tax situation. Ultimately, taxes need to be evaluated player by player. Residency, contract structure, family circumstances, and salary levels can all change the equation.
Seattle’s lack of state income tax does provide the Kraken with an advantage today, but how meaningful that advantage is depends on the player. And beginning in 2028, the equation could look much different.
If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below.
Blaiz Grubic
Blaiz Grubic is a contributor at Sound Of Hockey. A passionate hockey fan and player for over 30 years, Blaiz grew up in the Pacific Northwest and is an alumni of Washington State University (Go Cougs!). When he’s not playing, watching, or writing about hockey, he enjoys quality time with his wife and daughter or getting out on a golf course for a quick round. Follow @blaizg on BlueSky or X.
Earlier in the season, we compared Seattle Kraken data from the team’s winning streaks and losing streaks. Now that the season is over, I wanted to revisit that analysis and break the season into three buckets.
Opening stretch: Oct. 9, 2025, to Dec. 19, 2025, 12-14-6 record in 32 games
Pre-Olympic break: Dec. 20, 2025, to Feb. 5, 2026, 15-6-3 record in 24 games
Post-Olympic break: Feb. 6, 2026, to April 17, 2026, 7-17-2 record in 26 games
The buckets are not equal in games played, but they are big enough sample sizes to learn about the differences in how the team was performing during those times. Those periods also make sense to use for this analysis, because the Kraken had very different success rates in each stretch.
Opening stretch
The opening stretch featured a team that showed promise, started hot, then went ice cold.
Through the first 23 games of the season, the Kraken were 11-6-6. That put them second in the Pacific Division and 10th overall in the league. That stretch carried them to Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, 2025.
At the time, it looked like new head coach Lane Lambert’s system was working. The Kraken were competing and winning in the first quarter of the season.
Then, after Turkey Day, the season turned. Seattle went 1-8-0 and dropped from 10th in the league to 31st.
Pre-Olympic break
Just when many were counting the Kraken out, they became the hottest team in the Pacific Division before the Olympic break.
Seattle went 15-6-3 and surged back into the playoff conversation. The Kraken had the fourth-best record in the NHL during this stretch.
With a little more than two-thirds of the season complete, it looked like the Kraken had found their way. Outside of the 1-8-0 stretch, Seattle had played 47 games at a .649 points percentage.
The Kraken headed into the break full of confidence and sitting third in the Pacific Division.
Post-Olympic break
After the break, the Kraken could not find a shred of confidence. They free-fell out of the playoff picture.
Seattle went 7-17-2, which ranked 31st in the league during this stretch. The only team worse was the Toronto Maple Leafs, who finished one spot ahead of the Kraken in the NHL Draft Lottery odds and eventually won the first overall pick.
The Kraken finished 27th in the NHL standings and landed the seventh overall pick in the upcoming draft.
Expected vs. actual goals
The Kraken used a system that relied heavily on defensive structure. That came at the cost of offense, but during the pre-break stretch, Seattle found the best balance of the season.
The Kraken scored 3.42 goals per game during that run, their highest mark of the three buckets. They also had their best defensive results, allowing 2.58 goals per game.
During their worst stretch, the post-break run, the Kraken generated their lowest expected goals for at 2.58 per game. Scoring dipped, but the bigger issue came at the other end.
Seattle allowed a season-high 3.69 goals per game after the break. That was significantly higher than its expected goals against of 3.17, suggesting the defensive structure and goaltending both struggled.
One data point stands out. During the pre-break run, Seattle had its highest xGA of the season at 3.22. But the Kraken allowed only 2.58 goals per game, indicating they received elevated goaltending during that stretch.
Team goaltending
The team goaltending numbers aligned closely with Seattle’s win-loss record in each bucket.
During the pre-break stretch, when the Kraken were winning, goaltending hit a season high in both save percentage (.915) and goals saved above expected (15.24).
The opposite was true during the post-break stretch. Seattle’s save percentage dropped to .877, and its goals saved above expected fell to -13.65. Both were season lows.
Scoring first
If you pulled the numbers from the scoring-first chart, they would look almost identical to the team save percentage chart above.
More often than not, teams that score first go on to win the game. The Kraken scored first in 41 games, exactly half of their season, and went 24-13-4 in those games.
Overall, that sounds like a decent record. It also highlights the importance of scoring first. The issue came after the Olympic break. Seattle had a losing record when scoring first, even though it scored first exactly half the time in each bucket.
That shows the Kraken had a hard time protecting leads. It becomes even clearer when looking at games where the Kraken held a two-goal lead at any point.
Seattle won 23 straight games when holding a two-goal lead to start the season. But in the final 20 games, the Kraken held a two-goal lead seven times and went just 4-2-1. One of those wins came in overtime.
Percentage of time leading
Game strategy can change depending on whether a team is leading, tied, or trailing.
With Seattle’s defensive strategy, the Kraken often seemed comfortable playing with the game tied. But after the break, there was a dramatic uptick in the amount of time spent trailing.
That forced Seattle to chase offense. When teams chase offense, defensive breakdowns tend to follow, which helps explain why Seattle’s goals against jumped after the break.
Shots
Looking at shot volume, it is interesting that the Kraken were at their best when taking fewer shots.
During the pre-break stretch, when Seattle won the most games, the Kraken averaged only 24.9 shots on goal and 50.1 shot attempts per game. They also allowed their most shots against during this span, which again points to how important goaltending was during that run.
Here is a breakdown of expected goals from shots from the low-, medium-, and high-danger areas.
Overall, the Kraken had a lower offensive xG than their opponents in each bucket. It is hard to win consistently over a full season when the opponent generates more expected offense.
Special teams
Finally, let’s look at special teams.
The penalty kill finished 31st in the NHL. Technically, it could have been worse, but not by much. There is far more room to improve in the positive direction next season.
John Barr created a 10-game moving average of the penalty kill that can be viewed here.
The power play finished 21st in the NHL, solidly in the bottom half of the league.
The biggest takeaway is that Seattle’s power-play xG per 60 dropped to its lowest total during the third of the three buckets at 5.44. To rub salt in the wound, the Kraken scored only 2.99 goals per 60.
Watching the games live, it seemed like the Kraken started taking more shots from the point after the Olympic break. Here is a heatmap of the power-play shots in each bucket.
At first glance, the intent looks similar in each bucket. The Kraken wanted to get the puck to the net front, where most of their shots came from. They also generated shots from the wings near both face-off dots.
I added an orange line to the heatmap, 10 feet from the blue line, and counted the number of shots from that area in each bucket.
There are two takeaways:
The percentage of point shots increased to 12 percent. Those are typically low-percentage shots and are easier for goaltenders to control.
In the opening stretch and pre-break buckets, the point shots were more tightly grouped. In the post-break bucket, they spanned a larger portion of the blue line.
That could indicate a change in strategy, with the Kraken shooting from everywhere to get pucks to the front of the net. But it also felt like they were rushing shots.
For comparison, Kraken opponents took only 4.8 percent of their power-play shots from the point against Seattle’s penalty kill. It should be noted that the special teams data only looks at 5-on-4 power-play situations and 4-on-5 penalty-kill situations.
Hot and cold
The Kraken had a hot-and-cold season where goaltending, defense, and offense all had to align for a full 60 minutes to earn a win.
The team had sustained stretches where that formula worked. But the lows also showed Seattle does not have enough offensive firepower to consistently compete when it falls behind.
The finish to the season is not all bad. The Kraken are set to get their fifth top-10 pick in the NHL Draft on June 26.
Meanwhile, although the Kraken are done for the season, the Coachella Valley Firebirds continue to amaze. They are advancing to the AHL Pacific Division Finals against the Colorado Eagles, giving Seattle’s prospect pool more valuable playoff experience.
All data was sourced from MoneyPuck.com and the NHL play-by-play data.
Feel free to leave a comment below and continue the conversation.
Blaiz Grubic
Blaiz Grubic is a contributor at Sound Of Hockey. A passionate hockey fan and player for over 30 years, Blaiz grew up in the Pacific Northwest and is an alumni of Washington State University (Go Cougs!). When he’s not playing, watching, or writing about hockey, he enjoys quality time with his wife and daughter or getting out on a golf course for a quick round. Follow @blaizg on BlueSky or X.
In a year that was expected to be a major step forward for Seattle Kraken center Shane Wright, the 22-year-old took a noticeable step back, at least statistically.
Once touted as one of the next faces of hockey during his junior days in the Ontario Hockey League, Wright’s name came up throughout this season in trade rumors, while he’s seen reduced responsibilities and has been stuck in bottom-six roles.
Given it was his second full season, you could chalk it up to a sophomore slump. But there are underlying concerns with his contributions.
Correlation isn’t always causation, but with the Kraken missing the playoffs for the third consecutive season, there is speculation that a change of scenery could happen as soon as this offseason.
So let’s take a look at Wright’s tenure in Seattle so far and consider whether Wright is a player the Kraken should keep.
Development and early returns
It was consensus for months that Wright would be the No. 1 pick to Montreal in the 2022 NHL Draft. He himself, in interviews, believed he “deserved to be taken first overall.”
But then, one thing led to another, and Montreal came to the podium and selected… Juraj Slafkovsky. Whoa.
No one could have guessed Wright would be available at all, let alone at No. 4. Seattle took him, and quickly had to come up with a plan for such a highly touted prospect.
Ineligible for the American Hockey League because of his age, Wright tried to quickly make the jump to the NHL but looked out of place initially and only got eight games in each of 2022-23 and 2023-24. And for as ceremonious as his entrance into the NHL was, his early career since has lacked the same luster.
The first few years in the organization were adventurous to say the least. In that 2022-23 season, he split time between the Kraken, a conditioning stint in Coachella Valley, Team Canada at the World Juniors, and eventually joined the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires.
In 2023–24, he joined the Firebirds full time, beginning to adjust to the pro level before brief call-ups to Seattle. By 2024–25, Wright became a regular in the Kraken lineup. His first full season is when he began to show glimpses of the player he could be.
With 19 goals and 25 assists in 78 games, he spent most of the season centering knowledgeable and consistent veterans. For the majority of the season, he was with Oliver Bjorkstrand, who had 16 goals in 61 games in 2024-25 before being traded, as well as Eeli Tolvanen who had 23 goals.
This past season, Wright’s totals dipped to 12 goals and 15 assists in 74 games. The team around him didn’t do him as many favors. Ranking 28th in team goals for, Wright spent a good chunk of the year on a youthful line with Berkly Catton and Kaapo Kakko, who each had their share of inconsistencies.
Wright’s utilization
Taking a closer look at Wright’s offensive production, he was more focused on attacking near the front of the net this season compared with 2024-25, when his production was more sprawled out in the zone and unpredictable.
While his shot production and offensive heat maps remained largely similar to his output in 2024-25, his shooting percentage dropped from 20.9 percent to 12.4 percent.
In 2024-25, he was a little more sporadic with his shot attempts. He had five goals from beyond the hash marks and spread his production throughout the offensive zone. To his credit, although he didn’t score as much, Wright was focused on getting to the high-danger areas of the ice this season.
The situations Wright was utilized in shifted. He was used 4.5 percent more in the offensive zone by the Kraken this year compared to 2024-25. He wasn’t relied upon as much in the defensive zone, taking 107, or 5.2 percent, fewer defensive-zone draws.
Despite the lessened role in defensive situations, Kraken head coach Lane Lambert still has hope for Wright and his future, whether it be for Seattle or elsewhere. He liked the improvements that he’s shown throughout the year as a 200-foot player, even if the offensive results haven’t been there.
Lane Lambert had some interesting things to say about Shane Wright. “Everybody's going to look at Shane Wright’s season and go, ‘Oh, gee, he had this many points, and he had that many points last year.’ Ask Shane if he felt like he's a better player now than he was at the… pic.twitter.com/j2zXYLEQ5X
But still, incremental improvement isn’t exactly what’s envisioned from a top-five talent. It’s becoming increasingly evident Wright doesn’t have the same draw like he once did.
During Jason Botterill’s postseason press conference, Wright was referred to only once, and that was in passing when talking about all of the young players on the team.
Trade value and comparable cases
It’s tough to gauge Wright’s value, given the uniqueness of his situation. Again, he’s still only 22 years old.
There’s the obvious worry that if Seattle were to trade him, he would land elsewhere and immediately find the offensive dynamic the Kraken had been hoping to unlock. Sometimes though, it’s just best for a player and an organization to go their separate ways. Are we at that point with Wright and the Kraken?
While the majority of the players drafted in the top five between 2011 and 2021 have stayed with their original teams, 36 percent of them were moved within the first five seasons.
One comparable situation is when the former Arizona Coyotes traded Dylan Strome. Like Wright, Strome was a former top-five pick who wasn’t living up to his lofty expectations right away, regardless of whether they were fair or not. Still, people were impatient with him.
The Coyotes dealt Strome to the Chicago Blackhawks after only 48 games in the NHL. Since being dealt, Strome has become a consistent player in the NHL for the Blackhawks and now the Washington Capitals. While the Coyotes—now the Utah Mammoth—would have loved if Strome panned out for them, they still received a valuable and consistent player in Nick Schmaltz, who has been a core player for the Arizona/Utah organization since.
It’s a difficult conversation to avoid. There are many factors to consider when moving on from a player as young as Wright. There’s lots of risk and lots of potential reward.
Do you think the Kraken should trade Wright? And if so, what could they potentially get in a return for him?
When Bobby McMann entered the Seattle Kraken lineup in the middle of March, he helped lead the team to victories on back-to-back days against Vancouver and Florida, while the team maintained the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Since those games, the Kraken have lost nine of their last 10, falling to now 32-33-11, eight points out of a playoff spot with six games remaining in the regular season.
While McMann’s production on offense hasn’t dipped — eight goals and four assists in 13 games with Seattle — the production of the rest of the Kraken lineup has, and they’re paying the price heavily now.
The losing ways continued on Monday night in Winnipeg, with Seattle falling 6-2 to the Jets.
What’s funny about the win for the Jets is these two have essentially swapped places from 10 games ago. Before this stretch, the Kraken were five points clear of Winnipeg in the wild-card race. After tonight, they are now five points back of them.
Kraken head coach Lane Lambert described the team as “Playing for pride,” at this point, which pretty much means they’re ready to throw in the towel on this season.
Takeaway 1: Change for change sake
We’re officially in the “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” portion of this stretch for the Kraken. It really seems like they’re trying to do everything differently. Team leadership had been trying to be looser at practices and on the bench, including Jordan Eberle having more vocality to his leadership style of late.
Now the coaching staff is getting in on the action, as the team now seems to be more focused on trying as many different line combinations as possible, in hopes of finding some untapped chemistry, than it is winning games.
The Kraken switched the lines offensively, which was to be expected with Ryan Winterton back from personal leave and slotting back in on the fourth line. Some other reshuffling included Jared McCann and Kaapo Kakko playing with Berkly Catton on the third line, which did look good when they got their opportunities.
But the major change came on the back end, as for the first time since the inaugural 2021-22 season, Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson — in the same lineup together — were separated. Dunn was paired with Cale Fleury on the top pairing, while Larsson went with Ryker Evans.
Dunn was asked postgame by Piper Shaw of the Kraken Hockey Network what it was like when he found out he wouldn’t be with Larsson tonight.
“It’s definitely alarming when you walk into the rink today and you see that,” Dunn said. “Defintely very different.”
Takeaway 2: Philipp Grubauer injured
One player who has held up his end of the bargain for much of this season has been Philipp Grubauer.
Despite losing four of his last five games, he still had a .900 save percentage during that stretch and was still sprawling out to make miraculous saves. Unfortunately for him, great saves haven’t meant much with an offense as stricken as this one.
Against Winnipeg, he made three incredible point-blank saves on Jets leading scorer Mark Scheifele, keeping the score close at least while he was in the game, but he left halfway through the second period after a seemingly innocent, noncontact play. He froze a puck to get a whistle, and then skated straight to the bench.
Kraken PR later confirmed him out for the game with a lower-body injury. Lambert had no update on his status afterward.
Grubauer has dealt with his fair share of lower-body injuries before, and with the season pretty much dead in its tracks, it might be wise to shelve him for the rest of the season and have him start offseason recovery a little early.
Matt Murray is on the trip with the team, so he could be a backup in Saint Paul against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday (or even play?) if need be.
Takeaway 3: On the bright side…
If you want good news from this one, Seattle still has the fifth-best odds of winning the draft lottery, according to Tankathon, at an 8.5 percent chance. The New York Rangers are tied with Seattle in the overall standings with 75 points, but because of Seattle having more regulation wins, the Rangers have 9.5 percent odds.
The Kraken could still technically wind up with the second-best odds, though that would require Chicago to win all of its games at the end of the season … which is asking a lot, I know.
Anyway, if the Kraken keep falling, then this number will continue to climb. Coincidentally, my insanity levels will climb as well.
Oh well, there’s still time to catch a game at Climate Pledge Arena. After Tuesday in Saint Paul, the Kraken will have one last three-game homestand, wearing the thirds against Vegas on Thursday.
O, CAPTAIN! 🫡 🚨
Nice individual effort there. Eberle gets his own rebound after a wraparound attempt, then scoops a backhander past Hellbuyck.
Bonus Takeaway: Jordan Eberle eclipsed the 25-goal mark with a pretty wraparound effort in the first period, which gave the Kraken their only lead of the game. It’s the first time he’s scored 25 in a season since doing so with the New York Islanders in 2017-18. The longevity of his career continues to be impressive.
