Feel that? The air seems a little fresher than it has the last couple months, right? It’s crisper, cooler, and oddly more… exciting? Do you know what that is?
[Clears throat, takes big deep breath, shouts]: “That’s Kraken hockey, baby!”
The boys are officially back for their third season, and after several weeks of unofficial “captain’s practices” and two days of rookie camp, the real deal training camp begins Thursday.
The opening of camp also marks the start of true roster competition, and while most of the group is back from 2022-23, including the team’s top 10 forwards, top five defensemen, and top goaltender, there are some interesting storylines to watch over the coming weeks.
Let’s dig into those, shall we?
Veterans versus youngsters
Seattle only tinkered with its forward lineup this offseason, replacing departed fourth-line forwards Morgan Geekie, Ryan Donato, and Daniel Sprong with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Kailer Yamamoto, and Devin Shore. Where those newcomers slot in will make the most interesting storylines to watch, because there are also three (relatively) young forwards in Shane Wright, Kole Lind, and Tye Kartye who will be battling for spots on the Kraken.
The veterans
Yamamoto is a lock to make the team. Though he’s only 24 years old, this will be his seventh NHL season (he played nine games with the Oilers in 2017-18 before being returned to the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs). Out of the harsh media environment that is Edmonton, Yamamoto is just one year removed from a 20-goal campaign in 2021-22. We would not be surprised to see a resurgence from him this season with his “hometown” club.
Shore is a depth acquisition and on a two-way contract. He will need to dazzle in pre-season to get an NHL roster spot. He did play 47 games for the Oilers last season, but his signing screams veteran AHL presence with the opportunity to fill in when injuries inevitably happen at the NHL level. The 29-year-old has plenty of experience playing center, though, which is an area of need for Seattle.
Of the veteran players mentioned, Bellemare will be the most interesting case to monitor. With 660 career games under his belt, the 38-year-old brings plenty of NHL experience to the dressing room. But we don’t feel his spot on the team is guaranteed entering camp.
Though he isn’t new to the organization, we should also include John Hayden in the mix of veterans battling for NHL spots. Hayden performed well in a fourth-line role before getting injured against the Oilers last season. He is a proven NHLer, a right-shot forward that can play center, and he brings a physical element the team otherwise lacks.
The youngsters
Even though Lind is the same age as Yamamoto, we still are including him in this “youngsters” group because he’s never broken through as a full-timer NHLer. The most experience he got was in Seattle’s inaugural season, when he played 23 games with the Kraken and scored two goals and six assists.
If Lind was disappointed to be sent to the AHL last season, it didn’t show in his performance there. Instead, he had an enormous season with 30 goals and 32 assists in 72 regular-season games for Coachella Valley, then led the Firebirds to the Calder Cup Finals with a whopping 31 points in 26 playoff games. He is also the only one of the Wright/Kartye/Lind trio that requires waivers to get back to Coachella this season, so Seattle would have to expose him if they want to put him back in the AHL.
When last season ended, we assumed with nearly 100-percent certainty Kartye would be on the Kraken out of this season’s camp. Now, we’re slightly less sure, only because of the offseason signings made by Seattle. Though he was one of the heroes of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the 2022-23 AHL rookie of the year, an underwhelming performance in pre-season and good health among Kraken forwards could still mean Kartye starts the year in Palm Desert. If the team views him as an extra, it will make more sense to let him keep developing with the Firebirds. Still, we’re confident the Kraken have high hopes for Kartye to contribute at the NHL level this season.
And what of the Kraken’s No. 1 prospect, Shane Wright? Well, he has made huge strides in his development over the past four months and looked like a full-grown pro athlete at rookie camp this week. Though it does seem he will be allowed to play in the AHL if he doesn’t make the Kraken out of camp, he has maintained that he is focused on making the NHL roster, and the team seems to want to keep him. But like with Kartye, there’s no sense in keeping Wright if it means he will be watching from the press box most nights.
Shane Wright spoke to media today. Though it sounds like he will be eligible for the AHL if needed, he is fully focused on making the #SeaKraken out of camp. pic.twitter.com/XGQyiwlQp7
While most of the attention will be on the forwards, there is some competition for the last blue line spot(s) as well. Cale Fleury spent most of last season as a healthy scratch, but the team resisted putting him on waivers. Meanwhile, Jaycob Megna was acquired before the trade deadline from San Jose but only played six games for the Kraken. Carson Soucy got replaced by Brian Dumoulin this offseason, so assuming good health and that the team keeps only one extra defenseman, Megna and Fleury will likely be fighting for the last spot.
And we can’t forget about high-flying prospect Ryker Evans. We don’t *expect* Evans to make the Kraken immediately, but he should be near the top of the list to earn a call-up if an injury replacement is needed in season.
Andre Burakovsky set to return
It’s easy to forget that Andre Burakovsky was Seattle’s leading scorer through the All-Star break last season. The team managed without him after he tore his groin, but there was an obvious offensive gap that appeared, especially on the power play.
Burakovsky has been back on the ice for captain’s practices and is expected to be a full participant in camp. His performance will be worth monitoring.
Eyes on the goal crease
The playoffs were a positive experience for Philipp Grubauer, who looked like he had finally put his Kraken struggles behind him. It will be interesting to see what kind of start he gets out to this pre-season, but the real story in the goal crease is determining who will serve as his backup.
Chris Driedger is entering the final year of his three-year, $10.5 million contract. He returned to full health last season after tearing his ACL in the 2022 IIHF World Championship, but Martin Jones had taken his spot as the Seattle backup. So, Driedger got sent to Coachella Valley, only to find that Joey Daccord had full control over the Firebirds’ net. Daccord had a phenomenal playoff run and carried his squad to the finals, coming up one game short of a championship.
The Kraken re-signed Daccord for two years this offseason. Is this the year Daccord gets a chance as a full-time NHL goalie?
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.
Hi gang! First off, we wanted to thank you for your support over the years, dating back to the NHLtoSeattle days, when all we had to talk about was the political landscape of bringing an NHL team to the Pacific Northwest, arena construction updates, and goalie gear. While the content was a little different back then, those were important times for laying the groundwork of our corner of the hockey community, and many of you have stuck with us through thick and thin.
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This Seattle Kraken offseason has been interestingly… UNinteresting. Fresh off a 100-point regular season, a first-round series win over the defending champion Colorado Avalanche, and a Game 7 loss to the Dallas Stars in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, we kept waiting for a big move from Seattle’s front office this summer. We were expecting “Oliver Bjorkstrand for a Bag of Pucks 2.0,” but what we got was a series of under-the-radar backfilling transactions to round out the bottom of the Kraken lineup.
Despite the lack of splashy acquisitions, some finagling was done, and we really haven’t taken stock of the moves that did get made. So, let’s do that here and try to figure out how the team’s depth chart looks now that training camp is on the horizon.
What the Kraken didn’t do this offseason
A void of big moves may not end up being a bad thing. General manager Ron Francis and his staff are clearly thinking about the long-term health of the organization, while fielding a roster that can compete now.
The Kraken proved last season they have enough talent to be a playoff team (and a dangerous playoff team at that), and as our own Curtis Isacke astutely pointed out in July, they are also set up for healthy turnover in the coming years. Their existing veterans will age out, and their contracts will expire just in time for Seattle’s current prospects to become the core of the team.
All that said, we were surprised Seattle didn’t take a bigger swing at building off the momentum created in 2022-23, but maybe we shouldn’t have been. In retrospect, maybe we should have expected a relatively quiet offseason, especially considering all of the Kraken’s top-10 forwards are back (arguably 11 if you include Tye Kartye in that mix), as are seven of the eight defensemen that were with the team to end last season.
When you factor in the emergence of Eeli Tolvanen after he was claimed off waivers mid-season, plus the assumed return of Andrei Burakovsky, the 2023-24 team *should* be just as deep or slightly deeper than the 2022-23 iteration.
What the Kraken did this offseason
The offseason started with a bang, as the Kraken got a big boost to their prospect pool by selecting a whopping 10 prospects in the NHL Draft. Seattle’s draft class was led by first-round pick Eduard Sale at No. 20 overall, along with second-rounders, Carson Rehkopf (No. 50), Oscar Fisker Mølgaard (No. 52), and Lukas Dragicevic (No. 57). By all accounts, the Kraken did very well for themselves in this draft.
They then signed goaltender Joey Daccord to a new contract on June 30, confirming what everyone expected about Martin Jones’s tenure with the Kraken: that it would only last one season. Jones since signed with the Maple Leafs. Daccord, meanwhile, will have a strong chance at being the full-time backup to Philipp Grubauer this season, duking it out with Chris Driedger for the NHL spot in training camp.
When free agency opened a couple days after that, it was a slow drip for Seattle to make any moves whatsoever. Defenseman Brian Dumoulin was the lone add initially, and the Kraken watched their entire fourth line of Daniel Sprong, Morgan Geekie, and Ryan Donato leave for Detroit, Boston, and Chicago respectively, while Carson Soucy headed north to Vancouver.
In the days that followed, Seattle replaced two of their departed forwards with 38-year-old Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Spokane native, Kailer Yamamoto.
The Kraken also gave John Hayden a new one-year contract, re-upped restricted free agents, Will Borgen, Kole Lind, and Cale Fleury, and—after some delay—extended Vince Dunn on a very fair four-year, $29.4 million deal.
Finally, the Kraken signed center Devin Shore on Aug. 31 to a two-way deal, presumably to bring additional competition to camp and to provide veteran depth at both the NHL and AHL levels.
Depth chart
Now that the dust appears to have mostly settled on the offseason, we have a good picture of the team’s depth chart entering 2023-24. Remember, Seattle can keep three extra players on its roster, but if youngsters are slated to be healthy scratches, it may behoove the team to send them to Coachella Valley for playing time.
There are variables to consider when trying to figure out where the young forwards slot into the depth chart.
First, there still has been no official word from the team on if Shane Wright has been deemed eligible for the AHL, though we believe he has. If somehow we’re wrong on that, and the only options for him end up being NHL or OHL, then where he plays this season will be a major storyline again in training camp.
Second, although Tye Kartye was a key piece of Seattle’s success in the playoffs, he does not require waivers to get to Coachella Valley, whereas Kole Lind does require them. This may give Lind an inside shot at the NHL roster, as sending him to the Firebirds would give other teams a chance to pluck him.
It’s odd saying that, because after Seattle’s dismissal from the playoffs, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Kartye would be with the NHL team to start 2023-24. But there are only so many forward spots, both Lind and Kartye deserve a chance with the Kraken, and keeping Lind up is less risky in terms of potentially losing a valuable, young forward to a waiver claim. Kartye will have to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is the guy to keep out of camp to force the Kraken to expose Lind.
Of course, there’s always a chance of a longer-term injury happening in training camp, in which case this dilemma might resolve itself. Or, perhaps both Lind and Kartye beat out veteran players and stick with the team. Keep a close eye on these two players in camp.
On the back end, it will be interesting to see what happens with Jaycob Megna this next month. He was a top-four defenseman in San Jose but only got six games with the Kraken after being acquired before the trade deadline. Similarly, Cale Fleury has been stuck in the press box for two full seasons. Is this the year Seattle finally takes its chances and puts him on waivers to (hopefully) get him some playing time with the Firebirds?
Meanwhile, Ryker Evans is knocking at the door, but Dumoulin’s signing seems to have solidified the team’s six defensemen, assuming good health.
Forwards
Jared McCann // Matty Beniers // Jordan Eberle Andrei Burakovsky // Alex Wennberg // Jaden Schwartz Oliver Bjorkstrand // Yanni Gourde // Eeli Tolvanen Brandon Tanev // Pierre-Edouard Bellemare // Kailer Yamamoto Vying for spots: Shane Wright, Kole Lind, Tye Kartye, Devin Shore, John Hayden
Defense
Vince Dunn // Adam Larsson Jamie Oleksiak // Will Borgen Brian Dumoulin // Justin Schultz Vying for spots: Jaycob Megna, Cale Fleury, Ryker Evans
Goalie
Philipp Grubauer Vying for a spot: Joey Daccord, Chris Driedger
What do you think about Seattle’s chances heading into its third season? How far can the Kraken go with this roster? Let us know in the comments.
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.
Before we get to the meat of this story, a bit of Kraken news, as Joonas Donskoi announced his retirement from professional hockey Sunday via his Instagram account. Donskoi, 31, cited multiple concussions in the post as the reason for his early departure from the game.
Joonas Donskoi has announced his retirement via his Instagram, citing multiple concussions.
Donskoi missed the whole 2022-23 season after getting hurt in preseason.
Selected from Colorado in the Expansion Draft, Donskoi had a tough inaugural season with the Kraken. Although he played 75 games, he scored just two goals and found himself scratched from the lineup on a few occasions. That came after four consecutive seasons of 14 goals or more, so it was a significant dropoff. He then got injured during a preseason game in the lead-up to the 2022-23 season and ended up missing the entire campaign.
Donskoi played seven NHL seasons in total; four with San Jose, two with Colorado, and one with Seattle. He had 80 career goals and added 128 assists in 474 games. He played in a Stanley Cup Final for the Sharks in 2016 and also won a Presidents’ Trophy with the Avalanche in 2021.
Most important, though, Donskoi is one of the nicest people you can encounter. We will very much miss his infectious smile, and we are still grateful for that time he rescued the press corps from a large spider that was crawling across the floor of the Kraken dressing room.
We wish Joonas and his family all the best as they move into the next chapter of their lives.
Training camp is coming
Shifting gears now, the hockey news abyss that is the month of August is almost over, and that means Seattle Kraken training camp is once again right around the corner. The offseason played out in a relatively quiet manner for the Seattle front office, and a lack of big splashes left several questions open as we head toward the third season in franchise history.
We ask those questions here and also try to answer them.
Question 1: Which forwards make the team out of camp?
The moves the Kraken made this offseason were mostly backfilling transactions to cover for players that departed via free agency, namely the team’s entire fourth line and its third-pair left defenseman.
Out went Daniel Sprong, Morgan Geekie, Ryan Donato, and Carson Soucy, and in came Kailer Yamamoto, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, and Brian Dumoulin. Yes, we’re naming more departures from the NHL roster than arrivals to the NHL roster, so there are lingering arguments to be had about who should snag the last couple spots when camp breaks.
Still, with Andre Burakovsky likely to return from a groin tear suffered in February, the forward lineup is mostly full.
Jared McCann // Matty Beniers // Jordan Eberle Andre Burakovsky // Alex Wennberg // Jaden Schwartz Oliver Bjorkstrand // Yanni Gourde // Eeli Tolvanen Brandon Tanev // Pierre-Edouard Bellemare // Kailer Yamamoto
Fighting for spots: Tye Kartye // Kole Lind // Shane Wright // John Hayden
Beyond the 12 forwards listed on lines above, Kartye, Lind, Wright, and Hayden will all be battling to make the Kraken. But if there aren’t injuries, we’re not sure where coach Dave Hakstol will be able to slot those players to get them consistent playing time; one would have to supplant a more veteran forward (could Bellemare, 38, spend time as a scratch this season?).
One would think Kartye has an inside track to the NHL roster after demonstrating during the playoffs that he can play in the Kraken’s top six. The AHL rookie of the year looked like a grizzled veteran in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and notched three goals and two assists in 10 games for Seattle. He then went back to Coachella Valley and picked up right where he left off, adding eight more points in 18 Calder Cup Playoff games. All of that points toward Kartye breaking camp with the big club.
BUT…
There’s a wrinkle here. Remember, Kartye does not require waivers to get to Coachella Valley, whereas Lind does require them. We thought Lind was right on the cusp of making the team last season, only to be sent to the Firebirds, where he too was one of the team’s stars and posted 30 goals and 32 assists in 72 regular-season games, then a whopping 31 points in 26 playoff games.
If Kartye ends up being the guy Seattle wants to keep in the NHL, that could mean the organization would again have to risk losing Lind by placing him on waivers.
These things tend to work themselves out, but it’s worth keeping an eye on how the forward lineup evolves through Seattle’s preseason.
Question 2: Where does Shane Wright play this season?
By the letter of the law, Wright is still technically ineligible to play in the AHL this season because of the rules of the CHL/NHL transfer agreement. Had he played just one more game in the OHL before his Windsor Spitfires were swept out of the playoffs, this would no longer be a topic of conversation, and the Coachella Valley Firebirds would be a viable option.
We know discussions have been happening behind the scenes to determine if the involved leagues will make an exception and allow Wright to play for the Firebirds. We expect he will be cleared to play in the AHL, but nothing has been stated officially on that yet.
Questions remain around Shane Wright’s AHL eligibility this season. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
HOWEVER…
If it doesn’t work out in Seattle’s favor, and NHL or OHL end up being the only options, it will be interesting to see what kind of progress Wright has made this offseason. At the end of his playoff run with the Firebirds, he had started to show readiness for pro hockey and looked great in development camp. But is he ready for the NHL?
Going back to the OHL would be a waste of time for Wright, so if it ends up being NHL or juniors, we think he would stay with the NHL team and again be used sparingly.
That said, we still think the AHL is the best place for Wright at this point, and we think he will be allowed to play there.
Question 3: What happens with Ryker Evans this season?
On the back end, the decision by general manager Ron Francis to bring in Dumoulin on a two-year, $6.3 million deal effectively solidified that Ryker Evans will start the season in the AHL, unless there’s an injury to a left-shot defenseman.
21-year-old defenseman Ryker Evans could factor in on the Kraken blue line in the near future. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
The puck-moving 21-year-old is surely closing in on a spot with the NHL club, though, after he put up 44 points in 71 games for Coachella Valley in the regular season, then 26 in 26 playoff games. Evans is silky smooth and brings an offensive element from the blue line that Seattle lacks.
Meanwhile, with righties Adam Larsson, Justin Schultz, and Will Borgen all back, it does seem like Cale Fleury is destined for the seventh-defenseman role again, doesn’t it?
Question 4: Who will be the backup goalie?
The last two seasons have been turbulent for Chris Driedger, who originally signed his three-year, $10.5 million contract in 2021 expecting to be the starting goalie for the Kraken. Instead, Seattle also signed Philipp Grubauer before the inaugural season, putting Driedger into a true backup spot.
Driedger tore his ACL while representing Canada at the IIHF World Championship after the 2021-22 season ended, then spent the majority of 2022-23 rehabbing. When he came back, Martin Jones (now under contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs) had taken his backup spot, so Driedger was assigned to Coachella Valley.
Back fully healthy, Driedger also struggled to find playing time in the AHL, as Joey Daccord demanded the goal crease down the stretch and carried the Firebirds all the way to the Calder Cup Finals.
Was Daccord’s memorable performance—he had a 2.31 goals against average and .927 save percentage in 16 playoff games for the Firebirds—enough to earn him his first full-time NHL backup role?
Seattle showed loyalty to Daccord, a Group 6 unrestricted free agent, by signing him to a two-year, one-way contract worth $2.4 million this offseason. The front office clearly likes where he’s headed, so it could be Joey’s time.
Question 5: Did the Kraken improve this offseason?
If you’ve been listening to the Sound Of Hockey Podcastthis summer, you’ll know that somebody (not naming names) on that show thinks Seattle regressed this offseason by not adding a high-end scorer to the top of the lineup.
But now that we’ve done the exercise of writing out the depth chart above, that unnamed podcast host (ok, it was me, I admit it!) is starting to come around to the idea that maybe the Kraken will be about as good as they were last season.
Seattle’s success in 2023-24 will hinge on health. With Burakovsky theoretically returning, the Kraken do look deep again, at least on paper. We’re also seeing young players not named Matty Beniers knocking on the door for the first time, which is encouraging for the longer-term outlook of the franchise. And if a guy like Kartye or Lind can snag a spot higher in the lineup, that could be what pushes a more skilled player down, again giving Seattle four scary lines.
The team proved that its top three lines can roll against any lineup in the league, and all those players are back. So, really, the only concern is whether the fourth line—likely composed of some combination of under-the-radar acquisitions and youngsters—can produce in a similar manner to last season’s bottom trio. Again, assuming good health, there’s some potential for improvement there.
What other questions do you have about the Kraken as they head toward camp? Let us know in the comments section.
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.
On June 26, Matty Beniers took the stage at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., to accept the Calder Trophy as the NHL rookie of the year. It was the culmination of a memorable first full pro season for the 20-year-old forward. Beniers scored more than any other rookie, totaling 24 goals and 33 assists in 80 regular-season games. He also played an impressive two-way game, checking difficult top-six forwards night in and night out.
Shortly after the awards ceremony, Kraken ownership and general manager Ron Francis met with Beniers and his agent Pat Brisson. The Kraken were in a busy period between the NHL Draft and free agency but made an appointment with Brisson to circle back on Beniers’s contract. “We said ‘let’s get through . . . a few days and then we’ll start talking,’” Francis recounted a few days later.
So, is the team interested in signing Beniers to a contract extension this summer? “We’d like to do that, for sure,” Francis said.
With Vince Dunn signed, Seattle’s focus may now be on Beniers. So, there is no better time to take a look at Beniers’s contract status, why the Kraken are interested in signing Beniers now, and what it might take to get pen to paper.
Beniers became eligible for a contract extension this summer
The 2023-24 season is the final year of Matty Beniers’s three-year entry-level contract (ELC). Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), a team and player can negotiate and agree to an extension of any multi-year contract, including an ELC, only in the last year of that deal. July 1, 2023, was the first day of the 2023-24 league year, and, as of that date, Beniers became eligible for a contract extension for the first time.
This is an important inflection point when the team and player must grapple with the player’s demonstrated value. Highly drafted players like Beniers have leverage to negotiate for extra performance bonuses in an ELC, but the base compensation package is a fixed amount near the league minimum. In contrast, a contract extension is not limited to any particular structure, except that (1) the term may not go beyond an upper limit of 8 years, and (2) the average annual value (AAV) must fall between an upper limit (20 percent of the salary cap) and lower limit ($775,000).
Upon expiration of the ELC, Beniers is scheduled to be a restricted free agent without arbitration rights. (Need an explainer on anything related to restricted free agency? Check out the appendix to this post.) In theory, if Beniers is not re-signed before next summer, he could talk with other teams and solicit an “offer sheet.” For all intents and purposes, though, this is a contract negotiation between two parties, Beniers and the Kraken.
Beniers and Seattle could be motivated to deal
Can the team and player reach an agreement on a long-term extension? Both sides are likely open to the concept.
From the team’s perspective, there are many positives to a long-term deal. Beniers is an early prime player, still on the upward trajectory of his anticipated aging curve. Securing his services long term based on his performance to date may yield surplus contract value down the road. Furthermore, the salary cap is likely to start escalating at (or almost) five percent per season starting next summer. Locking Beniers in now could look even better in four years when the salary cap is $100 million.
Speaking of which, if the team’s true “window” to compete is in the mid-to-late 2020’s–as I argued in a post earlier this week–minimizing Beniers’s cap hit in that timeframe should be the team’s priority. Signing a long-term deal now is the best way to accomplish that.
On the other hand, the team’s downside on a long-term extension is limited by a CBA rule that allows clubs to buy out remaining years on the contract of a player 25 years old or younger at one third of the remaining contract value. Beniers will not be 26 until Nov., 2028. This means that even in a disastrous scenario, the Kraken would still have flexibility for the majority of the contract term to move on from Beniers with limited salary cap consequences.
For Beniers’s part, a long-term deal also makes sense. Even after the 2023-24 season, he will still be at least five years from unrestricted free agency. A long-term extension would provide him with some security against performance regression or injury. The latter consideration is surely a factor for the slight-framed center. As I will detail below, similar dynamics have led to a spate of long-term deals for similarly positioned young forwards over the last couple years.
Therefore, the key to a successful long-term agreement will be finding common ground on contract AAV. If the sides can’t do that, they may defer further negotiations to next summer or agree to a “bridge” extension at a lower rate. Bridge deals are shorter contracts, in the range of one-to-four years, that cover some but not all of a player’s restricted free agent years. These agreements set up another contract negotiation between the team and player closer to unrestricted free agency.
Bridge deals make sense for mid-roster players or players with high uncertainty in their projections. For example, Seattle and Vince Dunn agreed to a two-year bridge deal after the Expansion Draft. That two-year contract set up this summer’s negotiation. The Dunn example underscores the risk of a bridge deal from the team’s perspective. The team may get a lower AAV for the term of the bridge deal itself, but, oftentimes, the player’s leverage is higher after the bridge deal expires because he is closer to unrestricted free agency. This could cause the team to pay more for less productive, post-peak seasons in order to keep the player. Seattle seemingly avoided that with Dunn by signing him to a deal that ends when he will be 30 years old.
Comparable contracts could guide the negotiations
I gathered contract information from CapFriendly. Matty Beniers has played 90 games and scored 66 points (.733 points per game). Using CapFriendly’s contract comparable tool, I compiled a long list of contracts signed by players as restricted free agents, at a similar age, and with similar games played and points totals at the time of signing.
From this long list I further filtered the results manually, looking for the players that were most similar in point-per-game production and in Evolving Hockey’s Goals Above Replacement (GAR) analytic, which accounts for gameplay contributions beyond point totals.
This process yielded a set of recent contracts with young forwards that will likely serve as a reference point for Beniers and the team. Beniers has less experience and total production than most of these comparables, which weighs against him, but his per-game point production and advanced analytics tend to be similar or better, which weighs in his favor.
For each of these contracts, CapFriendly supplied not only the dollar average annual value (AAV) of the deal, but also the percentage of the salary cap the AAV represented at the time the deal was signed. Using this percentage, I was able to adjust these contracts into a present value by multiplying the percentage by the current NHL salary cap ($83.5 million). This facilitates a fairer, direct comparison to a potential Beniers deal. I refer to this figure as the “cap-adjusted AAV” below.
Let’s dive in.
Reference player: Matty Beniers, Center Statistics at (potential) signing: 90 games played | 66 points | 20 years old
Comparable no. 1: Joshua Norris, Center Contract: 8 years, $7.95 million AAV ($8,049,000 cap-adjusted AAV) Signing date: July 14, 2022 Statistics at signing: 125 games played | 90 points | 23 years old
Contract comparable no. 2: Tim Stutzle, Center Contract: 8 years, $8.35 million AAV ($8,450,200 cap-adjusted AAV) Signing date: September 7, 2022 Statistics at signing: 132 games played | 87 points | 21 years old
Contract comparable no. 3: Nick Suzuki, Center Contract: 8 years, $7.875 million AAV ($8,066,100 cap-adjusted AAV) Signing date: October 12, 2021 Statistics at signing: 127 games played | 82 points | 22 years old
Contract comparable no. 4: Nico Hischier, Center Contract: 7 years, $7.25 million AAV ($7,431,500 cap-adjusted AAV) Signing date: October 18, 2019 Statistics at signing: 156 games played | 101 points | 21 years old
Contract comparable no. 5: John Tavares, Center Contract: 6 years, $5.50 million AAV ($7,139,250 cap-adjusted AAV) Signing date: September 14, 2011 Statistics at signing: 161 games played | 121 points | 20 years old
Contract comparable no. 6: Nazem Kadri, Center Contract: 2 years, $2.90 million AAV ($3,765,850 cap-adjusted AAV) Signing date: September 10, 2013 Statistics at signing: 99 games played | 63 points | 22 years old
Contract comparable no. 7: Logan Couture, Center Contract: 2 years, $2.875 million AAV ($3,732,450 cap-adjusted AAV) Signing date: August 30, 2011 Statistics at signing: 104 games played | 65 points | 22 years old
The comparable contracts above reveal a pretty tight range for a long-term deal between the team and the Calder Trophy winner–an eight-year term at somewhere between $7.15 million and $8.45 million AAV. Failing agreement in that range, a bridge deal might look something like a two-year deal around $3.75 million AAV.
Projecting a contract for Matty Beniers
Based on the comparables above, I’ll project that the Kraken and Matty Beniers agree to an eight-year extension this summer (or early in the 2023-24 season) worth approximately $8 million AAV, give or take a few hundred thousand dollars. This would make Beniers the team’s highest-paid player when the extension kicks in, but keeps him close enough within range of Dunn’s recent $7.35 million AAV contract that he will not carry undue pressure as the team’s singular star player. Any issues in the room with making a 20-year-old the team’s highest-paid player would be mitigated somewhat by the fact that Beniers would still play this coming season under his existing ELC that calls for a base salary of just $897,500.
That said, there are a few reasons to be skeptical that this type of deal will get done. Francis has never signed a player to an eight-year contract. He has also never signed a player to a contract worth more than $37.1 million in total value (Jaccob Slavin was the highest total contract), $7.35 million AAV (Dunn was the highest AAV), or 8.8 percent of total cap hit (Dunn again). It will likely require new highs in each of these measures to sign Beniers long term.
Further, one of Beniers’s closer comparable contracts not included in the above list is Elias Lindholm’s 2015 deal with Francis’s Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes and a 20-year-old Lindholm agreed to a two-year bridge deal worth $2.7 million AAV ($3,156,300 AAV in cap-adjusted terms). Lindholm’s point production at that time (.43 points per game) pales in comparison with Beniers’s pace (.72 points per game), however.
Finally, it is reasonable to point out that Francis resisted giving defenseman Vince Dunn a long-term deal earlier this summer. While many saw an eight-year deal as a foregone conclusion, Francis eventually signed Dunn for just four years.
Beniers’s case is different than Dunn’s case in several material respects, though. First, Beniers is much younger than Dunn, and it is much easier to project him to sustain or improve his performance level to date.
Second, while Beniers’s track record is shorter than Dunn’s, he has not fallen below an above-average performance level at any point in his hockey career. Dunn’s record has been more volatile. As recently as the 2021-22 season, Dunn looked like a talented but mistake-prone, second-pair defenseman.
Third, Beniers has a rare profile. He is a second overall pick and a Calder Trophy winner who plays a premium position and displays leadership qualities on and off the ice. He’s the type of player any team would like to have as a cornerstone. While there are risks, particularly given that Beniers has only one full season of NHL experience, I think the team and player will find common ground on an extension that keeps the young forward in the Pacific Northwest long term.
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.
The deal means the team and player avoid a contentious arbitration hearing, which had been scheduled for July 24. With the contract signed, Dunn now becomes the highest-paid player on the Kraken.
Dunn, selected from the St. Louis Blues in Seattle’s Expansion Draft, blossomed into a top defenseman last season. The puck mover played on the top pair with Adam Larsson throughout the year and quarterbacked Seattle’s power play.
Coming off a two-year deal that paid him $4 million per season, Dunn was the last remaining restricted free agent for the Kraken to sign this offseason. The contract eats up most of Seattle’s remaining cap space, which CapFriendly now projects to be just $934,424.
The Kraken will surely create extra breathing room by placing either Chris Driedger or Joey Daccord on waivers after training camp, but still, if nothing changes between now and then, Seattle will be within spitting distance of the cap. So, this could mean the Kraken front office is close to finished with its offseason tinkering. At this point, any significant upgrades would likely have to come via player-for-player trade, as a futures-for-player trade wouldn’t fit.
A deal months in the making
It is no surprise to see this deal get done. From the day Seattle’s season ended, Francis and Dunn both expressed a desire to get a long-term deal consummated. Dunn told media on locker cleanout day that he was “all in” on the Kraken organization and had every intention of staying in Seattle for the foreseeable future. It was always his expectation that he would be here beyond the upcoming season.
While this contract took longer to get done than the smaller, less complicated ones signed by RFA’s Kole Lind, Will Borgen, and Cale Fleury earlier this summer, it was always going to happen. Kraken fans can breathe a sigh of relief, though, as the looming arbitration hearing would have resulted in a one-year deal being awarded.
What the Kraken have in Vince Dunn
Dunn, 26, had a nice breakout for Seattle last season, and at one point was hearing his name mentioned in Norris Trophy conversations. After his first five seasons in the NHL, he had never scored more than 35 points, but in 2022-23, he erupted for 64 points (14—50=64).
The career season was surely helped by his veteran, stay-at-home defense partner, Larsson, who allowed Dunn to roam more freely and make riskier stretch passes to send teammates on odd-man rushes. Larsson is under contract for two more seasons, so the top pair will likely remain intact at least through 2024-25. This new deal also means Dunn will remain in Seattle throughout the prime of his career, as he will be under contract with the Kraken until he turns 30 years old.
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.
