Have the Seattle Kraken actually improved this offseason?

by Darren Brown | Jul 28, 2026 | Seattle Kraken, Uncategorized

We’ve reached the dog days of the hockey summer, when general managers and other members of NHL front offices pack up and head to their respective cottages. During this period between the quieting of free-agent signings and the start of training camps in September, very little—like, practically zero—business historically gets done between franchises. It’s a time when teams begin to look relatively “set” as they head into the next season.

Much like last summer around this time, I find myself still waiting for news of the big offseason acquisition from the Seattle Kraken, realizing that with every passing day, such a blockbuster becomes less and less likely. I recall asking my co-hosts on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, John Barr and Curtis Isacke, during this period last summer if it was possible the Kraken would actually head into the 2025-26 season with effectively the same roster as the year before. Surely, they wouldn’t run it back, right?

John predicted that was exactly what they would do, and indeed, that’s ultimately what Seattle did. Once this quiet pocket on the hockey calendar arrived, it became clear that Mason Marchment would remain the biggest get of last summer… and we all know how that turned out.

Now, following big promises being made at end-of-season press conferences, it’s looking like the Kraken—after acquiring Mackie Samoskevich, re-signing Bobby McMann, letting Jaden Schwartz, Jamie Oleksiak, and Eeli Tolvanen walk, and taking a painfully public rejection from Jason Robertson—could be all but done altering their roster for next season.

Seattle crumbled in spectacular fashion after the Olympic break in 2025-26 and finished well outside the playoff bubble. After that collapse, it was clear that personnel improvements were needed to get the Kraken into the postseason conversation for 2026-27. Has that happened? Or have they actually gotten worse this offseason?

Improvement or decline?

Whether general manager Jason Botterill has actually improved his club this offseason is hard to say. He was smart not to blow a bunch of his abundant cap space on marginal free agents, but the trade market didn’t work out the way many of us expected and hoped.

On paper, the Kraken lost three veteran players in Oleksiak, Schwartz, and Tolvanen, assuming Tolvanen’s time in Seattle is done. At this point, the 27-year-old Finn remains an unsigned, unrestricted free agent, so he could theoretically return if the Kraken wanted him back. But we will assume here that the Goodship Tolvy has sailed.

To backfill those departures, Seattle added only Samoskevich and 6-foot-9 depth forward Curtis Douglas. What all that amounts to is essentially a wash in terms of offensive production.

Now, Samoskevich could be a great fit. He played down the lineup in his first two full NHL seasons with the Florida Panthers and averaged just 14:28 of ice time last season. At 23 years old, a reunion with his old University of Michigan buddy, Matty Beniers, coupled with an opportunity to play true top-six minutes, could result in a nice boost from his 31 points (15-16—31) in 2024-25 and 32 points (12-20—32) in 2025-26. There is real upside there.

Is the young Samoskevich better than a 34-year-old Jaden Schwartz? I would say yes, although Schwartz was one of the few players in deep sea blue who was consistently willing to go to the dirty areas. Still, call it a slight upgrade from an older veteran to a younger, speedier winger just reaching his prime.

The other piece to remember is that after McMann’s acquisition at the NHL Trade Deadline, Schwartz ended up playing way down the lineup, dropping as low as the fourth line on some nights. Not only did he seem ready to move on, but his fit in the lineup had also become muddied after his return from a scary facial injury—he was clipped in the face by a skate on March 7—that kept him out for a month late in the season.

Schwartz was a good soldier and an impactful player from Day 1 of the franchise, but it was time for the Kraken to let him walk.

As for a Tolvanen replacement, that will almost surely have to come from within. Assuming no other trades before the start of the season, Botterill is banking on young players like Ryan Winterton, Jacob Melanson, Berkly Catton, and others in the system to take additional steps. He has said publicly that he does not want to add a bunch of depth players to block the youngsters out of the lineup.

On the back end, Oleksiak certainly had his fair share of detractors within the Kraken fanbase, so many folks were fine to see him head across the border to sign with the Vancouver Canucks. I, too, got frustrated with Oleksiak’s long stretches of non-physically imposing play—he could truly be a dominant and scary defensive force if he wanted to—but I always thought he was a bit underappreciated by fans. He played hard minutes, blocked shots, and used his long reach to make it difficult for opponents to get to the front of Seattle’s net.

Oleksiak’s role and Lane Lambert’s trust in him certainly eroded as last season went on, though, so it was time for him to move on. What concerns me is that there isn’t an obvious “shutdown” defensive replacement waiting in the wings. It looks like one of Cale Fleury or Josh Mahura will get a more regular role in 2026-27, after each played 23 games for the Kraken last season.

The Bobby McMann X-factor

McMann’s impact on this team’s outlook is perplexing. He ended up being an incredible acquisition for Botterill, potting 10 goals in just 18 games as a Kraken and totaling 29 goals in 78 games between Toronto and Seattle. Botterill said his main priority this offseason was extending McMann, and he was able to bring the speedy winger back for six years at a reasonable $5.75 million annual cap hit.

But why did the Kraken spiral into a pit of misery after McMann arrived? It certainly wasn’t his fault, but something happened after the Olympic break that caused nearly every other player in the room to lose confidence.

Perhaps the summer will give those players an opportunity to reset and clear the negative vibes that were permeating through the dressing room in the closing weeks of the season. And perhaps having McMann around from the start will give him a chance to play some winning hockey in Seattle for a change, something he has yet to experience.

Outstanding business

There are still rumors floating around that the Kraken could be looking to add a player before the start of the season, and let’s not forget that the Shane Wright situation has not been resolved. He has requested a trade and remains on the Kraken roster at this point. Meanwhile, we’re heading into the final seasons of Jared McCann’s and Vince Dunn’s respective contracts. Trading either or both still makes sense, but it feels like we’re past that point in the offseason.

By the way, McCann still posted 20 goals despite ongoing injury woes that limited him to just 52 games in 2025-26. Assuming he is here for the full season (and he did have a procedure done immediately following the end of the season, so perhaps he gets back to full health), could we see a bounce-back campaign from him as he looks for one more big payday?

I say all this as a reminder that it is not set in stone that this is how the Kraken will begin the season. But if I had to guess, this is how the lineup will look on Opening Night.

How to feel about Seattle’s chances

I’ve mostly felt pessimistic about the way things have gone for the Kraken front office this offseason, most notably with Robertson’s rebuff and Wright’s trade request. But I also remember that this team was firmly in a playoff spot at the beginning of February before faceplanting down the stretch.

So, while that pessimism gnaws away at the front of my mind, I also can’t help feeling little tinges of optimism in the back of my mind that perhaps this young group will learn from what caused things to go sideways late in the year. Maybe Lambert can get them to believe in themselves again, and those painful lessons of 2025-26 will help the players see it through and reach the postseason.

That does feel like a long shot, though, doesn’t it?

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.

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Shane Wright requested a trade; where do the Kraken go from here?

by Darren Brown | Jul 9, 2026 | Seattle Kraken, Uncategorized

In a summer of eyebrow-raising moments for the Seattle Kraken, another such instance occurred last week when Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman mentioned in an article that Shane Wright’s agent, Kurt Overhardt, had gone on record to confirm that he had requested a trade for the 22-year-old center.

This wasn’t the most shocking news—Wright’s name had been percolating in trade rumors since the middle of the 2025-26 season, and there had been a growing sense that he wanted out of Seattle. Overhardt’s comments effectively confirmed what many already suspected.

The way the quote was worded, though, with Overhardt stating that Seattle had “agreed” to move Wright, has since been questioned. After all, there’s little reason Kraken general manager Jason Botterill would let it be known to his competitors that he is committed to moving the player, taking away any leverage he might have in trying to get a fair return for the former No. 4 overall pick, who famously dropped from consensus top-pick status just before the 2022 NHL Draft.

Do we believe Botterill has tried to work out a trade to give Wright a new home while also getting a decent return? Yes. Do we believe he’s willing to hold onto a player whose representation has gone public in indicating that he wants out? Also yes.

That said, we have asked around, and we get the sense that Shane Wright’s camp remains optimistic the Kraken will be able to move the center this offseason.

How did we get here?

It is a shame the Kraken have gotten to this position with their once-prized forward prospect. There’s no question Wright fell short of the lofty expectations the organization had for him this past season, especially after his 19-goal rookie campaign in 2024-25 under then-head coach Dan Bylsma, who also oversaw Wright’s successful AHL stint when he scored 22 goals and 25 assists in just 59 games with the Coachella Valley Firebirds in 2023-24.

But something changed this past season under new head coach Lane Lambert. It was clear coming into Training Camp that the Kraken hoped to see Wright take hold of the No. 2 center spot and slide Chandler Stephenson into a bottom-six role.

It is our belief that this was always the plan: Wright would continue to progress and push his way higher up the lineup, while Stephenson would gradually move into a more suitable role after serving as a bridge top-six center and giving Wright time to develop into that position.

That didn’t happen, at least not this past season.

Although Lambert never admitted it publicly, it did seem there were trust issues preventing him from simply handing Wright the bigger role many fans thought he deserved. Wright’s protected minutes and carefully managed face-off deployment offer clues as to what Lambert wanted to see improved, and the coach’s end-of-season presser also implied there was an emphasis on Wright continuing to develop away from the puck.

“Everybody’s going to look at Shane Wright’s season and go, ‘Oh, gee, he had this many points [this year], and he had that many points last year,’” Lambert said. “Ask Shane if he feels like he’s a better player now than he was at the beginning of the year, and the answer would be yes, he does. Sometimes the points can fool you a little bit. I thought Shane got stronger defensively, I thought he got stronger on face-offs, and I thought he improved his 200-foot game. And what I see about that is that that’s a better formula for the future with him than in the past.”

Lambert was making a case that this past season was good for Wright because it helped him form more of a foundation for becoming a complete NHL player. If he can build on that foundation and layer the offensive production back on, then he is on a path toward a successful career.

But Wright apparently does not view it that way and instead believes he is more likely to find that success faster with another organization.

The Kraken have taken a few knocks over the past year, with players like Artemi Panarin and Jason Robertson rejecting trades to Seattle, and now Wright asking to be moved. For what it’s worth, our understanding is that Wright’s trade request does not have anything to do with the city or its fanbase, but rather with finding a place where he believes he has a better opportunity to flourish.

Where do the Kraken go from here?

Again, Botterill does not have to move Wright. If he trades him now, he could be selling low on a player who took a step backward offensively in his sophomore season.

There’s no question, though, that having the trade request become public puts unwanted pressure on the organization to make a deal and likely costs it some leverage, as opposing teams know there’s a desire to get something done. Plus, there’s the lingering potential for serious awkwardness if, come Training Camp, Wright is still a member of the Kraken.

What Botterill and the front office have to remember is that Wright should still be a hot commodity. After all, he is a 22-year-old center who is just one season removed from scoring 19 goals, and he still possesses considerable upside. If the Kraken do move him, it feels likely that he will break out with his new team. That means Seattle has to be careful and patient. They can’t just ship Wright out because he wants to be moved; it has to be a deal that also helps the Kraken.

We’d love to see the kind of trade that brings back a player in a similar situation: a young, skilled forward in need of a change of scenery and fresh start. Somebody who, like Wright, has upside but can also contribute to the Kraken’s roster immediately.

And if Botterill can’t find that? Well, then things could get a little awkward in September.

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.

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A Seattle Kraken view on the Leo Carlsson offer sheet

by Blaiz Grubic | Jul 8, 2026 | Seattle Kraken, Uncategorized

On July 3, the Philadelphia Flyers tendered a massive five-year, $90 million offer sheet to Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson. The deal carries an $18 million average annual value (AAV) and would cost Philadelphia four first-round picks if Anaheim does not match. The Ducks have until July 10 to decide whether to match.

The more I think about that $18 million number, the more I think Philadelphia picked the right amount, because in a way, there might not be a clear winner here. Whichever team ends up with Carlsson gets a 21-year-old potential franchise center. But that team also gets a major cap challenge.

That could create opportunities for the Seattle Kraken.

Seattle is not directly involved in the offer sheet, but it has something one of the teams could need in the near future: flexibility. The Kraken have about $18.4 million in projected cap space, according to PuckPedia, and they have a full 23-player roster.

From a league perspective, this also shifts the restricted free-agent market upward. Obviously, not every RFA is suddenly going to $18 million, or even get close to touching double digits. But more teams may need to pay a premium to keep their best young players away from the offer sheet market.

The salary cap is $104 million this season and is projected to rise to $113.5 million next season and continue increasing in the years ahead. Player salaries are going to keep climbing with it.

That makes the recently inked Mackie Samoskevich contract, which looked good for the Kraken before, look even better now. Seattle signed Samoskevich for three years at $3.85 million AAV. The Kraken front office deserves credit for getting that deal done on July 1 before the Leo Carlsson offer sheet chaos began.

If Anaheim match and keep Carlsson

The most likely outcome still feels like Anaheim matching. Young franchise centers are extremely difficult to acquire, so even at an uncomfortable price, Anaheim general manager Pat Verbeek likely has to match.

Since Carlsson signed the offer sheet, the Ducks also overpaid Pavel Mintyukov on a five-year contract at $7.2 million AAV, a deal made to avoid letting him also get offer sheeted. They also signed 23-year-old defenseman Tyson Hinds to a two-year deal at $900,000 annually. That leaves the Ducks with about $10.2 million in projected cap space and 22 players on their active roster.

The final major piece of business is Cutter Gauthier.

After a 41-goal, 69-point season, Gauthier has plenty of leverage. He is not offer-sheet eligible yet and does not have arbitration rights, but he remains unsigned.

Cutter Gauthier

You might wonder why Gauthier has not received an offer sheet.

The short answer: He cannot.

Gauthier is not yet classified as a Group 2 RFA. To become offer-sheet eligible, a player must meet certain professional experience requirements. For players who sign their entry-level contract at 18 or 19, that means three years of professional experience. A player who is 18 or 19 earns one professional year by playing at least 10 NHL games in a season.

Gauthier has only two years of professional experience under his belt. That gives Anaheim some protection this summer, but it does not remove the pressure. If Gauthier lands in the $13 million to $15 million range, the Ducks would be roughly $3 million to $5 million over the cap, based on their current projection.

The good news for Anaheim is that teams can exceed the cap by 10 percent during the offseason. The Ducks can sign Gauthier first and figure out the rest later, but they must be cap compliant before Opening Night.

The Ducks have players they would likely prefer to move, but several come with modified no-trade clauses and other challenges. Chris Kreider, Alex Killorn, Mikael Granlund, and Frank Vatrano all make between $4.57 million and $7 million annually, and they are all 32 or older.

That does not make them impossible to trade, but it does mean Anaheim could have a difficult time finding takers without getting creative.

Possible Anaheim trade angles

So, how does this affect the Kraken?

If the Ducks match Carlsson and still need to sign Gauthier, Seattle should at least call. Anaheim would need cap relief and may also want defensive help.

Is there a world where the Kraken could offer to take one of those veterans and send back a reasonably priced defenseman and get Anaheim to attach one of their young players? It’s a massive long shot, but what would it take to pry Beckett Sennecke out of Orange County? Hard cap decisions can make teams consider uncomfortable options. Remember, Anaheim already made the difficult choice to trade young defenseman Olen Zellweger to Buffalo to avoid having to sign him to a new contract, and now they’re looking at an even bigger conundrum.

Again, this feels unlikely, but Sennecke would be a huge boost to the Kraken, both now and in the future. He is a 20-year-old right wing coming off a 60-point rookie season, and he fits Seattle’s timeline.

Meanwhile, there’s the currently injured Troy Terry, who is a different type of target. He has been a steady 50- to 60-point player and has four years left at $7 million annually. He also has a 10-team modified no-trade clause and recently had hip surgery, so he will be out until at least November. All those factors complicate things.

Terry would bring skill and production (eventually), but the fit is also not perfect. He is not the most reliable player defensively, which could make it harder for him to fit Lane Lambert’s system.

If Philadelphia lands Carlsson

Philadelphia’s side is more straightforward but still interesting.

The Flyers have about $29.6 million in projected cap space before adding Carlsson. His $18 million cap hit would drop them to about $11.6 million. That sounds manageable, but Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale still need contracts.

If Drysdale lands around $6 million and Zegras pushes toward $7 million, Philadelphia would come up short. That overage would be easier to manage than Anaheim’s potential problem, but it would still require a move.

The Flyers could start the season with 21 players to help become cap compliant. That is not a long-term solution, but it would reduce the urgency to dump salary.

Arbitration wrinkle

Zegras and Drysdale both filed for salary arbitration. That makes them ineligible for offer sheets, but it does not guarantee team-friendly deals.

If an arbitrator awards more than $4,950,080 in a player-elected case, the team can walk away and make the player an unrestricted free agent immediately. That seems unlikely with either player, given their age and upside, though.

More likely, Philadelphia uses the summer 10 percent cushion while it works to become cap compliant. That is where the Kraken could help, but only for the right price.

Possible Philadelphia trade angles

The Flyers players I would call about are Owen Tippett, Matvei Michkov, Jamie Drysdale, and David Jiricek.

Tippett is under contract for six more years at $6.2 million annually. He plays with speed, gets the puck on net and led the Flyers with 28 goals. That is the type of player who should fit Lambert’s system. One might wonder why the Flyers could be willing to move Tippett, but there has speculation out there that Philadelphia is at least listening to calls on him for the right deal.

Michkov, Drysdale, and Jiricek are different cases.

Michkov and Jiricek are young players who are inexpensive now, being that they are on entry-level contracts. They do not help Philadelphia clear much cap space by themselves, so to create savings, one of them would need to be attached to a larger contract.

Drysdale could be a more realistic target because he needs a new deal. But if Philadelphia still values him as a long-term piece, it may prefer to move money elsewhere.

The veteran contract I would target is Rasmus Ristolainen, only if packaged with a young player.

Ristolainen is a 6-foot-5, right-shot defenseman with one year left at $5.1 million. He could slide into Seattle’s top four and would not create long-term cap risk. He also would give the Kraken another Finnish player before the Global Series in November.

The key is the sweetener. Taking Ristolainen by itself should not be the goal. Taking Ristolainen as part of a deal that lands Seattle a promising young player or a legitimate in-his-prime contributor is where it gets interesting.

Philadelphia would also be sending its next four first-round picks to Anaheim if the Ducks do not match the Carlsson offer sheet, which could make the Flyers more interested in draft capital. The Kraken have two first-round picks in 2027, including the pick acquired from Tampa Bay.

That could create a path to a larger deal. Wright could be part of that type of trade, but the return would need to be significant.

The team that misses out

The team that does not end up with Carlsson may still need a center.

That brings the Kraken into the conversation again.

As stated, I personally want Seattle to keep Wright, even though his agent has asked for him to be traded. I still think he is going to blossom, and I do not want the Kraken to give up on him before that happens. Let’s chalk last season up as a sophomore slump and look for him to take a step forward this year.

That said, if a team is looking for young centers, it should call upon the Kraken’s young center emporium. Seattle has Matty Beniers, Berkly Catton, and Shane Wright in the organization, with Jake O’Brien on the horizon.

That does not mean the Kraken should trade any of them. It means general manager Jason Botterill should listen if another team gets desperate.

Talented young centers are at a premium. The Carlsson offer sheet proves that. If another team wants to pay that premium, Seattle should at least answer the phone.

Should the Kraken use an offer sheet?

The Carlsson offer sheet also raises a natural question: Should the Kraken make one of their own?

In most cases, probably not.

The Kraken have the cap space and draft capital to explore the RFA market. But many eligible RFAs have already filed for arbitration, which prevents them from signing offer sheets. The biggest remaining names are players like Connor Bedard and Adam Fantilli.

That sounds fun in theory. In practice, it is hard to see. Offer sheet compensation is based on the average annual value. In Carlsson’s case, the $18 million cap hit is well above the top compensation tier, and if Anaheim does not match, the Ducks receive four Philadelphia first-round picks. A Bedard or Fantilli offer sheet would also hit that top tier.

Philadelphia has shown why an offer sheet can be tempting and has also set the market for how much a team needs to be willing to pay to persuade a young player to sign one. Instead of hoping to win the draft lottery and land a franchise player, the Flyers tried to acquire one directly.

For Seattle, the answer should be no for now. But as the cap keeps rising, this strategy could make more sense in the future. It is hard for a non-playoff team to use this path because its draft picks are too valuable.

For a team in a wild-card spot or sitting third in its division, though, an offer sheet could become a way to improve now instead of waiting on the draft-and-develop path.

Who do you think the Kraken should target in a trade? And is an offer sheet something you want to see Seattle use in the future?

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.

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