The Seattle Kraken have made their first big splash of the offseason, acquiring right wing Mackie Samoskevich in a trade with the Florida Panthers. In return, the Kraken traded the 25th overall pick in this year’s draft, as well as a conditional second-round pick in the 2027 draft. The conditional pick will be either the Columbus Blue Jackets’ or Winnipeg Jets’ second-rounder, whichever ends up being the higher selection.
Samoskevich is a 23-year-old Connecticut native who spent two years at the University of Michigan, including one season with Kraken center Matty Beniers.
“Mackie is a talented young player who we are excited to bring into the fold,” said general manager Jason Botterill. “He has speed, skill and scoring ability. A Stanley Cup champion with the Panthers in 2025, Mackie’s a player who can contribute offensively and add a spark to our lineup.”
Samoskevich is a restricted free agent, so he still needs a new contract, but the Kraken now hold the young winger’s rights. Seattle will need to issue him a qualifying offer by June 30 to retain those rights and eventually sign him to a new deal. Per CapWages.com, his next contract is projected to come in around $3 million per year.
Sound Of Hockey’s own Curtis Isacke has already put together an All Shifts video of Samoskevich:
On a loaded Panthers team, Samoskevich had a bottom-six role. That said, his offensive skill earned him two minutes per game on the power play, including time on the top unit, where he scored 10 points with four goals and six assists.
Overall, Samoskevich has scored 63 points over the past two seasons, including 27 goals. The speedy winger also gets the puck on net, finishing with 161 shots, fourth most on the Panthers, while playing just 14:28 per night.
Listed at 5-foot-11, Samoskevich is not afraid to throw his body around, delivering 136 hits this past season. While that is not quite Jacob Melanson territory, as Melanson recorded 188 hits in 36 games, it ranked third on the Panthers roster and would have been third on the Kraken as well.
Samoskevich was drafted 24th overall in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.
The Kraken traded a similar pick, No. 25 overall in 2026, for a promising young forward who is already established at the NHL level. The conditional second-round pick is worth the return, as any player drafted 25th overall would likely need three to four more years of development, with no guarantee of becoming a regular NHL player. Historically, 56.3 percent of 25th overall picks have played 100 or more NHL games. Samoskevich has already played 156.
At 23, Samoskevich already has a Stanley Cup to his name. Although he is still young, bringing that winning experience to the Kraken should be a positive. He has a good shot and is not shy about shooting from the faceoff dots or getting to the dirty areas in front of the net.
We will see where Samoskevich slots into the lineup after training camp, but I would expect him to get a promotion from his role in Florida. My first guess would be that he starts out on the third line with Shane Wright.
This was an excellent trade for the Seattle Kraken and strong work by general manager Jason Botterill. What are your thoughts on the trade? Leave your comments below.
As we have done in years past, our Sound Of Hockey NHL Draft Scouting Video Hub is a compilation of shift-by-shift gameplay videos for hundreds of draft-eligible prospects. With the 2026 NHL Draft just a week away, there is no better time to actually put eyes on the prospects you have heard so much about.
Bookmark this page and come back to it throughout the next week. We will be unveiling 32 additional prospects each day in the countdown to the 2026 NHL Draft, which begins on Friday, June 26, at 4:00 p.m. PT. The videos will be published roughly in the order of the forthcoming 2026 Sound Of Hockey Big Board. (I say “roughly” because final public draft boards are still coming out, so the final Big Board is still being built.) Then come back early and often after the draft results start rolling in to get a look at your team’s new players.
Sound Of Hockey patrons will have immediate access to the full list, including additional videos for top prospects. We have seven games compiled for Gavin McKenna, for example.
If you’d like to track future draft videos as they come out, subscribe to the DeepSeaHockey YouTube channel here.
The Scouting Video Hub
Below you will find shift-by-shift videos for the top five 2026 NHL Draft prospects on the Sound Of Hockey Big Board. For all other prospects, click the video link in the table embedded below.
Gavin McKenna | Left Wing | Penn State Univ. (NCAA)
Ivar Stenberg | Left Wing | Frölunda HC (SHL)
Chase Reid | Right Defense | Soo Greyhounds (OHL)
Caleb Malhotra | Center | Brantford Bulldogs (OHL)
Carsen Carels | Left Defense | Prince George Cougars (WHL)
The full video hub (sorted alphabetically to facilitate searching for specific players):
Concluding thoughts
Looking for more 2026 NHL Draft content? We have you covered here at Sound Of Hockey. Check out our recently published final 2026 NHL Draft Data-Only Watchlist. As explained in that post, we used publicly available, quantifiable measures to identify top players of interest in the draft. We also had a top-10 mock draft shortly after the draft lottery.
We will soon be publishing our annual Sound Of Hockey Big Board, which compiles the opinions of a score of public analysts and scouting services into a single consensus 2026 NHL Draft ranking. We also plan to have a notebook column and a 2026 Seattle Kraken mock draft posted before the draft clock starts ticking next Friday.
In the meantime, we hope you find this Scouting Video Hub to be a useful resource in preparing for and reviewing the NHL Draft. I explained my desire to increase public access to the draft in the first version of this Scouting Video Hub. If you’re curious to learn more about what started this annual project, check that out here.
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Who stands out to you? Any technical issues with the videos? Do you have a question you’d like to see addressed in our pre-draft notebook?
Leave your comments or questions below, or find us on X (@deepseahockey and @sound_hockey) or Bluesky (@deepseahockey and @soundofhockey.com).
Header photo of Brek Liske taken byEvan Morud, courtesy of the Everett Silvertips.
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 Seattle Kraken can learn some major lessons from the Carolina Hurricanes, who completed a historic run through the playoffs and lifted Lord Stanley’s Cup as the NHL’s best team on Sunday.
Led by a forward-thinking scientist/blogger/stathlete-turned-general manager, Eric Tulsky has pulled several rabbits out of his hat over the last two seasons while molding his roster into the perfect blend of players to fit the unique, high-pressure style of hockey that head coach Rod Brind’Amour demands.
What’s interesting about Tulsky’s approach is that every personnel move seems to be made with an eye toward how a player fits into that high-pressure, high-shot-volume system. That clear-eyed vision for a specific—and truly unique—style of play helps Carolina identify the types of talent to target for secondary and tertiary roles. At the same time, Tulsky has done a masterful job of acquiring big-time players who help drive the bus.
Heck, even after taking a massive swing to land Mikko Rantanen last season and seeing negotiations to retain him go belly-up, Tulsky made the best of the situation and somehow came out ahead. Remember, he acquired Taylor Hall as a throw-in as part of that deal, and Hall ended up being a point-per-game player in these playoffs.
Then, recognizing the risk of losing Rantanen for nothing, Tulsky cut his losses and flipped him to Dallas for Logan Stankoven, two first-round picks, and two third-round picks. At 23 years old, Stankoven’s 11 goals in the postseason led the Hurricanes. It’s safe to say Stankoven fit the vision.
The Kraken may never play a style like what we saw from the Hurricanes, but what can general manager Jason Botterill and the rest of the front office take away from Carolina’s run? A lot.
Establish an identity and never waiver from it
What is Kraken hockey? Five years in, we still don’t definitively know the answer to that question. For a brief flash during the team’s second season, Seattle’s style was defined by staunch defense mixed with a balanced, four-line attack that came at opponents in waves and generated scoring from throughout the lineup.
But the organization quickly moved away from that balanced approach, effectively letting the entire high-scoring fourth line go after that season. Morgan Geekie—who scored 39 goals this season for the Boston Bruins—and Ryan Donato—who scored 31 goals in 2024-25 in Chicago were both allowed to leave via free agency, with Seattle even declining to extend a qualifying offer to Geekie. Daniel Sprong also departed before returning for a failed second stint last season.
The point is, it felt like the Kraken were starting to figure out what kind of roster could succeed, as long as they got scoring from all four lines. But after reaching the second round of the playoffs, then-GM Ron Francis quickly changed course, reverting to a more traditional makeup that featured a grinding fourth line rather than one capable of producing offense. The problem is that successful teams with classic grinding fourth lines also tend to have a true first line—something Seattle has never really had.
The good news is the Kraken don’t need to do an about-face to replicate what the Hurricanes built. Based on two of their three coaching hires, there’s no question this organization values tight defensive structure, not the shoot-from-anywhere mentality that defines Carolina’s game. If that’s the long-term vision, winning through defense and a balanced attack, that’s fine. But Seattle needs to commit to that identity with every fiber of its being.
Playing a Carolina-style, high-pressure, high-volume game is not the lesson here. Instead, the lesson is to understand who you are, who you want to be, and ensure that every personnel decision supports that vision. Does a player on your roster help at both ends of the ice? If not, he may not be a fit. Can a potential acquisition contribute in all three zones? If so, pull the trigger. If not, don’t make the deal.
Depth plus top-end talent
As we saw with that second-year Kraken team—and again with this Carolina group—depth matters. Seattle can lean into that defensive identity (if that is truly what it decides to be) by continuing to build a foundation of players who do the right things in all three zones.
But if it commits to that approach, it will also need a small collection of game-breaking forwards—the types of players who, when given even a small window, can capitalize on chances and change a game in an instant.
The Kraken haven’t really had those players to date, save for perhaps Jared McCann, who once scored 40 goals but is coming off a lackluster, injury-marred season. Adding a true high-end scorer or two this summer, while continuing to supplement the rest of the roster with reliable two-way players, could move the needle back toward playoff contention.
Players like Dylan Larkin (we don’t believe he would want to come to Seattle) and Robert Thomas would help in both ways, as might—to a lesser extent—a middle-tier player like Jake DeBrusk, guys who can score and also play responsibly in all three zones. The Kraken could also go in a different direction and add a forward who is more offensively minded like Jason Robertson or Jordan Kyrou, but then they may want to supplement such an acquisition with a purely defensive move to balance it.
Regardless of what route they take, there is an obvious need for an injection of high-end talent, and finding such players who still fit the vision (whatever that may be) is a serious challenge for the front office. Even if they land a big fish, will the Kraken become a Stanley Cup contender by next season? Of course not. But with several big names rumored to be available this offseason, there is an opportunity to get meaningfully better.
Enjoy the fruits of draft-and-develop labor
It was fascinating to see two teams with such different roster-building philosophies—Vegas essentially saying “to hell with the draft,” and Carolina building its core through homegrown talent—meet in the Stanley Cup Final.
Seattle has quietly built a strong pipeline of prospects and young players. Matty Beniers is growing into a true leader, Shane Wright is close to establishing himself as a full-time NHL contributor (though he could perhaps benefit from a change of scenery), Berkly Catton and Oscar Fisker Mølgaard appear ahead of schedule, and Jake O’Brien is on the way, along with several others. That pipeline will only deepen at the 2026 NHL Draft in a couple of weeks.
Considering how many players on Seattle’s roster last season were either drafted by the organization or developed within its system, this has been an area of real progress. Those young players will continue to improve as they enter their prime years, meaning this approach should pay increasingly larger dividends.
Drafting and development are long-term plays, and we’re only beginning to see the early returns. But as Carolina has shown, a core of homegrown players can serve as the bedrock of a contender with a sustained window for success.
That window is built through drafting and development, but trades can accelerate it. As a result, it may behoove the Kraken to begin dealing from this position of strength—though only with that identity question firmly in mind. Does a young player fit what this team wants to be? If not, he could be used to acquire someone who does.
No more philosophical resets
Part of the narrative over the past couple of seasons is that the Kraken’s unexpected success in Year 2 threw a wrench into Ron Francis’s long-term plan. Suddenly, the timeline was accelerated, and the organization drifted away from its original slow-build approach.
More recently, much has been made of the team’s ongoing “audit” this offseason—something we at Sound Of Hockey don’t believe was ever intended to draw as much attention as it did. What that process should ultimately deliver, however, is clarity around the question of what this team wants to be.
Seattle has leaned toward a structurally sound identity, and if that’s the path it chooses, it can absolutely work. But then Jason Botterill and his front office must fully commit to that vision—through every draft pick, every personnel decision, and every hire.
The Kraken don’t need to replicate Carolina’s style of play; doing so would essentially mean starting over. Instead, they should learn from the principles that helped the Hurricanes reach the top of the mountain—and apply them in a way that makes sense for Seattle.
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.
Welcome to “Down on the Farm,” your weekly Seattle Kraken prospects update. We are at the finish line, folks. No drafted or signed Kraken player remains active in this 2025-26 hockey season. That means it’s almost time for the “Down on the Farm” offseason hiatus.
I say “almost” because I’d like to return with one last column, a capstone mailbag, in the next week or two. If you’d like to see that happen and get a prospect question answered, let us know in the comments here or reach out to us on social media platforms or the Sound Of Hockey Discord.
I hope we’ll be back at this again next year. For now, though, I just want to say thank you to everyone who regularly read these columns and took this journey along with me. As you all know, it can feel a bit more like work than fun to keep up with the happenings of Kraken prospects across the globe. Your support, encouragement, and camaraderie in this foolhardy endeavor make it all worth it.
OK, one final time, let’s get to the agenda. We’ll recap the end of a stellar season for Julius Miettinen and the Everett Silvertips, get you a full data snapshot of the Kraken prospect pool, update you on where we stand in the draft season calendar, and crown our Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week… of the Year. (Or something like that.)
Miettinen and the Everett Silvertips fall in the Memorial Cup Final
Julius Miettinen played in the last CHL game of the 2025-26 season, the Memorial Cup Final, but unfortunately, he and his teammates came up just short against a surgical Kitchener squad.
The Silvertips outshot the Rangers through two periods and controlled extended stretches of even-strength play, but a couple of undisciplined moments led to a protracted 5-on-3 Kitchener power play to begin the third period. Kitchener converted twice on that opportunity, putting the Rangers up 5–1. The OHL champions would not relinquish that substantial lead, despite one quick response goal off a sweet cross-seam setup from Miettinen.
— xyz – Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) June 1, 2026
It is a bittersweet end to an outstanding season overall. The Silvertips won 57 regular-season games (nearly missing the all-time WHL wins record) and tied the record for fewest playoff losses (two) en route to a WHL Championship. For his part, Miettinen was awarded WHL Playoffs MVP and now holds the record for most WHL playoff goals by a Finnish-born player.
“It was an awesome year,” Miettinen said, before reminiscing that winning the WHL Championship was “a moment I’ll never forget.” That is, aside from the first few minutes after the final horn, which he admitted with a laugh are a bit of a “blackout” in his memory.
On his WHL Playoffs MVP award, Miettinen was gracious in recognizing the honor but preferred to keep the focus on what his team accomplished. “It means a lot to get that. I’m really proud of myself, but I wouldn’t have gotten that [award] without the guys. That was for us, not for me.”
🔊 "I hope that I can inspire Finnish guys to come here and play North American hockey."
— xyz – Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) June 2, 2026
Next up for Miettinen is a big role on the 2026-27 Coachella Valley Firebirds.
The NHL Combine is underway
The NHL Scouting Combine is currently taking place in Buffalo, New York. Running from June 1 to 6, the Combine hosts 90 top draft prospects and all 32 NHL teams for official prospect measurements, fitness testing, medical evaluations, and interviews. It’s the last major milestone before the NHL Draft in late June. And with the draft recently “decentralized,” it’s the last time before picks are made that most of the NHL’s decision-makers are gathered together.
In the abstract, I am tempted to downplay the significance of Combine testing. But Kraken GM Jason Botterill told Sound Of Hockey last summer that he sees value in these measures. So we should keep an eye out for the standout performers.
The Kraken are also taking advantage of this time to interview prospects, including in extended formats. For example, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic reported that the Kraken took WHL defenseman Carson Carels out for dinner this week in Buffalo.
Carson Carels had dinners with the Kraken and Sharks this week in Buffalo.
Carels projects to go near the top of the first round at the end of this month. He is the No. 4 overall prospect in the draft according to Elite Prospects and was ranked the No. 3 North American skater by NHL Central Scouting.
Similarly, Cam Robinson of Elite Prospectsreports that the Kraken also had a dinner with Keaton Verhoeff. Verhoeff is No. 12 overall according to Elite Prospects and was ranked the No. 4 North American skater by NHL Central Scouting.
Kraken prospects data update
For one final time during this 2025-26 hockey season, here are your Kraken skater prospect statistics:
Last but not least, we also have your year-end goalie statistics:
Video from the vault
It is our plan to have semi-regular “Friday Film Room” columns this summer in which we focus in on a few prospects, analyzing aspects of their game and development. Almost always this will include new or previously unreleased game videos for us to dissect together. For now, though, let’s go deep into the vault and get you a special prospect video. Matty Beniers’ shifts from the United States’ 2021 World Junior Championship Gold Medal win over Canada “Red, White, Blue, and Gold,” indeed.
Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week… of the Year
With the 2025-26 season at a close, we have co-champions. Julius Miettinen and Jake O’Brien each earned four “Prospect of the Week” honors, which, according to our arithmetic, gives them a share of the season-long title. This really ruined our trophy budget. Not sure what we’re going to do. Congratulations to them, regardless.
The other Kraken players who received Prospect of the Week superlatives are as follows:
3 wins: Jagger Firkus, Kim Saarinen, Oscar Fisker Mølgaard
Wyatt Cullen appears poised to be the first player drafted from the U.S. National Team Development Program, but Casey Mutryn has the potential to be a second first-round pick from the program. Mutryn is 6-foot-3 and a strong athlete who can really skate. This raises the floor of his profile. Add in the fact that he is young for the class and already plays a strong two-way game, and you have a player who brings an appealing package on draft day. I’ve liked what I’ve seen from him a good deal. The question he’ll face is whether there is enough playmaking in his game to drive offense at the higher levels professionally.
Mutryn was ranked No. 24 among North American skaters in the final NHL Central Scouting rankings. He was No. 41 on our mid-season Big Board.
Header photo of Julius Miettinen taken byEvan Morud, courtesy of the Everett Silvertips.
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.
While there hasn’t been much news on the Seattle Kraken front, that doesn’t stop the guys from having a robust conversation about the team and where they might look to improve this offseason.
Plus, lots of talk about the Seattle Torrent and who they chose to protect… and expose to expansion.
Segments include Bad Boys, Down on the Farm, Weekly One-Timers, and What’s Good?
Yesterday, we got official confirmation that in “Phase 1” of the PWHL offseason, the Seattle Torrent protected three players from the unfolding expansion process: center Alex Carpenter, defenseman Anna Wilgren, and goaltender Hannah Murphy. (For an overview on how the expansion process will work, see John Barr’s preview post.)
From here, “Phase 2” is bound to be a painful one for the team and its fans. Forwards Hannah Bilka, Julia Gosling, and Danielle Serdachny, defender Cayla Barnes, and goalie Corrine Schroeder are among those players at significant risk of departing in the coming days. Could captain Hilary Knight join them?
Let’s take a quick look at (1) who the Torrent protected and why, (2) what the next phase of the offseason entails, and (3) who the Torrent could lose off the current roster in the next few days.
The Torrent protect three players during “Phase 1”
Carpenter, 32, is the team’s cornerstone pivot and was likely at serious risk of not returning absent protection. (I’ll get into this a bit more in a moment.)
Murphy, 22, was the youngest player protected by any of the existing teams. As the only goaltender in the league aged 24 or younger to start more than 10 games, the team likely views her as its future at the position.
The market also dictated this move. Failing to protect a goaltender likely would have put the Torrent at risk of losing both Murphy and her tandem partner, Schroeder. Six of the seven other existing teams protected a goalie. Schroeder, 26, finished within the top 10 in the league in save percentage and, as mentioned, Murphy is young and was drafted high. From a game theory perspective, it seems the Torrent were wise to ensure that at least one stayed.
“There’s a lot of teams that need good starting goaltenders. It’s probably difficult to wait for the draft, where you don’t exactly know what’s gonna fall where,” Seattle Kraken GM Meghan Turner told reporters after the protections were announced.
Wilgren, 26, was half of the Torrent’s first pair on the blue line with Barnes. Many on the outside (myself included) suspected that Barnes may have been the team’s preference for protection, but Wilgren was a defensive stalwart on a team that struggled in that area during the 2025–26 season. Turner emphasized to the media that she believes Wilgren is the type of defender the team needs to build around and is still ascending. “I think her production is just starting,” Turner said.
Anna Wilgren was one of three protections by the Seattle Torrent (Photo/Brian Liese)
“Phase 2” of the offseason will bring changes
The next phase of the offseason is all about the four expansion clubs—and is itself a three-stage process that begins on Friday, June 5, and concludes on Monday, June 8. From a Torrent perspective, the team will lose a maximum of three players signed to 2026–27 contracts during this phase. It can also lose an unbounded number of pending free agents. To begin, let’s take a closer look at each of the three steps in Phase 2.
#1: Expansion Foundational Offer
After the expansion teams submit negotiating lists, the first major milestone is the “Expansion Foundational Offer.” Each expansion team gets to designate one free agent (i.e., a player on an expiring contract) with a tender offer that the player must accept. (There is a “tie-breaking” mechanism if two teams designate the same player.) The tendered player receives a contract starting at at least $100,000 annually. This is a contract at the very top tier of the league. The player gets to decide on the contract term, between one and four years.
#2: Foundational Player Offers
After those players are allocated, the second step is “Foundational Player Offers.” While the rules are a bit opaque, it seems these offers can go to any unprotected players, whether signed to 2026–27 contracts or not. These contract offers are formulated by the expansion clubs, are for at least two years in length, and carry an ascending annual value starting at a minimum of $80,000. This salary is still near the high end of the league. (For example, Barnes and Bilka’s current contracts are for $70,000 annually.) The difference with this second tier of offer is that the offered player is not required to sign it. She can decline and, if she is a free agent, opt instead to sign with another club in Phase 3.
#3: Foundational Roster Completion
The final step of “Phase 2” is a draft-like process that will occur if one or more of the expansion teams cannot sign five total players through the processes described above. This “Foundational Roster Completion” process is limited to players signed for 2026–27 only, and the expansion team inherits the existing contract.
Defender Barnes is signed through the 2027–28 season. The Torrent also have the following unprotected players signed through this upcoming season: forwards Serdachny, Bilka, Jenna Buglioni, Lexie Adzija, Mikyla Grant-Mentis, and goaltender Schroeder. Forwards Jada Habisch and Lily Delianedis, along with defender Lyndie Lobdell, are restricted free agents. The team’s remaining players, including Gosling, are unrestricted free agents this offseason.
Here is an overview of the top unprotected skaters available, sorted by points per game:
And here are the top unprotected goalies available, sorted by save percentage:
Who will stay and who will go?
Weighing all of this information, we can be fairly confident that losses will mount for Seattle in Phase 2. The team will likely lose three signed players. The question is whether additional unsigned, pending free agents leave as well before Seattle can settle on a deal with them in Phase 3. Let’s walk through the three stages again from a Torrent perspective.
#1: Expansion Foundational Offer
I find it unlikely that any team will use an Expansion Foundational Offer on any of Seattle’s players. Had Carpenter been available, she may have been a candidate, but Seattle avoided that possibility by signing and protecting her during Phase 1. Hilary Knight is another player who could hypothetically factor in here, but, as we see above, she’s older than many of the other unprotected candidates, and her production has dipped below the elite tier. Unless it is for marketing reasons, I doubt Knight is designated here.
#2: Foundational Player Offers
This is the stage where the Torrent should begin to lose players from the 2025–26 roster. An expansion team could offer Barnes or Bilka a raise (from $70,000 to $80,000+) and more term on a contract. Each player has arguably earned it.
Beyond the signed players, free agent Julia Gosling could be in the mix for a contract as well (perhaps from Hamilton, near her native London). Gosling’s departure would be particularly painful since she was a core young offensive piece and, as a free agent, would not count against the cap on three roster players lost.
It is possible a team also offers Schroeder a hefty raise to sign her directly rather than compete with the other expansion team for her services in the final Foundational Roster Completion stage. Maybe it’s even likely.
#3: Foundational Roster Completion
To the extent they have not already been signed, this final stage could see up to three signed players like Bilka, Barnes, Serdachny, or Schroeder depart via a draft.
Could Cayla Barnes be on her way out? (Photo/Brian Liesse)
Predictions
For now, I’ll predict that Bilka (Las Vegas?), Barnes (San Jose?), and Gosling (Hamilton?) sign Foundational Player Offers with new teams during the second step of Phase 2. This would leave the Torrent exposed to losing one more signed player in the Foundational Roster Completion step. I’ll project that Schroeder is taken in that process.
This would leave Serdachny as the young, unprotected player returning to Seattle. (The margins are slim, though. Could Barnes, for example, return instead of Serdachny? Could Bilka’s injury dissuade a team from signing or selecting her? These things are in play.)
As for Knight, I suspect it’s unlikely that she receives an Expansion Foundational Offer. After she clears that hurdle, it will be entirely in her hands whether to sign with a new team or return to Seattle, because she is not eligible for the Foundational Roster Completion process as an unsigned player. Given her comments expressing her desire to be back in Seattle next season, I’d be surprised if Knight did not return to the Torrent on a new contract in the weeks ahead.
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What do you think about the Torrent’s protections or path forward? 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.
