With the 8th overall pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, the Seattle Kraken added another talented center to their growing pipeline, selecting Jake O’Brien of the Brantford Bulldogs. The Toronto native turned heads this season with his elite vision and playmaking ability, racking up 32 goals and 66 assists for 98 points in just 68 OHL regular-season games.
O’Brien was the engine behind Brantford’s power play, quarterbacking the top unit and piling up 41 power-play assists—a testament to both his patience and precision. His ability to manipulate defenders and carve through coverage is already drawing praise from scouts. Cam Robinson of Elite Prospectsdescribed O’Brien as a player whose “head is always up, scanning, adjusting routes, and inviting defenders to make the first move before slicing them apart with a feed.” In short: he sees plays develop before they even happen.
At 6-foot-1.5 and 172 pounds, O’Brien isn’t the biggest player on the ice, but he rarely needs to be. His game is built on feel, finesse, and hockey sense. While many analysts have noted that he still has room to grow in terms of shooting and skating, his offensive instincts are already NHL-caliber.
The Kraken are banking on that upside. O’Brien’s pedigree also speaks volumes, his mom played high-level hockey and now runs her own hockey school, which Jake frequented growing up to fine-tune his craft. His dad also played Division I college hockey and logged a year in the ECHL. The hockey DNA runs deep in the O’Brien family.
This selection marks thefourth time in five drafts that Seattle has used a first-round pick on a center, following Matty Beniers (2021), Shane Wright (2022), and Berkly Catton (2024). And while not all centers stay at that position as pros, the organizational philosophy is clear: keep stacking the middle of the ice. The old saying goes, “You can never have too many centers,” and Seattle seems happy to live by that rule.
Whether O’Brien eventually lands at center or shifts to the wing, his ability to create offense and tilt the ice is what earned him OHL Rookie of the Year honors in 2023-24, when he posted 64 points in 61 games as a 16-year-old. That was just the beginning. The Kraken hope he’s only getting started.
The 2025 NHL Draft is here. The first round begins at 4:00 p.m. PT Friday. Catch it on ESPN, ESPN+, or NHL Network in the United States. Rounds 2 – 7 begin at 9:00 a.m. PT on Saturday. That will be on NHL Network or ESPN+.
We’ve also reached the culmination of Draft Week at Sound Of Hockey. Check out all of our draft-related content leading into the 2025 NHL Draft:
Today is our fourth annual, seven-round Seattle Kraken mock draft.
Mock draft rules
As I have done in the past—with one exception I will explain below—I will presume that players come off the board in the order predicted by the Sound Of Hockey Big Board. For example, if a player is slotted at No. 37 on the Big Board, I treat that player as unavailable to the Kraken with their first second-round pick at No. 38. While the Big Board is far from infallible, this approach is intended to make the exercise more challenging and closer to reality. In highlighting potential “alternative” picks, I may mention a few players who could be in range if they “fall” to Seattle’s pick.
Typically, I follow a “no trades” rule too, but I’m departing from that once this year as well. Due to Seattle’s recent wheeling and dealing, the Kraken have just five draft picks in the 2025 NHL Draft, with none falling between picks 57 and 134. I wonder if they pursue a trade to close that gap. While speculative and unlikely, I project one such trade in the mock draft below.
Following today’s trade, we now have 5️⃣ picks in the 2025 #NHLDraft 👀
Scout’s view: “O’Brien displays the high-end patience and vision to hold onto pucks for an extra second to make difficult plays and run an NHL power play. He’s extremely skilled with the puck, showing the soft touch and quick hands to create a lot of scoring chances and improvise on difficult plays often.” – Corey Pronman, The Athletic ($)
One stat to know: O’Brien is the second-youngest player in the top 25 on the Sound Of Hockey Big Board, born on June 16, 2007. Only projected top pick Matthew Schaefer is younger. O’Brien was also the second-leading scorer among draft-eligible OHL players.
Notes: As you can tell, I broke the cardinal rule of this mock draft right away by selecting O’Brien (No. 7 on the Big Board) with Seattle’s eighth pick. I did so based on the belief that Brady Martin will go off the board before Seattle’s pick despite being ranked No. 9 on the Big Board. “It just feels like there is no way [Martin] gets out of the top seven,” Good Friend of the Podcast Chris Peters said on Thursday’s pre-draft episode of Called Up. Martin has been a “late riser” in the public realm as analysts catch up to where teams are on him. I understand the helium. Martin is a cut above in his ability to play with physicality from whistle to whistle without sacrificing speed or skill. He reminds me of another Brady (Tkachuk) in his style of play. I’ll project he comes off the board before Seattle’s pick (taking Roger McQueen’s place in my post-lottery mock draft).
The Martin pick pushes O’Brien down to Seattle, and the Kraken are happy to grab the 6-foot-2 center that Cam Robinson of Elite Prospects has called the most creative playmaker in the draft—a player in the mold of Wyatt Johnston, with legitimate first-line center potential.
Alternatives: If Boston College center James Hagens (No. 4 on the Big Board) or Brampton Steelheads winger Porter Martone (No. 3) fall out of the top seven instead, I suspect Seattle rushes to the stage. Based on historical precedent, I think a trade involving this pick is fairly unlikely, but if a team targeting Martone or O’Brien were willing to offer Seattle an extra first- or second-round pick in 2026 for a moderate trade down, I’d consider it. Despite the organizational redundancy of smaller, skill-first forwards, I don’t think you turn down a chance at Hagens. Looking at defensemen only, I’d probably go with Kashawn Aitcheson.
Scout’s view: “[Behm] combines creative playmaking, deceptive shooting, and above-average puck handling to generate offense. He beats defenders by manipulating them and using his reach to pull pucks through traffic. His soft hands allow him to catch pucks effortlessly and execute quick slot passes and shots. He has an NHL-ready build, but he’ll need to improve pace and engage physically to reach his potential.” – Rachel Doerrie, ESPN
One stat to know: Outproduced many top-ranked WHL scorers on a per-60-minutes basis, including Kraken prospect Clarke Caswell.
Notes: At this point in the draft, few players offer the mix of production (1.12 points per game) and tools that Behm does. If the same profile came at center, we’d likely be looking at him as a top-25 pick. If it fell this way, the pick would remind me a bit of the Carson Rehkopf selection in terms of profile. That said, stylistically, Behm is much more willing to drive the net and take punishment in that area of the ice than Rehkopf has been to date. If skating and strength elements take a step, Behm could be a second-line scorer and a nice value at pick No. 38.
Alternatives: If forward Ryker Lee (No. 29 on the Big Board) fell, I’d like him for many of the same reasons as Behm. 6-foot-5 forward Vaclav Nestrasil (No. 40) is a very interesting tools-based projection. Forward Benjamin Kevan (No. 49) has a track record of USHL scoring with two strong years heading into this draft.
*TRADE: Seattle trades pick No. 57 to Buffalo for a third-round pick (No. 73) and fourth-round pick (No. 103)*
Comment: The Seattle Kraken would be slight losers in terms of market value on our Trade Value Chart, but the benefit in this deal would come in closing the gap on Seattle’s draft board that lasts until the fifth round. This trade would give them closer to their traditional allocation of first- through fifth-round picks.
Alternatives: Assuming Seattle keeps this pick—which is, of course, most likely—I’d consider many of the players listed for the next two picks. I’d also consider forward Kristian Epperson (No. 60 on the Big Board). He will likely be the first re-entry candidate selected and is appealing in this range after putting up big numbers driving play alongside Michael Misa for the Saginaw Spirit. This is a range where Seattle has found success targeting goalies, but I suspect the team’s existing pipeline of goaltenders may dissuade them from taking a goaltender this high this year.
Round 3, Pick 73: Mateo Nobert, C (QMHL) Age: 17 | Height: 6-foot | Weight: 168 | Shot: Left Big Board: 96th | Data Score: 42.94 (32nd) | Games Played: 57 | Goals: 28 | Assists: 39 | PPG: 1.18
Scout’s view: “[Nobert’s] game is all about his smarts. He thinks it well both on the puck offensively and off the puck offensively and defensively. He’s also a reliable 200-foot center with good hands who can make plays and reads at speed and in congested areas. He needs to get stronger and improve in the face-off circle, but he’s an August birthday who has development time in front of him and was already a riser for his rapid development this season, playing huge minutes for Blainville.” – Scott Wheeler, The Athletic ($)
One stat to know: Nobert is the third-youngest skater in the top 100 on the Sound Of Hockey Big Board. He was also the third-leading scoring among draft-eligible players in the QMJHL.
Notes: The Kraken dipped into the QMJHL in this range of the draft last year, selecting defenseman Alexis Bernier, and I’ll project they do it again with Nobert. Nobert is a player with a lot of elements on his side—youth, hockey sense, and defensive ability chief among them. There’s a development road in front of him as he gets stronger, but his profile reminds me a bit of Oscar Molgaard (with more offense and less defense).
Alternatives: Forwards Aidan Lane and Mason Moe are also interesting in this range.
Round 4, Pick 103: Sam Laurila, D, Fargo Force (USHL) Age: 18 | Height: 6-foot-1 | Weight: 187 | Shot: Left Big Board: 104th | Data Score: 41.04 (40th) | Games Played: 57 | Goals: 8 | Assists: 33 | PPG: 0.72
Scout’s view: “Laurila is a valuable and intelligent two-way defender; his profile is incredibly well rounded. He’s an excellent skater with smooth four-way mobility. His gap control is excellent when defending downhill, and even though he doesn’t project as an overly physical pro defender, he’s great at angling off attackers and neutralizing transitional opportunities. He blocks shots. He’s got great instincts when defending the slot and rarely misses an assignment. For our money, he may have been the best defensive defender in the USHL this past season. It’s the progression in his offensive game that truly has him in contention for the first three rounds.” – McKeen’s
One stat to know: Laurila was second among all under-19 USHL defenseman in scoring in 2024-25.
Notes: Laurila went undrafted last year as one of the very youngest eligible players (born Sept. 2, 2006). In the year since, he departed the U.S. National Team Development Program and broke out with the Fargo Force, turning into a two-way, play-driving defenseman. Laurila is bound for the University of North Dakota, which will allow him to avoid the log jam of defensemen at Coachella Valley in the near term.
Alternatives: Former Seattle Thunderbird defenseman Bryce Pickford is also appealing in this range. He also went undrafted in 2024 before breaking out with the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Scout’s view: “An intelligent and adaptable two-way winger, he has NHL- calibre playmaking, details, and skills. It all hinges on skating and physicality growth.” – Elite Prospects
One stat to know: Before he was sidelined for part of the back half of the USHL season with an injury, he tallied a point in all but three of his games.
Notes: The odds are against Wyttenbach as a smaller player drafted late, but if there is a player with that profile to bet on, it may be him—the winner of the inaugural Gaudreau Award, presented to one USHL player based on combined “elements of on-ice play with joy, enthusiasm, care and responsibility.” The production was there, and, while he is a shade under 5-foot-10, he played a sturdy interior game in the USHL. He’s bound for Quinnipiac University, which allows a long development runway.
Alternatives: Forwards Aidan Park and Kale Dach; defenseman Will Sharpe.
Round 7, Pick 198: Andrei Trofimov, G, Stalnye Lisy Magnitogorsk (MHL) Age: 18 | Height: 6-foot-3 | Weight: 176 Big Board: 266th | Data Score: N/A | Games Played: 26 | GAA: 2.10 | Save %: .929
Scout’s view: “Andrei Trofimov fits the mold of many of the Russian goalies in this draft class. Slightly undersized, strong numbers in the MHL this season, technically sound with strong edge work, and a lot unknowns about how he’ll translate to a more north-south game with traffic and more bodies in front of the net.” – Elite Prospects
One stat to know: Trofimov was fourth in save percentage among under-19 goalies in the Russian junior league last season.
Notes: The Kraken have taken a goalie in each draft. The question is whether it comes in the second- or third-round or later. Trofimov is a young re-entry with solid numbers at the Russian junior level to add a layer of international depth below Semyon Vyazovoy and Kim Saarinen.
Alternatives: Forwards Jeremy Loranger, Poul Andersen, and Gavin Cornforth; defenseman Ludvig Johnson.
* * *
What do you think? Who do you want to see the Kraken select? I’d love it if someone wanted to use the Sound Of Hockey Big Board and give me their alternative mock draft using these same rules. Send it in the comments below or on X @deepseahockey and @sound_hockey or BluSky @deepseahockey or @soundofhockey.com.
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.
Seattle Kraken general manager Jason Botterill continued to cook Thursday, swinging his third trade in a week by acquiring veteran center Freddy Gaudreau from the Minnesota Wild for a fourth-round pick in this weekend’s NHL Draft. The deal comes on the heels of a transaction last Thursday that landed winger Mason Marchment from the Dallas Stars, and another trade on Saturday that offloaded Andre Burakovsky to the Chicago Blackhawks and brought back Joe Veleno.
Gaudreau, 32, is a reliable bottom-six center who can pitch in offensively but is also responsible in the defensive end and kills penalties. In two of his last three seasons, Gaudreau has scored at least 18 goals (19 in 2022-23 and 18 in 2024-25) and added 19 assists in each of those campaigns. He had uninspiring numbers in 2023-24 but was hampered by injuries throughout and only played 67 games.
How Freddy Gaudreau fits with the Kraken
A big difference between this Gaudreau acquisition and the Marchment one is that Marchment only has one year left on his contract at a $4.5 million cap hit. Gaudreau, on the other hand, still has three years remaining on a five-year deal he signed with the Wild in 2023-24. That means he’ll be 35 years old when the deal expires.
The good news here is that Gaudreau’s cap hit isn’t crazy at $2.1 million. By the end of the deal, it will probably be more than they’d want to spend on a then-34-year-old (most likely) fourth-liner, but for now, it’s not a terrible number.
What’s perplexing at this point, though, is how all the pieces fit together. Botterill told us in his interview with the Sound Of Hockey Podcast that he doesn’t want to “block out” the young players in the organization from having a chance to make the team. But if you assume that includes Berkly Catton and, say, Jani Nyman, then they’re already reaching the limit of forwards they can keep in the lineup.
In the article I published on Tuesday, recapping the previous two trades, I haphazardly threw together a projected depth chart with the additions of Marchment and Veleno and the removal of Burakovsky.
Here’s what I came up with for the forward group at that time:
Jaden Schwartz // Matty Beniers // Kaapo Kakko Jared McCann // Chandler Stephenson // Mason Marchment Eeli Tolvanen // Shane Wright // Jordan Eberle Jani Nyman // Berkly Catton // Joe Veleno Tye Kartye
Does the addition of Gaudreau end up pushing another youngster out (potentially in addition to Tye Kartye)? Or does Joe Veleno fill the 13th/14th forward role and spend a lot of nights sitting out (heck, they could still end up buying him out, but I still don’t believe that’s the plan)?
Jaden Schwartz // Matty Beniers // Kaapo Kakko Jared McCann // Chandler Stephenson // Mason Marchment Eeli Tolvanen // Shane Wright // Jordan Eberle Jani Nyman // Freddy Gaudreau // Berkly Catton Tye Kartye // Joe Veleno
Another thing to consider is that the Kraken are suddenly bursting at the seams with centers. Matty Beniers, Chandler Stephenson, Shane Wright, Gaudreau, Berkly Catton, and Veleno are all centers. So, at least one or two of those players will end up primarily on the wing. That’s not necessarily a problem, but it’s notable that Botterill continues to load up on players who can play the pivot.
I also wonder if this transaction marks the unofficial end of the short-lived Mikey Eyssimont Era in Seattle. The speedy depth winger, acquired at the Trade Deadline in the Yanni Gourde/Oliver Bjorkstrand trade, showed well in his time with the Kraken, but it does appear the roster is maxing out on its depth players.
More coming
With the trade for Gaudreau, the Kraken are now projected to have about $16.6 million in cap space before re-signing restricted free agents Kaapo Kakko, Ryker Evans, and Tye Kartye. When that dust settles, I’d think they’ll have around $7–8 million left.
I’m still convinced that Botterill is looking for a splashier acquisition—a top-line winger who can reliably score 30-plus goals. But as the roster spots continue to fill up and the surplus cap space dwindles, I’m even more convinced that whoever he brings in will require the departure of a key contributor from last season’s group.
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 back to NHL Draft Week here at Sound Of Hockey. Today, we present our annual Sound Of Hockey Big Board. We also made a mid-season version of the Big Board earlier this year, which you can check out here.
What is the Big Board? It’s a ranking that compiles reputable draft analyst and public scouting service lists. This year, we gathered ranking data from 20 sources. (See the complete list below.)
We consolidated the various ranks into a single composite ranking by a weighted geometric mean calculation. Why do we use geomean? If you’re curious you can find an applicable explanation from a different context here. Weights were assigned based on our assessment of the depth of experience, sourced reporting, or scouting insight factored into the component lists themselves. For example, Bob McKenzie’s list for TSN, which is built based on conversations with scouts, is weighted the most. The voluminous work done by independent scouts at Elite Prospectsis next in line, and so forth.
The Sound Of Hockey Big Board also provides information on each player’s measurements, statistics, and playing experience for the 2024-25 season, mostly drawn from Elite Prospects, NHL Central Scouting, and the NHL Draft Combine.
All told, the Sound Of Hockey Big Board covers more than 9,000 draft-eligible prospects. (That is not a typo. It’s up slightly from last year when the Big Board covered approximately 9,000 prospects.) The version published here covers the top 500. The full version will be shared on the Sound Of Hockey Patreon.
Based on what we have seen, we continue to believe the Sound Of Hockey Big Board is the most comprehensive public source anywhere compiling draft-prospect-related information in one place.
We used the following 20 sources to build the final 2025 Big Board:
At this point, a few more words on the Sound Of Hockey Big Board and its uses are likely in order.
First, as you scroll through the rankings on the Big Board, you will see that sometimes only the top-five ranked prospects are identified. This is because those rankings are behind a paywall. To get to Corey Pronman’s full ranking of prospects, for example, a subscription to The Athletic is required. While we utilized all of the individual rankings listed above to develop our composite list, we will not be sharing subscriber-only individual rankings in the public version of the composite big board.
Second, as you get to the player’s 2024-25 data, you will note that the Big Board displays only the date from the highest league reached by the player. (For example, Radim Mrtka’s line displays his 10 games in the Czech Extraliga, Czechia’s highest pro league, before coming to North America to play in the WHL for the Seattle Thunderbirds and compiling three goals and 32 assists in 43 games. The Czech Extraliga is viewed as a higher league than the WHL, so that is what appears as his highest level.) This is just for simplicity of presentation.
Third, the Big Board does not reflect our view on these prospects. We at Sound Of Hockey have read reports, watched some videos, and crunched a few numbers. I’ll be putting up more thoughts of my own before the draft, but that is not what this exercise is about. The Sound Of Hockey Big Board is simply a tabulation of the rankings of others. A player’s ranking has nothing to do with whether any of us here at Sound Of Hockey “like” the player or not.
If you’re looking for more on our preferences, we published a “data-only” watchlist earlier in the spring. We also published a top-eight mock draft after the NHL Draft Lottery, and plan to do a seven-round Kraken mock draft later this week.
Fourth, and finally, it bears emphasis that a “composite” ranking is not the be-all and end-all. In many ways, finding the “best” public list and trusting it is preferable. A consensus board cannot “explain” why one prospect is ranked higher than another, and it certainly cannot displace the work of scouts, draft reporters, or even number crunchers.
But a composite ranking can provide some added information. Think of it as the cherry on top of the sundae, not the sundae itself.
How so? In the first year of this Big Board I used the case of Brad Lambert as an example (coincidentally, the nephew of new Kraken head coach Lane Lambert). This year Ivan Ryabkin could be an instructive case. Both players are talented but viewed as risky for different reasons, leading to widely varying rankings on individual public boards. We synthesize that information with a composite approach that can exploit the wisdom of the crowd. Ryabkin’s final ranking may blend the upside and risk, placing him in a “fair” position.
Final thoughts
The 2025 NHL Draft is another strong year for Pacific Northwest hockey. Projected first-round picks Jackson Smith, Radim Mrtka, Braeden Cootes, and Carter Bear all spent most or all of their draft seasons playing for WHL clubs in Washington State.
The 2025 NHL Draft kicks off with Round 1 on Friday, June 27, at 4:00 p.m. PT. Rounds 2 through 7 start on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. PT.
In the meantime, study the Big Board, bookmark it, share it, and return to it often between now and the draft. Keep it close during the draft too because, in the past, the data has been a pretty strong indicator of what the Kraken (and other teams) will do, particularly early.
Who do you want the Kraken (or your preferred team) to select? Any misses or other suprises in the rankings? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on X @deepseahockey or @sound_hockey or BluSky @deepseahockey or @soundofhockey.com.
Header photo of Braeden Cootes courtesy of the Seattle Thunderbirds
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.
Newly promoted Seattle Kraken general manager Jason Botterill has stated on several occasions that he intends to be active this summer as he attempts to reshape the team’s roster into a playoff contender. While his promotion into the GM chair and Ron Francis’s simultaneous move to a president of hockey ops position may have felt like a half measure at the time, there is a distinct advantage for an executive moving up within an organization in which he has been immersed since Day 1.
“It’s exciting for sure,” Botterill said in his interview with the Sound Of Hockey Podcast last week. “It’s great to be back in the GM chair; certainly it’s what I aspired to do again. But it’s such a different experience, this time, knowing the entire organization.
“When you go to a new organization like I did from Pittsburgh to Buffalo [in 2017], you certainly have ideas of what goes on, ideas of the staff, ideas of the players. But it literally takes you a couple of years to figure it all out and figure out the nuances and the chemistry that goes on. That’s my big advantage here is just being a part of this since Day 1, being a part of all the discussions with Ron on different things.”
In short, Botterill came into the new role expecting to hit the ground running.
Indeed, he made two notable trades in a span of 72 hours last week, first taking advantage of the impending cap crunch in Dallas and snagging sizable, gritty winger Mason Marchment for a bargain return of a third-round draft pick in 2026 and a fourth-rounder in this weekend’s draft. (That fourth-rounder originally belonged to Dallas and was acquired by former GM Francis in the Alex Wennberg trade to the Rangers in March 2024.) The Marchment deal was—as they say—a nice bit of business.
If these trades were to happen in a vacuum and be Seattle’s only moves of the offseason, then they wouldn’t be enough to move the needle and get the Kraken back into contention next season. But I do believe Botterill is going to be aggressive in retooling the personnel this summer, and these moves are just the first steps in that process.
Marchment is a good fit
One thing we’ve heard from Botterill is that the team wants to be better at getting to the inside in the offensive zone while also doing a better job protecting the dangerous areas in the defensive end. Marchment certainly brings size (he’s 6-foot-5, 212 pounds) and grit and should be able to help his linemates by digging out pucks and barreling his big body into the crease.
“That is my game,” Marchment said in his introductory press conference on Tuesday. “I like to get in on the forecheck, get inside, get pucks back, strip guys on the backcheck. That’s stuff I take pride in and like to do well. So if I can help out that way, it’s going to be great. Getting to the net front, getting in the goalie’s eyes, that’s huge. Small things like that are things that help win games and help you get to the playoffs.”
While they’re different players at different stages of their careers, this acquisition reminds me of the Kaapo Kakko trade, in which Seattle brought in a big-bodied winger who was viewed as a player capable of creating space for his linemates. Sure enough, Matty Beniers—who had another slow start to the season—took off in the second half after Kakko arrived and was placed on his wing.
Can Marchment, 30, bring a similar impact for other players? I can’t help but envision Marchment alongside Chandler Stephenson, a center who prefers to play on the perimeter and utilize his deft passing skills, drawing attention from defenders at the top of the crease, while somebody like Jared McCann tees up a one-timer from the other side.
That’s what excites me most about Marchment’s profile: he brings a package of size and skill that could help unlock other Kraken players next season and get them scoring more steadily.
What I haven’t even mentioned yet is that—although I see him as a complementary piece to help create space—Marchment can also put the puck in the net. He’s had 22 goals in each of the last two seasons, notching that number in 81 games in 2023-24 and matching it in 2024-25 despite missing 20 games with injury. So, there’s some skill there, which means he’s not only replacing some of the grit lost when the Kraken traded Brandon Tanev and Yanni Gourde at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, but in a way, Marchment also replaces a good chunk of the offensive production lost when Oliver Bjorkstrand was dealt.
Considering what Botterill had to give up to bring in Marchment, my initial reaction was that this was a big win for the Kraken.
As for Marchment’s contract, he signed a reasonable four-year, $18 million deal to remain in Dallas in 2022. So, Seattle gets him at just a $4.5 million cap hit for 2025-26, and if the team doesn’t extend him, he will surely be a hot commodity at the trade deadline if the Kraken once again find themselves in a seller’s position.
A creative solution to the Burakovsky issue
As the season came to a close, we circled two players as buyout candidates for the Kraken. One of those was Philipp Grubauer, who remains on the roster as of the writing of this story, though the first buyout window has been open since Friday and will remain open until June 30.
The other was Burakovsky, who never fully returned to form after tearing his groin midway through his first season with Seattle in 2022-23. He showed flashes but just never got back to any semblance of consistent play.
After a second straight season of minimal offensive production from Burakovsky—he had 10 goals and 27 assists in 79 games—while carrying a significant salary, we assumed Seattle would have few options in getting Burakovsky’s $5.5 million cap hit off the books. One option would be to attach assets and/or retain significant salary in a trade.
The only alternative was a buyout. A buyout of Burakovsky’s contract would have been expensive, though, carrying a $1.96 million cap hit next season, $3.2 million in 2026-27, and then two more penalty years of $1.46 million per season. (Worth noting, a Grubauer buyout would be similar at $1.98 million, $3.08 million, then $1.68 million for the two penalty years.)
But, remarkably, Botterill pulled a rabbit out of his hat and got the Blackhawks to take Burakovsky with no salary retention in exchange for Veleno.
From Chicago’s point of view, taking Burakovsky’s contract actually helps the Blackhawks get to the cap floor for the next two seasons, and there is a chance he could flourish in a top-six role with a rebuilding team that features Connor Bedard. Meanwhile, Veleno was also viewed as a buyout candidate for Chicago, so it solves that problem as well.
Back to the Kraken perspective: Veleno has one year left on his contract at a $2.275 million cap hit before he becomes a restricted free agent. He could still be a buyout candidate and would be way cheaper to buy out than Burakovsky. Still just 25 years old, Veleno can be bought out for one-third of his 2025-26 salary. This means just $795K this season and $295K next season. He could also be stashed in the AHL, which would decrease his cap hit to $1.125 million while keeping him in the organization.
I’m guessing they’ll keep him on the roster, though, to backfill the fourth-line center spot that was vacated by Gourde’s trade to Tampa Bay.
Veleno has never quite hit his NHL stride, despite showing tons of promise as a youngster, earning exceptional status to join the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs at 15 years old. With that in mind, there is some speed, size, and talent in there, making Veleno’s inclusion at the bottom of the forward corps for next season very low-risk and, again, a nice bit of business for Botterill. Perhaps the right role and setting could unlock more of the promise that once showed for Veleno.
Projected depth chart
With Burakovsky out and Marchment and Veleno in, we can start to piece together a way-too-early depth chart for the Kraken next season. Botterill reminded us in his interview with the Sound Of Hockey Podcast that he does expect to give Berkly Catton a look on the NHL roster, and he doesn’t want to “block out” young players in the organization from having a chance to make the team.
So, I’m penciling in Catton and Jani Nyman on the fourth line for now (I know, neither belongs in that role), but the roster will surely continue to evolve throughout the summer.
Forwards
Jaden Schwartz // Matty Beniers // Kaapo Kakko Jared McCann // Chandler Stephenson // Mason Marchment Eeli Tolvanen // Shane Wright // Jordan Eberle Jani Nyman // Berkly Catton // Joe Veleno Tye Kartye
Defense
Vince Dunn // Adam Larsson Ryker Evans // Brandon Montour Jamie Oleksiak // Josh Mahura Ville Ottavainen
Goalies
Joey Daccord Philipp Grubauer
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.
The Seattle Kraken have made a notable addition to their forward group, acquiring winger Mason Marchment from the Dallas Stars in exchange for a fourth-round pick in 2025 and a third-round pick in 2026.
The fourth-round pick involved in the deal originally belonged to Dallas, but Seattle obtained it last season in the trade that sent Alexander Wennberg to the New York Rangers at the Trade Deadline. Now, that pick returns to the Stars as part of this transaction.
At first glance, this is a strong move for Seattle. Marchment adds a combination of size, scoring touch, and grit that the Kraken have been lacking in their middle six. Standing 6-foot-5 and weighing 212 pounds, the 30-year-old winger (he turned 30 on Wednesday) plays a heavy, physical game, but he also brings more than just muscle.
Marchment is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, matching a personal high with 22 goals and finishing with 47 points in 62 games during the 2024-25 campaign. That point total would have ranked him fourth on the Kraken last season, behind only Jared McCann, Chandler Stephenson, and Jaden Schwartz. Perhaps more impressively, Marchment put up those numbers while averaging just 15:20 of ice time per game—more than two minutes fewer than Seattle’s top forwards, and missing significant time due to injury.
He also contributed on the power play, chipping in 10 points (five goals, five assists) with the man advantage. His presence in front of the net and willingness to win puck battles along the boards should complement Seattle’s current power-play setup.
Where Marchment fits into the Kraken lineup remains to be seen, but he offers versatility. He has shown the ability to move up and down the lineup, depending on need. He spent much of his time down the stretch in Dallas on a line with Mikael Granlund and Matt Duchene.
Marchment has one season remaining on his current contract with a cap hit of $4.5 million, which is manageable for Seattle, especially if he can continue to produce at or near his current level. The Kraken entered the offseason with ample cap space and a clear goal of adding more scoring punch and physical presence to their forward group. This move checks both boxes.
It’s not yet clear whether this trade signals further moves on the horizon for general manager Jason Botterill, but it’s the kind of targeted addition that should help the Kraken be more competitive next season. Seattle fans can expect to get their first look at Marchment in a Kraken jersey this fall when training camp opens.
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.
