The mood was noticeably light at Kraken Community Iceplex on Tuesday, where the Seattle Kraken returned for their first full home practice since last week’s NHL Trade Deadline, which saw four players—Oliver Bjorkstrand, Yanni Gourde, Brandon Tanev, and Daniel Sprong—jettisoned from the organization.
Even for a team where so many things have gone wrong this season, the players surely felt the impending deadline weighing on them. Now that it’s in the rearview mirror, perhaps that changes the sentiment around the group a bit.
“The deadline and the events of the deadline always are introspective to where you’re at in the season and how your team’s doing,” coach Dan Bylsma said. “As a group, the guys realize we’re not where we want to be or where we think we should be. And the focus here the rest of the way is getting to our best hockey, getting to—both individually and as a team… projecting for the future.”
The group on the ice had a slightly different look, too, with newcomer Mikey Eyssimont skating at KCI for the first time, along with call-ups Cale Fleury and John Hayden. Recently recalled Jani Nyman also joined the team in advance of his expected NHL debut on Wednesday against the Montreal Canadiens.
Li’l Jani Nyman arrives
Nyman’s arrival may not be drawing a big hoopla, but there are hopes among the Kraken and their fanbase that the 20-year-old winger from Valkeakoski, Finland, could be a full-time NHLer relatively soon.
A big, imposing presence at 6-foot-2, 212 pounds, Nyman stands out on the ice. It’s a specific skill he possesses that puts him on the cusp of playing in the world’s best league, though, and that specific skill is the reason he has been a successful pro scorer in both the Finnish Liiga, where he scored more than any under-20 player in nearly 40 years, and in the American Hockey League, where he leads all rookies in goals.
“Almost immediately, you have to notice his shot,” Bylsma said. “That’s a big part of him being an effective player.”
Nyman agreed that his shot is his biggest asset but also knows that his skating (like his English) remains a work in progress.
“I think [I’ve improved] my skating,” Nyman said. “I’m a big man. I’m a big man, so of course I want to improve my skating.”
With his massive size, Nyman’s foot speed has always been the key area for improvement to put himself in contention for an NHL roster spot. Bylsma, who coached him at the end of last season in Coachella Valley, wants Nyman to ensure he’s always moving his feet to put himself in a position to use his lethal shot.
“The feet and the skating— in order for him to [use his shot], you’ve got to see him moving his feet. It can’t be a stationary game,” Bylsma said. “And that’s kind of what he’s developed this year: an all-around game and a skating game. He’s moving his feet and getting to spots where you can see that shot over and over again.”
That will be something to watch when Nyman makes his NHL debut Wednesday at Climate Pledge Arena. Does he look like he’s constantly moving to get himself open for opportunities? Or is he standing still along the half-wall, hoping his teammates can find him?
Bylsma will be putting him in a position to succeed, playing the right flank on the power play and—presumably—in a top-nine forward position.
“He’s a goal-scorer [with] a heavy shot, a big-bodied guy in the offensive zone, and he’s going to have a chance to [show that]. You’ll see him on the power play, we’re going to have four good lines as a result of him being in, but we’ll see him in a spot at 5-on-5 in an opportunity to show what he can do.”
Exactly where Nyman slots in at 5-on-5 remains to be seen and may not be revealed until warmups, as the team didn’t do full line rushes on Tuesday and is holding an optional skate on Wednesday.
Nyman excited for the opportunity
Like any young player on the precipice of his NHL debut, Nyman was all smiles after practice on Tuesday, sharing that his parents were en route from Finland to witness the momentous occasion.
“Oh, this is the biggest— [such a] big thing for my family and me,” Nyman said. “My mom and dad are coming right now to fly into here, and we are so excited.”
Helping him feel more comfortable in the NHL dressing room, Nyman joined a growing row of Finnish players, with his stall located next to those of Eeli Tolvanen and Kaapo Kakko. That gives him a chance to speak his native tongue and get shown the ropes.
“We speak a certain language, and yeah, it’s great [to have them here],” Nyman said. “It’s great to [make] new friends, and [I’m] very happy.”
Getting to know Mikey Eyssimont
Newly acquired energy forward Mikey Eyssimont also addressed the media after the skate, bringing folks up to speed on his background, style of play, and how his first week in the Kraken organization has been.
“It started off as kind of a whirlwind, but being able to settle into a road trip— I’ve done a thousand of those, so it’s kind of a nice way to get to know everyone,” Eyssimont said. “My game is a lot of speed and grit, so that’s something that’s kind of more of a decision than a skill. So if you play that way, hopefully, you can fit in anywhere. And I think I was kind of able to do that over the past three games.”
Eyssimont made a nice first impression, scoring a goal in his first game as a Kraken against the Nashville Predators, though it came late in a losing effort.
“It’s nice to get it out of the way. You know, you don’t want to be plugging away for that first one for a while. We lost that game, but I guess that’s the positive you can take from it.”
When Eyssimont was first announced as the lone player coming back in the Yanni Gourde/Oliver Bjorkstrand trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning (Seattle also obtained two top-10-protected first-round picks and a second-round pick in the deal), it was assumed he was something of a throw-in player to help Tampa Bay create the cap space to consummate the trade.
But Eyssimont, in the last year of his two-year contract with an average annual value of $800K, could be a fit for next season and is trying to prove that.
“[I just want to] help the team win games,” Eyssimont said. “This team, I think, has underachieved. We see how good we were against a top-two-or-three team in the league in Washington. That’s a game that if we play that same game 10 times, we win a majority of those games. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen that way.”
So far, Eyssimont comes as advertised with speed and energy, and at a very reasonable cap hit, he may be better suited to a fourth-line or even 13th-forward role than guys like Gourde and Brandon Tanev, who were combining to eat up a whopping $8.66 million of cap space.
So, there’s definitely some consideration being given by Seattle to keep Eyssimont around beyond this season.
“It’s an exciting group to be a part of because of the underachieving,” Eyssimont said, implying that the team could be much better next season. “There’s a standard here, and there’s still time in the season to meet that.”
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 wrapped up the week 1-3-0, but the story of the week wasn’t the outcomes on the ice. In case you’ve been in isolation since last Wednesday, the Kraken made three trades, sending three cornerstone players off to greener pastures. Last Wednesday, the Kraken traded Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand to the Tampa Bay Lightning for two first-round draft picks, a second-round pick, and Mikey Eyssimont. Then, on Friday morning, the Kraken sent Brandon Tanev to the Winnipeg Jets for a second-round pick.
All three players had devout followings among Kraken faithful, and in the case of Tanev and Gourde, they were two of the remaining original NHL Expansion Draft picks from 2021. Both Tanev and Gourde were on expiring contracts, so neither of their trades came as a surprise. We also predicted a player with term might be traded as well: enter Bjorkstrand.
Now what?
As of now, the 2025-26 Seattle Kraken roster got worse with Bjorkstrand’s departure, but what the team lost in on-ice skill, they captured in significant currency that can be leveraged to make next season’s team better. The Kraken now have five first-round draft picks and five second-round draft picks over the next three drafts. But don’t think that signals the Kraken are rebuilding.
General manager Ron Francis made himself available to several media outlets since the trade deadline, and he made it clear that the team plans to use these newly acquired assets this offseason. Speaking to Ian Furness on KJR radio last Friday, Ron said, “We are not looking to draft 10 players with these 10 picks. What we’re hoping to do is package the first and second or two seconds or two firsts or whatever we have to do in the summertime leading up to the draft to go out and get somebody.”
These situations are usually available when teams are up against the cap, but with the upper limit of the salary cap going up by $7.5 million next season, getting teams to flip valuable assets might be easier said than done now that all 32 teams get some more breathing room.
The Kraken currently have over $20 million in cap space for next season, but they will still need to sign pending restricted free agents Tye Kartye, Ryker Evans, and last but not least, Kaapo Kakko.
Here is a quick look at the cap situation for the Kraken next season:
That is a lot of cap space, and there is also a scenario where they don’t spend it in free agency and hope someone needs to dump a bigger contract after free agency, like Columbus handed Bjorkstrand over to Seattle or Minnesota with Kevin Fiala back in 2022.
Forever grateful for Yanni Gourde
We all knew it was coming, but from a fan’s perspective, losing Yanni Gourde was a heartbreaker. I don’t think you could have launched a franchise with a better personality than Yanni. I remember his first training camp back in 2021 when he was flying around the ice with a red non-contact jersey while rehabbing from an offseason shoulder injury.
From Day 1, his compete level was so fun to watch. He was a spark plug on the ice and left it all out there every game he played. He was obviously a huge part of the 2023 playoff team and was a player built for the playoffs. He led the Kraken in points in their only playoff appearance, including this beauty of a timely goal in Game 1 of the second-round series against Dallas.
I also loved his uncanny ability to be consistently transparent in interviews when most hockey interviews give you the same cliché responses. He was great when we had him on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast too, but one of my favorite interviews was the one he gave Piper in a game where the Kraken looked awful.
Candidate for intermission interview of the season right here from @PiperShawTV
Also Yanni Gourde is a real one. Ton of time for this guy.
There was also the human element that gave us a glimpse of Yanni and the Gourdes off the ice. It is impossible to narrow down one moment as my favorite, but this season’s Gourds with Gourde was a great look into how he and his family shared some of his off-ice life in Seattle.
We will miss you, Yanni, and wish you all the best for the rest of this season and beyond.
Oliver Bjorkstrand
Listeners of the pod know that Bjorkstrand was one of my favorite players. Getting him for a third- and a fourth-round pick in the summer of 2022 was a steal for Ron Francis and company. Bjorkstrand was very soft-spoken off the ice, which was part of his charm. He was a big reason why the Kraken even qualified for the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and they would not have advanced to the second round without his two goals in their 2-1 win in Game 7 of Round 1 against the Colorado Avalanche.
I was also able to interact with Oliver a bit off the ice when I presented him with a loaf of Rugbrød for our preseason podcast interview. I wish you all could have seen his surprised face as I pulled the loaf out of the bag. He was always nice to people around him and always gracious with his time.
The Kraken games over the last week
Oh, yes, and games were played. As mentioned earlier, the Kraken went 1-3-0 over the last week with a 4-3 loss at home to the Minnesota Wild, a stinker of a game against the Nashville Predators in a 5-3 loss, a dominant 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, and then a tough 4-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Sunday. Other than the Nashville game, the players competed when they could have easily started to mail it in the rest of the season. If they play like they did over the weekend for the rest of the season, I will be happy to watch this team the rest of the way.
Kraken Trivia: With the departures of Gourde and Tanev, seven players remain with the Seattle Kraken organization from the expansion selections. Can you name them?
Other musings
Part of the Bjorkstrand/Gourde trade was Mikey Eyssimont being included in the package from Tampa Bay. He was a fourth-line player averaging under 11 minutes of time on ice and on an expiring deal, so I didn’t expect much. But after two games, he looks like a solid fourth-line option for the Kraken next season.
When the news broke about the Bjorkstrand/Gourde trade, I was stepping onto the ice for a lunch skate. After the skate, I had about 20 text messages from various hockey people. In case there was any doubt, the overwhelming consensus was extremely positive for Seattle. I really like how the Kraken have handled all trade deadlines to date.
The Kraken have now acquired 12 draft picks (one first-rounder, six second-rounders, two third-rounders, two fourth-rounders, and one seventh-rounder) with their expansion pick selections, plus Kaapo Kakko.
With Bjorkstrand moving on, that’s one fewer Seattle Kraken player that will participate in the Olympics next winter. Don’t worry, there will still be a reason to watch Denmark — Kraken prospect Oscar Fisker Mølgaard is expected to be on the Danish team.
Ron Francis confirmed that one of the top Kraken prospects, Jani Nyman, will be getting called up to Coachella Valley for some games with the Seattle Kraken before the season ends. He is the only Kraken prospect I would pencil in for next season. Even then, I am still using a pencil.
The Kraken went 0-for-4 in the Washington Capitals game over the weekend. That is one of the big opportunities for improvement next season, and I wonder if Nyman is part of the solution.
One of Ron Francis’ media stops was on the pregame show on the Kraken Hockey Network before the Washington Capitals game on Sunday.
Adam Larsson (SEA) – Larsson isn’t known for his offense, so he rarely gets mentioned in player performance reviews. However, over the last four games, the Big Cat has two goals and two assists. After he scores is also one of the rare times we get to see Larsson smile. 😊
1-0 #SeaKraken
Larsson bats in his D-partner’s rebound for his 50th NHL goal! (Nice screen by Schwartz)
Alexis Bernier (BAC/SEA) – The 2024 third-round selection of the Seattle Kraken had five points over his last three games for Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the QMJHL. Bernier is fifth in points among defensemen in the Q this season.
Victor Ostman (CVF/SEA) – The Kansas City Mavericks goalie got called up to Coachella Valley and won his first AHL game last week, saving 23 out of 25 shots in the Firebirds’ win over the Calgary Wranglers. Ostman was a free-agent signing last spring and is having a good season for the Mavericks in the ECHL with a record of 21-7-4.
The week ahead
The Kraken return home for a challenging three-game homestand with games against Montreal, Utah, and Winnipeg. There will be a lot of eyes focused on Juraj Slafkovský and Shane Wright in the Montreal game. If you don’t know the backstory, for most of the season leading up to the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, Wright was projected to go first overall. Weeks before the draft, the projections started to shift. Montreal selected Slafkovský first overall, and Wright slipped to the Seattle Kraken at fourth.
Since then, there has been a confirmation bias campaign by both fan bases to prove which player is better. Wright has also been unfairly scrutinized for his development path, going back to junior his post-draft season and playing last season in the AHL. Meanwhile, Slafkovský made the jump immediately to the NHL and has already played 181 NHL games.
Looking at this season, Wright has 15 goals and 23 assists, and Slafkovský has 11 goals and 24 assists, further igniting the debate over who is better. The reality is that both players appear to be good NHL players, but this is a fun side story that will likely never go away. Montreal still has a lot to play for, sitting just three points out of a playoff spot, and they were embarrassed back in October when the Kraken scored eight goals in their 8-2 win in Montreal.
The game against the Jets will also be interesting, as Tanev will be right back on the ice at Climate Pledge Arena, facing the team that just traded him.
Trivia Answer: The Seattle Kraken players that were selected in the 2021 expansion draft that remain with the team are Joey Daccord, Jared McCann, Jordan Eberle, Jamie Oleksiak, Vince Dunn, Adam Larsson, and Cale Fleury.
All things considered, it was a pretty fun weekend of Seattle Kraken hockey. In back-to-back games with travel, Seattle prevailed 4-1 against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday and had the Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals on the ropes for much of Sunday afternoon before falling just short in a 4-2 loss.
Now that Seattle has fully thrown in the towel on its postseason hopes, the results don’t matter as much anymore—just getting to watch entertaining games is all we ask for.
Here are Three Takeaways from an fun pair of Kraken games against the Flyers and Capitals.
Takeaway #1: Big weekend for Chandler Stephenson
Center Chandler Stephenson—despite some criticism from Kraken fans due to the seven-year, $43.75 million contract he signed as a free agent—has quietly put together a solid first season in the Pacific Northwest.
He had a standout weekend, scoring a shorthanded goal on a breakaway Saturday in Philadelphia and assisting on Jordan Eberle’s Sunday, the captain’s first goal since returning from a pelvis injury.
Stephenson’s assist Sunday was pretty. Eeli Tolvanen gained control of the puck along the boards in the neutral zone and flicked it ahead past three Capitals players. Stephenson collected the puck and skated in on a 2-on-1 with Eberle, threading a pass through newly acquired Capitals forward Anthony Beauvillier. Eberle buried it short-side.
That was Stephenson’s 32nd assist of the season, leading the Kraken in that category. He now has 43 points (11 goals, 32 assists), ranking second on the team behind Jared McCann.
Takeaway #2: Gru back in the net
Philipp Grubauer got his first start in net against the Flyers on Saturday since being recalled from the Coachella Valley Firebirds. He made the most of his AHL stint, going 5-2 in the minors, and returned with a strong performance.
Grubauer allowed just one goal, and even that came off a fluky play. Ryker Evans attempted to poke the puck away from Owen Tippett but inadvertently popped it up, causing it to bounce off Tippett and trickle past Grubauer.
Statistically, Grubauer posted a .958 save percentage, his second-best outing of the season. He was the best penalty killer on the ice too, helping Seattle shut down all five of Philadelphia’s power play opportunities.
One common criticism of Grubauer is that he doesn’t always make the big save when needed. That wasn’t the case Saturday. With the game tied 1-1, rookie sensation Matvei Michkov collected a rebound and backhanded what looked like a sure goal toward an open net, but Grubauer reached back with his glove and snagged it out of the air. Just 38 seconds later, Matty Beniers scored, and the Kraken never looked back.
Takeaway #3: Special teams
Seattle had four power play opportunities against the Capitals but couldn’t convert. They maintained possession in the offensive zone but struggled to generate quality chances against Washington’s seventh-ranked penalty kill (81.7 percent). Adding in a 0-for-3 effort against Philadelphia, the Kraken went 0-for-7 on the power play over the weekend.
On the flip side, they didn’t allow a power-play goal and even scored shorthanded, finishing plus-one in special teams situations. The Flyers, coached by John Tortorella, came up empty on five power plays and have struggled all season, converting just 15.3 percent of their chances.
Seattle’s power play continues to be a problem, clicking at just 18.4 percent—26th in the NHL and below last season’s mark of 20.7 percent (16th in the NHL).
Bonus Takeaway: The back-to-back struggles continue
Seattle came out strong against Washington, outshooting the Capitals 14-7 in the first period and taking a 1-0 lead. The Kraken have struggled with slow starts this season, but that wasn’t the case Sunday. However, despite a solid effort, they ultimately fell to the now league-leading Capitals. It never felt like they gave up—until Alex Ovechkin sealed the game with an empty-net goal, the 886th of his career.
Career goal No. 886 and career point No. 1600 for Alex Ovechkin. #Gr8Chase
The Kraken are now 0-10 in the second leg of back-to-back games. They have one more back-to-back set this season on March 18-19 against the Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild. While the playoffs are out of reach this year, figuring out how to win these tough turnaround games will be crucial if Seattle hopes to make a playoff push next season.
Now that the dust has settled on the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, I wanted to share my thoughts on what the Seattle Kraken did—and didn’t do—taking a more holistic view than in past articles that focused more specifically on the Yanni Gourde/Oliver Bjorkstrand deal and the Brandon Tanev deal.
In total, the Seattle Kraken moved out four players—Gourde, Bjorkstrand, Tanev, and Ding Dong Daniel Sprong [tear]—and received two top-10 protected first-round draft picks, two second-round picks, a seventh-round pick, and 28-year-old depth forward Mikey Eyssimont, who is on an expiring contract and could theoretically be brought back next year if Seattle wants him.
In terms of return, it’s a fantastic haul of draft capital that gives Seattle five first-round picks and five second-round picks over the next three NHL Drafts.
Coming into this deadline period, I was personally hopeful that the organization would use it as an opportunity to bring in more young players—guys who perhaps haven’t had the chance to excel at the NHL level yet or who are stuck in situations where the upside is clear, but the fit just hasn’t worked for whatever reason (i.e., more Kaapo Kakko types). Instead, general manager Ron Francis swung deals almost entirely for draft picks, which does seem to be the more common return this time of year.
Currency for future deals
At face value, the draft picks acquired won’t help the team for years. A 2026 late-first-round pick likely wouldn’t have a shot at becoming a full-time NHLer and making a real impact until at least 2029, maybe later. But even late first-rounders are valuable chips in this league, so Francis and his staff should be able to parlay them into NHL-ready talent during the offseason.
Francis confirmed this as the plan in his press conference on Friday.
“I said we’ve got 10 picks. We’re not sitting here hoping to draft 10 players, we’re hoping to use those picks as capital to try and acquire players and speed things up.”
While this trade deadline was a full-blown seller’s market, it’s exciting to think about the kind of talent Francis could land if he really is willing to throw around first- and second-round picks this summer.
They could have done more
I was generally very impressed with the return Seattle got for the trades it made. Bringing back two first-rounders and a second in the Gourde/Bjorkstrand deal is nothing short of remarkable, and getting a second-round pick with no salary retention for the expiring contract of overpaid fourth-liner Brandon Tanev is more than fair. So, credit where it’s due—because on the heels of the Kakko trade earlier this season, Francis and Co. did a great job with these moves.
Heck, even getting a seventh-rounder for Sprong is notable, considering he was acquired for a bag of pucks earlier this season and didn’t even stick with the NHL club.
The greedy side of me wishes Francis had continued striking while the iron was hot, though. Trading Bjorkstrand—who was an All-Star last season, had 16 goals and 21 assists this season, and still has a year left on his contract—was a signal that the team was ready to shake up its core beyond just moving impending unrestricted free agents.
With the kinds of returns being thrown around for players of that caliber, I was curious to see what Francis could get for guys like Jamie Oleksiak and Jaden Schwartz, whose names somehow stayed out of any major rumors leading up to the deadline.
Again, credit where it’s due, but there was an opportunity to bring back even more and create an even bigger shakeup in a core that hasn’t delivered enough success.
The health excuse
I’m also not a fan of the injury excuse, which Francis brought up in his press conference—while also simultaneously stating that injuries shouldn’t be used as an excuse. He implied that the team was closer to contention than it appeared, even though it was 11 points out of a playoff spot when the trades started, and that missing Jordan Eberle for most of the season, along with significant injuries to Vince Dunn and Yanni Gourde, hurt their chances.
“Obviously, we want to get healthy and hope that that happens next year,” Francis said. “We have to look at things, because obviously I felt going into the season, we’re a team that could compete for a playoff spot, and we’re not there.”
It’s true that those injuries had a major impact on the team’s ability to compete, throwing the lineup into a seemingly never-ending state of flux. But then I think about a team like the Minnesota Wild, who beat the Kraken last week. They have been decimated by injuries this season and have been without their superstar forward Kirill Kaprizov since Jan. 26. In fact, Kaprizov has only played 37 games all season, and other key players like Jonas Brodin, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Jared Spurgeon have also missed significant time.
I’m not saying Minnesota is the ideal model to follow—they’ve never won a Stanley Cup—but despite many injury issues, they are still firmly in a playoff spot. My point here is that a roster needs to be deep enough to withstand a few injuries to key players, because injuries happen every single year to every single team.
So, here’s hoping that the draft capital acquired at this deadline is put to good use and that the Kraken ice a much more talented team next season that can withstand the absences that will surely happen again.
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.
As expected, Brandon Tanev has been traded to the Winnipeg Jets for a second-round pick in 2027, as reported by Darren Dreger. Tanev was held out of Thursday night’s game in Nashville for trade-related purposes while this deal was finalized. It’s a homecoming, in a way, for Tanev, who spent parts of the first four seasons of his NHL career in Winnipeg.
The second-round pick is a solid return for Tanev. The Kraken will have to wait until 2027 to use it, but like the picks acquired in the Yanni Gourde/Oliver Bjorkstrand trade, it could also serve as a valuable asset in a future trade.
Tanev was the Seattle Kraken’s 2021 Expansion Draft selection from the Pittsburgh Penguins and has been with the team since its inaugural season. He has appeared in 238 games for Seattle, tallying 83 points (41 goals, 42 assists) and also played in all 14 Kraken playoff games, contributing four points (one goal, three assists). One of his most memorable goals for the Kraken was a shorthanded tally in Game 2 of the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Colorado Avalanche. The Kraken won the series but lost that game 3-2, though Tanev’s celebration lives on.
Tanev was not known for his scoring contributions but rather for his high-energy and physical play, which earned him the nickname “Turbo.” The fast-skating Tanev ranks in the 91st percentile in the NHL for speed bursts over 20 mph, according to NHL Edge data as of March 6.
In addition to his speed, Tanev was a key penalty killer, leading all Kraken forwards in average shorthanded ice time (2:19) since the inaugural season. He was a fixture on the penalty kill and will be missed.
Defensively, Tanev leaves Seattle as the franchise leader among forwards in both blocked shots (243) and hits (558). These stats underscore the heart and effort he brought to the ice, which is why he became a fan favorite in Seattle.
This season, Tanev primarily played as a fourth-line winger. With Jordan Eberle easing back into the lineup and rotating between the third and fourth lines, he was bound to return to a top-six role. Oliver Bjorkstrand’s trade to the Tampa Bay Lightning accelerated that transition, as Eberle joined the second line against the Nashville Predators on Thursday night. Jacob Melanson, Ben Meyers, and Mikey Eyssimont formed the fourth line in that game, while Tanev sat out for trade-related reasons. The trio was noticeable as a true fourth line.
Tye Kartye was recalled from his stint in Coachella Valley and will likely slot back in as well, meaning the fourth line will be a rotating mix of players. As the season winds down, expect more call-ups from Coachella Valley to give young prospects valuable NHL experience. Players like Jani Nyman (“Li’l Jani”) and Ryan Winterton could see ice time before the year is up.
The Tanev trade is no surprise
Hockey is a business, and while it’s tough to see original Kraken players leave, there were indications that Tanev was unlikely to re-sign with Seattle after this season. In that context, getting a valuable asset in return is a positive. The Kraken continue their push to improve and get younger, and this move aligns with that objective.
Blaiz Grubic
Blaiz Grubic is a contributor at Sound Of Hockey. A passionate hockey fan and player for over 30 years, Blaiz grew up in the Pacific Northwest and is an alumni of Washington State University (Go Cougs!). When he’s not playing, watching, or writing about hockey, he enjoys quality time with his wife and daughter or getting out on a golf course for a quick round. Follow @blaizg on BlueSky or X.
In a scoreless game against the Chicago Blackhawks at Climate Pledge Arena on Nov. 14, Seattle Kraken captain Jordan Eberle sprinted after defenseman Connor Murphy, hoping to strip him of the puck and create an offensive opportunity just 17 seconds into the second period.
Eberle lunged, trying to lift Murphy’s stick, but as he did so, he lost his footing. Both players went down and began careening out of control across the freshly resurfaced ice, destined for a hard, dangerous slam into the end wall. Murphy was lucky to go into the boards feet first, but Eberle was in a more vulnerable position, prone on his stomach as he crossed the goal line. A split second before impact, he managed to twist his body backward, absorbing the crash with his lower back instead of his head and neck.
While he did well to position himself in a less dangerous way than if he had gone in headfirst, the force of the collision was still too much for his body to withstand.
“I hit the boards hard, and I just knew instantly something was wrong,” Eberle said.
As Murphy got up and skated away, Eberle remained down on all fours while conversing with athletic trainer Justin Rogers. The silence in Climate Pledge Arena was deafening, as the home crowd held its collective breath, waiting to see if the veteran forward would get back up.
He eventually made it to his feet and coasted slowly to the bench, doubled over in pain. When he got off the ice and attempted to step toward the tunnel, his legs didn’t respond as expected.
“I got up and skated to the bench, and as soon as I took a step, I was like, ‘Oh, I can’t walk.’ And then the athletic trainers had to help me.”
Uh oh. Jordan Eberle with a VERY hard slam into the end wall.
Rogers and assistant athletic trainer Phil Varney helped Eberle down the tunnel and into the athletic training room, where he was examined. Fearing the 34-year-old had broken his hips, it was determined Eberle should go to the hospital in an ambulance. There, Eberle underwent a CT scan, but to his surprise, the scan didn’t reveal anything out of place. He still couldn’t lift his legs, though, so he was quickly referred to a local trauma surgeon by the Kraken medical staff.
“I went and saw a hip specialist, and he looked at it and immediately was like, ‘Yeah, this is what you’ve done. You’ve separated your pubic symphysis joint.’”
The pubic symphysis joint is where the right and left portions of the pubis connect in the middle. By stretching this, the two sides of Eberle’s pelvis had increased laxity (or looseness), leaving his lower body without structural integrity. It was a serious injury requiring a rare surgery to repair.
An unprecedented injury in hockey
The hip specialist explained that to repair the pubic symphysis joint, a plate would need to be screwed onto the bones to reconnect the two sides of the pelvis. While this gave Eberle a clear diagnosis, the injury was virtually unheard of in hockey, and a lack of shared knowledge in the sport about how to recover from the procedure made him apprehensive.
“Before I got the surgery, I reached out, tried to find a hockey player who had done this, and there was nobody,” Eberle recalled. “I tried to find a football player too, and there was nobody.”
Seattle’s medical staff had to think outside the box, searching for athletes in other sports who had experienced a similar injury to gain insight into the recovery process.
“Our doctor here found some rugby players who had done it. He spoke to two of them who had done it, and they were good, and he spoke to a third who didn’t do it and tried to recover naturally, and he ended up needing the surgery later on.”
That was all the information Eberle needed to move forward with the procedure. On Nov. 22, the Kraken announced that he had undergone pelvic surgery and would be out for three months.
Bad timing
There’s never a good time for a major injury, but this was especially bad timing. Eberle’s wife, Lauren, was nine months pregnant and due to deliver the couple’s third child at any moment. (In fact, just days before the fateful crash into the boards, Sound Of Hockey had spoken with Eberle about the challenges of becoming a dad in the middle of an NHL season.)
Indeed, baby girl Landyn was born two days after the surgery—while Eberle was completely immobilized.
Jordan Eberle holding his newborn baby, Landyn, while immobilized. (From Lauren Rodych-Eberle’s Instagram)
“None of the praise should go to me,” Eberle said. “I was just lying in a hospital bed. My wife basically did it all, so she had three kids, and basically, I was the fourth kid lying there too.”
Thankfully, Jordan’s mom was able to come to Seattle and help Lauren, as were Lauren’s parents for various stretches.
“When you’re immobile for a month, and you’re just in a bed, you can’t do as much as you want. But I think [Lauren] was a big rock and a big reason why I’ve gotten to this point.”
A long road to recovery
In addition to the support system Eberle had at home, he also praised how the Kraken organization handled his recovery, allowing him to focus entirely on getting back to full strength at the right pace.
“I kind of had an idea in my head [for when I wanted to get back], but, once again, there wasn’t really any basis behind it, as far as anyone doing it. So just the mental roller coaster was— I think I had a great support system here, and with the team, they were just like, ‘Make sure you take care of it, and when you get back, you get back.’
“There wasn’t any pressure to come back early or late. There was no information on any of it, so it was as simple as trying to get better each day. And when days weren’t good, you tried to stay positive. When days were good, you just tried to keel it back a little bit… It was a wild experience.”
That patience from the organization was needed, because Eberle’s progression back from the injury was a long, arduous road. He spent a month in a hospital bed, then progressed to a wheelchair, then to crutches, and eventually to walking and skating.
Eberle admitted that the uncertainty of the situation was always on his mind during the recovery.
“I’d be lying if… yeah, of course,” Eberle said when asked if he had considered whether he may not be able to play again. “I think any time you get the news of what happened and [have them] basically telling you what the surgery entails, and no one’s ever done this, I mean, it crosses your mind. But I think once you start progressing each day, and you start moving… I think I tried not to let that get to me as much as it was in my head.
“[And then it was] not so much about not ever playing, it was more so about not being the same player with what they had to do. But once I got on the ice, and made progress each day, and I saw myself getting better, and I saw each step that I was taking of basically learning to skate with a plate where something shouldn’t be, then I got better and better and better.”
Jordan Eberle skates in a game Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
While there was no pressure to hit a specific return date, the Kraken’s estimated three-month recovery timeline turned out to be almost exactly right. Eberle was back in game action on Feb. 22 against the Florida Panthers. Since then, he has skated in five games, logging as much as 17:06 of ice time and registering an assist in each of Seattle’s last two games against Vancouver on Saturday and Minnesota on Tuesday.
More work left to do
Knowing what Eberle endured makes his return all the more impressive. Seattle coach Dan Bylsma shares that admiration for his perseverance.
“What’s remarkable about his recovery is just the work and the determination Ebs put in off the ice to [get back] in a relatively unknown situation,” Bylsma said. “There’s not a prescribed rehab for an athlete, for the surgery or the injury that he had, and so it was a little bit of an unknown. And the way he plowed through it, the way he worked through it, is quite remarkable.”
And while Eberle is back competing in the NHL, he knows he still has plenty of work to do to return to the level he was playing at before the injury—when he looked to be on pace for a career season.
“I’m happy I’m at the point now where I’m not thinking about it on the ice, I’m just playing, you know? There’s probably a little bit of tightness there, but that’s just going to happen for the rest of the year, probably. And I’m hoping once I get back to a good summer of training and get my speed and my quickness back, I can get right back to where I was.”
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.
