The Seattle Kraken have four pending UFAs, including their captain, that they need to make big decisions about. Is it worth it to trade them before they become eligible to sign elsewhere, or is re-signing them what helps steer them in the right direction for the future?
With the way the Seattle Kraken are playing right now, it's hard to imagine trading away assets before the trade deadline, but it could be what's best for the franchise's future.
The Kraken seem determined to make the playoffs, stemming from the front office, to the coaches and to the players. For fans, that's exactly what they want to see, but there is a way for the Kraken to be mindful of the franchise's future while preserving the competitive spirit of this current season.
The Kraken have four pending unrestricted free agents who play nightly. Those are captain and leading scorer Jordan Eberle, second leading scorer Eeli Tolvanen, their leading scorer from a year ago, Jaden Schwartz and bottom-pairing defenseman Jamie Oleksiak.
The three forwards are key contributors to the Kraken's success this season, and they are why the Kraken sit two points back of third place in the Pacific Division and in the first wild card spot in the Western Conference.
Two things can be true: the three pending UFA forwards are critical to the Kraken's current success, and that trading them could recoup prospects and picks that they could use to bolster their roster down the road. The Kraken have been sellers at the deadline multiple times, trading away their assets for draft picks. Those draft picks they have acquired have always been used - outside of the Mason Marchment trade - but the Kraken could use those picks to acquire NHL-ready talent when the roster is good enough to compete for a Stanley Cup.
The current young core of the roster includes Matty Beniers, Shane Wright, Berkly Catton and Jake O'Brien. All four of those players are centers. The Kraken's current problem is that they don't have support players for those four. In their system, they have wingers such as Jani Nyman, Jagger Firkus, Carson Rehkopf, Nathan Villeneuve, and Eduard Sale. While many, if not all, of those players project to NHL players, there isn't a bona fide star in that crop.
On the backend, the Kraken have prospects like Blake Fiddler, Ty Nelson, Ville Ottavainen, Tyson Jugnauth and Jakub Fibigr, but once again, none of those players project to be superstars. In addition to the four centers already named, the Kraken have intriguing players like Oscar Fisker Molgaard and Julius Miettinen. Still, it isn't easy to envision where they might fit in the lineup.
Eeli Tolvanen and Jordan Eberle (Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images)Using Eberle, Tolvanen, Schwartz and Oleksiak as tradeable assets could do several things. It could land them a young, high-end winger or defenseman for the future, or it could land them other prospects and picks they can package for what they are looking for.
Ultimately, it comes down to what management thinks of the roster. Over the past two off-seasons, the Kraken have splashed free-agent money on Brandon Montour, Chandler Stephenson, and Ryan Lindgren, indicating they believe they can speed up their rebuild or avoid it altogether. Positive results are coming in, but at the moment, it feels like we are waiting to see how real they are.
The Kraken started the season out red-hot, but cooled off to the point where they were in the bottom five of the NHL. Now, they've rattled off six wins in their last seven games and have put themselves back into the playoff race in what's a weak Western Conference. Gauging where the team is at is a challenge, which makes the Kraken one of, if not the most intriguing, team to watch at the trade deadline.
Outside of their pending UFAs, Jared McCann, Philipp Grubauer, and Vince Dunn could garner interest due to their current contracts.
Time will tell what's best for the Kraken, but from now until the March 6 trade deadline, they'll have plenty to ponder.
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