NHL Trade Deadline: Kraken Likely Sellers With Playoff Hopes Dwindling
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Yanni Gourde of the Seattle Kraken skates down the ice and braces for contact in a regular season game against the Calgary Flames. Credit: Jennthulu Photos [/caption]
The NHL Trade deadline is March 7 at 12 PM PT. Given the fact that the Seattle Kraken are nine points out of the last Wild Card spot with 21 games to play, they have slim-at-best playoff chances.
MoneyPuck.com has the Kraken with a microscopic 0.3 percent chance at making the playoffs. Unless you subscribe to the Lloyd Christmas level of optimism, the season seems all but over.
In a world of buyers and sellers, it appears the Kraken will be sellers. Even a win against the talented Minnesota Wild ahead of Friday’s deadline likely won’t alter their fortunes enough.
So, what does it mean for the Kraken to be sellers? Who could potentially be on the move out of town?
The low-hanging fruit is to look at names on the NHL-level squad on expiring contracts after this season. Chief among them are Brandon Tanev and Yanni Gourde, who would be prime rental options for contenders to acquire entering the final stretch run.
Both Gourde and Tanev have been part of the Kraken since its inaugural season of 2021-2022. Both have endeared themselves to Kraken fans. Both would be tough to lose from a fanbase morale standpoint.
Tanev is a high-energy, hard-nosed winger nicknamed “Turbo” for a reason. He’s the type of player other teams hate playing against because he always seems to be in their faces or in their way. Gourde ranks fourth in franchise history for points, so losing him would not be easy for fans to stomach.
However, it makes sense for Seattle to send one or both to Stanley Cup hopefuls in exchange for future draft picks or younger players under team control beyond this season.
If the Kraken are wanting to really cash in, they may deal away someone who isn’t a one-quarter season rental. Oliver Bjorkstrand is top six forward with 36 points in 60 games this season. Bjorkstrand has plenty of playoff experience too, scoring four goals with four assists in 14 playoff games in 2023 with Seattle.
Not yet 30 years old and a productive part of what the Kraken do, Bjorkstrand would probably garner the biggest return among players who have a chance to be dealt out of Seattle, expediting the rebuild with extra draft capital and/or higher selections.
Jared McCann may garner interest as a sub-30-year-old prolific goal scorer. McCann is the current franchise leader in goals scored and points. Seattle extended McCann during their inaugural season, as one of the first major moves as a franchise. He still has two years left after this season and likely is viewed as a cornerstone moving forward.
Moving him would be a gut-punch to not just this team, but the future prospects of the Kraken down the road. Seattle brass will need to be blown away by an offer for McCann to move him.
Still, the names most likely to be moved are Tanev and Gourde. Seattle will look to get valuable draft capital in exchange to build out franchise depth over the next few drafts dealing away players with expiring contracts rather than gutting the roster of players such as Bjorkstrand and McCann who should remain part of future plans.
After the Kraken made a surprising run to Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals during the 2022-2023 campaign, they have struggled mightily to recapture that magic in the two seasons after. That led to a coaching change from Dave Hackstol to Dan Bylsma this offseason.
As evidenced by their disappointing season to this point, Bylsma may need more time and a shuffling of the roster to really show his coaching fingerprints on the Kraken.
The roster may look very different this weekend. In fact, at this point, it probably would be best if it did for the benefit of future Kraken teams.
