Analysis: What Mason Marchment Trade Could Signal for Kraken
SEATTLE, Wash. - Mason Marchment needs to change his holiday plans.
Following their 10th loss in the past 11 games on Thursday, before finally snapping a four-game losing streak in San Jose on Saturday, the Seattle Kraken traded Marchment to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Columbus’ 2027 second-round pick and the New York Rangers’ 2026 fourth-round pick.
"I'd like to thank Mason for his contributions to our club, and we wish him and his family all the best in Columbus," Seattle general manager Jason Botterill said in a statement on Friday. "This trade gives us more draft capital and flexibility as we look to improve our team moving forward."
Just 29 games into his Kraken tenure, Marchment has moved on to another team after that deal unfortunately didn’t work out as planned.
Seattle initially acquired the 30-year-old winger from the Dallas Stars on June 19 in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick and a 2025 fourth-round pick. Marchment is in the final season of a four-year, $18 million contract ($4.5 million AAV) he signed with Dallas in 2022.
Looking to add some scoring punch to the lineup, the Kraken traded for the pending unrestricted free agent, but the fit was never quite there. After back-to-back 22-goal seasons in Dallas, Marchment scored just four goals and 13 points in his 29 games with Seattle. His shooting percentage dipped from 16.4% last season to 8.7% this year.
In his final practice at Kraken Community Iceplex, Marchment spoke 1-on-1 with the Emerald City Spectrum, and he expressed that he felt “pretty good” about adjusting to head coach Lane Lambert’s system.
“I feel comfortable,” Marchment said. “Knowing what they want from me and starting to feel pretty good out there, so it’s been nice.”
When asked if he had ever gone through a losing stretch like the Kraken had, he simply answered: “No, never. No.”
The Kraken would go on to lose 4-2 against the Calgary Flames on Thursday, allowing a go-ahead third-period goal for the seventh time in their losing stretch. Then it was no longer Marchment’s problem.
Marchment told the Emerald City Spectrum he had plans for some family members to fly out to Seattle to spend Christmas with him, his wife, Lexy, and three-month-old son, Banks.
Not anymore, at least not in Seattle.
According to a report from The Athletic, Botterill reached out to Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell, who had previously expressed interest in Marchment, and the two managed to get a deal done right before the NHL Roster Freeze that lasts from 11:59 PM local time on December 20 until December 28.
So far, both sides must be happy with the early returns. Despite losing 4-3 to the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, Marchment scored in his Columbus debut. The Kraken, meanwhile, won their first game in regulation since November 20 with a 4-2 victory against the San Jose Sharks.
That said, this trade could signal the start of more moves to come for a Seattle team that sunk to the bottom of the NHL standings in this 11-game stretch.
Lambert expressed belief the team could turn things around, but it would be in the organization’s best interest long term to offload their veterans on expiring contracts and gather as many future-oriented assets as possible.
“Nobody’s happy with where we’re at, at the moment,” Lambert said on Wednesday. “But we also do feel like we’re seeing, and I said that, the irony of the whole thing is we’re seeing some progression in different areas. So we have to also take that into account as well.”
Essentially turning a third-round pick into a second-round pick by flipping Marchment is a start, even if minimal. Jamie Oleksiak ($4.6 million AAV), Jaden Schwartz ($5.5 million), Eeli Tolvanen ($3.475 million) and Jordan Eberle ($4.75 million) are each on the final year of their contracts, and Jared McCann ($5 million) becomes a UFA in 2027.
Tolvanen is the only one of those players without some kind of no-trade clause in his contract, according to Puckpedia. Eberle has a full no-trade clause, while Schwartz and Oleksiak have a 16-team list. McCann has a 10-team list.
As painful as it would be for some fans to see the franchise’s leading scorer go, McCann is arguably the team’s most valuable moveable veteran asset. When healthy, the 29-year-old forward could be a key middle-six wing addition to a playoff team, and would be more than just a half-season rental with a relatively low cap hit (especially if Seattle retained some salary, which may not even be necessary).
For the next week, those potential trade pieces will stay put. It’s also unlikely McCann or Schwartz are moved while on injured reserve. But Botterill’s actions in the next couple months leading up to the March 6 trade deadline will reveal much about the team’s intentions for the season.
Perhaps this Marchment move was simply made to shake things up after such a dreadful month-long stretch for the Kraken. Perhaps it was just the beginning of a larger overhaul. If Botterill has the organization’s best interests in mind for the long term, it should be the latter.
