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# Seattle Kraken Position Group Overviews: Forwards
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/seattle-kraken-position-group-overview-forwards/
- Published: 2025-08-27T20:10:37.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T06:18:36.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Analysis, Kraken, Matty Beniers, Kaapo Kakko, Jared McCann, Jaden Schwartz, Chandler Stephenson, Jordan Eberle, Shane Wright, Mason Marchment, Frederick Gaudreau, Lane Lambert, Berkly Catton, Jani Nyman, Coachella Valley Firebirds

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*With about a month until training camp is underway, Emerald City Spectrum is taking a look at each of the Seattle Kraken’s position groups heading into the season. After breaking down the goaltending situation and the defensemen, we wrap up by looking at the forwards.*

I wrote about Seattle’s projected top line earlier this summer, which you can [read here](https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/home/seattle-kraken-top-line-set-tone-2025-2026-season). Even if new coach Lane Lambert decides to mix things up, the production of Matty Beniers and Kaapo Kakko in particular will be a major determinant of the team’s progression.

Of the rest of the projected top six, only Jared McCann, 29, is under 30 years old. McCann led the team in scoring last season with 61 points, and 33-year-old Jaden Schwartz scored a team-high 26 goals. Chandler Stephenson, 31, scored 51 points in 78 games and is two years removed from a 65-point season, while captain Jordan Eberle, 35, missed nearly half the season due to injuries and is nearing the end of his career.

All four of those forwards can be expected to produce around the same level this season, if not worse. Beniers, 22, scored 43 points last season, while Kakko, 24, totaled 44 across 79 games with the Kraken and New York Rangers. 21-year old Shane Wright matched Kakko’s 44 points in his first NHL season.

Those three will be relied upon to take big steps forward in their production. Otherwise, a team that already has the third-worst odds to win the Stanley Cup, according to ESPN, will have bigger concerns next offseason.

Kakko has already shown positive signs since arriving in Seattle, with the former No. 2 overall pick clearly needing a change of scenery after five-plus underwhelming seasons with the Rangers. After scoring four goals and 14 points in 30 games (0.47 points per game) with New York prior to the trade to Seattle on December 18, Kakko tallied 10 goals and 30 points in 49 games (0.61) down the stretch.

Beniers, meanwhile, scored 57 points as a rookie in 2022-23 to earn the Calder Trophy. He has not come close to matching that in the two seasons since, but the ability is there. In addition to point production, both Beniers and Wright could stand to improve at the faceoff dot. Beniers has never won more than 47.5 percent of his draws in a season, while Wright won just 44.4 percent of his faceoffs last year.

Outside of those x-factors, the additions of Mason Marchment and Frederick Gaudreau will be storylines to watch early on. Marchment is a 30-year old middle-six winger whom Seattle acquired from Dallas in exchange for a 2025 fourth-round pick and a 2026 third-round pick.

Marchment should add some scoring punch to the lineup, coming off a 22-goal, 47-point season in just 62 games last year. Extrapolated over 82 games, Marchment would have led the Kraken in goals last season (29). Standing at 6-5 and weighing 212 pounds, he uses his size to play a physical game that should fit what Lambert wants to see in the lineup.

Additionally, the Kraken acquired Frederick Gaudreau from the Minnesota Wild this summer in exchange for a 2025 fourth-rounder, and the 32-year old should slot in as the fourth-line center and play a key role on the penalty kill.

Other younger forwards such as Berkly Catton and Jani Nyman will be intriguing to watch. Catton, 19, is expected to appear in some NHL games but will likely play with the Spokane Chiefs – whom he led to the WHL Championship this past season before losing to Medicine Hat in five games – for most of the year, since he is not eligible to play with Coachella Valley in the AHL due to age. That said, if he shines at training camp and makes it impossible for Kraken management to send him down, he will earn a roster spot.

Nyman, meanwhile, scored 28 goals and 44 points in 58 games for the Firebirds last season and was called up to the Kraken towards the end of the year, where he scored three goals and three assists in 12 games. The 21-year old winger will fight for an expanded NHL role during training camp.

As a whole, the forward unit lacks the high-end talent that drives good teams, which caps expectations this season. However, if the younger core pieces take some strides, the organization will have a much better sense of its direction for 2026 and beyond.