A look at the Seattle Kraken's upcoming free agents

Free agency is now less than six weeks away and many teams are already looking ahead to when it opens up. There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market in mid-July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. Let's take a look at the upcoming free agents for the Seattle Kraken.

Key Restricted Free Agents:

F Ryan Donato – After bouncing around a bit the past few seasons, the once highly-touted prospect settled in for a quality first season with the Kraken, putting up 16 goals and 15 assists for 31 points in 74 games. Donato’s 74 games played were the most in a season for his career, as were his 31 points, which ranked sixth on a struggling Kraken team. As Seattle looks to improve and draw closer to its first playoff berth, they’ll look to bring in new talent, but also retain the pieces that seemed to work for them, which would presumably include the 26-year-old forward. After signing a two-year, $3.8M contract prior to the 2019-20 season with Minnesota, Donato took a pay cut this season in Seattle at just $750K, but after his strong 2021-22 performance, he could be in line for a contract similar to the one he signed in 2019.

F Morgan Geekie – Geekie was selected from the Carolina Hurricanes in the NHL Expansion Draft and settled into his first regular role in the NHL, registering 22 points in 73 games for the Kraken, both career-highs. Not the flashiest player, Geekie makes a living as a hard-working, gritty forward which should serve him well as he he looks to continue his career and play regular minutes on a Kraken team that’s also looking to improve. When his ELC expired last offseason, Geekie signed a one-year, $750K contract with Seattle, a deal which seemed to work out well for both Geekie and the team. This offseason, Geekie will likely find a modest raise and the opportunity to show that he is part of the long-term plan in Seattle.

F Daniel Sprong – A deal at the deadline saw Sprong come from the Washington Capitals as part of the return for forward Marcus Johansson, Sprong continued his effective play with Seattle, scoring six goals in 16 games. Sprong is an interesting player, having been traded three times already in his young career. He’s never had a true chance to settle in with a team. The forward has never had eye-popping numbers at the NHL level, but he has shown the ability to score goals with relative ease. As Seattle looks to find players to build around without a settled foundation, Sprong has shown in his brief tenure with Seattle that he was capable of scoring goals, his six in 16 game was equivalent to a 30-goal pace in an 82-game stretch. He may not find much of a raise over his previous $725K cap hit, but his age (25) and his ability to put pucks in the net could see him getting a consistent NHL look with Seattle in 2022-23.

Other RFAs: F Karson Kuhlman, F Kole Lind, F Alexander True, F Carsen Twarynski, D Haydn Fleury, D Dennis Cholowski, D Cale Fleury

Key Unrestricted Free Agents:

F Victor Rask – Rask’s case is interesting, coming off a six-year, $24M contract he signed with the Hurricanes prior to the 2016-17 season. The forward would see himself struggle for Carolina and was eventually dealt to the Wild in January of 2019, struggling there as well. Rask would actually rebound to an extent in 2021-22, putting up 13 points in 29 games for the Wild. However, salary cap issues forced the organization to bury him in the AHL. As a result, the Wild dealt Rask to Seattle in a salary cap trade at the 2022 deadline, Rask continued his bounce-back year with eight points in 18 games for the Kraken. Where Rask winds up is unknown, and he surely won’t see another $24M contract this offseason. He has used his 2021-22 very nicely, especially in the face of adversity, to re-establish his value in the NHL.

F Riley Sheahan – After spending his entire career with the Detroit Red Wings, a 2017 trade set Sheahan off on a stretch of six teams in five seasons, culminating in a 2021-22 season with the NHL’s newest team. Sheahan turned in 17 points in 69 games this season. The 30-year-old should be useful to a number of teams in different situations. Having had three straight seasons with salaries under $1M, most recently $850K this season, Sheahan would presumably wind up with something in that neighborhood once again.

Other UFAs: D Derrick Pouliot, D Connor Carrick, D Gustav Olofsson, G Antoine Bibeau

Projected Cap Space:

Seattle projects to have $22.885M in available cap space this offseason. This will be enough to retain their pending RFAs and UFAs, the most expensive of these likely being Donato and Rask, who would probably not go much north of $3M each per season. 

The key consideration for Seattle will be getting better, as the team finished 27-49-6 in their inaugural season. Their available cap space will provide plenty of options to improve and work the free agent and trade markets. As far as their impending free agents are concerned, the decision may be less about affordability, as it is with other teams, and more about what kind of talent they can find to play there. Seattle currently sits with 22 out of a maximum 50 contracts allowed.