- Seattle re-signed Jacob Melanson to a three-year deal worth $4.35 million, a $1.45M cap hit through 2029
- The 23-year-old winger threw 188 hits in just 36 NHL games last season, the most on the Kraken
- Read below for what Jason Botterill said and where Melanson slots on the opening-night roster
Jacob Melanson hit more people in 36 games than anyone else on the Seattle Kraken managed in a full season. Seattle just paid him to keep doing it.
The Kraken re-signed the 23-year-old winger to a three-year contract on Friday. Total value is $4.35 million, a $1.45 million cap hit that runs through the 2028-29 season and leaves him a restricted free agent at 26.
General manager Jason Botterill laid out what Seattle is paying for in the team’s release.
“We’re excited to re-sign Jacob. He brought a lot of physicality and energy to our group last season, and we’re looking forward to seeing more from him these next few years.”
That physicality is the whole pitch. Melanson finished with 188 hits in 36 appearances, better than five a night, and even on that partial schedule he ranked 31st in the entire league.
Offense was thinner. Two goals and three assists in those 36 games, along with 32 penalty minutes.
He spent the balance of the year with AHL Coachella Valley, where he put up 19 points in 28 games and added five more across 11 Calder Cup playoff games.
His first NHL goal came on Jan. 5 in Calgary, a wrist shot past Dustin Wolf that tied the game in the second period. Ryan Winterton, his old Firebirds teammate, set it up. Watch the goal:
Melanson was asked how it felt to have the contract done, and he did not bury the answer.
“I’m feeling awesome. My fiancée and I are over the moon to have the deal done and be back in Seattle for another three years. She loves it here. I love it. It’s an amazing fan base,” Melanson told Daily Faceoff.
Seattle took the Amherst, Nova Scotia native 131st overall in 2021, a fifth-round pick out of the QMJHL who followed his draft year with a 50-goal season. Four years in Coachella Valley came next, and last winter finally handed him a real NHL runway.
A fourth-line job is where he projects when the season opens. That is a modest role on a Kraken roster built around young forwards coming off a 34-37-11 finish, and it is the exact role Botterill just spent three years locking down.
