- Seattle re-signed Bobby McMann and traded for Mackie Samoskevich but did little else to a team that missed the playoffs
- Jaden Schwartz and Jamie Oleksiak both walked, and the Shane Wright trade still hasn’t happened
- Read below for why the Kraken look stuck in the NHL’s messy middle
The Seattle Kraken walked into this offseason as a team worth watching. They are walking out of it looking a lot like the club that missed the playoffs in April.
Seattle finished 34-37-11 last season, 28th in the NHL in scoring and 23rd in goals against. A summer that was supposed to push them up the standings has mostly kept them in place.
Re-signing Bobby McMann was solid business. The six-year deal worth $5.75 million a year keeps a middle-six scorer who clicked after his move from Toronto. Darren Dreger had the terms:
Grabbing Mackie Samoskevich gave them a younger piece to build around. Seattle sent Florida a first-round pick and a conditional 2027 second for the 23-year-old winger in June, then locked him up on a three-year extension at $3.85 million per season. He put up 32 points in 77 games for the Panthers last year and already owns a Stanley Cup ring from 2025. The Kraken made the signing official on July 1:
The trouble is what walked out the door. Jaden Schwartz signed with Colorado, and Jamie Oleksiak found a new home too. Swap those two out for McMann and Samoskevich and it is hard to call this roster better than the one that fell short.
Then there is Shane Wright. The former fourth overall pick asked out this summer, and Seattle is working to trade him to a team that needs a young center. Wright had 12 goals and 27 points in 74 games last season and is entering the final year of his entry-level deal.
Wright would rather land in Vancouver, though the Penguins have pushed hard for him as well. That trade still hasn’t happened, and it is the one that actually shapes Seattle’s summer.
The young core has real pieces. Matty Beniers is a legit top-six center, and Berkly Catton flashed as a rookie with 17 points in 66 games. A deeper wave of prospects like Jake O’Brien, Jani Nyman and Julius Miettinen should start arriving over the next couple of seasons.
That leaves the Kraken in the spot nobody wants: too good to bottom out for a top pick, not good enough to worry anyone in the Pacific. Seattle got close on Jason Robertson before that deal collapsed. Getting the Wright trade right might be the only move left that pulls the Kraken out of the middle.
