The Seattle Krakens have surprised a few people with some of their roster moves in their brief history. In the first official day of free-agent signing, Kraken general manager Ron Francis admitted he was surprised that goaltender Philip Grubauer didn’t re-sign with the Colorado Avalanche.
The Kraken, who begin league play in October, surprised (maybe shocked) the hockey community by signing Grubauer, a 2021 finalist for the Vezina Trophy awarded to the league’s top goaltender. Grubauer signed a six-year contract with $5.9M going against the salary cap.
Also joining Seattle is forward Jaded Schwartz (five years, $5.5M ) – not a surprise – and Florida Panthers center Alexander Wennberg (three years, $4.5M). That trio joins the free agents the Kraken drafted before last week’s expansion draft – goaltender Chris Driedger and defensemen Jamie Oleksiak and Adam Larsson. And the Kraken still has $15M to spend on the team’s salary cap.
UPGRADING THE OFFENSE
Kraken Nation has certainly expressed its concern on social media about a perceived lack of offense on the team. Yanni Gourde, arguably the best Kraken forward, is sidelined for at least two months recovering from shoulder surgery.
During the St. Louis Blues’ drive to the Stanley Cup in 2019, Schwartz scored 12 goals in 26 games including two game-winners. The 29-year-old left-winger scored 154 goals and added 231 assists in 560 games with St. Louis.
“Jaded can play up and down the lineup,” said Francis. “We value his experience, especially winning the Stanley Cup [in 2019].”
Wennberg scored 17 goals for the Florida Panthers in an abbreviated season. The 26-year-old from Sweden should play on one of Seattle’s top two lines. “We’re really happy with Wennberg [joining the Kraken],” said Francis. “He’s a two-way center man who is a good fit, especially with [Yanni] Gourde out.”
A PLETHORA BETWEEN THE PIPES
In the NHL expansion draft, the Kraken was required to take three goaltenders. Seattle negotiated with Driedger before the draft and the free-agent netminder became the Florida selection for the Kraken. Things worked out nicely with Seattle selecting Washington goalkeeper Vitek Valecek as a back-up although he started several games (including the playoffs with the Capitals).
In fact, Valecek was the winningest goalie last year among rookie goalies. They also selected Joey Daccord, a young goalie from Ottawa who’ll probably play in the minors next season.
“I didn’t expect Grubauer to get to market,” Francis admitted. The 29-year-old from Germany Grubauer, 29, picked the right time to have the best season of his nine-year career. He led the league in shutouts with seven. He was second in wins (30) and goals-against average (1.95) and eighth in save percentage (.923). When Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog re-signed with the club on Wednesday he noted, “Grubi was the backbone of our team last season.”
Grubauer also played with Washington in its Stanley Cup winning year of 2018. The Kraken have four players who’ve hoisted the Stanley Cup – Grubauer, Gourde, who won two championships in Tampa Bay and Schwartz and Vince Dunn with St. Louis.
The Kraken’s final move on Free Agent Day came when they swapped Vanecek back to Washington for a 2023 second-round draft choice. “We took Vitek Vanecek to be part of our goalie tandem,” said Francis. “But when we signed Grubauer six different teams called on Vitek.”
For now, it appears Grubauer would start about 60% of the games between the pipes and Driedger 40%. Seattle should also have the luxury of never having to play the same goalie on back-to-back nights.
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