SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - JANUARY 24: Adam Larsson #6 of the Seattle Kraken defends Zach Sanford #13 of the Chicago Blackhawks during the first period at Climate Pledge Arena on January 24, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
The Big Cat is about to feast on a new contract that’s the cat’s meow.
Defenseman Adam Larsson, set to enter the final year of his four-year contract with the Seattle Kraken, appears to be ready to extend his experience in Seattle with “long term” status on a projected four-year extension worth $5.25 million annually, first reported by Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff.
The deal kills any notion of Larsson and the Kraken parting ways after this season, where his current deal would have expired and perhaps entertaining questions during the stretch drive of his value on the trade market at age 32, a birthday that is two months away.
Safe to say the deal is making waves inside the Kraken dressing room. It moved fellow defense partner Vince Dunn, whose previous posting activity on X / Twitter came 13 months ago, to post his reaction with an exclusive array of feline-inspired emojis.
Instead, the Kraken are on the verge of securing the most arguably stable bedrock of their defensive corps in the name of physical play and durability, set to make Seattle the longest tenured stop in his NHL career. The 6-foot-3, 209 pound blueliner, a throwback of sorts with a defensive shutdown game which has complemented Vince Dunn’s marksman-brand offense on the defense’s top pair, has missed only one game in his three-year Kraken career – and for good reason. Larsson was scratched last season in an April 5 win at Anaheim when he and wife, Vera welcomed the birth of their daughter, Alba – the couple’s first child.
Larsson, who needs two more full seasons to match his longest career stop (five seasons with the Edmonton Oilers), previously built an ironman streak of 343 straight games in the lineup and has 848 games across three NHL teams: the Kraken, Oilers, and New Jersey Devils, combining for 848 games along with 213 points and 13 points in 38 career playoff games.
The Skelleftea, Sweden native is Seattle’s all-time leader with 245 games played, six ahead of Jordan Eberle, a fellow teammate from the Kraken expansion year in 2021-22.
Larsson’s new deal, set to kick in next season, is set to put him in Seattle through the 2028-29 season and now leaves the Kraken with three long-tenured players set to have deals expire: forwards Brandon Tanev, Yanni Gourde, and defenseman Will Borgen each have played in Seattle since the team’s expansion year, combining for $11.3 million in annual salary that will enter a final season on the team’s books.