SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - MARCH 14: Kaapo Kakko #84 of the Seattle Kraken celebrates his goal against the Utah Hockey Club at Climate Pledge Arena on March 14, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
If the Seattle Kraken plan to engage in more significant roster movement during the offseason, a priority to lock in a relatively young corner of it took another step closer on the eve of free agency.
Wingers Kaapo Kakko, Tye Kartye, and defenseman Ryker Evans each were tendered qualifying offers on Monday from the Kraken which safeguarded negotiating rights by a 2:00pm PT deadline, holding them in restricted free agency which provides first right of refusal to the Kraken, should any player receive an offer sheet from another NHL team.
Center Michael Eyssimont remains unsigned, scheduled to hit the open market on Tuesday unless a deal is reached before Tuesday at 9:00am PT. Goaltender Ales Stezka, technically a pending unrestricted free agent after a one-game stint with the Kraken as an AHL call-up, has signed a three-year deal in Czech Republic with HC Kometo Brno.
Kakko is arguably the highest priority for an extension based on his production. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound winger was acquired in a trade from the New York Rangers last December for defenseman Will Borgen, and immediately meshed with fellow winger Jaden Schwartz and center Matty Beniers – at one point becoming one of the most productive forward lines in the NHL.
Kakko, 24, racked up 10 goals and 30 points in 49 games after the trade from the Rangers, a 50-point pace over the course of a full 82-game season which decimated a 14-point run in just 30 games, prior to the trade with the Rangers. Kakko’s career has started on patchy grounds, breaking into the lineup immediately as an 18-year-old after going second overall to the Rangers in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.
Kakko has yet to hit 20 goals in a full season, a benchmark perhaps within realistic view following his productive arrival in Seattle. His single-season high is 18, set two years ago, and will be entering the seventh year of his NHL career.
Evans, 23, will be entering his second full NHL season after 25 points in 73 games, and was the most used rookie in the lineup at even strength situations at 17:50 per game for time on ice. Kartye, 24, a bottom-six depth forward due to enter his third full season on the Kraken roster, managed six goals and 13 points in 63 games. Returning to the AHL with Coachella Valley for the first time in two years on a conditioning loan, he racked up four points in three games with the Firebirds.
The Kraken have $18 million of salary cap space available to extend the trio plus pursue additional upgrades, already in the wake of three trades in a seven-day span that brought on the arrival of Mason Marchment from Dallas and Frederick Gaudreau from Minnesota. Center Joe Veleno was also acquired in a rigid one-for-one trade from Chicago in exchange for veteran Andre Burakovsky, but the Kraken formalized a buyout of Veleno’s contract on Monday which gained $4.7 million in cap space for this next season off Burakovsky’s dispatched deal.
Which direction the Kraken go into this summer for any upgrades is a matter of question, but general manager Jason Botterill said last Friday the Kraken “would be involved” in the free agent market - yet hedged on the amount of hope for a bigger move.
“I think there’s 31 other teams that want to make a splashier addition to their roster,” said Botterill. “You see other markets – everyone’s trying from that standpoint.”
“We continue to have draft capital, continue to have cap space to work on that, and we’ll see how it goes.”
The biggest potential catch of the offseason, Mitch Marner, is already off the board one day before free agency opens in a trade from Toronto to Vegas. Brad Marchand, Aaron Ekblad, and Sam Bennett won’t hit the open market either – all three were extended by the defending champion Florida Panthers. Andrei Kuzmenko has re-signed in Los Angeles.
While forwards such as Vancouver's Brock Boeser and Winnipeg's Nikolaj Ehlers are expected to hit unrestricted free agency, the market is considered extremely thin of recent offensive production, turning off-season attention to potential trades or offer sheets to restricted free agents.
The Kraken additionally announced their six-game pre-season schedule, maintaining a traditional two-game rotation between Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver, which opens Sunday, Sept. 21 at Climate Pledge Arena at 5pm PT against the Canucks.