Today begins the first free agency period for the Seattle Kraken. Today could see plenty of movement for the 32nd team in the NHL as they have more cap space available to them than any other team. Right now the Kraken have over 31 million dollars in cap space. They also only have 20 contracts out of their 50 man list.

One quick note, yesterday the Kraken did trade left shot defenseman Kurtis MacDermid to Colorado in exchange for a fourth round pick.

There are some big names out there in free agency today. Up front are forwards like Brandon Saad, Mike Hoffman, Blake Coleman, Tomas Tatar, Alexander Wennberg, Mikael Granlund, and Philip Dannault. On the backend, Dougie Hamilton remains the top enticing name but other vets like Ryan Suter, Ryan Murray, and Cody Ceci.

I think Seattle is fine with their goaltending tandem of Driedger and Vanacek right now but they could still target a vet like Anti Raanta, Dubnyk, Mrazek or another name.

Seattle has the ability right now to outbid any team. If someone is offering Dougie Hamilton 8 million, they could toss 9 million at him instead without batting much of an eye. The question will be how Seattle views their team, what do they want to accomplish in their first year and what helps them the most down the round.

I could still see Seattle send out an offer sheet or two, perhaps waiting to see what the Canucks do with their moves and then swoop in on Elias Pettersen. Regardless it should be a fun day and I will keep you all posted.

SEATTLE SIGNS ALEXANDER WENNEBERG

I thought Wennberg might be an option for Seattle in Expansion but they circle back to the centreman in free agency. The deal is being reported as a 3 year deal with an AAV of 4.5 million. The Kraken need some centre depth and Wennberg should fit in the middle six for Seattle. Posted 17-12-29 in a third line role last season for the Panthers.

KRAKEN GET GRUBAUER

This was a surprising one. I thought Seattle would run the tandem of Vanacek and Driedger but instead the Kraken get aggressive on Philip Grubauer. A six year deal with an AAV of 5.9 million a season. Grubauer was one of the most sought after netminders of free agency with most expecting Colorado was going to lock him up. That was not the case.

SEATTLE SIGNS SCHWARTZ

The last big move of the day Seattle made was bringing in St Louis Blues winger Jaden Schwartz on a 5 year deal with an AAV of 5.5 million. Schwartz dealt with injuries and a down season with 8 goals and 21 points in 40 games but the previous year scored 22 goals and 57 points in 71 games. Clearly Francis believes he is getting that player.

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