A couple months ago I wrote a blog about a few potential options for the Kraken to improve their top six centre depth. Two of the key names I focused on were Steven Stamkos and Elias Lindholm. We are just over a month away from Free Agency and both players look set to become UFA's.

The Kraken have a strong mix of top nine forwards in McCann, Burakovsky, Beniers, Eberle, Schwartz, Kartye, Bjorkstrand, Tolvanen and Gourde and likely to add Shane Wright into that mix. The biggest issue within this mix is a lack of true elite talent. The closest the Kraken have right now as an established elite talent is Jared McCann who had 40 goals two seasons ago and followed it up with a 29 goal season. Beniers is still finding his way, Wright is a rookie, and the rest are a mix of solid players that are good for 15-25 goals.

Adding a top line centre is not something that can typically be addressed in Free Agency but the Kraken could have the opportunity to do just that if Lindholm and Stamkos end up testing the waters. Let's look at the positives of both.

Steven Stamkos
At 34 years old, Stamkos is certainly nearing the end of his most productive years. The good news is that his later years are still really good. After dealing with serious injuries for a few seasons, Stamkos has missed a total of 5 games in the past 3 seasons. Stamkos has had two 40 goal seasons in the past three seasons, a 106 point season and two other 81+ point seasons.

Stamkos has spent time at both centre and the wing depending on where the team needed him. This would work phenomenal with a player like McCann who has taken on a similar roll with the Kraken. Another area where Stamkos has excelled is the powerplay which has been an area of lacking for Seattle since their inception. A new coach with new ideas on the PP combined with a player like Stammer would certainly equal success.

Seattle currently has a projected 23 million dollars in cap space with Beniers and Tolvanen being the main RFA's to sign (I don't think Yamamoto is qualified). Beniers had a rough second season so I don't expect Francis to have to break the bank to get either of those done. Seattle could certainly offer Stamkos a three year deal at a very competitive price.

One other thing Seattle could offer Stamkos is a captaincy. The Kraken remain without a captain and it doesn't make sense for Beniers or Wright to take that role yet (Jared McCann is the other obvious choice). Having Stamkos take on a leadership role could be an additional incentive, and something I'm sure former teammate Yanni Gourde could also tell him about.

The jury isn't out on Stamkos returning to the Lightning but with the acquisition and return of Ryan McDonagh, the Lightning are slowly pricing themselves out of being able to keep their long time forward. Certainly something to keep an eye on over the next month.

Thanks for reading.

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