By Kate Shefte / The Seattle Times
SEATTLE — It was expected the Seattle Kraken would be quiet at the trade deadline. What followed was complete silence.
Seattle (34-21-6) is banking on its existing group during the final months of the regular season and a potential playoff run. The Kraken front office bolstered the depth on defense with a deal for the San Jose Sharks’ Jaycob Megna on Feb. 5, and that’s all she wrote. Kraken general manager Ron Francis ruled out a late announcement after Friday’s noon deadline.
Francis said he’d talked to some of the Kraken’s veteran players leading up to the cutoff.
“At the end of the day, we believed in the group we had and didn’t think there were prices that we were willing to pay at this point, to change the chemistry that we have in our locker room currently,” Francis said.
“You bring somebody else in from the outside, especially in a rental position, it changes the dynamics of the locker room. … This team, to the best of my knowledge and my information, likes each other. They believe in what we have.”
Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported earlier Friday that the Kraken were “keeping an eye on John Klingberg,” an Anaheim Ducks defenseman and former teammate of Seattle blueliner Jamie Oleksiak. Seravalli also reported the Kraken were “simultaneously entertaining offers on Carson Soucy and Will Borgen to potentially capitalize on some of the high prices on the market.”
Klingberg ultimately landed with the Minnesota Wild. Many big names were off the board earlier in the week.
“At one point there, I thought maybe they moved the trade deadline to Wednesday and nobody told me,” Francis laughed. “There was a lot of action on that day.”
Soucy was the subject of trade rumors in recent weeks. He is set to become an unrestricted free agent after the season, along with forward Ryan Donato and goaltender Martin Jones.
Borgen is due to become a restricted free agent, along with fellow defenseman Vince Dunn, both of whom have enjoyed breakout seasons.
“We’ve had sort of small conversations, but at the end of the day, we decided to push it off until the end of the year and let the guys focus on playing and playing as well as they can,” Francis said.
Seattle was widely reported to be seeking the services of James van Riemsdyk, whose second stint with the Philadelphia Flyers appeared to have ended Friday. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights were considering the veteran, along with the Kraken. Winger van Riemsdyk was reportedly headed to Detroit, then Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman revealed that the parties had “pulled back from deal.” He ultimately stayed put.
Seattle held on to its 10 picks in the 2023 draft. Francis referenced the Kraken scouts’ belief that this is the best and deepest draft the young franchise will have been involved in.
Note
Francis said though he’d been busy Friday, he believed winger Andre Burakovsky (week-to-week, lower-body injury) skated for the first time since leaving a game against the New York Islanders on Feb. 7. He’s missed 11 games.
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