Seattle Kraken Free Agency Day No. 1 Recap

Date: July 29, 2021

By: Dylan Camp

Jim Bennett/Getty Images

On the first day of NHL free agency, the league’s newest franchise made some big splashes and added key pieces to their roster. The Seattle Kraken signed center Alex Wennberg, winger Jaden Schwartz, and their biggest move of the day was signing former Avalanche goalie Philipp Grubauer to a six-year contract. 

Following the expansion draft one week prior to free agency, it was unclear who the Kraken’s starting goalie would be after they drafted two relatively unproven goaltenders in Chris Driedger and Vitek Vanecek. After day one of free agency, there is no longer a question mark as to who the starting goalie will be in Seattle.

Grubauer is coming off of an incredible year in which he was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy after posting a 30-9-1 record with a goals-against-average below two and a .922 save percentage. The new No. 1 goalie in Seattle comes with an impressive resume and will look to play a similar role to how Marc-Andre Fleury helped carried the Vegas Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final. Hopefully for Grubauer, his new franchise won’t betray him like Vegas did Fleury.

Don't mind if we do.

The #SeaKraken have agreed to terms with goaltender @philgrubauer31 on a 6 year contract (5.9M AAV). pic.twitter.com/gSdeyGKwPO

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) July 28, 2021

The other two additions to the Kraken roster are two strong forwards in Wennberg and Schwartz that they locked up for three and five years respectively. Wennberg is coming off of his only year with the Florida Panthers in which he put up 29 points in the shortened season. This was Wennberg’s most productive season in terms of goal scoring putting up a career-high 17. The Kraken front office is likely hoping Wennberg can return to his early NHL form when he put up 40 and 59 points in back-to-back seasons between 2015-17 for Columbus.

Schwartz had been a member of the St. Louis Blues for the first ten years of his career and 560 games later will finally have a new home. Schwartz is a highly experienced veteran player but is only 30 years old. He will likely serve as a very productive member of the Kraken’s third or fourth line and might be seen on Seattle’s power play. In the 2019-20 season, Schwartz tallied 20 points on the power play, nine of which were goals. 

More from #SeaKraken RW Jaden Schwartz ... He's impressed with developing Seattle depth chart: 'I really like the roster. Lots of good hockey IQs, guys who play both ends of the ice ... I like a lot of the players from playing against them ... there's a workers-first mentality.'

— Bob Condor (@ByBobCondor) July 28, 2021

Just one day into their first ever NHL free agency, the Seattle Kraken made great additions to their already strong roster. General manager Ron Francis added three strong players with a ton of playoff experience and that know what it takes to win in the league. Wennberg and Schwartz will be strong forwards on the bottom two lines for the Kraken, and the biggest signing for Seattle is new No. 1 goalie Grubauer, who will wear a Kraken jersey for many years to come.

Then, just to cap off their great day, the Kraken acquired a future second-round draft pick by sending the aforementioned Vanecek, who they took in the expansion draft last week, back to the Capitals. 

Dylan Camp be reached at dylan.camp@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports