Seattle Kraken Have Big Decision To Make

The Seattle Kraken have gotten off to a solid start to the season, anchored by Joey Daccord and a deeper lineup. But the 5-3-2 start might not be fooling management, or organizations around the league that could look at the roster the Kraken have and pick out some valuable pieces they'd like to acquire.

Elliotte Friedman said, "I guarantee you there are teams out there looking at all the draft picks the Kraken have and they're saying this is a team that has what we want. Seattle's going to have some opportunities to do some things."

The Kraken have two first-round picks in each of the next two drafts and seven picks in the first two rounds over the next two years combined. This is a lot of ammunition to either use in acquiring better players or for drafting a talented crop of players that will potentially have impacts in the NHL.

It is very early to judge how the season is going to go for the Kraken, but there are players like Jordan Eberle, Mason Marchment, Jaden Schwartz, and Jamie Oleksiak who are all UFAs after the season. The team is also dealing with plenty of injuries, so the lineup would look significantly different at full health.

The Kraken are an interesting team in an interesting situation. They added bigger free agents in Chandler Stephenson and Brandon Montour ahead of last season, but missed the playoffs. The team has a good deal of talented young players either in the NHL or close, so they can afford to wait to really contend for a couple of years while not completely breaking things down again.

UFAs can be sold, but if the Kraken are also in the running for the playoffs or hold a spot later in the season, one of the many draft picks could be utilized to grab a player or two with some term as Seattle builds towards really contending. This is one of the teams that could truly go either way this season and make exciting moves one way or another.

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