Seattle Kraken’s Top 5 Assets At 2024 NHL Trade Deadline

Don’t look now, but we’re only a few weeks away from the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline (March 8th), and both the contenders and the pretenders are beginning to separate themselves, with the playoffs fast approaching.

The Seattle Kraken sit in the mushy middle, too good to bottom out but not good enough to stake a claim to one of the Pacific Division’s automatic slots. 

They own a record of 24-21-11 and sit three points outside the final Western Conference wildcard spot. The Los Angeles Kings hold either a multi-point lead, games in hand, or both over the teams chasing them for the primary wildcard slot.

If the Kraken choose to sell at the deadline – and they should be based on the franchise’s trajectory – general manager Ron Francis will have a cache of assets to dangle in front of potential suitors looking to bolster their rosters ahead of the postseason. Let’s dive into five of the team’s most valuable bargaining chips and highlight potential landing spots for each player.

Jordan Eberle, Forward

2023-24 Cap Hit: $5.5 million

33-year-old winger Jordan Eberle – who is a pending unrestricted free agent (UFA) this summer – heads into the final few weeks before the deadline as one of the Kraken’s top trade assets.

Despite scoring below a 20-goal pace for the first time in his career, Eberle offers potential suitors an offensive spark that could be the difference in a tight playoff series. The winger’s 33 points in 52 games still puts him on track to score at least 45 points in a season for the eighth time in his career, though it’s a bit of a drop from his 63 points from 2022-23 (third among Kraken skaters). Eberle’s 10.5 shooting percentage (SH%) in all situations is the second-lowest of his career, so there is reason to believe a turn in luck is in the cards going forward. 

Two potential roadblocks to any deal are Eberle’s 16-team no-trade list and sizable cap hit. The trade restriction hands him the leverage in any negotiations, though it’s difficult to see him turn down a move to any top contender, given that he’s only got 76 playoff games to his name. A reunion with the Edmonton Oilers has been floated on the rumor mill, but some salary retention on the Kraken’s part would be required.

Tomas Tatar, Forward

2023-24 Cap Hit: $1.5 million

Despite scoring 40 or more points in a season on six occasions over his 13-year career, there is some apprehension around 33-year-old playmaking winger Tomas Tatar.

The veteran forward has seen his scoring rate steadily drop in recent seasons and was already traded to the Kraken by the Avalanche due to being a poor fit in their system. There is also the elephant in the room of Tatar’s playoff production, which takes a tumble compared to his regular-season output.

Tatar owns a career scoring rate of 0.57 points per game in the regular season but sees his postseason clip drop to 0.25 points per game, more than a 50% reduction. Mix in the fact that he’s not much of a shooting threat, and suddenly, there’s less of a reason for contenders to be interested.

Still, Tatar is a proven passing asset and excels at carrying the puck through the neutral zone. He also carries a minuscule cap hit this season and has scored at around a 40-point pace since being acquired by the Kraken. For the prices that are often thrown around on deadline day, teams could do a lot worse than a creative forward capable of adding value in a reduced role.

Pierre-Édouard Bellemare, Forward

2023-24 Cap Hit: $0.775 million

Despite being set to turn 39 two days before the 2024 Trade Deadline, Pierre-Édouard Bellemare should be one of the Kraken’s most sought-after pieces on the market.

Bellemare has been limited to only 29 games this season due to a lower-body injury suffered in late December, tallying four goals and five points on the year. He’s also averaging the lowest time on ice of his career in all situations, but he still sees just over two minutes per night on the penalty kill. Bellemare has also won 52.3% of his faceoffs this season, which ranks 63rd out of 191 qualified skaters (minimum 100 draws), and owns a career win rate of 51.5%.

One of Bellemare’s biggest selling points is his recent forays deep into the NHL playoffs. Having played for the Vegas Golden Knights (2017-2019), Avalanche (2019-21), and the Tampa Bay Lightning (2021-23), Bellemare has accumulated 80 postseason appearances since the 2017 Playoffs, 19th among all skaters over that span.

Bellemare’s utility on the penalty kill, expansive playoff resumé, and cheap cap hit make him an attractive target for virtually any Cup contender. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him return to any one of his previous stops for a mid-round pick, even as a pending UFA.

Brian Dumoulin, Defenseman

2023-24 Cap Hit: $3.15 million

The first defenseman to show up on this list is 32-year-old Brian Dumoulin, who signed as a free agent this past offseason. The veteran blueliner counts 600 regular season games to his name as well as an additional 81 in the playoffs, including playing over 20 non-nonsense minutes per game for the Pittsburgh Penguins during their 2016 and 2017 Stanley Cup wins.

Dumoulin isn’t much of an offensive force (25 points in 2022-23 are his career high), but he can kick-start transition efforts from the defensive zone as a capable puck-mover. He has also been a penalty-kill fixture for the duration of his career but has been averaging his lowest shorthanded usage since the 2015-16 season.

Though he’s past his prime, Dumoulin has posted sparkling five-on-five possession numbers this season on the Kraken blue line. Seattle accounts for nearly 58% of all scoring chances and 56% of high-danger opportunities when Dumoulin is on the ice, some of the best on-ice results on the team. He’s been used in a bottom-pair role this year, and could excel for a contender looking to bolster the bottom of their defensive depth chart.

Dumoulin still has another year remaining on his contract, as well as carrying a modified 10-team no-trade clause (NTC), so he will have the final decision on his playing future.

Justin Schultz, Defenseman

2023-24 Cap Hit: $3 million

The fifth trade asset in Francis’ vault is another veteran rearguard in 33-year-old Justin Schultz, who has tallied five goals and 18 points in 46 games this season. Like Dumoulin, Schultz also featured on the Penguins’ back-end during their back-to-back Cup wins, accruing 17 points in 36 games over those two playoff runs.

Most of Schultz’s on-ice utility comes from his ability to generate breakouts and orchestrate his team’s transition game. The veteran defender has primarily been used on his team’s secondary powerplay unit and has scored at least 30 points in a season on four occasions.

According to All Three Zones, Schultz ranks as the Kraken’s most effective defenseman in terms of his rate of defensive zone puck retrievals turned into successful zone exits, and he is active with an above-average individual shot rate. 

Schultz’s $3 million cap hit may turn teams off of a player many see as one-dimensional, but the Kraken have won the shot- and chance-battles at five-on-five with him on the ice this season. No one would ever mistake him for a defensive specialist, but he’s not a sieve either. Though his 10-team NTC could be a problem, offering him a chance at another Stanley Cup could prove to be too tempting to turn down.

Kraken Have Many Valuable Assets to Sell at Deadline

While the Kraken remain in playoff contention, their current roster makeup and trajectory suggest that selling off useful veterans on expiring or near-expiring contracts would be the prudent move at the upcoming trade deadline.

After getting a taste of playoff success with an unexpected upset over the defending Stanley Cup champions Avalanche, pivoting towards a rebuild or retool of sorts will undoubtedly be painful. Yet, forgoing short-term pleasure for long-term prosperity should be an easy compromise for Kraken fans. It’s up to Francis and company to follow through.

Data courtesy of CapFriendly, Natural Stat Trick, and the NHL.