Five Seattle Kraken Players Who Might Not Be Back Next Season

4. Riley Sheahan

Riley Sheahan was signed by the Kraken this past offseason. He has spent 11 years in the NHL with six different NHL teams, the Red Wings, Penguins, Panthers, Oilers, Sabres and Kraken.

Sheahan is an unrestricted free agent – their only amongst forwards – and he played in 69 games this season, putting up 17 points.

Sheahan not returning makes sense partly due to what the Kraken need but also for what he needs. Sheahan is 30 years old and has been in the playoffs five times with Detroit, Pittsburgh and Edmonton, but the furthest he made it was the second round with Pittsburgh in 2017-18.

Sheahan used to be a reliable middle-six forward on some good teams, and one would imagine he would like to chase a championship sometime soon, which Seattle might not be able to offer him.

5. Chris Driedger

The final player on this list is the only person with term still left on his deal – goaltender Chris Driedger.

The Kraken are building for their future through the draft. They also want to keep their cap space open to sign some players or take on some contracts to take advantage of teams up against the cap ceiling.

The Kraken have two netminders signed for at least the next two seasons taking up a combined 9.4 million in cap space. For two goalies, that is a lot of money – especially considering the state of the franchise.

Neither Driedger or Grubauer were that remarkable this past season, and if you are looking to move one of them Driedger makes more sense when looking at his cap hit and term remaining.

So what do you think? Are there any other Kraken players you think won’t be back next season? Based off of how things ended this past season I think the possibilities are endless!