Robert’s Kraken picks
Forwards
Josh Bailey has shown he is a reliable forward over the past few seasons and that will not change as a member of the Seattle Kraken. Also leading the group up front, is two-time Stanley Cup champion Gourde and Nino Niederreiter. I went with a pair of grinders in Ryan Carpenter and Brendan Lemieux since we have seen from the playoffs that teams need a gritty bottom line to elevate their level of play. The rest of the offense consists of depth players with high potential that could be trade bait as the season goes on, along with notable veterans such as Jarnkrok.
Defensemen
Giordano may be older, but he has shown he still can play the heavy minutes. He is the perfect veteran to lead the blue line of a new franchise. Will Butcher has had a rough time trying to replicate his rookie season, but the potential is there, and a fresh start in Seattle could get his confidence back. Radim Simek and DeMelo should be serviceable players with both having decent contracts that Seattle will not have to worry about for a handful of seasons. To round out the rest of the defense I went for depth defensemen that could elevate their game with a new franchise.
Goalies
I went with a younger group of goalies that Seattle can develop. Driedger has shown he can be a starting goaltender while Kahkonen surprised the league when he stepped in for the Wild and led them to another playoff appearance. Vanecek did a solid job being the backup in Washington and should be serviceable for Seattle. Yes, Price is available, but is that cap hit worth it when you instead can use that cap space to improve the team in other areas?
