Seattle, WA
Offseason Checklist: Seattle Kraken
The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs. Accordingly, it’s now time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Seattle.
After another coaching change last year, the Kraken were hoping that they’d turn things around this season. While they were technically in the race for a playoff spot in the final few games, they wound up on the outside looking in once again, resulting in the departure of Ron Francis and an organization-wide audit of their processes. While a rebuild or roster retooling might be the more prudent move for the team, it doesn’t appear they’ll be going in that direction. With that in mind, their checklist focuses on moves to help the team now.
Take Care Of Pending Free Agent Forwards
Since Seattle was still within striking distance of a playoff spot, they went from being likely sellers at the trade deadline to improbable buyers. As a result, instead of moving some core rental veterans for future help, they held onto those and added another one for good measure. Now, it’s time to figure out which ones they want to keep.
We’ll start with the newcomer Bobby McMann. The 29-year-old was in the middle of a breakout performance with Toronto before finding a new gear following his acquisition by the Kraken. McMann potted 10 goals in 18 games with his new team, bringing him to 29 on the season. That puts him fourth in tallies among all pending UFAs, putting him in a position to command a long-term deal at possibly four (or more) times his current AAV of $1.35MM. With the team carrying over $28MM in cap room for next season per PuckPedia, it certainly stands to reason that GM Jason Botterill will be trying to keep him around.
Meanwhile, decisions need to be made on two more wingers, Jaden Schwartz and Eeli Tolvanen. Schwartz has been with Seattle for all of its five NHL seasons and sits fifth in franchise scoring despite a long list of injuries, including this season. He has shown flashes of top-six performance but his injury history makes him a little less likely to return, meaning he’ll need to be replaced. Tolvanen’s case is a little less certain. He has 35 goals and 71 points over the last two seasons but saw his role be reduced down the stretch. Still, for a team with minimal firepower, letting a decent scorer walk would be risky. Also up front, though Jared McCann isn’t a pending unrestricted free agent, he becomes extension-eligible in July and is someone the team should be looking to lock up to a long-term deal.
Make A Decision On Wright
When the Kraken selected Shane Wright with the fourth overall selection in 2022, they hoped that he could be their future top center or at least a core second liner. Four years later, that outcome doesn’t seem quite as certain. The team evidently felt the same way as back in January, they reportedly made the youngster available if they were going to land the impactful forward they were seeking.
Unfortunately for Seattle, that move didn’t materialize and Wright’s value has likely dipped since then. After putting up a very respectable 19 goals and 25 assists in 79 games in his first full season in 2024-25, his sophomore numbers took a turn in the wrong direction. Wright managed just 12 goals and 15 helpers in 74 appearances last season and struggled considerably after the Olympic break, notching just one goal and four assists in 18 outings.
On the one hand, it seems as if he’s trending in the wrong direction. On the other, he’s a young center who is signed for one more year on his entry-level deal at a cap charge not far above the minimum salary. He still has five seasons of team control remaining, too. Even if his value isn’t as high as it once was, there would still be plenty of suitors for his services.
On top of that, the Kraken are well-stocked down the middle. Matty Beniers is entrenched as one of their top two middlemen while Berkly Catton, an eighth-overall selection, is a natural center, as is prospect Jake O’Brien, a number pick himself. Meanwhile, veteran Chandler Stephenson is still signed long-term and bottom-sixer Frederick Gaudreau has a couple of years left as well. While there is no elite piece (at least at the moment), they’re not in bad shape depth-wise and could afford to part with Wright.
Botterill will need to decide if he’s better off giving Wright another look in the hopes of him rebounding or at least helping his trade value at the risk of a slow start further lowering his value. But if the team is still open to moving him, Wright is one of their better trade chips.
Add More Firepower
Over the years, the Kraken have tried more of a by-committee approach with their offense. Several of the players from that approach are still around but more often than not, that hasn’t worked out well. In three of their five seasons, they have been in the bottom five of the league in terms of goals scored, including 2025-26 when they were 28th. (They were fourth and 16th the other two seasons.)
This is why they were willing to pay a significant premium in terms of salary to try to land Artemi Panarin from the Rangers in the hopes of making him the centerpiece of their offense. They’re believed to have tried to make some big offers in the past to free agents as well but haven’t had a ton of success on that front and the market this year isn’t likely to bring significant improvements up front.
That’s where the idea of moving Wright makes some sense. With Brandon Montour in the fold, perhaps Vince Dunn could be a trade chip to add a core forward. They could also pull from their prospect pool (though that’s risky for a non-playoff team). But with three subpar offensive seasons from this core group, Botterill needs to find a way to add at least one if not two more threats up front.
Upgrade Defensive Depth
Seattle has one other unrestricted free agent of consequence this summer in veteran Jamie Oleksiak. However, with Dunn, Ryan Lindgren, and Ryker Evans in the fold, they should be able to fill his spot without too much difficulty so they don’t necessarily need to get into a bidding war to try to keep him.
However, they could stand to upgrade on their depth options. If they want to give their prospects a bit more time in the minors with Coachella Valley, their internal replacements for Oleksiak are Josh Mahura and Cale Fleury. Both players have been around the NHL for a few years now but are better seventh options than a full-time sixth.
Fortunately, there will be better options available on the open market. While there aren’t a ton of top-four players set to reach free agency, there are a lot of third-pairing pieces who have had more success than Mahura and Fleury. Ideally, the addition would be a right-shot option to balance out the pairings but an upgrade is an upgrade. They likely only need a short-term player with Ty Nelson, Tyson Jugnauth, Caden Price, and Ville Ottavainen having some success in the minors with the Firebirds and presumably, one of them could break through to full NHL readiness within a year.
But while that prospect depth is promising, a short-term veteran addition to replace Oleksiak and be an improvement on Mahura and Fleury would be worthwhile. More importantly, it’s one that should be realistic to achieve, unlike their forward needs which will be much harder to accomplish.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Police from Vancouver, British Columbia, traveled to Portland to announce a break in a cold case from four years ago, linking a missing person to the Portland-Seattle area.
“This is a woman who died alone, a long way from home. And we feel an obligation, and it’s important to be able to reunite her with her family,” said Sgt. Adam Donaldson with the Vancouver Police Missing Persons Unit in Canada.
On September 29, 2022, a tugboat crew found a woman’s body floating in the waters off Spanish Banks in British Columbia.
She was found near a blue inflatable kayak and had candy, insulin, and a backpack, but no identification.
While they were able to get a pulse back on her, she never regained consciousness and was officially declared dead the following morning.
Police from Vancouver, British Columbia, traveled to Portland to announce a break in a cold case from four years ago, linking a missing woman to the Portland-Seattle area. By sharing her story on YouTube and spreading flyers with this illustrated rendering of the unidentified woman across the Pacific Northwest, they hope to get tips that lead to answers/Avery Elowitt, KATU News
“We know what somebody’s got to know about her. She’s somebody’s sister. She’s somebody’s daughter. She’s somebody’s friend. Somebody’s coworker. Somebody will know who she is,” said Detective Rebecca Matson with the Vancouver Police Missing Persons Unit.
After four years with no leads, Sgt. Anton Schamberger with the Vancouver Police Missing Persons Unit in Canada came across a forensic technique that hadn’t been used by their agency, and has increased movement in this four-year-old investigation.
“They were able to say, based on pollen grains and fern spores found on her sweater, that the sweater had had recent exposure to an urban or suburban environment in the Pacific Northwest, most positively between Portland and Seattle,” said Sgt. Schamberger. “They were also able to say, based on the complete lack of pollen grains and fern spores that were native to British Columbia, that she likely had not had any exposure or was likely not a resident.”
Now, the Vancouver Police Department, Portland Police Bureau, and the Seattle Police Department are reaching beyond the Canadian border.
KATU’s Avery Elowitt asked, “With this new information, how will future outreach efforts be different from these previous efforts now that we have more local ties?”
Sgt. Donaldson answered, “Well, if we have more local ties, we can focus the information, and since we’ve done some outreach in the past few days, we have had some actionable tips to our email address. So now we’re going to have to go back, start investigating those tips, and build up that investigation. It may not be information that leads directly to her identification, but it can narrow the scope of the investigation.”
By sharing her story on YouTube and spreading flyers with this illustrated rendering of the unidentified woman across the Pacific Northwest, they hope to get tips that lead to answers.
Police from Vancouver, British Columbia, traveled to Portland to announce a break in a cold case from four years ago, linking a missing woman to the Portland-Seattle area. By sharing her story on YouTube and spreading flyers with this illustrated rendering of the unidentified woman across the Pacific Northwest, they hope to get tips that lead to answers/Avery Elowitt, KATU News
“What we need is one tip. All it takes is one. All it takes is someone saying, ‘hey, that’s my auntie,’ ‘that’s my mom.’ Or, ‘that was my neighbor,’” said Sgt. Donaldson.
The unidentified woman is believed to be approximately 30-40 years old, Black, and despite extensive investigation across North America, no missing persons report matches her descriptions, according to the Vancouver Police Department.
If you have any information on this case, email thekayaker@vpd.ca or call 604-717-0619.
Populus
When it opened in 2025, this “carbon-positive” hotel brought a touch of eco-futurism to historic Pioneer Square, Seattle’s oldest neighborhood. The massive lobby is full of plants and nature-inspired art, and there are dozens of fun interior design choices throughout the hotel, like depictions of plants painted onto room doors. Salt Harvest, Populus’s restaurant, continues this eco-centric theme, focusing on seasonal ingredients cooked simply at the wood-fired hearth; the new $125 chef’s counter experience guides diners through a five-course menu with details on how and where every ingredient is sourced. At rooftop bar Firn, the cocktails play with different ice formats—spheres, oversized cubes, shaved mounds, and more—and the cafe downstairs serves Monorail Espresso, a longtime local coffee roaster. Populus is ideal for tourists coming for a concert or sporting event at the Seattle stadiums, located mere blocks away, and it’s a stone’s throw from Chinatown-International District, one of the richest dining areas in the city.
1 Hotel Seattle
Slightly farther from the water is the 1 Hotel, which made a big splash in the dining scene in 2025, when it tapped James Beard nominee Oscar Amador to open its flagship restaurant. La Loba earned accolades from local food critics for its fusion of Barcelona culinary techniques and Pacific Northwest flavors (its smoked “candy” salmon is not to be missed). The restaurant leans extravagant with offerings like a tableside beef tartare, far from the norm in famously casual Seattle. Rooms are peaceful in tones of beige and gold, with wood floors and plenty of greenery. If you need to take a break from a food-centric vacation, the 1 has a wide array of wellness treatments, including IV vitamin therapies.
Harry’s Guest House
For a more intimate experience, try this bed and breakfast in a leafy, quiet section of Capitol Hill. The quaint but stylish converted house is next door to Harry’s Fine Foods, a restaurant whose cozy indoor-outdoor porch belies its inventive menu that borrows influences ranging from the Mediterranean to Southeast Asia. Guests can get continental breakfast and room service when the restaurant is open, but the great advantage of Harry’s is the location—Capitol Hill is the center of Seattle’s nightlife scene and LGBTQ+ community, and you’ll be within walking distance of a plethora of clubs, coffee shops, and restaurants. The B&B also has dedicated parking spots for guests, a major perk rarely found in this part of town. Keep in mind that Harry’s only has two rooms (exclusive!), so you’ll want to book here well in advance. (You can also book the entire house, which accommodates six people.)
The Seattle Mariners are closing in on first place in the American League West.
Led by a dominant night of pitching, the Mariners beat the Athletics 4-1 on Tuesday night in Sacramento to clinch a series win over the division leaders. With the victory, Seattle cut the Athletics’ lead to just a half-game in the standings.
Seattle Mariners 4, Athletics 1: Box score | Standings
Even with just a 27-29 record, the Mariners can overtake the A’s (27-28) for first place if they complete a sweep in the series finale at 12:05 p.m. Wednesday.
The Mariners are the defending division champs, having won the AL West last season for the first time in 24 years.
Emerson Hancock continued his stellar 2026 season with six scoreless innings to earn the win for the M’s, holding the A’s to just one hit while walking two and striking out three. Hancock lowered his ERA to 2.78 with the outing.
Jose Ferrer and Gabe Speier each threw a scoreless inning in relief. Andrés Muñoz allowed a run while finishing the game in a non-save situation in the ninth.
The Mariners took a 3-0 lead in the second inning, with Mitch Garver putting Seattle on the board with an RBI double.
Plated 3️⃣ in the 2️⃣nd. #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/RpkeiABpia
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) May 27, 2026
Julio Rodríguez added an RBI single in the fourth.
Tack on another. #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/jAPVBfB7Ei
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) May 27, 2026
Victor Robles went 3 for 3 with a double and a run scored, and Garver and Josh Naylor each had a pair of hits.
Star A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz saw his on-base streak end at 48 games. That is tied for the longest in franchise history with Mark McGwire.
Mariners Radio Network coverage on Seattle Sports of Wednesday’s finale begins at 11 a.m. with the pregame show.
More Seattle Mariners coverage
• With velo up, Bryce Miller relishing return to good health
• Mariners OF prospect Bautista impressing in second pro season
• Olney: Seattle Mariners an interesting trade deadline team
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