NHL : Seattle Kraken – 2025/2026 Review
With 79 points on the board, Seattle wrapped up a third straight season without playoff hockey, finishing sixth in the Pacific after never really finding its groove. The lack of scoring punch remains the club’s chronic illness. They ended up among the league’s worst offenses again, and this is a problem that has hung around since the franchise’s earliest days.
Key figures
2025-2026 record: 34-37-11 (231 goals for, 258 against)
2025-2026 NHL standing: 6th in the Pacific Division
Top scorer 2025-2026: Jordan Eberle (26)
Top playmaker 2025-2026: Vince Dunn and Chandler Stephenson (49)
Top point scorer 2025-2026: Jordan Eberle (55)
Average age of roster (2026-2027): 27,6 years
Available cap space (2026-2027): 4.37M$
Recent moves (off-season)
Arrivals :
- Mackie Samoskevich (F)
- Curtis Douglas (F)
Departures :
- Jaden Schwartz (F)
- Jamie Oleksiak (D)
Franchise outlook
Seattle Kraken – Future contracts and draft picks
Seattle had a quiet summer, and not in a good way. The front office’s main priority was to lock up Bobby McMann, its best pickup from last season’s trade deadline, on a six-year deal worth 5,75 M$ per year after he made an instant impact with 10 goals in just 18 games.
The rest of the summer was defined by exits. Jamie Oleksiak, Jaden Schwartz and, likely, Eeli Tolvanen all moved on, and there was no obvious replacement to fill those holes, especially on the blue line. The addition of Mackie Samoskevich, landed from Florida for a first- and second-round pick, adds some forward depth, but Seattle paid a steep price for a player who still has plenty to prove at NHL level.
Under the hood, the core is still young and tied down for the long haul: Matthew Beniers, Brandon Montour and Chandler Stephenson are all locked in through 2030-31. The real issue is still the same glaring lack of scoring depth. The team finished near the bottom in goals for for the third time in five seasons, and this summer did little to fix a structural flaw. The hope now rests on internal growth from young players already in the system rather than a major outside addition.
The problem that will not go away
Five seasons in, three trips to the bottom half of the scoring charts. For an expansion team that actually got off to a decent start with a playoff berth in year two, Seattle still cannot sort out the most basic job in hockey: scoring goals. The front office did try to land a big-time finisher this summer, including a push for Artemi Panarin, but came up empty.
So the club doubled down on continuity, extending Bobby McMann after his instant late-season impact, while letting veterans such as Jaden Schwartz and Jamie Oleksiak walk without replacing them directly. The noise around Shane Wright, whose agent has confirmed talks with Seattle over a trade, says plenty about the uncertainty hanging over some pieces that were supposed to bloom by now.
And even if Seattle had landed a bona fide No. 1 scorer like Panarin, that still would not have guaranteed a team-wide spark. The issue looks deeper than that. It runs through the lineup, not just the top end, which makes any quick fix feel like wishful thinking.
Player to watch : Bobby McMann (F)
Picked up from Toronto at the trade deadline last March, McMann delivered one of the most explosive starts in franchise history: two goals and an assist in his first game, then 10 goals in just 18 outings with Seattle. That was enough to convince the club to extend him for six years at 5,75 M$ per season instead of letting him test free agency.
This season, he is no longer a late-season rental. He arrives as a fixture from opening night. The big question is whether that blistering 18-game pace can hold over a full 82-game grind, on a team that needs far more than one hot streak to solve its long-running scoring problem.
2026-2027 goal
Projected Seattle Kraken lines 2026-2027
The goal is still a return to the playoffs after three straight years out, but Seattle has not torn things up to get there. Instead, the bet is on continuity and the growth of a young group, with as many as seven or eight forwards aged 23 or under possibly in the opening-night lineup. In plain terms, that means fixing two problems from last season: a penalty kill that was the worst in the league, and a habit of folding when things went sideways.
If they make it, it will back up the slow-build approach. Miss for a fourth straight year in a Pacific Division that remains there for the taking, and the front office may have no choice but to rethink the plan, perhaps with a real shake-up involving veterans like Jared McCann and Vince Dunn, both of whom are heading toward contract years.
My call
That locks in my bottom three in the Pacific. I just dont see anyone else outside those three. Seattle has youth, sure, but it is still too fuzzy to trust. They will be scrapping near the basement again.
Photo credit : wallpapers.com
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