Team: 2023-24 Seattle Kraken

Initial Creation Date: May 25, 2023

Published: May 25, 2023

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

With Carson Soucy headed to free agency, the Kraken have a hole at 3LD to fill this offseason. Team defense is an area the team will likely be looking to improve, so look for them to make some defensively reliable additions here. However, their top defensive prospect at Ryker Evans will be ready sooner rather than later. With that in mind, in the absence of a true difference making addition at the position, the Kraken will likely pursue veteran stopgaps at that position to hold down the fort until Evans seizes the job. There are a few ways to accomplish this:

Option 1: Roll with internal options. Jaycob Megna was mostly a 7th defenseman in Seattle, but before he was traded here he was a solid dman for San Jose and partner for Karlsson. Cale Fleury was also an extra defenseman last season, but played well when called upon. Either or both of these guys could probably tag-team with Evans and adequately fill roles on the third defensive pairing. The downside is that both are probably downgrades on Soucy, so the defense would be taking a short term step back. This would run counter to the expectation that the Kraken are looking to upgrade the defense this offseason.

Option 2: Sign a free agent. This could involve bringing back Soucy or signing another veteran. There are some decent blueliners available this offseason, but as is the case with free agency, there's a decent chance these guys will be overpaid. Many free agents will also be looking for term most likely, which may cause Evans to be blocked and stuck in the AHL.

Option 3: Trade. I've explored several different trade options below. With any deal likely to be a short term patch, I expect any deal to be more of a value trade, without many substantial assets being exchanged between teams. Of course, this could change if the Kraken decide to target a true difference maker on the back end, though those deals in general aren't very common and I'm not diving into those sorts of blockbusters here. However, some of these deals could end up providing a longer-term solution at LD.

Helpful feedback is welcome! I'm admittedly not super knowledgable on the defensemen involved in these trades and am unsure of many of the trade values so any insight would be much appreciated. Cheers!

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