Seattle Kraken acquire Bobby McMann from Maple Leafs for draft picks

SEATTLE - The Seattle Kraken acquired winger Bobby McMann from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a pair of draft picks ahead of Friday's NHL trade deadline.

Seattle is sending a 2026 fourth-round pick, and a conditional 2027 second-round pick to Toronto in exchange for McMann, who is on an expiring contract and will become a free agent in July. 

"With the addition of Bobby McMann, we wanted to look and try to add a piece to our group, someone who could play in our top nine," general manager Jason Botterill said on Friday afternoon. "We look at Bobby as a player that brings speed to our lineup, gets pucks the net, gets to the net, and I think can come up (and) complement the rest of our group very well.

McMann, 29, is a bit of a late-blooming winger that has size and speed. The Wainwright, Alberta native didn't break into the NHL full-time until the 2023-24 season with Toronto, but he scores goals. His 19 goals this season with Toronto would rank second on the Kraken behind only newly re-signed captain Jordan Eberle. McMann has 54 goals and 36 assists for 90 points in 190 games played over his last three full seasons with the Maple Leafs.

"We're a team that needs to continue to work on getting pucks to the net, increase our shot totals. That's what Bobby does," Botterill said. When we're playing well, when we're creating opportunities, we're utilizing our speed out there, hard on the forecheck. These are elements that I think he brings and helps our group."

McMann is not expected to make it to Seattle in time for Saturday's game against the Ottawa Senators due to travel and immigration issues coming from Canada. Kraken head coach Lane Lambert was an assistant coach with the Maple Leafs last season and knows McMann's game well.

"You look at Bobby's history, he's worked at every level to get his opportunity to be a successful story at the National Hockey League. His ability to play up and down the lineup. We just felt it was something that would fit very well with our group," Botterill said.

McMann's addition does add more bloat to the middle of the Kraken lineup, which is already overrun by middle-six forwards. It's going to push a player such as Jaden Schwartz, Shane Wright, or Eeli Tolvanen down to the fourth line, and potentially force the Kraken into scratching either Ben Meyers or Jacob Melanson – both of whom have been really productive fourth-liners for Seattle.

"We could have maybe put some out in the trade market and get something, but this team's in a playoff position," Botterill said. "In previous years we've made some difficult decisions and let some good players go because we weren't in a playoff situation, and got draft picks back and got draft assets back. You know, even this year we took out an NHL player to get draft picks back. We felt it was now a time to utilize some of those picks and bring in a player like Bobby here into the mix."

Meanwhile, Seattle elected not to move any of their own impending free agents before the deadline. The Kraken re-signed Eberle to a two-year extension worth $5.5 million a year ahead of the deadline, while Schwartz and Tolvanen, and defenseman Jamie Oleksiak remain set to become unrestricted free agents at the end of the season. McMann now joins that group as well.

"We have a lot of games here in March here that are going to be intense games. I think you got a little taste of it on Monday against Carolina, just the atmosphere in the building and the energy that was out on the ice, and look, injuries are going to happen. And what I like right now with our players is I think Lane has different – depending on the opponent – there's different players that he can put into the lineup, that it's going to bring a little bit of a different element to our group. So those, at the end of day, those are going to be Lane's decisions."

Botterill said they haven't broached the idea of having McMann stay in Seattle beyond this season. They have the cap space to do so, but want to get him into the building and see how he fits with the group first.

"I think it's a situation seeing how he fits in with our group, and making sure that he likes Seattle, he likes his role here, and then we'll see where it goes in the offseason," Botterill said.

The Kraken had three selections in each of the two rounds of the draft they traded from, still leaving them with plenty of draft capital in those seasons. The conditional second-round pick in 2027 will be the lower of two selections Seattle owns from prior deals with Winnipeg and Columbus. The fourth-round pick in this year's draft previously belonged to Anaheim.

The McMann deal was the only one the Kraken managed to swing ahead of Friday's deadline. Botterill firmly indicated the team has an intention to make the playoffs this season. They believe the acquisition of McMann is enough to help them accomplish that goal.

"I think we have a lot of faith in our group. We believe this is a team that can make the playoffs, and we're excited about that," Botterill said. "I think we have a lot of faith in our group. We believe this is a team that can make the playoffs, and we're excited about that.

"I think it's going to be a challenge. I think our division is wide open, but the fact that our young players are going to get the experience of scoreboard watching, understanding like, hey, there's the excitement, the nervousness of what's going on out there, but then trying to take care of their own business and continue to develop and just see how intense these games are. You know, I think it's a great experience for them all."

The Kraken also briefly re-assigned Ryan Winteron and Jacob Melanson to Coachella Valley to preserve their eligibility for the AHL playoffs before recalling them to the Kraken in paper moves.

Potential lineup:

Jared McCann – Matty Beniers – Jordan Eberle
Jaden Schwartz – Chandler Stephenson – Bobby McMann
Berkly Catton – Shane Wright – Kaapo Kakko
Eeli Tolvanen – Freddy Gaudreau – Jacob Melanson

Ryan Winteron, Ben Meyers

MORE KRAKEN NEWS FROM FOX 13 SEATTLE

Seattle Kraken sign captain Jordan Eberle to two-year, $5.5 million extension

Seattle Kraken deliver dud in 3-2 loss to Blues ahead of trade deadline

Joey Daccord makes 35 saves as Seattle Kraken earn 2-1 win over Hurricanes

Jordan Eberle scores twice as Seattle Kraken roll to 5-1 win over Canucks

Dylan Holloway scores hat trick as Seattle Kraken lose 5-1 to Blues

To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter.

Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.

Seattle KrakenSportsNHL