Seattle Kraken reach deal with defenseman Ryan Lindgren

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DENVER, COLORADO - JANUARY 14: Ryan Lindgren #55 of the New York Rangers skates against Artturi Lehkonen #62 of the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on January 14, 2025 in Denver, Colorado. (Michael Martin / NHLI / Getty Images)

The Seattle Kraken have reached a deal with former New York Rangers and Colorado Avalanche defenseman Ryan Lindgren on a four-year deal worth $4.5 million in AAV.

Lindgren, 27, is a left-handed defenseman who is coming off a season where he set career-highs in assists (18), and points (22) and matched a career-high in goals (4) over 72 games split between New York and Colorado. Despite the offensive production, Lindgren was one of many players with the Rangers to struggle last year in a season that spiraled out of contention.

Lindgren now rejoins Kaako Kakko in Seattle, who was also cast off by the Rangers in a trade last season.

"Ryan's a heart-and-soul player who competes every shift," Kraken general manager Jason Botterill said in a statement. "He does whatever it takes to win and has been a key fixture on the penalty kill throughout his career. We're excited to welcome him to the team."

Lindgren led the Rangers in short-handed ice time as a key penalty killer for New York before he was traded to the Avalanche in March. He averaged a +21 plus/minus rating each season from 2019-2024 before having an even 0 rating last season as part of the struggles with the Rangers. He has appeared in 50 career postseason games, posting 14 points (3 goals, 11 assists) and a +16 rating.

"We've talked about it a lot about being stronger to play against in front of both nets. That's one of the reasons why we went after (Mason) Marchment in the trade category and then why we went after Lindgren in free agency here," Botterill said. "His physicality, his compete out there, helping our (penalty kill), which needs to get better this year for sure, too. And then just you look at his track record of playing in big games, knowing what it takes to have success in the playoffs, certainly excited to bring his culture to our organization."

The addition of Lindgren appears to give Seattle a surplus of left-handed defensemen, which may indicate a possible trade ahead. Vince Dunn, Jamie Oleksiak, Ryker Evans (unsigned as a restricted free agent) and Josh Mahura are all left-handed shots with Lindgren now adding to that mix.

Evans and Mahura played together on Seattle's bottom pair most of last season after the trade of Will Borgen to the Rangers for Kakko in December. Evans played on the left with Mahura playing his off-hand on the right.

Botterill said it brings competition to their group.

"We're trying to bring depth to our organization. We're trying to create competition in a lot of different positions there," Botterill said. "We felt what Ryan can bring to our group, we wanted to bring that into our lineup no matter what. Whether it was left or right, we wanted that element to our group. We have some defensemen who have played the left side with left shots can also play the right side. We'll figure those things out as we move forward from that standpoint, but we wanted to really bring in some competition."

Lindgren presumably moves into Seattle's top-four on defense, which could push Oleksiak to Seattle's third pair. A hypothetical lineup could include Dunn-Adam Larsson, Lindgren-Brandon Montour, Oleksiak-Evans/Mahura.

Notably, the Kraken extended qualifying offers to Evans, Kaapo Kakko, and Tye Kartye, who are all restricted free agents.

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