SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - OCTOBER 29: Brian Dumoulin #8 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates with the puck during the first period of a game against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on October 29, 2022 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Christopher …
SEATTLE - The Seattle Kraken have reached an agreement with former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin on a two-year deal with an average annual value of $3.1 million on the first day of NHL free agency.
Dumoulin, 31, is coming off a career-best 25 points on a goal and 24 assists last year for the Penguins. Dumoulin averaged over 20 minutes of ice time a game last year while playing primarily alongside Kris Letang on the Pittsburgh blue line.
The 6-foot-4, 207 pound Dumoulin finished the regular season with 123 hits and a team-leading 142 blocked shots, both of which were the second-highest totals of his career.
"It's a small world," Kraken general manager Ron Francis said on Saturday afternoon. "I started in player development once I retired in Carolina and he was one of my projects back then. He's went on to have a great career in Pittsburgh, a two-time Stanley Cup champ. We add that to our locker room. Terrific person and a real good player. We think he helps us. Overall his game's real solid, he can kill penalties, good stick. You know, he can play a lot of positions for us. So excited to add him to the mix for sure."
Dumoulin's addition helps the Kraken replace the loss of Carson Soucy in free agency. Soucy reached a three-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks worth $3.25 million in average annual value.
"When you get to be an unrestricted free agent, you've earned that right to go test the market and we're happy for him to get a three-year deal and a good number," Francis said of Soucy. "Hopefully it works out well for him other than the nights we're playing them of course."
Ryker Evans had a standout season with the Coachella Valley Firebirds in the AHL and will be knocking on the door to crack the NHL lineup next season as well. Dumoulin, Evans, Vince Dunn, Jamie Oleksiak and Jaycob Megna represent the team's left-handed shot options for their defense pairings next season.
"The outlook for what we have coming down the road is extremely positive," Francis said.
Soucy isn't the only Kraken free agent to sign elsewhere.
Morgan Geekie reached a two-year contract with the Boston Bruins worth $2 million in AAV and Daniel Sprong agreed to a one-year, $2 million contract with the Detroit Red Wings. Both Geekie and Sprong had not been qualified as restricted free agents by the Kraken, which allowed them to reach free agency.
"If you qualify them, they have the right to take you to arbitration. Looking at the potential (arbitration) cases, we weren't overly comfortable with that," Francis said.
"It's actually a success story (for Sprong). He comes in last year (on a tryout), earns a contract and gets out to the market and is able to get $2 million. So happy for him. Appreciate what he did for our organization."
Francis said they made Geekie an offer they believed to be "a pretty fair offer" with Geekie electing to sign with the Bruins instead.
"It didn't work out," Francis said. "He has the right once we don't qualify him to go elsewhere and look and that's what he did. So we wish him the best."
Also signing elsewhere was Ryan Donato, who was an unrestricted free agent and reached a two-year deal with the Chicago Blackhawks worth $2 million a year in AAV.
With the departures of Sprong, Geekie and Donato, the Kraken will need to field an entirely new group on their fourth line next season. Tye Kartye and Kole Lind, who was qualified as a restricted free agent, will be among the options for that group this fall.
Dumoulin is the only outside addition for the Kraken at the NHL level so far on the first day of free agency.
Marián Studenič – a right winger that spent the last two years in the Dallas Stars organization – was signed to a one-year, two-way contract.
Studenič appeared in just 19 NHL games for Dallas over the last two seasons with most of him time spent with the Texas Stars of the AHL. Marián Studenič had a career-high 48 points on 21 goals and 27 assists in 67 regular season games for Texas last year.
The Kraken were able to re-sign goaltender Joey Daccord on Friday evening to a two-year contract with $1.2 million a season in average value.
Daccord had a great season for the Firebirds in carrying the team to the Calder Cup Finals. In five games with the Kraken, Daccord posted a 2-1-1 record with a .900 save percentage as well. In the AHL, Daccord played in 38 games during the regular season with a 26-8-3 record, 2.38 goals-against average, a .918 save percentage and three shutouts.
With Philipp Grubauer entrenched as the No. 1 goaltender and Chris Driedger also under contract for next season, the Kraken will have to make a decision between Driedger and Daccord for their backup spot at the end of training camp.
"We've got three with only two nets and spots for two," Francis said. "So two will play unless we do something between now and the start of the season, one will have to go through waivers and go down to Coachella and play there."
Center John Hayden and defenseman Jimmy Schuldt both agreed to one-year deals worth $775,000 to re-sign with the team as well.
Hayden played seven games with the Kraken last year while Schuldt exclusively played for Coachella Valley.
Francis said that they have the salary cap space necessary to make another free agent signing or trade acquisition as they see fit. However, he said they aren't currently pressing to get something done.
"You never know," he said. "I'm not sitting there saying we're really working the phone lines hard right now to do more. But I think sometimes it's important to kind of take a deep breath and sit back and see what happened today and what's still possible out there and what makes sense or doesn't make sense. We've had the green light from the owners from day one to do what we think is right. We do have some cap space here and now and we do have the ability to go and sign somebody if we think it makes our team better."
Francis noted that having cap space isn't a bad thing either. It allowed them to take advantage of an opportunity to add Oliver Bjorkstrand last summer when the Columbus Blue Jackets were in need of making a move following their signing of Johnny Gaudreau.
"We're still sitting in a good position with cap space and the ability to do things as things happen moving forward, and we got pretty fortunate last year with Oliver Bjorkstrand. I'm not saying that's gonna happen in the end, but we are in a position we can take advantage of something if it shakes loose."