The Seattle Kraken are struggling during their first year of expansion which makes them an intriguing trade partner for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Toronto Maple Leafs almost lost to the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night, but a heroic performance by Auston Matthews led them to a 6-4 victory. Despite struggling this season, there are a number of players on the Seattle Kraken that would look good in a Leafs uniform this year.
Seattle’s first season is definitely going a little different than the last expansion teams (Vegas Golden Knights) inaugural campaign went.
Vegas made it to the Stanley Cup Finals and have been a legitimate contender ever since entering the league, while Seattle is bound for the NHL Draft Lottery.
Most expansion teams start the way Seattle has, but the Kraken currently have plenty of trade assets to speed up the rebuild. 10 players on their current roster are pending RFA’s or UFA’s so they have a lot of flexibility with their squad next year, which is important when building a new franchise.
Seattle will need to draft and develop quickly and efficient if they want to be a future playoff team, so they’ll more than likely ship away any trade assets they have at the Deadline to capitalize on the UFA’s/RFA’s that they don’t want to sign.
As such, the Leafs should use this to their advantage because they should have no issues with shipping away prospects and draft picks at this point, if it means helping them win a Stanley Cup.
Here are three players that the Toronto Maple Leafs should target on the Seattle Kraken.