https://www.nhl.com/news/best-landing-spots-for-nhl-free-agents-roundtable/c-345135876
interesting. For those more knowledgeable than me, how’s that stack up regarding the D-men we’re looking to lose when/if we resign Dunn?
by Icy-Book2999
@Seattle Kraken
6 Comments
I hate when people say IF we re sign dunn. There’s a 90 percent chance he’s signed and a 10 percent chance he’s moved for major assets after accepting a QO. I also don’t want to drastically overpay for a veteran defensive defenceman who has little competition on the free agent market
He’d be a huge upgrade over Soucy, but with big rig and Dunn on the left side I don’t see a real fit. I kinda think they’ll fill that last spot with a cap dump trade on a short contract. Ryker Evans is coming and Orlov will take big money and long term for him to sign.
I don’t like Orlov for us. He’s a puck chaser and is great on the offensive cycle, but he is always out of place on the blue line and creates unnecessary rushes. He’d have to play with a defensive D-man, and Larsson is already on the Dunn line, so that leaves Schultz as his pairing probably?
As a caps fan too, Orlov is fantastic and I think would really help the Kraken defensively. But he’s probably the top defenseman UFA available and I’d be really worried about overpaying him especially in terms given his age. If we could do something like 4 years x $5-6M I think that could be good.
He’d be an immediate upgrade over Soucy as the 2LD and would likely mean there’s no roster spot for Ryker Evans.
[His Athletic player card.](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/01/03121633/Screenshot-2023-04-03-at-10.38.10-AM.png)
I’d rather someone like Mike Reilly. He’ll, be cheaper since he’s coming off a buy-out, but he’s a sneaky good offensive contributor. Radko Gudas is another interesting option, but he’s purely a value-comes from-supresssing-O-against type. There’s also Alex Edler, who could probably be had for a cheap 1-year contract, and hope he has an early-career type year late in his career.
I wouldn’t hate this at the right price.
Depends on how many NHL games we plan on for Evans though.