The Seattle Kraken have signed star goaltender Philipp Grubauer to a six-year deal worth $5.9M AAV and second-line winger Jaden Schwartz to a five-year deal worth $5.5M AAV

The Kraken get: a Vezina Trophy contender last year. This, just one week after trotting out Chris Driedger live in front of their fans as their starting goalie. They have a team that is not going to make the playoffs, and they brought in a goalie who may win two or three more games… but not enough to put them over the top. They also get an injury-prone winger with a career high of 62 points. Schwartz is now 29 and coming off a 21-point year (40 games). He had 57 points the year prior. But in Seattle he will lead the offense along with Jordan Eberle, Jared McCann, Yanni Gourde, Calle Jarnkrok, Joonas Donskoi and Colin Blackwell.

Fantasy Players Impacted: The big one here is Grubauer. He went from a top-three fantasy netminder to a Tier 2 or even a Tier 3 own. Not only will the wins be fewer, but if the Kraken don't trade Driedger, then Grubauer will have to fight to play even 50 games.

Schwartz is a player you would be wise to pencil in for no more than 70 games. He may bounce back a little, not unlike the way James Neal did when he started out with the Vegas expansion team. In fact, that's a great comparable in terms of expected production (44 points in 71 games). What I don't like about this signing, as a fan of small skilled guys who don't get a fair chance, is how it hurts Blackwell. Above I listed six other players, Schwartz being the seventh. That's two full lines… plus an odd-man out. You just know that Blackwell will be that odd man. Until an injury strikes one of those other six, Blackwell will be buried.

Fantasy Players This Helps, In Order

📢 advertisement: