The 20^th annual review will appear here on DobberHockey throughout the summer/fall. This is not a review of the likely performance on the ice or in the standings, but in the realm of fantasy hockey both for the season ahead as well as the foreseeable future. Offensively, will the team perform? Are there plenty of depth options worthy of owning in keeper leagues? What about over the next two or three years? These questions are what I take into consideration when looking at the depth chart and the player potential on that depth chart.

Enjoy!

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Gone – Haydn Fleury, Dennis Cholowski, Riley Sheahan, Victor Rask, Connor Carrick, Daniel Sprong, Antoine Bibeau

Incoming – Oliver Bjorkstrand, Andre Burakovsky, Justin Schultz, Michal Kempny, Martin Jones

Impact of Changes – The trade for Bjorkstrand and the signing of Burakovsky are huge for this team. Both guys are 20-goal wingers (at the least) and the team only had three of those last season. If they decide to leave Jared McCann on the wing, these three plus Jaden Schwartz and Jordan Eberle gives this team two viable top-6 sets of wingers with one left over. For a team that was bottom-5 in scoring, that is a big boost to their offensive profile.

Adding Schultz and Kempny should help the blue line depth. They aren't great players but after the triumvirate of Jamie Oleksiak, Vince Dunn, and Adam Larsson, there isn't much depth on the blue line anyway. This gives them options and can hopefully stabilize things game-to-game. After the trade deadline last March, Seattle was a middle-of-the-road defensive team at even strength. Being able to repeat that, along with that infusion of offence, could make this a sneaky team in the Pacific.  

Signing Martin Jones shows that Seattle is uncertain of their goaltending tandem of Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger. Grubauer got the lion's share of starts in 2021-22 but this is a team starting to build for a playoff push. No one is guaranteed 50 starts and though Jones isn't a real threat, if the incumbent duo doesn't improve a lot on their performance last year, there will be shake ups in net.

Ready for Full Time – There are two big prospect names here and we'll see at least one, if not both, in the lineup opening night.

Matty Beniers, the 2^nd overall pick in 2021, signed late in the season with the Kraken and played 10 games. He posted nine points in those games, showing off the offensive skill he was drafted for. If the team does decide to leave McCann on the wing, Beniers could slide in as the 2C behind Yanni Gourde. If not, he could be down on the third line. It should be noted, though, that he played nearly as much as Gourde did at 5-on-5 after he made his way to Seattle, and more than both McCann and Alex Wennberg. He was being groomed as the second-line centre and a good training camp could see him open the season with a pair of good wingers like Burakovsky and Bjorkstrand. He also played nearly three minutes a game on the top PP unit so there could be significant fantasy relevance from Game 1.

Shane Wright is the other player that could crack this roster. He was projected to go first overall in the 2022 Draft basically until a week before the actual draft and fell all the way to fourth. What could hold him back is his role. If they want him to play centre, and the team has Gourde-Beniers-Wennberg down the middle, he's looking at a third-line role at best. They could move him to the wing but as mentioned earlier, this team added significant winger pieces in the offseason. He is good enough to force management with an excellent training camp but even if he makes the roster, he might not be in a position to be a successful fantasy asset in most leagues.

One guy to watch is Ryker Evans. He was an over-ager drafted in 2021 but is over a point-per-game defenceman across his last two Junior seasons. He probably starts the year in the AHL but as mentioned earlier, the team doesn't have great depth. A strong start in the minors could see him with the big club in short order. Again, though, it's unlikely to be in a role conducive for fantasy success. That will come in a few years, if all goes well.

Fantasy Outlook – One problem for fantasy is Seattle didn't really have a heavily-used top power-play unit in 2021-22. Even discounting Beniers, they had eight forwards all within a minute of each other in PPTOI per game. A 60/40 split might be good for them and their situation but it's not great for fantasy owners. We could see Eberle, Beniers, Schwartz, and McCann on one unit with Bjorkstrand, Burakovsky, Gourde, and Wennberg on the other, with somewhat split time between them. It would give a second defenceman, after Dunn, some fantasy value if they're running the second unit. That means someone like Schultz could be a sneaky late fantasy flier.

With that said, this team should improve on their scoring from last year. Considering no Kraken skater had more than 50 points in 2021-22, it would be a very welcome improvement. A healthy season from Jaden Schwartz would give this lineup some scoring length, from the first to third line, that they desperately need. A team that had just three 20-goal scorers could have six or seven if all goes right in 2022-23.

Like the San Jose team discussed yesterday, the blue line looks to be a weakness. Dunn should have a good fantasy season, Schultz could be a late-round flier, and Larsson is always viable in multi-cat leagues. How they hold up for their goalies is another issue entirely.

The goaltending remains an open question, as discussed earlier. Grubauer and his contract with nearly $30M left on it will likely get the first crack but there are options if he doesn't improve on a bad 2021-22.

Fantasy Grade – C+ (last year was C+)