For the last 21 years (12 with The Hockey News) Dobber has reviewed each team from a fantasy-hockey standpoint and graded them.

The 22nd annual review will appear here on DobberHockey throughout the summer. 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!

Gone: Kailer Yamamoto, Tomas Tatar, Devin Shore, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Justin Schultz, Brian Dumoulin, Chris Driedger

Incoming: Chandler Stephenson, Ben Meyers, Brandon Montour, Josh Mahura,

Impact of Changes: To get an easy one out of the way, Driedger moving on from the organization leaves less of a logjam in net. The Kraken are set on having Philipp Grubauer and Joey Daccord as their goaltending tandem, though as we saw with Daccord last season, no goalie is guaranteed the lion's share of starts. Driedger not being brought back removes an obstacle, but it doesn't clarify which of Daccord or Grubauer will be the starter.

Otherwise, both Schultz (who hasn't signed anywhere at time of writing) and Dumoulin leaving opened up some spots on the blue line. One of those spots will be assumed by Montour, who was brought in on a long-term deal after his breakout and Stanley Cup win in Florida. Montour is a direct threat for top power play time and is likely to assume that role.

Even with a new head coach (Dan Bylsma) in town, it remains to be seen if the team has a locked, heavily-used top PP unit. They haven't had that much in their franchise tenure and if they go with even-ish units again, Montour signing may not mean a whole lot for incumbent Vince Dunn. However, if Bylsma does switch the approach on the power play, this hurts Dunn's production upside. We will have a better idea when training camps start.

Schultz (likely) moving on means another full season for Will Borgen. He has at least 20 points in each of the last two seasons while averaging 1.2 blocks and 2.4 hits per game. Borgen's role is secured, so he should be a multi-cat fantasy hero again.

The addition of Stephenson is an interesting one. Setting aside the contract he was signed to, this is a player who, at his best, is a high-end playmaker in the league. He struggled mightily in his most recent season, so it's a matter of regaining what he had in 2022-23 and earlier. If he can do that, he can help some of their forwards find their scoring touch again, and that is a big help to the roster.

Seattle let a handful of depth forwards go in the offseason and that leaves roster spots open for their younger players. We'll get back to that in a second.

Ready for Full Time: This should be the season where Ryker Evans turns in a full campaign. He appeared in 36 games last year but Dumoulin leaving the organization means a third-pair role is up for grabs. The signing of Mahura gives Evans a bit of competition but if he keeps progressing as he has, he should be the full-time guy on the third pair. Montour being added to the roster does put him no higher than third on the depth chart for power play time, though.

Shane Wright will be a full-time member of the Kraken roster. He has 26 goals and 53 points across his last 67 AHL games and Seattle thinned out its depth forward group. That leaves Wright a clear path to third- or fourth-line minutes, and he should be able to lock down that role given his success in the AHL last season. It won't be enough for a lot of fantasy value in most formats, but it's the start of his NHL career in earnest, and he can move up the lineup as the season wears on.  

Fantasy Outlook: In 2022-23, the Kraken set a then-record team shooting percentage at 5-on-5 (post-2007 in an 82-game season) and it helped their scoring tremendously. In 2023-24, that regressed heavily causing them to go from the top of the league in 5-on-5 goals per minute to a bottom-5 roster. The true talent of this team lies somewhere in the middle so there should be a scoring rebound across the team, and that's the good news.

The bad news is that this is still a roster devoid of high-end offensive talent. Stephenson and Montour being brought in helps, but they're in a division with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Elias Pettersson, JT Miller, and Jack Eichel. Right now, the Kraken have no such gamebreakers. It is an issue for high-end fantasy performance.

The other issue is ice time. Typically, this is not a team that heavily uses any single forward and a lack of ice time on a non-elite offensive team hurts their top guys like Matty Beniers, Jordan Eberle, and Oliver Bjorkstrand. Perhaps things change with Bylsma as coach, but it's another 'believe it when we see it' situations. Even after Seattle traded Alex Wennberg last season, Beniers didn't crack 19 minutes a game. In 2023-24, Filip Forsberg, Matthew Tkachuk, and Steven Stamkos were the only players to crack a point-per-game status while skating under 19 minutes a night. Beniers is nowhere near that level of offensive performer yet, and neither is the rest of the roster, so unless assignments change with Bylsma in a big way, their forwards' upsides are capped.

Montour is in a weird spot. He had a down year in 2023-24 from a fantasy perspective, though it's not hard to chalk that up to a new, defence-first coach, plus Montour returning during the season from his offseason surgery. The new Kraken blue liner is due for a rebound, but how far he can rebound on this roster is an open question.

Daccord should have the edge in goal given his performance in 2023-24, but he is still an unproven goalie on an unproven team. A slow month to start the year could see Grubauer get the starting role back, doing to Daccord what Daccord did to Grubauer a season ago. Relying on 50 starts from either goalie, short of an injury in the next month or so, is expecting too much. However, improved offensive performance from the team combined with their normally-stellar defence and lack of penalty-taking should lead to both goalies being somewhat reliable in fantasy.

Fantasy Grade: C+ (last year was C+)