The Dallas Stars have started clearing out cap space by sending winger Mason Marchment to the Seattle Kraken for a 2026 third-round pick and a 2025 fourth-round pick, and Frank Seravalli notes that there is no retention of salary at all on the Dallas side. Marchment just turned 30 years old and is coming off a 22-goal, 25-assist season across 62 games, which is pretty good production for having missed one-quarter of the season. Let's break it down.

What Seattle Gets

Over the last four seasons – one with Florida, three in Dallas – Marchment has averaged 23 goals and 32 assists every 82 games, totaling 74 goals and 104 assists in 265 games. That span has seen him skate just 15:06 per game, and just 28 of those 178 points were on the power play. Overall, this means Marchment has been a very efficient 5-on-5 producer, averaging 2.22 points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, or an 88^th percentile mark among forwards over the last four years (minimum of 2000 minutes). It ties him with Elias Pettersson and puts him slightly ahead of names like Jake Guentzel and Mikko Rantanen (2.21 points/60 each). Marchment has never reached the 25-goal or 60-point plateaus, but it's just because of his middle-6 roles either in Florida or Dallas.

It should also be mentioned that the 2021-22 Florida Panthers comfortably led the league in 5-on-5 goal scoring. Over the last two seasons, the Dallas Stars are fifth in the league by 5-on-5 goal scoring. While Marchment has been good, Natural Stat Trick has Sam Reinhart as his most-common line mate in that season with Florida while Matt Duchene was Marchment's most common line mate over the last two years with Dallas (and Thomas Harley the most common defenceman). Those are some very talented players with whom to play alongside in both stops.

Going to Seattle presents challenges for Marchment's fantasy value. The Kraken were solid offensively at 5-on-5 last year – tied with Edmonton for 13^th in goals scored – but he's going to a team laden with left-shot wingers like Jaden Schwartz, Jared McCann, Andre Burakovsky, Eeli Tolvanen, and not-quite-veteran Kaapo Kakko (though he's an RFA, has yet to be extended, and often plays the right side). Even if McCann plays centre and Kakko on right wing, it leaves Marchment with a lot of competition for ice time.

Speaking of ice time, Frozen Tools has Marchment skating 26.4% of available even-strength ice time in Dallas last season, which was 7^th among their forwards and 4^th among wingers. Seattle had two wingers between 28-30% (Schwartz, Kakko) and the rest were under 27%. Injuries happen, players may still be moved, and the team has a new coach, but unless Marchment is used as a top-line forward, his even-strength usage probably doesn't change much.

That also carries over to the power play. Seattle is a team that has consistently split their PP units regardless of coach, and Marchment earned 1:57 per game of PPTOI last year. That is basically second PP usage in Seattle because of how their units are run, so not much is likely to change there, either.

To cap it off, Marchment was on the ice for 8.1 goals per 60 minutes of 5-on-4 power-play time over his last two seasons in Dallas, a mark no Kraken forward reached in 2024-25. The Kraken split their PP units and have not had a team with a 5-on-4 goal rate in the top half of the league in their four-year history. This is not an upgrade for Marchment.

Maybe Marchment earns a bit more ice time than in Dallas, but it's unlikely to be a whole lot more. Considering the drop in quality of teammates and power play ability, this is a downgrade for Marchment. If he can be a 20-goal, 50-point guy for the Kraken, that would be a win for his fantasy value.

As things stand with PuckPedia, Dallas now has just under $5M in cap space with seven roster spots to fill. It gives them some more breathing room, but there are more moves to come, and the picks recouped in the Marchment trade can help them shed Matt Dumba's contract.

The trade opens up a left-wing spot in Dallas' middle-6 group but assuming they can re-sign Mikael Granlund, that spot may be filled quickly. Dallas will need a lot of cheap forwards, though, so it may mean a roster spot for someone like Matej Blümel (if they re-sign him).

This isn't good news for Tye Kartye. He lost a lot of ice time in his sophomore season with the Kraken and it adds another winger to the mix the team can play ahead of him. At best, this would lock him into a fourth-line role.

Adding Marchment gives the Kraken another forward that takes away a potential roster spot from a prospect like Berkly Catton or Jagger Firkus, but Marchment has only one year left, and is likely to be dealt at the Trade Deadline, so it's not a long-term issue.

Who This Helps

Matej Blümel

Mikael Granlund (if re-signed)

Chandler Stephenson / Shane Wright

Who This Hurts

Tye Kartye

Mason Marchment