Seattle Kraken Have Loads Of Pending UFAs They Can Choose

With each team's protected lists being announced yesterday, it became clear that the Kraken have a lot of skilled players to choose from. GM Ron Francis could build a competitive from the very start with all of his options. Players like Vladimir Tarasenko, Mark Giordano and Carey Price are there for the taking, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. Yet, what many people overlook is the fact that they also have a ton of noteworthy pending unrestricted free agents they can pick, too.

Pending UFAs left available for SEA:
Alex Ovechkin
Taylor Hall
Tyson Barrie
Kyle Palmieri
Frederik Andersen
Jaden Schwartz
Phillip Danault
David Krejci
Ryan Getzlaf
Dougie Hamilton
Gabriel Landeskog
Brandon Saad
Zach Hyman
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) July 18, 2021

Although some may find it risky for the Kraken to choose a player who can test the market, it actually does benefit them. Once they claim a player, they have exclusive rights to sign him before free agency officially starts one week later. They already are expected to do this with goaltender Chris Driedger, so perhaps they will be open to try this with other players. They sure have a lot of interesting options to choose from.

Hypothetically, Dougie Hamilton may be a player that the Kraken attempt to do this with. He is a world-class player and defensemen of his caliber do not hit the open market often. They also would have the money to lock him on a long-term deal, as they are building their team from scratch. Some other big name players they could try this with are Gabriel Landeskog, Zach Hyman and Phillip Danault.

Ultimately, going down this route would give the Kraken a distinct advantage over other teams. We will see soon if they decide to take any of these pending UFAs.