Insider: 2 More Names Are "Out There" As Kraken Trade Candidates

On his way to his fourth straight 20-goal season, and coming off an All-Star nod in 2023-24, Oliver Bjorkstrand is the latest player to find his name in the rumor mill for the Seattle Kraken.

As the Kraken struggle to figure out how to get themselves out of the malaise they're in for the second consecutive year, insider Elliotte Friedman, on his 32 Thoughts podcast, mentioned both Bjorkstrand and Andre Burakovsky as players that the Kraken are listening on.

On the latest 32 thoughts podcast, @FriedgeHNIC said he's heard Andre Burakovsky and Oliver Bjorkstrand in trade talks amidst the struggles for the @SeattleKraken this season.

Friedman also mentioned that Will Borgen wanted to be traded.

Photo by @RioGiancarlo #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/3WrAccQUxF
— Circling Seattle Sports (@CirclingSports) January 13, 2025

Trading Bjorkstrand, in particular, seems like a strange move for a Seattle team that already struggles to score goals. They have been held to two goals or less in 9 of their last 13 games, and average just 2.89 goals per game over the course of the season, only a shade better than their moribund offense of last season.

The two forwards join the more commonly heard names of Yanni Gourde and Brandon Tanev as trade candidates.

Both Bjorkstrand and Burakovsky have term left on their $5M+ cap hit contracts—Bjorkstrand with one year left at $5.4M, Burakovsky with two more years after this one at $5.5M.

Clearly, the latter will be much harder to deal at this point, as he has just 4 goals and 16 points in 41 games. Burakovsky has two 20-goal seasons on his resume, with the Colorado Avalanche, but since coming to Seattle three years ago has been on a steep decline due to injuries and underperformance.

Bjorkstrand is on a 24-goal pace with 13 to go along with 15 assists for 28 points in 43 games.