One of the major offseason tasks for Kraken general manager Ron Francis is deciding which free agents to sign and which to jettison.
Some are restricted (RFAs) and some are unrestricted (UFAs). One RFA, Matty Beniers, will certainly and deservedly receive a new contracts.
Other RFAs are forwards Eli Tolvanen and Kailer Yamamoto. UFAs include defenseman Justin Schultz, goalie Chris Driedger, and forwards Tomas Tatar and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.
Francis will receive no shortage of free advice about where to spend the Kraken's money. Of note is one surprising early recommendation from Edgar Chaput of TheHockeyWriters.com .
"Eeli Tolvanen isn’t a bad player per se, but he doesn’t contribute that much, either. He’s still young (24 years old) and has shown flashes of skill, but he hasn’t cracked the code of NHL-level production, not when he was with the Predators nor in his one-and-a-half campaigns with the Kraken.
"Alleviating the books of his salary (a $1.45 million hit) would allow the team to take a chance on someone with more potential."
Reaction: The scoring-challenged Kraken won't be in any hurry to give up on the 16 goals and 41 points Tolvanen has provided so far this season. Plus, the native of Finland doesn't turn 25 for another two weeks, so he's not exactly out of "potential."
Bonus Reaction: Speaking of age, Bellemare turned 39 last month, so he's unlikely to be part of future Kraken plans. In fact, he's been a healthy scratch for each game since March 22.
But... Pierre-Edouard is a great locker room presence and one of the nicest and most positive humans you'll ever meet. He's sitting on 696 career NHL games; here's hoping the Kraken find a way to get him into four more before season's end so he can reach an even 700 games.
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