Could The Kraken Trade For Ehlers, Laine Or Necas?

Nikolaj Ehlers, Patrik Laine and Martin Necas have all been made available in the trade market and the Seattle Kraken should be interested.

After making it to the second round of the playoffs in the 2022-23 season, the Kraken couldn't match that level finishing the 2023-24 season with 81 points (34-35-13). The Kraken missed the final wildcard spot by 17 points.

The Kraken struggled to score goals. They finished the season with the fourth least goals scored with just 217. In the 2022-23 season, they scored 289 goals. What the Kraken were lacking this season was goal scoring.

Ehlers, Laine and Necas all score and generate chances.

Ehlers scored 25 goals and 61 points this year without playing on the first power play unit. His speed, hands and lethal shot are constantly generating offence. The 28-year-old has one year left on his contract at $6M and his been one of the best 5v5 players in the NHL for many years.

Laine spent nearly the entire season in the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program playing just 18 games and scoring six goals with the Columbus Blue Jackets. The 26-year-old Finnish winger was drafted second overall by the Winnipeg Jets in the 2016 NHL draft and after some promising seasons to start his career, he's never been able to produce like that again.

He hasn't scored more than 30 goals since the 2018-19 season and in the last three seasons, he's failed to play more than 56 games. A lot of risk would come with Laine but if the Kraken could help him find his scoring touch again, he could be one of the league's best snipers. His contract has two years remaining at $8.7M

Necas scored 24 goals and 53 points this year with the Carolina Hurricanes this season and is currently an RFA. The 25-year-old wants a big-time pay raise from the Hurricanes and a larger role.

Necas and Ehlers have more playoff experience than Laine at this moment. Laine has just 24 games of playoff experience and hasn't played a playoff game since the 2019-20 season. Even with Laine's lack of playoff experience, Necas and Ehlers have struggled to match their regular season output to their playoff output but Necas has been a bit more successful in recent years. In this year's playoffs, Ehlers finished with zero goals and two points in five games. Necas finished with four goals and nine points in 11 games. Ehlers has just four goals and 14 points in 37 career playoff games.

One advantage of trading for Laine over Ehlers and Necas is that he would cost less to acquire. Laine's value is at an all-time low while Necas and Ehlers may not be at an all-time high but are still coming off of solid seasons.

Each player would provide something different for the Kraken. Necas would be a right-handed shot who would drive offence. Ehlers would be the left-handed version of Necas. Laine would be a complementary winger whose linemates would need to drive offence for him. Pairing Necas or Ehlers alongside Shane Wright or Patrik Laine with Matty Beniers would help improve the Kraken's lacklustre offensive numbers.

The Kraken have the prospects to make a deal happen but they need to decide if the team is good enough for the deal to be worth the price.