{"id":301384,"date":"2025-11-23T08:56:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T08:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/301384\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T08:56:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T08:56:05","slug":"kraken-looking-to-add-impact-winger-re-sign-jaden-schwartz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/301384\/","title":{"rendered":"Kraken Looking To Add Impact Winger, Re-Sign Jaden Schwartz"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Seattle Kraken are searching for a balance between bolstering the lineup and not breaking the budget as the season goes on. Adding a top-six winger will be a top priority, but Seattle is taking a cautious approach with seven players headed for free agency, per David Pangotta of The Fourth Period on the latest episode of DFO Rundown<\/a>. Of their free agents, re-signing winger Jaden Schwartz<\/a> could be the fisrt to get something done, with Pagnotta adding that the two sides have already begun discussions that could ramp up in the Spring.<\/p>\n

It is no surprise that re-signing Schwartz sits high on Seattle\u2019s to-do list. The 33-year-old is a core piece of a young Seattle lineup. He has averaged over 17 minutes of ice time through 20 games this season and filled roles on both the power-play and penalty-kill. He\u2019s recorded 15 points, 23 hits, and 40 shots on goal in the key role.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Schwartz\u2019s performance is well in-line with what he\u2019s offered Seattle through the last four seasons. He has challenged 40-point scoring pace in every year, and peaked with 26 goals and 49 points last season, his highest-scoring year since the 2019-20 season. He has held his role in Seattle\u2019s lineup since he was selected by the club in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. Before then, Schwartz filled a similar locked-in role through 10 seasons with the St. Louis Blues. His career-year came in 2014-15, when he scored 28 goals and 63 points in 75 games, though Schwartz scored more than 50 points in half of his years with the Blues. He was also a key part of the 2019 Stanley Cup winning Blues, scoring 20 points in 26 playoff games that year.<\/p>\n

His veteran presence offers major support to the Kraken\u2019s young forwards, especially with ramped-up scoring this year. But while his next contract could carry him through the 169 games he has left to reach 1,000, it will also likely be Schwartz\u2019s last.<\/p>\n

That will ramp up Seattle\u2019s need for another heavy imapct in the top-six. The team has plenty of value in their prospect pool to afford some major additions on the trade market. They promoted Tyson Jugnauth<\/a>, Carson Rehkopf<\/a>, Kaden Hammell<\/a>, Caden Price<\/a>, and Lukas Dragicevic<\/a> to the AHL this season \u2013 while 21-year-old Jagger Firkus<\/a> ranks third in the AHL with 18 points in 15 games. Many of those players are destined to support Seattle\u2019s next era, but they could clear the overstock in a buyer\u2019s market next year.<\/p>\n

The trade market features strong veterans like Nazem Kadri<\/a> and Boone Jenner<\/a>, or youngsters like Brad Lambert<\/a> and Nicholas Robertson<\/a>. With the model set by vets like Schwartz and Jordan Eberle<\/a>, a 10-5-5 record this season, and plenty of buying power \u2013 the Kraken could be a perfect candidate to make one of the year\u2019s biggest deals.<\/p>\n

Then again, they could opt to wait until free agency when they have roughly $35MM in cap space to make a big purchase, per Pagnotta. The 2026 free agency market has dried up with a wave of key extensions but high-impact forwards Alex Tuch<\/a>, Nick Schmaltz<\/a>, and Evgeni Malkin<\/a> still remain on the market. The trio will each challenge a salary north of $9MM should they make a team-change, but an exodus of unrestricted free agents will give Seattle enough turnover to build a new star into the lineup.<\/p>\n

The Kraken seem set on taking their time with a big move, but a big move seems a matter of when and not if. Seattle has allowed the fourth-fewest goals in the NHL this season, but ranks third-to-last in goals scored. They\u2019re in desperate need of another spark, even amid a 4-1 record over their last five games. That will set them up to be major buyers as the Trade Deadline and free agency roll around.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Seattle Kraken are searching for a balance between bolstering the lineup and not breaking the budget as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,14108,135345,4247,448,14116,768,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-301384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-free-agency","11":"tag-jaden-schwartz","12":"tag-newsstand","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-players","15":"tag-seattle-kraken","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}