Pacific North Hockey learned Wednesday that the Seattle Kraken have not yet initiated contract talks with pending unrestricted free agent winger Eeli Tolvanen. The feisty Finn brings sandpaper to the top six and is reportedly one of head coach Lane Lambert’s preferred players.
Tolvanen was second on the Kraken in hits last season with 187, well ahead of the field, and second only to 4th-line fireplug Jacob Melanson (188).
Offensively, the 27-year-old, acquired off waivers from the Nashville Predators in December of 2022. has finished with 41, 35, and 36 points over his last three seasons, a span that saw him miss a grand total of six games. Known as a sniper, his shooting percentage has ebbed and flowed, from 10.5%, to 16.8, back down to 8.5 last season, not a surprise for a club that finished 27th in in the NHL in goal scoring and was working under its third head coach in three seasons.
Tolvanen has expressed interest in wanting to stay with the Kraken, a sentiment established in his first half-season with the club, when he posted 27 points in 48 games following the badly needed change of scenery.
Potentially just as puzzling is the fact the club has been speaking with veteran Jaden Schwartz, another pending UFA that Kraken management decided not to trade at the deadline. Schwartz turns 34 next week, missed 32 games last season, and despite those conversations, isn’t expected to return.
The franchise already has one thirty-something leader in the fold. Captain Jordan Eberle, the 36-year-old who led the team in scoring last season with 55 points, signed a two-year extension on March 6th.
We also learned earlier Wednesday that Kraken GM Jason Botterill is more focused on re-signing forward Bobby McCann, who burst on to the Seattle scene that same day in a deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was another example of taking advantage of a situation where a player desperately wanted and needed a change. McMann ripped home ten goals and added four assists in 18 games with the Kraken.
The fourth UFA who was kept at the deadline, 33-year-old D-man Jamie Oleksiak, is a given to walk.
With only two weeks until the NHL’s July 1st free agent frenzy, it’s also a given that Tolvanen will have to start imagining his options.
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