Kraken Contract Talks
Kraken defenseman Ryker Evans, the only unsigned Seattle regular for the coming season, has exited his NHL entry-level contract as a Restricted Free Agent (RFA) without arbitration rights, and is looking for a healthy new deal. Given the aforementioned deets, the club has all of the leverage.
Until of course, training camp rolls around and the 23-year-old decides to hold-out.
I’m not suggesting that last resort move will occur, but I’m also not overly optimistic following a briefer than usual exchange with Evans’s agent.
Let’s put it this way: There was no comment on how talks were going, and there was no willingness to express a confidence level in the proceedings. That’s not the norm in a situation like this for Brian Bartlett.
We’ll await a response Thursday from Kraken management if they’re willing to provide one.
Obviously at this stage of the summer there’s no reason to make assumptions one way or another, but if the two sides were at all close to something at some point, why would they wait. Why push the envelope deeper into the summer or potentially into September?
The last time we saw a D-man hold out in this general geographic neighborhood was Quinn Hughes with the Canucks in 2021. He and forward Elias Pettersson sat out camp awaiting new deals. The cohorts even went to a University of Michigan football game together while their teammates were skating.
First of all, Evans isn’t Hughes, not by a long shot. The Kraken blueliner has a grand total of 109 games of NHL experience and 34 points. His basic possession analytics aren’t necessarily anything to write home about, although statistically, he was first among Seattle D-man in hits and third in blocked shots last season, his first full one in the league.
If this delay isn’t just a blip, then either Evans has visions of grandeur or the hockey club is low-balling him.
Or it’s like the Shakespeare play; ‘Much Ado About Nothing’.
We’ll see. August arrives in a week.
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