Former Kraken winger Eeli Tolvanen, who became an unrestricted free agent on July 1st, is still looking for a new home, although his camp informs us there have been conversations with multiple NHL clubs.
For the sake of the integrity of those negotiations and potentially others, we’ll keep the names of those teams under wraps for now.
The Kraken are not one of them. The team has moved on with their projected line-up(s).
The salary cap, despite jumping up to a ceiling of $104-million per team this coming season, has been a factor in some of the decision making. Some NHL teams are pushing or currently over the limit.
The 27-year-year old Finn is coming a relatively quiet season offensively (12G, 24A) under head coach Lane Lambert, although he did contribute elsewhere with 187 hits, the most of any of the regulars on the club. Jacob Melanson, presently an unsigned restricted free agent, piled up 188 in just 36 games.
Coincidentally, the club’s leading body checker on the blueline, Jamie Oleksiak with 112 hits, walked to unrestricted free agency in July and joined the Vancouver Canucks.
One will assume the Kraken will find other ways to compliment Melanson in adding “sandpaper” and being harder to play against.
Tolvanen has played 423 NHL games, 288 of them with Seattle after arriving from the Nashville Predators, amassing a grand total of 190 points. Last season he was paid $3.475-million.
Earlier Seattle:
— Time Ticking For Kraken’s Ancient Mariner
