<p><p>SEATTLE – Kraken winger Jordan Eberle is fast becoming an endangered species: one of only four forwards remaining on the NHL roster from the July 2021 expansion draft.</p></p><p><p>And among Eberle, Yanni Gourde, Brandon Tanev and Jared McCann – and two more original forwards, Jaden Schwartz and Alex Wennberg, who signed as free agents after the draft – two have contracts expiring after this season and two more after next. Eberle, 33, the oldest forward and in the final year of his deal along with Wennberg, scored 41 goals and compiled 107 points over two Kraken seasons – the most of any player besides McCann.</p></p><p><p>Team goals mean everything for Eberle, who has commended the Kraken for maintaining their core in hopes of exceeding last spring’s playoff run to Game 7 of the second round.</p></p><p><p>“I know a lot of the guys in this room have played in the playoffs and won Stanley Cups, but when you do it as a group together and go out and compete together, I think that’s the biggest thing,” Eberle said. “You’re able to transition that into the next year and have that experience as a group.”</p></p><p><p>But that core is steadily shifting, from one led by Eberle, Gourde, Schwartz and defenseman Adam Larsson, to another counting increasingly on production by Calder Trophy winner Matty Beniers, team MVP Vince Dunn, 40-goal scorer McCann, upstart winger Eeli Tolvanen and a bevy of prospects due to start arriving this season.</p></p><p><p>Amid this transition point of outgoing and incoming faces, the Kraken’s ability to absorb change without missing an on-ice beat could determine the third-year franchise’s fate.</p></p><p><p>It was the Kraken’s “old” guard of Eberle, Gourde, 32, and Schwartz, 31, at forward and Larsson, 31, and Jamie Oleksiak, 31, on defense, along with goalie Philipp Grubauer, 32, who carried the team through the playoffs.</p></p><p><p>Grubauer has four contract seasons to go and remains the No. 1 goalie. The team needs him reverting more to playoff form – particularly that of the seven-game opening-round defeat of Colorado – than his sub-.900 save percentage performances the last two seasons.</p></p><p><p>But the No. 1 job remains his with no replacement in sight.</p></p><p><p>Not so on forward lines or defensive pairings, with both transitioning toward change in years ahead.</p></p><p><p>There’s a reason no veterans have yet been named captain for a second straight year – the Kraken apparently waiting to bestow that upon Beniers after another season of anticipated progress.</p></p><p><p>Those are sky-high expectations of Beniers, 20, after a season of 24 goals – second highest on the team – and 57 points. For his part, Beniers said he didn’t feel different coming into training camp, planning to work on winning more faceoffs and not change anything drastically.</p></p><p><p>“I think it’s just getting another year, a little bit better technique, more stronger,” Beniers said. “You know, those things will help.”</p></p><p><p>Likewise, expectations are heavy on Dunn, 26, after a breakout 14-goal and team-high 50-assist season begot a four-year, $29.4 million extension. Also heavy for Tolvanen, 24, to show his 16 goals, 11 assists over 48 games weren’t a one-off.</p></p><p><p>Tolvanen, like Beniers, said he also didn’t change much preparing in his native Finland for a big season that could lead to a longer contract with one year of restricted free agency remaining.</p></p><p><p>“I worked on my shot every day, just trying to keep it strong and get better,” Tolvanen said. “I’m hoping to see more time on the power play and keep showing what I can do.”</p></p><p><p>And there’s McCann, 27, whose team leading 40 goals had pundits comparing him to former Vegas Golden Knights breakout star William Karlsson scoring 43 times in that team’s 2018 Stanley Cup finalist campaign. So, there’s pressure on McCann to replicate his numbers.</p></p><p><p>Not all the aforementioned players are likely to do that. But those four guys ages 27 and younger, who combined for 94 goals and 218 points, likely must sustain a chunk of their totals for the Kraken to remain a playoff team.</p></p><p><p>Especially after the Kraken jettisoned free-agent forwards Daniel Sprong, Morgan Geekie, Ryan Donato and defenseman Carson Soucy to clear space for incoming prospects. Between Sprong, Geekie and Donato, that’s 44 goals and 101 points headed out the door.</p></p><p><p>Some production should be offset by a full season from Andre Burakovsky, 27, who led the team with 39 points before a Feb. 7 season-ending groin injury. And improvement from Oliver Bjorkstrand, 28, whose scoring touch returned as the season progressed after a shaky transition to his new team.</p></p><p><p>McCann, Burakovsky and Bjorkstrand represent three potential top producers ages 27-28 signed at least the next three seasons. If all goes well, they’d make the core leadership transition much easier.</p></p><p><p>On defense, top-pairing ironman Larsson has two contract seasons remaining and second pair veteran Oleksiak has three. But the absence of departed third pairing mainstay Soucy could hurt as he was particularly adept at limiting zone entries by opposing players. Will Borgen, 26, barely played at all in the Kraken’s first year but by last season was promoted to the second pairing alongside Oleksiak.</p></p><p><p>That makes for two 26-year-olds in Borgen and Dunn now among the Kraken’s top-four defenders with Ryker Evans banging on the team’s door after an all-star AHL rookie season. Evans, 20, a second-round pick from 2021, winger Tye Kartye, 21, an emergency playoff insertion last spring, and No. 4 overall pick from last year in center Shane Wright, 19, are all expected to play for the Kraken at some point this season.</p></p><p><p>Kartye and Evans made a case to join the Kraken out of camp while Wright isn’t far behind. The sooner the Kraken integrate all three will make it easier to replicate last season’s 100-point, playoff-qualifying performance and accommodate future hopefuls Jagger Firkus, Ryan Winterton, David Goyette, Jani Nyman and others starting a year from now.</p></p><p><p>“I mean, you’ve got to beat somebody out – that’s life,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said of adding prospects this season. “That’s how it is. You have to come in and you have to take a job. It’s also a matter of where you fit. Where does that skill set fit and how does that fit into what we’re doing as a team?”</p></p><p><p>Indeed, as Eberle has mentioned, the team’s chemistry and fit largely forged last season’s success. And introducing new elements, along with the transition toward younger leaders that’s already begun, will be a delicate task.</p></p><p><p>The Kraken’s initial month could be especially challenging given they play seven of their first 10 games against playoff teams from last season.</p></p><p><p>But veteran Schwartz, who by the third of his remaining contract years could be among just five leftover Kraken originals alongside McCann, Oleksiak, Dunn and Grubauer, has been through early challenges before. He said all players – young, older, veteran or new – must focus on roles and assignments and let the team’s on-ice systems handle the rest.</p></p><p><p>“We’ve just got to take care of ourselves,” Schwartz said. “We’ve got to get prepared … take care of business with us. Continue to work and improve and every day get better and ready to go.”</p></p>
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