Seattle Kraken Team Captain Candidates – The Hockey Writers – Seattle Kraken

The Seattle Kraken have been without a team captain for over two years. The original talisman of the franchise, Mark Giordano, was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in March 2022 in the first season of the franchise’s existence. Since then, the club has worked with several other captains. Given that the team is now in a rebuilding phase as they need to get back to the playoffs and have just hired a new coach in Dan Bylsma, the time has come to appoint a new team captain.
The Importance of a Team Captain
A player with a big “C” on his jersey above his heart (or belt, or star, etc.) leads by example, with wise words on the bench or on the phone, with common sense and motivational speeches in the dressing room. in the bedroom, at work in the morning, or whatever. That one player that everyone else on the ice can confidently say, “This is our guy who’s going to lead us on fire, and I have no problem with that. I will dance with them in the fire.”
Which NHL teams have no captains? The Anaheim Ducks, the Buffalo Sabres, the Chicago Blackhawks, the new Utah club, and the Kraken. Who missed the playoffs in 2023-24? Ducks, Sabres, Hawks, Utah, and Kraken, among others. Who wasn’t the best this season? Ducks, Sabers, Hawks, Utah, and Kraken. Any other teams with captains who missed the playoffs? Yes. But not having it seems to leave a hole in the spirit of the team.
Those teams that experienced impressive campaigns in 2023-24, including the playoffs (the Stanley Cup Finals are about to begin as of this writing), have good captains. The Florida Panthers have Aleksander Barkov. The Edmonton Oilers have Connor McDavid. The Vancouver Canucks have Quinn Hughes. The Dallas Stars have Jamie Benn. The Carolina Hurricanes have Jordan Staal. The New York Rangers have Jacob Trouba. Yes, the latter is a controversial figure, but, darn it, he leads that group. Trouba aside, no one disrespects Benn, McDavid, Barkov, Hughes, or Staal. They add to the respectability of those groups.
Think of the captains of other teams who missed the play-offs. Brady Tkachuk and the Ottawa Senators. Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Nick Suzuki and the Montreal Canadiens. Their teams aren’t perfect, and they’re not perfect (well, Crosby is), but no one around the league sees them when they step on the ice and says, “Oh god, not that loser again.”
Simply put, the Krakens need a player to help them out of the underdog situation.
Seattle’s nominees
As of this writing, a quartet of players serves as the other captain: Yanni Gourde, Jaden Schwartz, Jordan Eberle, and Adam Larsson.
Two of them are in critical condition. That’s a way of saying they’re entering contract seasons. Gourde and Larsson have contracts that expire on June 30, 2025, at which point they become unrestricted free agents (UFA). While both are NHL legends — Gourde even won two Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning — it would be odd to hand a player the captaincy during contract negotiations. The team can always hold off on naming any single captain until a long-term deal is signed and locked in, but we are working under the premise that someone will be wearing the “C” on opening night.
Related: Seattle Kraken’s 2nd Round Picks at 2024 Draft
That leaves us with Eberle and Schwartz. Both have two years left on their deals, meaning there is no concern about negotiations until the 2025-2026 campaign or even the summer of 2026, and both are in their 30s — Eberle is 34 and Schwartz is 31.
Eberle has been around the block. Drafted in 2008, he was selected in the first round when the Oilers began recording draft picks. He saw the arrival of Ryan Nugent Hopkins and McDavid and played with both for many seasons. He was a six-year veteran when McDavid put together his first 100-point season (2016-2017). He was also around for the New York Islanders’ “greatest but never” campaigns in the late 2010s.
Schwartz spent most of his career with the St. Louis Blues – who won the Stanley Cup in 2019 – before joining the Kraken mid-season in 2020. He’s a veteran, but it never clicked in Seattle like it did in St. Louis. Schwartz has had a negative goal differential over the past three seasons, and has not been close at minus-13, minus-17, and minus-15. He never posted those numbers with the Blues, and that franchise didn’t always dominate the NHL. Without being disrespectful, Schartz would only be nominated because he is a veteran. That counts for something, but his stats aren’t good enough to wear a “C”.
Dark Horse Candidate: Vince Dunn
General manager Ron Francis, Bylsma, and anyone else involved in the process can make the right decision, but one player, in particular, could make an interesting choice, and as of this writing, he is not wearing the “A. ” on his chest.
Why not mention defending captain Vince Dunn? He is 27 years old and a seven-year veteran. He is too old to be young but too young to be old. In other words, he is technically at the peak of his career. Like Schwartz, he has a ring from his time at St. Despite the franchise’s first season, which wasn’t great for anyone, Dunn has been incredibly consistent.
He scored 64 points in 81 games in 2022-23 and was a plus-28. This season, he finished with 46 points in 59 games and was a plus-8. He was also the best player of the team. Unfortunately, he was slightly injured. Until then, we wrote in late March about how his absence significantly affected Seattle’s pursuit of a spot last season.
When he is healthy, the team tends to play well. If he isn’t, they often don’t. His exit interview in late April was incredibly cerebral, picking on little things about what he could have done better and what the rest of the team should have done. He talks and sounds smart in front of the camera. Of course, locker room talk isn’t as clean and proper as formal dating, but you know how to communicate effectively, and that should count for something.
It’s hard to argue that things have worked out for Kraken in these two seasons without a captain. It was a valid average, and in a competitive league like the NHL, averages don’t get you anywhere. All teammates encourage and cheer each other on. No one always plays together at the same time. That said, the Krakens need one voice from someone in the trenches, and Dunn is an excellent candidate.