Kraken trade Brandon Tanev to Winnipeg Jets before NHL trade deadline
PHILADELPHIA — Brandon Tanev’s tenure with the Kraken ended Friday after the winger was traded to his former team, the Winnipeg Jets, for a second-round draft pick in 2027.
Tanev, a pending unrestricted free agent, was held out of Thursday night’s 5-3 road loss to the Nashville Predators, the telltale sign a deal was in the works.
Tanev’s last Kraken appearance was at home, on Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild. That was also the last Seattle game for Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand, both of whom were traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday. Gourde, too, returned to his former team.
Seattle acquired a 2027 first-round pick, which is top-10 protected, in the Gourde/Bjorkstrand trade. As it stands, that distant draft weekend will be a busy one. The team could also flip some of its newly acquired draft capital and use it to acquire established NHL talent this summer, a notion general manager Ron Francis encouraged in his post-deadline news conference.
“We’re hoping to use those picks as capital, trying to acquire players and speed things up,” Francis said.
“Obviously, we want to get healthy and hope that that happens. But we have to look at things. Because obviously I felt going into the season [that] we’re a team that could compete for a playoff spot, and we’re not there. So that’s why we had to do the things we did.”
In 238 games with the Kraken, Tanev notched 41 goals and 42 assists, registered 558 hits and blocked 243 shots. Nine goals and eight helpers, respectively, came in 60 games this season. The undrafted 10-year NHL veteran scored four goals during a three-game stretch in November, but he was better known for killing penalties and being a pest.
“Brandon is an energetic, speedy and forward-playing player, and that’s what he brings each and every night,” coach Dan Bylsma said after Thursday’s loss. “And when he’s not there, you’ll miss it. But I thought we saw some of that from Mikey [Eyssimont] and the fourth line.”
Tanev’s six-year, $21 million contract he signed in 2019 expires this summer, after an expected deep playoff run. Winnipeg had sole position of first place in the league standings entering Friday’s slate. Meanwhile the Kraken (26-33-4) were fifth from last.
Just before the noon PT deadline passed, the Kraken agreed to deal forward Daniel Sprong to the New Jersey Devils for a 2026 seventh-round pick. They picked Sprong up Nov. 8 for free, so the pick in the draft’s final round is a bonus.
Sprong’s second stint in Seattle was quick and strange, another brief stop on a winding career path. A month into his first season in Vancouver, the Canucks sent Sprong south for future considerations, back to a Seattle team where he set several career highs in 2022-23 before departing in free agency.
After just 10 appearances, a goal, an assist, and many healthy scratches, an unimpressed Sprong was waived and assigned to the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
“At the end of the day, I want to make it clear I’m an NHL player,” Sprong, 27, said after his three-point Firebirds debut Jan. 11. He totaled 11 goals and 25 points in just 19 games with Coachella Valley. Then the Kraken set him free.
A wild, seller-friendly 2025 trade deadline passed with recent Carolina acquisition Mikko Rantanen (Dallas) and Boston captain Brad Marchand (Florida) winding up in cities few, if any, expected. The Kraken’s moves were tame in comparison. They got something in return for both notable pending undrafted free agents in Gourde and Tanev and freed up cap space by offloading Bjorkstrand’s $5.4 million annual contract.
“The things they did for this organization, on and off the ice, were tremendous,” Francis said. “We can’t thank them [enough]. In the case of Yanni and Bjorky, their wives and families as well, they really represented the Kraken well. We wish them nothing but the best moving forward. It’s just unfortunately become part of the business.”
Seattle picked up two first-rounders, two-second rounders and more, plus forward Eyssimont, who scored in his Kraken debut Thursday.
The Kraken have 19 games left this season, starting Saturday morning here against the Flyers.