Kraken could lose vets Jamie Oleksiak, Jaden Schwartz | NHL free agency

Two original members of the Seattle Kraken, Jamie Oleksiak and Jaden Schwartz, are set to hit free agency on Wednesday. They’ll be unrestricted free agents and can sign anywhere.

Oleksiak, 33, was claimed from Dallas in the expansion draft and immediately became one of the most recognizable members of the Seattle blue line with his 6-foot-7 frame and missing teeth. He’s appeared in all but 21 regular-season Kraken games over five seasons, plus all 14 playoff games.

This season, he found himself in an unfamiliar spot — odd man out. The Kraken carried two extra defensemen for much of the season and the veteran was a healthy scratch occasionally.

“It’s never something you’re happy about, obviously,” he said in April. “Part of being a professional is not letting that affect the team, and not having your emotions and your feelings corrupt the atmosphere of the squad.”

Oleksiak made his NHL debut in 2013, but his first honest-to-goodness traditional UFA experience is two days away. If this is the end of his Kraken tenure, he most enjoyed being “some part of the growth.”

“Growing the game of hockey in Seattle, just seeing how far the city has come the last five years in terms of embracing us and gaining knowledge about the game,” Oleksiak said. “You see (Kraken Community Iceplex), and how many people are skating now, and just that transition … it’s been really cool.

“I’m excited to see where the team goes from there.”

Schwartz, 34, signed as a free agent before the inaugural season and has been an alternate captain since the start. This past season he was limited to 50 of 82 games due to unlucky injuries. A player fell on his knee in the crease, and he absorbed a kick to the face in March. He led the team in goals in 2024-25 with 26 and remains their most reliable net-front presence.

“I love it here in Seattle. Really grateful and thankful that I got the opportunity to come here,” Schwartz said.

“It’s frustrating that we haven’t been able to, the last three years, elevate points-wise. … I feel like we’re in kind of the same position.

“We wanted to take that next step, and we weren’t able to. When you aren’t winning, that’s when changes happen.”

Eeli Tolvanen, 27, is expected to test the waters as well. The Kraken claimed him off waivers in December of 2022 and he’s been a mainstay in the middle six forwards ever since.

He was a 23-goal scorer for Seattle in 2024-25, but his point totals hovered around 40 in his three full seasons with the team. The Kraken know what they’re getting from the forward. His previous cap hit was a reasonable $3.475 million.

A new contract felt inevitable until the 2025-26 season ended poorly for the team, and for him. He helped Team Finland win bronze at the Milano Cortina Olympics, then went cold, contributing just one goal and four assists in the last 23 games of the season. He ended on a 17-game goal drought.

It would be a shame to see him go just a few months before the Kraken play two regular-season games in his native Finland, but as Schwartz said, this is when change happens.

“I love my time here,” Tolvanen said in exit interviews. “I was fortunate to get picked up on waivers from Nashville and get an opportunity here, and ever since, it feels like home here. Really enjoyed everybody here. Would love to come back.”

Last but not least, goaltender Matt Murray is a pending UFA. He appeared in five games in 2025-26, all during the first two months of the season. Murray spent four months on injured reserve and then left the team to attend to a family matter on April 9. As it stands, the Kraken have one more year of the Joey Daccord-Philipp Grubauer tandem, and Grubauer’s play stabilized in 2025-26. So there isn’t a need for a third-string goalie per se, and if Grubauer leaves after his contract ends next summer, the organization has 2022 second-round pick Nikke Kokko, 22, warming up in the bullpen.

On Monday the team extended qualifying offers to Jacob Melanson, Mackie Samoskevich, Victor Ostman and Ville Ottavainen. Without qualifying offers, they would have become UFAs. The Kraken retained the right to match offer sheets submitted by opposing teams. Players can accept the qualifying offer or continue to negotiate the terms of a new deal.

Bruising forward Melanson was willing and eager to throw his body around, setting team records with double-digit hit nights. Even though he appeared in only 36 games, he led the team in hits by the end, 188 to Tolvanen’s 187, per StatMuse. Tolvanen appeared in more than twice as many games.

The Kraken just gave up a first-rounder for Samoskevich on Father’s Day, so they’ll want to keep him around. Ostman is the organization’s No. 4 goalie who made his first NHL start in the season finale. Ottavainen, a 2021 draft selection, comes up from the American Hockey League when the Kraken defense is battling heavy injuries.

Also Monday, the Kraken announced they had re-signed forwards Lleyton Roed and J.R. Avon to one-year, two-way deals. Both spent the season in the AHL.

According to PuckPedia, the Kraken have $22,591,371 in projected cap space to work with. It’s a shallow free-agent pool this year, so they’re better off trying to trade for a star, even though that hasn’t worked well for them so far this summer.

Stars are re-signing before they ever hit the open market. The salary cap will reach $104 million next season, an increase of $8.5 million, which has allowed teams to retain their players.

Winger Mason Marchment is out there again, but as he was a bad fit for the Kraken during a four-goal, 29-game outing last season, he’s one to safely rule out on Wednesday. Another is NHL all-time goals leader Alex Ovechkin, who at 40 is weighing retirement. If he returns, it will almost certainly be to the Washington Capitals.

The free-agent list has plenty of aging stars looking for another spot, like Jamie Benn, Lars Eller, Claude Giroux, Patrick Kane, Corey Perry, John Carlson and Mats Zuccarello. The goalie pool is interesting, with newly minted Stanley Cup champion Frederik Andersen and Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky testing the waters, but that’s not an area of great need for Seattle.

Rasmus Andersson, 29, is toward the top of the class at defense. He had 17 points (seven goals) in 33 games after Vegas acquired him in a trade on Jan. 18. New York Islanders forward Anders Lee is on the move. Right wing Anthony Mantha’s 64 points last season were good for fourth on the Pittsburgh Penguins but would have led the Kraken by a wide margin. He’ll have several suitors after a career season.

Morgan Reilly and Jake Debrusk’s names are in the mix. Erik Haula appeared on the Kraken transaction log on the day of the 2026 trade deadline, but it quickly disappeared. Seattle has the chance to do the funniest thing possible there.

On a similar note, the St. Louis Blues didn’t protect right winger Vladimir Tarasenko in the 2021 expansion draft but he didn’t wind up in Seattle. Now 34, Tarasenko is headed to free agency after 47 points in 75 games with the Minnesota Wild.