“That was probably my first question – is this a place where we’re making a push to be better?” McMann said. “And how are we going to do that? Obviously, every team is trying to get better and had their plans. But what’s different about here? And why can they do it here?”
Those were obvious questions given the Kraken won only five of the 18 games McMann played for them after coming over from Toronto at the March trade deadline. McMann appeared to singlehandedly carry the team offensively at times, scoring 10 goals and adding four assists during that 18-game stretch.
When the Kraken finished out of the playoffs, many assumed McMann, a pending free agent, wouldn’t stick around. But he kept repeating how he’d liked playing for the team and Lambert, who’d been an associate coach with the Maple Leafs during his time there in 2024-25.
And when he asked the Kraken about their immediate future plans, he was sold on what he heard.
“It starts with the support of ownership straight on through management and the eagerness to get better there,” said McMann, who will earn an average of $5.75 million annually with his new deal. “And then it’s also the younger assets they have with draft picks and players that are coming up that can be impact players in a couple of years.
“I think that those were all convincing factors,” he said. “And there’s the side of it where I’m starting to be a bit of an older player, a bit of a veteran in a league where I can somewhat fill the role on the leadership side of it. The mentorship side of it. That gets me excited. That I can have a part in shaping the organization, shaping younger players and pushing it in a direction that’s winning hockey.”
Alberta native McMann said the team’s abundance of high-end draft picks and ample salary cap space also lent itself to immediate off-season improvements. That process began just hours before his extension was announced when the team traded for young Florida Panthers winger Mackie Sasmonevich.
The Kraken used a No. 25 overall pick in this week’s NHL Draft in Buffalo and also a conditional second round selection in 2027 to get Sasmonevich, who, just like McMann, is known for above average bursts of speed off transitional play. McMann’s elite level speed on a 6-foot-2, 217-pound frame had already give the Kraken an element of size and quickness they’d typically lacked up front.
But now, in a span of mere hours, the pace of the team’s forwards group has taken a significant step beyond where it was to start last season.
"Re-signing Bobby was a priority this summer,” Kraken GM Botterill said. “He made an immediate impact in our lineup with his size, speed and goal scoring. There's a lot to love about his game. We're thrilled he wants to call Seattle home for years to come."
McMann’s 29 overall goals last season, including his prior Toronto totals, was the most by any Kraken player.
The former Colgate University standout was an NHL late-bloomer of sorts, spending three seasons in the ECHL and AHL before getting his first full-time shot with the Maple Leafs in 2023-24. His prior contract for two years, $2.7 million had been his most lucrative in the NHL to-date, meaning this Kraken deal certainly will be a change moving forward.
“I’ve kind of always wanted a longer deal to kind of dig deep into how I can get myself to be the best that I can be,” McMann said. “And I think the security of it offers that ease and that mental stability to feel like, ‘OK, I can work on my game. And if things don’t work right away, then I have that little bit of a leash to get my game to as good as it can possibly be.’
“And that’s what I’m always striving for,” he added. “I want to be the biggest impact player I can be on a team. I want to be the best contributor I can bring, and I want to reach my potential.”
And once the team convinced McMann it had similar goals for the entire group, it sealed a multi-year union now signed and delivered.
