Mailbag: Kraken strategy in free agency; DeBrincat's future with Senators

Here is the May 24 edition of the mailbag, where we answer your questions asked on Twitter using #OvertheBoards. Tweet your questions to @drosennhl.

Do you think the Kraken will be aggressive in free agency/trade markets after the season they had? If so, who should be some of their targets? -- @punmasterrifkin

Chemistry and culture are two things the Seattle Kraken don't want to mess with. They have a lot of players still under contract for next season, so I don't anticipate major changes or them being overly aggressive in either the trade or free agent markets. They'll dabble, as all teams will, but they did a lot of their offseason surgery last year to help to build a team that can win for several years. That's when they signed forward Andre Burakovsky, defenseman Justin Schultz and goalie Martin Jones, and acquired forward Oliver Bjorkstrand in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Of that group, only Jones is a pending unrestricted free agent. They added forward Eeli Tolvanen off waivers from the Nashville Predators during the regular season, and he turned into an impact player. He's also signed for next season. The Kraken have five picks in the first three rounds of the 2023 NHL Draft, and I would not be surprised if they use all of them because as much success as they had this season, they are still building. Matty Beniers is a budding No. 1 center.

Seattle has some of its own players to take care of, including defensemen Vince Dunn and Will Borgen, and forwards Morgan Geekie and Daniel Sprong. They're all pending restricted free agents. Dunn is the highest priority of the four. Shane Wright could make the team out of training camp next season. Tye Kartye showed he's a player with the impact he made in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Does that mean Wright and Kartye are locks to be with the Kraken throughout next season? No, but they are in the mix and need to be accounted for.

Philipp Grubauer is signed long term as the No. 1 goalie, and his postseason should give the Kraken a better feeling about him going into next season. Chris Driedger is also signed for next season. He did not play for Seattle this season while recovering from knee surgery but did play 14 games for Coachella Valley in the American Hockey League and has to be considered an option as a backup. Seattle will likely have to address its goaltending depth with Jones a pending UFA, but that's not a major move.

With Alex DeBrincat unlikely to re-sign with the Senators, what players can they target via trade or free agency to replace his production? -- @PaigesFall

DeBrincat can be a restricted free agent July 1 and his future with the Ottawa Senators remains the biggest offseason hockey question facing the team, but I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that he's a goner. It's possible other dominoes fall first, such as new ownership being installed and decisions on the futures of general manager Pierre Dorion and coach D.J. Smith. But if the ownership situation isn't resolved by next month, the Senators likely will continue to operate as normal, meaning they will have to decide the direction they want to go with DeBrincat.

The Senators can extend the $9 million qualifying offer to DeBrincat, effectively keeping him on a one-year contract. They can try to sign him to a long-term contract if he's willing to do that. The other option is to trade him before the qualifying offers are due so he can sign a long-term contract elsewhere, but the trade route is tricky. Would the Senators at this point get in a trade what they gave up for DeBrincat at the 2022 NHL Draft, when they sent the Chicago Blackhawks their 2022 first-round and second-round picks, and their third-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft for the forward? DeBrincat was coming off a season when he scored 41 goals and had 78 points in 82 games. This season, he scored 27 goals and had 66 points in 82 games. He shot 15.2 percent with Chicago in 2021-22 and 10.3 percent with Ottawa this season, contributing to his 14-goal drop, but that drop coupled with the need to sign him to a long-term contract might be enough to stop Ottawa from getting the return it wants for the 25-year-old.

The Senators should want DeBrincat back, but if he doesn't express that desire that might force their hand to trade him. If they must, they should look to the New Jersey Devils, who have Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt as pending RFAs. If they can't get both signed to long-term contracts, one (likely Bratt over Meier) could be traded. I don't think the Devils would be able to take DeBrincat in return and sign him because if they could, they'd just sign their own players, but it would be interesting if a third team got involved to facilitate a significant blockbuster trade. Another team they could look at is the New York Rangers, who have to decide what to do with forward Alexis Lafreniere, another pending RFA coming off his entry-level contract. That's speculation, but those are the directions Ottawa should explore. The preference is to add impact players in their early-to-mid 20s, the same age range as most of the core. The Senators should not be in the market for a thirty-something UFA trying to get his last big contract. They're not at that stage.

The Rangers interviewed candidates for their head coaching job and more to come (i.e. Mike Babcock, Peter Laviolette, Spencer Carbery, etc.). Who do you think is the right man for the job (new or experience)? Do you believe Babcock and Joel Quenneville deserve a second chance for NYR/any team? -- @FrankBrodka

The Rangers have not confirmed or said anything publicly about the coaching candidates they have interviewed or who they plan to interview, so we do not know the full list. However, if we're going to speculate, with due respect to the experience and track record of coaches like Laviolette, Babcock and Quenneville, this is an opportunity for the Rangers to try to find the next Jon Cooper or Jared Bednar. Could that be Carbery, an assistant with the Toronto Maple Leafs who also was a head coach in the American Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League and ECHL? Could that be Jay Leach, a Kraken assistant who previously coached at Providence and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the AHL? The Rangers are a veteran team built to win, so they don't need a coach that cracks the whip or one who is known as a players coach. They need one who might bring some fresh ideas, will be able to work with the veterans and find the next level for young players like Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko, Filip Chytil and K'Andre Miller. Cooper and Bednar had no NHL coaching experience before they got to the League and look at their success. If Sheldon Keefe becomes available, he's another candidate who should be considered. He blends fresh ideas with NHL coaching experience in a major market. If Keefe isn't back with the Maple Leafs, the Rangers should have him on their radar.

As for Babcock and Quenneville, if there is enough contrition, public and private, from both coaches for their previous transgressions then there's no reason why they should have a life sentence. However, a team will have to want to hire them, which is an altogether different topic.

What do you expect out of the new captain and crew guiding the battered ship known as the Philadelphia Flyers? A new CEO with experience, a president with personality and determination, and a new GM with orange and black in his blood have arrived. What is the plan? -- @theashcity

Patience. Diligence. Honesty. Intelligence.

Those four traits are what I expect from the new Flyers hockey operations group, led by president of hockey operations Keith Jones and general manager Daniel Briere. Add in coach John Tortorella and you've got three people who know what a winning team looks like and the pieces necessary to have success. The Flyers are not close, and Jones, Briere and Tortorella will never sugarcoat where this team is in its current state. There will be more pain. The two keys are how well Jones, Briere and Tortorella can work together, and how long the higher ups and fans will be willing to wait for results. If all parties have the same level of patience, diligence, honesty and intelligence, the Flyers will get back to being a team on the rise probably faster than we anticipate right now. The fact is it doesn't take terribly long in the NHL if it's done right. The Kraken improved by 40 points in one season. The Flyers are a well-known brand with a long history who play in a strong hockey market. It will be easy for them to attract players if the players see everyone is on the same page and winning is all that matters.

Does Kirill Kaprizov leave the Wild after his contract if general manager Bill Guerin doesn't get serious about acquiring him a real No. 1 center? -- @Schmidty2Go

Kaprizov is signed through the 2025-26 season. The better question is will the 26-year-old forward want to stick it out with the Minnesota Wild if they don't upgrade the center position while he is still under contract? By all accounts, and from everything I have directly heard from Kaprizov, he loves it in Minnesota and enjoys playing for the Wild. They're a contending team that should again be expected to make the playoffs next season, but they have a big hole down the middle, and as good as Kaprizov has been, imagine him playing with a top center. The problem is top centers aren't easy to get and they cost money on the NHL salary cap that the Wild just don't seem to have.

So, let's look within. Is the top center Video: TBL@OTT: DeBrincat puts Senators in lead with PPG? He was the Wild's first-round pick (No. 9) in the 2020 NHL Draft. He didn't look the part in his 19 games with Minnesota, including 16 to start this season. He did not score a goal and had one assist, but had 51 points (16 goals, 35 assists) in 53 games for Iowa in the AHL. The Wild do not have the cap room to dive into the trade or free agent market for a top center. They have to hope/believe that Rossi's time in Iowa was enough for him to be NHL-ready next season. If it is, put him with Kaprizov and leave it alone to see if it works. If it does, problem solved.

Listen: Video: TBL@OTT: DeBrincat puts Senators in lead with PPG