The Seattle Kraken made a couple of signings since July 1. Two of which, stand out way above the rest. With eyes set on a return to the playoffs, these two players certainly made this team a lot stronger.
Let's break down the Kraken's offseason acquisitions.
Brandon Montour
Fresh off of lifting the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers, defenseman Brandon Montour takes his talent to the Western Conference and the Kraken. Ready to enter the depths, he has expressed his intentions with his new organization.
""It was all about the love. They want me to be a big part of what they have going forward, and that excited me and my family.""Brandon Montour in NHL Tonight interview
Last season, he lit the lamp eight times and added 25 assists to the champions of the hockey world. I the Panthers playoff run, he had three goals and eight assists, added 36 blocked shots, and laid the body 48 times. It is safe to say that he made a major impact for the Panthers.
This is Montour's fourth stop of his career. As he enters his ninth NHL season, he joins a team still trying to find their identity. The 30-year-old blueliner can leave his mark on this team for years to come, and his legacy can live on to future members of the Kraken. He was a crucial part of Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky's incredible season, which is crucial for the Kraken's questionable goaltending.
Chandler Stephenson
The trend with these two picks is that each has won a Stanley Cup over the past six seasons. Chandler Stephenson, who won with the Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights, now comes to Seattle to hit the hat trick and join a select few who have won it all with three or more different teams.
Last season, Stephenson had a bit of an underperforming year, with 16 goals and 35 assists for 51 points. I say underperforming because the two prior seasons showed the 30-year-old eclipsing the 60-point mark. He wasn't far off from there, but he could have certainly improved.
Let's hope that he does in fact improve for the Kraken's sake. He is a solid second-line center, and he also adds flexibility with the powerplay lines. Stephenson was solid last season with the man advantage for Vegas, with four goals and nine assists as a part of their power-play unit.