NHL Notebook: Matt Dumba still available as a top free agent, Seattle Kraken sign Will Borgen avoiding arbitration, and more

Photo credit:© Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

9 months ago

NHL free agency began on July 1st and has seen over 160 players sign new deals. Regarding the top free agents, Matt Dumba is still available as the defence market begins to thin out.

Dumba was initially ranked number 23 on Frank Seravalli’s 75 top free agents list but has since climbed to number three as players begin to be picked off the market. His position sits behind Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane.

Last season Dumba scored four goals and 14 points in 79 games with the Minnesota Wild and was held to a minus-8 rating. Plenty of rumours have swirled around the market about where the blueliner may end up, including the San Jose Sharks and the Arizona Coyotes.

Dumba’s 598 games played for the Wild have him ranked fifth among defencemen in team history, while his 79 goals rank second, and his 236 points rank third. This will be the blue liner’s first time as a free agent and bring his 10-year tenure in Minnesota to a close.

Seattle Kraken sign Will Borgen, avoiding arbitration

The Seattle Kraken have avoided arbitration with defenceman Will Borgen signing him to a two-year contract with a $2.7 million AAV on Friday.

Borgen was a restricted free agent and had filed for salary arbitration just before the two sides came to an agreement.

Borgen was taken by the Buffalo Sabres 92nd overall in the 2015 draft. He got his first opportunity in the lineup in 2018-19, where he only appeared in four games, followed by 10 the next season.

The blueliner finally began to see more NHL actions after being taken by the Kraken in the 2021 expansion draft. His first season in Seattle saw him score two goals and eight points in 36 games while maintaining a plus-1 rating. Finally, Borgen began to flourish this past season, scoring three goals and 20 points while becoming a regular in the Kraken’s lineup. He added an additional goal and three points in the Kraken’s 14 playoff games and he was primarily paired with Jamie Oleksiak throughout the season.

Here are more details from Daily Faceoff’s Anthony Trudeau on the contract:

Keeping Borgen for another two seasons shows that GM Ron Francis is committed to maintaining the shot-limiting culture that propped up a shaky goaltending battery throughout the regular seasons and two seven-game series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Seattle only surrendered 27 looks at their net per game in 2022-2023, the second-fewest in the NHL, and finished the season with the league’s 14th-best defense.
Borgen was a big part of those numbers and blocked 89 shots in over 16 minutes of ice time per night. While he is not a dominant two-way player, Borgen is a reliable bottom-four option and an original team member.
Though Borgen’s contract staves off an arbitration hearing and keeps him in Seattle until 2025, Francis and coach Dave Hakstol continue to round out next year’s defensive corps.

PRESENTED BY BETWAY

Seattle Kraken sign Pierre-Edouard Bellemare to a one-year contract

The Seattle Kraken have signed Pierre-Edouard Bellemare to a one-year deal worth $775,000.

After completing his two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, the forward was an unrestricted free agent. His new deal with the Kraken will see a pay decrease of $225,000.

Bellemare becomes the third of Tampa Bay’s four free agents that have agreed to sign elsewhere. With the Kraken, the forward will most likely compete for a sport on the fourth line.

In his first season with the Lightning in 2021-22, Bellemare had the second-best season of his career, scoring nine goals for 20 points. His career high came back in 2019-20 in the first of his two years with the Colorado Avalanche, when he scored nine goals and 22 points.

Here’s more details from Daily Faceoff‘s Scott Maxwell on the news:

Bellemare, 38, is coming off a down season with the Lightning in 2022-23, where he had just 4 goals, 9 assists, and 13 points in 73 regular season games, his lowest point total in an 82-game season since 2017. He also had a goal and an assist in six playoff games with the Lightning as they were eliminated in the first round for the first time since 2019 at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games.
Bellemare was an undrafted free agent, spending the first 11 seasons of his career playing in Europe before he signed his first NHL deal with the Philadelphia Flyers at the age of 29. He’s since played for the Flyers, Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche, and Lightning over the course of his nine-season NHL career.
The Kraken haven’t made too many significant additions to their NHL roster so far this offseason, with their only significant roster signings seeing them bring in a veteran defenseman in Brian Dumoulin and taking a flyer on the struggling Kailer Yamamoto. They still have over $12.5 million in cap space, although they have a few restricted free agents to sign on their blueline in Vince Dunn, Will Borgen, and Cale Fleury.

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NHL Notebook: Matt Dumba still available as a top free agent, Seattle Kraken sign Will Borgen avoiding arbitration, and more

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