One of the more surprising moves from this summer’s expansion draft was the Seattle Kraken selecting Carsen Twarynski from the Philadelphia Flyers. The Kraken immediately defended the pick, though, saying they felt the young forward could help the depth of the organization, and now he’s agreed to a contract. The Kraken have signed Twarynski to a one-year, two-way contract worth $750K in the NHL.
He’s not alone in inking a deal with the Kraken, as CapFriendly reports that the team has also signed Cale Fleury to a one-year, two-way deal worth $750K at the NHL level. Both players were restricted free agents but not eligible for salary arbitration.
Twarynski, 23, was a third-round pick of the Flyers in 2016 and has 22 games of NHL experience under his belt. Seven of those came this season, but he was held scoreless, meaning his total of a single goal remains. The 6-foot-2 forward is likely never going to be a big scoring threat at the NHL level, but he does bring some size and physicality to the lineup in a bottom-six role. Kraken GM Ron Francis released a short statement on the young forward:
"Carsen plays a physical, high-energy game. We like his tenacity and willingness to compete. He plays a responsible game and we like his motor."
Those aren’t things that will make you jump out of your seat, but every team does need depth options like Twarynski to fill out the organizational chart. On an expansion team, he very well could get regular minutes if he manages to make the opening day roster. Given he is no longer waiver-exempt, that seems like a real possibility.
Fleury, on the other hand, was the team’s selection from the Montreal Canadiens after deciding to pass on Carey Price. It seems like it will be much harder for him to see any real NHL time this season given how many NHL defensemen the Kraken still have on the roster, but he too is eligible for waivers. The 22-year-old played 41 games for Montreal in 2019-20, but he spent this year entirely in the minor leagues or on the taxi squad. The brother of fellow Kraken defenseman Haydn Fleury, he hasn’t quite yet managed to reach his potential as a two-way defender.
If either of these two clear waivers and is sent to the minor leagues, they’ll be joining the Charlotte Checkers, where the Kraken are going to send some players this season. In fact, in the original announcement of the AHL partnership, the Kraken indicated that they would be sending “between eight and 12 players” to the Checkers. At this point, they have only seven players under contract to send if they want to keep a 23-man roster. More work is still left to do for Francis and company, and those moves will shed more light on whether Twarynski or Fleury will see NHL time this season.
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