Who Will Score The Most Goals For The Kraken?

Walt Hazzard led the '67-'68 Sonics in PPG (24.0), Sherman Smith led the '76 Seahawks in TDs (5 ... yikes), Ruppert Jones led the '77 M's in runs (85), Edna Campbell led the '00 Storm in PPG (13.9), and Fredy Montero led the '09 Sounders in goals (12). 

Who'll go down as the top scorer of the Kraken's first season? 

First of all, not a goalie. A goalie has scored only 15 times in NHL history — 7 of which were own goals. 

Defenders score about 1 in every 7 NHL goals. But those numbers are skewed by a small number of offensive-minded defensemen. No defenseman led his team in scoring in 2020-21; only 3 teams had a defenseman among their top 5 scorers. So not a defenseman either.

Centers score the most out of any position — players listed as centers accounted for 2,223 of the 5,031 NHL goals scored in 20-21, or 44% of the total. But centers are not the most potent goalscorers. 

Purely from a rate-based, time-on-ice perspective, wingers score the most goals.

However, the numbers lie a little bit because a top center will tend to get more time on ice than a top winger. Centers often appear in penalty killing situations, while wingers usually don't.

In the 2020-21 season, wingers were the leading scorers for 17 teams. Centers were the leading scorers for 14 teams. 

Broadly speaking — it's even among the forwards. And we're not even sure yet how the Kraken will line up. With this in mind...

Ranking! The Kraken Expansion Season Team Goal Leader Candidates

#1 C Alex Wennberg



Age: 26 • Salary: $4.5M
Goals in 2020-21: 17
Most goals in a season: 17

This is my pick as the most likely Kraken player to lead the team in goals. Francis said they signed him for his offense, and that he'll be a top 6 player. So they're definitely expecting him to score, and will presumably put him in the best situations to do so. A final point in Wennberg's favor: He's 26, so he's entering his prime.

#2 (tie) RW Jordan Eberle 



Age: 31 • Salary: $5.5M 
Goals in 2020-21: 16 
Most goals in a season: 34 (2011-12 season)

#2 (tie) LW Jaden Schwartz



Age: 29 • Salary: $5.5M
Goals in 2020-21: 8 (played in 40 of 56 games)
Most goals in a season: 28 (2014-15 season)

Eberle and Schwartz are the next two most likely Kraken goal leaders. They are the two highest-paid forwards on the roster. They're surely penciled in on the front line. Schwartz only scored 8 goals last season, but he also missed about 1/3 of the season with an injury. Eberle was once a prolific scorer; his production has declined with age. But maybe he has one big season left in him?

If Eberle or Schwartz is the team's leading scorer, I think that would be a little bit of a disappointment. It would be a better sign for the future of the team if a younger player stepped up their game than if an older player had a bounce back season. 

#4 C Yanni Gourde



Age: 29 • Salary: $5.16M
Goals in 2020-21: 17
Most goals in a season: 25 (2017-18 season)

Gourde seems like the obvious candidate — he was a top scorer on the Stanley Cup winning Tampa Bay Lighting. Stands to reason he'll get even more opportunity in Seattle. But Gourde will miss the first few months of 2021-22 with a shoulder injury. He could still come back and zoom past the competition, however. 

#5 (tie) LW Jared McCann



Age: 25 • Salary: $2.94M
Goals in 2020-21: 14
Most goals in a season: 14

#5 (tie) C Mason Appleton



Age: 25 • Salary: $900K
Goals in 2020-21: 12
Most goals in a season: 12

Either McCann or Appleton leading the team in scoring would be a very pleasant surprise. 

McCann is a former first round pick who played a full NHL season at age 19 — guys like that clearly have elite talent, maybe they just need the right situation to unlock it. Getting superior production from a relatively inexpensive player like McCann would be a big boost to the franchise.

Appleton scored 12 goals with Winnipeg last year, but he'll be given a larger role in Seattle. Like McCann, he's in his age 25 season. Unlike McCann he was a low draft pick who worked his way up through college and the minors. Ryan Clark of The Athletic, who predicts that Appleton could be on the Kraken's second line, points out that Appleton is 6-2, 195 ... his frame could help him post up in front of the net for redirects and rebounds. 

#7 RW Joonas Donskoi



Age: 29 • Salary: $3.9M
Goals in 2020-21: 17
Most goals in a season: 17

While Donskoi's 17 goals last season are as many as any Kraken player, he's considered more of a defensive-minded forward.

#8 RW Brandon Tanev



Age: 29 • Salary: $3.5M
Goals in 2020-21: 7
Most goals in a season: 14 (2018-19 season)

Never much of a goal-scorer, Tanev's value is his high-energy two-way play. He has more assists than goals in his career. Hopefully the Kraken team photographer will get him a better headshot than the Penguins' did.

#9 LW Calle Järnkrok



Age: 29 • Salary: $2M
Goals in 2020-21: 13
Most goals in a season: 16 (2017-18 season)

I suspect that the Kraken selected Järnkrok in the expansion draft more for his contract situation than his talent. 

He's a reliable player who makes only $2 million this year, and that contract ends after the season. He could be a valuable trade chip for a team looking to get under the cap, or to clear cap space for the offseason. 

On the ice, he's most valuable for his defense and will likely appear on the Kraken's power-killing teams. It wouldn't be a surprise to see him lead the Kraken in short-handed goals by getting 1 or 2 on the year.

#10 C Matt Beniers



Age: 18 • Unsigned draft pick

#2 overall pick Beniers leading the Kraken in goals as a teenager is the best-case scenario. It would mean that the Kraken have snagged a generational talent, rather than what the scouting reports suggest, which is an extremely solid all-around player.

But Beniers may not score a minute of playing time, let alone a goal — it seems possible, even likely, that Beniers will remain unsigned and play his sophomore year at Michigan. This would give him an additional year of development with no hit to the Kraken salary cap. 

#11 C Marcus Johansson



Age: 30 • Salary: $1.5M
Goals in 2020-21: 6
Most goals in a season: 24 (2016-17 season)

Johansson has played for 5 different teams in the last 5 seasons, which should give you an idea of his upside. Johansson ending up as the team's top scorer would be like the year Miguel Olivo led the Mariners in home runs — things have gone horribly, horribly wrong. 


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