Tolvanen remains in Seattle after arriving from the Predators about a year and a half ago.
The winger, drafted late in the first round by Nashville in 2017, has secured a steady top-nine spot with the Kraken. Averaging around 15 minutes per game, he’s managed to produce 0.53 points per contest since joining.
Last season, Tolvanen set a personal best with 18 goals between the Kraken and Preds. However, this past season saw him dip slightly with 41 points (16 goals, 25 assists) over 81 games. This was just below what was expected since he had scored those same 16 goals in only 48 games after moving to Seattle earlier .
Performance Metrics:
His possession stats were mixed; Seattle controlled 50.8% of shot attempts and 50.3% of expected goals when he was on the ice at even strength—both slightly below team averages. Despite this, he remained one of their most physical players with his 210 hits being second only to rookie Tye Kartye’s 229.
Fans might think that even without hitting the hoped-for mark of over 20 goals last year, Tolvanen has proven himself as a reliable player who could improve further.
With his new deal being shorter and cheaper than Evolving-Hockey’s projections (four years at $4.345M AAV), it seems fair for both sides.
Future Signings:
Now that Tolvanen is signed, general manager Ron Francis still has one big task: signing top center Matthew Beniers. They have about $8.15M left in cap space after Friday’s signing, which might be tight given recent big free agency deals for Brandon Montour and Chandler Stephenson.
Since Beniers isn’t eligible for salary arbitration, fans wonder if another bridge deal is on the horizon for him too.
What do you think? Should they go all out or play it safe?
