Despite playing all 82 games this season, Seattle Kraken forward Jared McCann has been dealing with a lingering undisclosed injury and will have surgery in the offseason, per Seattle Times Reporter Kate Shefte.
While the exact procedure isn’t known, McCann told reporters on Monday that the surgery is something that will keep him on the shelf for approximately six weeks. That timeline should easily allow McCann to be ready for training camp next season. McCann and the Kraken will look to build upon their 35-40-6 record this season, which of course resulted in missing the playoffs. For his part, the soon-to-be 29-year-old led the Kraken in points with 22-39-61 stat line. He added a plus-eight rating, 50 hits and 47 blocked shots on 17:13 minutes of ice time per game.
Since coming to Seattle after being left exposed by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2021 expansion draft, McCann has become a legitimate top-six forward. In 315 games with Seattle, he has registered 118 goals, 125 assists and 243 points. He is the franchise’s all-time leader in goals, points, shots, and shooting percentage, and only trails Adam Larsson in games played. He has scored at least 20 goals in each season with Seattle, and his 39 assists this season set a career high.
Selected 24th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in 2014, McCann has two years remaining on a team-friendly $5M AAV contract. That pairs him with forwards Matthew Beniers, Chandler Stephenson, Jaden Schwartz, Andre Burakovsky and Jordan Eberle for at least another season. Kaapo Kakko, who thrived in Seattle after being traded by the New York Rangers, is set to become a restricted free agent. It stands to reason the Kraken will be interested in retaining Kakko’s services, although he will be due a large raise on his current $2.4M contract.
