Kraken land center Stephenson with 7 year commitment

*Photo from Reuters*

   Here comes an upgrade down the middle. The Seattle Kraken and C Chandler Stephenson have agreed to a 7 year, $43.75 million contract, according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. The Kraken have confirmed the addition.

   Stephenson's contract is a big one with the Kraken as he enters his age 30 season. He gets $6 million as a signing bonus while making $6.25 million annually. He gets a full no movement clause for the first 4 years of his contract and a modified no trade clause for the final 3 years in the form of a 10 team no trade list.

   Last season was another productive year for Stephenson, his 4th full year with the Vegas Golden Knights. He racked up 16 goals and added 35 assists for 51 points, notching a -9 rating while averaging 18:29 of ice time in 75 games. He had no goals and one assist in 7 playoff games.

   Seattle GM Ron Francis said of adding Stephenson that "In Stephenson, just a really good two-way guy, plays with pace, has a sneaky skill set. Brings two Cups into the locker room as well, so, they checked a lot of boxes and we're excited to add them to our roster."

   With the Kraken, Stephenson will be a dependable middle 6 center and has exceeded 50 points in each of the last 3 seasons and 60 points in both 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. He's good for double digit goal totals every season, with a career high of 21 in 2021-2022. He is good at the faceoff dot last season, winning 52.6 percent of his draws.

   Stephenson has played for the Golden Knights and Washington Capitals in 9 seasons in the league, debuting in 2015-2016. He has 89 goals and 181 assists to his name for 270 points, averaging 16:08 of ice time while recording a +51 rating across 495 regular season games. He has an additional 15 goals and 24 assists in 95 playoff games.

   The signing of Stephenson marked the second 7 year contract the Kraken gave out to open free agency, having brought in defenseman Brandon Montour fresh off winning a Stanley Cup. The Kraken also signed Josh Mahura in free agency from the Panthers as well.