SEATTLE — Vince Dunn had a breakout season for the Seattle Kraken, and it's going to cost them to keep him around.
The 26-year-old defenseman came to the club via the St. Louis Blues in the expansion draft, at which point he signed a two-year, $8-million deal that's set to expire on July 1.
The restricted free agent is due a significant raise after recording 14 goals and 50 assists, exceeding his previous career high in points by 21.
According to Erika Ayala of Locked on Kraken, Dunn made it clear he wants to be part of the long term plan in Seattle, building off an impressive season for the team in which the Kraken defeated the Colorado Avalanche in the playoffs and came within one win of the Western Conference Finals.
"I think the way we wanted to set our team up we were really patient with how we wanted to do it," said Dunn himself back in May at the time of general manager Ron Francis' extension.
"I think management did a great job of building a really good foundation for this team and organization. Everyone's on board and it's really special. To see that we have everyone…management, ownership…they're all in and that's really exciting to be a part of."
Signing Dunn seems like a pretty obvious decision, and Seattle should make every effort to lock up Dunn, but at what cost?
His 64 points in 2022-23 put him level with Mikhail Sergachev, who's making $8.5 million per season with the Tampa Bay Lightning, tied for 10th among all defensemen. Some projections believe he's worth around that.
But can he sustain that production moving forward? His playoff performance took a bit of a dip, and Dunn was good for only seven points in 14 games.
Expect Seattle to push for something closer to $6 million per season, and even that would make him the highest paid player on the roster.
Failing that, there's a very slim possibility of Dunn being traded if the two sides are far apart on an agreement.