Kraken add veteran experience with former champion

The Seattle Kraken have bolstered their lineup with the addition of veteran center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. The team announced via Twitter that they’ve reached an agreement with the 38-year-old French center on a one-year contract worth the league-minimum $775K.

Bellemare brings 10 seasons and 660 games of NHL experience to the Kraken lineup despite not making his NHL debut until he was 12 seasons into his professional career – which began in France’s top league in the 2002-03 season. An undrafted free agent signing out of the SHL, Bellemare has played for the Philadelphia Flyers, Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche and most recently, the Tampa Bay Lightning since joining the league in 2014.

He has reached the Stanley Cup Final twice – once with Vegas in their inaugural season and winning it all in 2022 with the Tampa Bay. Playing a key role as a bottom-of-the-lineup shutdown forward, Bellemare registered two goals and an assist in 23 games en route to Tampa’s 2022 championship.

He comes to the Kraken as a serviceable fallback option for their fourth-line center role, especially if 2022 fourth-overall pick Shane Wright fails to secure a spot out of training camp or gets sent back to juniors midway through the season, as he was last year.

After a rocky three seasons in Philadelphia, Bellemare’s become quite strong in the faceoff circle, holding a 53.4 win percentage since leaving the Flyers in 2017. While his defensive game did show recent significant lapses in 2022-23 with the Lightning, this is an extremely low-risk signing and a solid veteran add for an already deep Kraken offense. It also marks a reunion with head coach Dave Hakstol, who Bellemare played under in Philadelphia from 2015-17.

Last season, Bellemare recorded four goals and 13 points in 73 games. In his NHL career to date, he’s managed 60 goals and 131 points.