Seattle Kraken forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare out four-to-six weeks with lower-body injury

The 38-year-old veteran has four goals and five points in 22 games this season while averaging 9:34 minutes of ice time.

The Kraken signed Bellemare to a one-year, $775,000 contract in the summer of 2023. The La Blanc-Mensil, France native is coming off a down season with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2022-23, where he had just four goals and nine assists for 13 points in 73 regular season games, his lowest point total in an 82-game season since 2017. He also had a goal and an assist in six playoff games with the Lightning as they were eliminated in the first round for the first time since 2019 at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games.

Bellemare was an undrafted free agent, spending the first 11 seasons of his career playing in Europe, playing pro hockey in his native country of France for Rouen, and then transferring to the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) where he played 238 games with Leksands and Skelleftea before he signed his first NHL deal with the Philadelphia Flyers at the age of 29. He’s since amassed 689 games while playing for the Flyers, Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche, and Lightning over the course of his decade-long NHL career.

The Kraken are fifth in the Pacific Division with an 11-14-9 record and 31 points through 34 games. Seattle is set to face off against the Anaheim Ducks Saturday and then following the short Christmas break, they will resume action on Dec. 27 against the Calgary Flames. The Kraken will play in their first-ever Winter Classic on Jan. 1st against the Golden Knights.