Kraken Veteran Forward Lands On Top 10 Worst Contract List
Seattle Kraken forward Chandler Stephenson appeared at No.3 on The Athletic's Dom Luszczyszyn's top 10 worst contracts list in 2025.
The 31-year-old signed a massive, seven-year, $6.25-million contract with the Kraken in the 2024 off-season, and after a poor first year, he finds himself on a not-so-friendly list.
The 2024-25 season witnessed Stephenson score 13 goals and 51 points in 78 games, a respectable output, but his struggles at 5-on-5 were concerning. 18 of his 51 points came on the man-advantage, and despite averaging a career-high in ice time, his points per game fell off quite a bit from his production with the Vegas Golden Knights.
Stephenson is in a weird spot with the current Kraken roster. The Kraken are hoping for some trio of Matty Beniers, Shane Wright, Berkly Catton, and Jake O'Brien to lead them down the middle of the ice, which would put Stephenson on the fourth line or as a winger. Either way, Stephenson doesn't fit into the future plans despite being locked in for six additional seasons.
"One year removed from Seattle’s big bet on Chandler Stephenson, it is still mystifying that the Kraken ever gave a 30-year-old declining center $6.25 million per year for the next seven years. One year into the deal, nothing has changed on that front. It was a poor decision at the time and that’s played out on the ice.
A surface-level analysis of Stephenson’s game might view that sentiment as incredibly unkind. Stephenson scored 51 points last year and was second on the team in scoring. He was the team’s top faceoff man, led all forwards in ice-time playing nearly 20 minutes per game and took on some of the team’s toughest matchups. On the surface, Stephenson seems like a fine player. Dig deeper, though, and a lot of Stephenson’s production rings hollow. He’s an empty-calorie scorer.
For starters, much of his production hinges on the opportunity he would not get elsewhere. Of Stephenson’s 51 points, 18 were thanks to playing on the team’s…
