Eeli Tolvanen is on the move again.
The former Kraken winger signed with the New York Rangers on Tuesday, bringing “Tolvy” from the Pacific to the Atlantic - or, as the story puts it, from one ocean to another - and dropping him into a Metropolitan Division club that is trying to sort out what went wrong last season under head coach Mike Sullivan.
New York’s season ended with the Rangers finishing dead last in the Metro last spring, and the team has since gone through a notable overhaul. Tolvanen is part of that reset. The feisty Finnish winger arrives after leading Seattle regulars last season with 187 hits, even as his offensive production slipped under his third coach in three seasons, Lane Lambert.
Tolvanen’s path has been a winding one since he was a highly regarded teen prospect in Finland. He helped Finland win the 2019 World Junior Championship, a tournament he appeared in three straight years, and also represented his country at the Olympics in 2018, when Finland finished sixth, and in 2026, when it won the bronze medal.
The Nashville Predators selected Tolvanen 30th overall in the 2017 NHL Draft, but he had trouble carving out a regular role there. After three-plus average to underachieving seasons, Nashville waived the then-23-year-old in December 2022. Seattle claimed him, and the fit clicked immediately.
In 48 games with the Kraken during the 2022-’23 season, Tolvanen scored 16 goals and added 11 assists, helping the club reach the postseason for the only time in its history.
Since then, though, the changes around him have piled up. The shifts have come in the locker room, behind the bench and in the front office, and Tolvanen’s numbers have reflected the instability. He put up 41, 35 and 36 points over the last three seasons, making him appear expendable at age 27 as Seattle leaned into a youth movement.
Now he heads to New York as an unrestricted free agent on a one-year, $1.5-million deal, a move that represents an almost two million dollar pay cut from last season.
For the former Finnish phenom, the next step is another chance to prove himself.
In Other News...
Kraken Goaltending Plan Just Got More Interesting In Coachella Valley
The Krakens AHL affiliate in Coachella Valley quietly added another layer to its goaltending picture, bringing in Connor Murphy for the 2026-27 season. Murphy is 28 and has spent the past three years in the Calgary Flames organization, working across both the AHL and ECHL, which gives the Firebirds a familiar kind of organizational depth piece rather than a headline-grabbing splash.
For Seattle, the move matters because Coachella Valley is often part of the pipeline that keeps the larger goaltending plan moving smoothly. The Firebirds did not disclose contract terms, and the expectation is that Murphy will be used primarily in a depth role, but even that kind of signing can shape how flexible the club is when injuries, call-ups or workload management come into play. [Read more 🡒]
Jamie Oleksiak's Final Kraken Season Looks Different Now
Jamie Oleksiak gave the Kraken a steady season on the blue line in 2025-26, handling a regular role on the bottom pairing while still finding ways to chip in at the other end. He appeared in 78 games, logged 15 points, and finished with a plus-9 rating, a solid return for a defenseman who spent most nights taking on a sheltered workload and averaging 16:56 of ice time.
What makes that year stand out now is how it ended. Oleksiak reached unrestricted free agency after the season, and Seattle has already seen him move on to Vancouver on a two-year deal, closing the book on a stretch that looked pretty different while he was still wearing a Kraken sweater. For a team that has leaned on its defense to set the tone, his departure leaves another spot to sort out on the back end. [Read more 🡒]
Seattles NHL Dream Nearly Started Long Before The Kraken
Long before the Kraken ever took the ice, Seattle had already spent years trying to join the NHL conversation. Archival reports from the Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer show that the city was making a serious push in the mid-1970s, with local investors and city officials working to bring either an expansion club or a relocated franchise to town. There was enough optimism to produce meetings with league officials and real momentum around the idea.
The effort was shaped by attorney Vince Abbey, who helped drive the campaign, but the road was never simple. Lease restrictions at the Coliseum and pressure from the World Hockey Association complicated the pitch, and shifting personnel only added to the uncertainty. Seattles hockey dream was alive then, but it was never able to clear the final hurdles that might have put an NHL team here decades earlier. [Read more 🡒]