The Seattle Kraken have added more muscle to their forward group, agreeing to terms with Curtis Douglas on a two-year contract worth $1.25 million AAV.
General manager Jason Botterill framed the move as a bet on size, edge and energy. “Curtis adds size and a strong physical presence to our forward group,” said Jason Botterill.
“He competes with an edge, brings energy and is difficult to play against. We look forward to seeing him in our lineup next year.”
Douglas arrives from the Vancouver Canucks, where the 26-year-old logged two points - one goal and one assist - in 14 games after being claimed off waivers on March 6, 2026, from the Tampa Bay Lightning. He picked up the first NHL goal of his career on April 12, 2026.
At 6-foot-9 and 243 pounds, Douglas has long stood out just by walking into a rink. He made his NHL debut with Tampa Bay on Oct. 9, 2025, and dropped the gloves on his first shift. In 29 games with the Lightning, he led the roster with 92 penalty minutes and added two assists.
Before that, Douglas built a substantial minor-league résumé. Across 267 AHL games with the Tucson Roadrunners, Toronto Marlies and Belleville Senators, he put up 98 points, scoring 37 goals and adding 61 assists. His best AHL season came in 2021-22 with Toronto, when he posted 34 points - 13 goals and 21 assists - in 67 games.
A native of Oakville, Ontario, Douglas also spent four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2016 to 2020, skating for the Barrie Colts and Windsor Spitfires. In that stretch, he totaled 168 points, with 83 goals and 85 assists, over 247 regular-season games.
In Other News...
Kraken Are Turning Development Camp Into A Real Roster Strategy
Development camp has become more than a summer tune-up for the Kraken. General manager Jason Botterill sees it as part of the sales pitch, a chance to get prospects comfortable with Seattle, the Pacific Northwest, Ballard and even U-Dub while they get their work in on the ice. The idea is straightforward enough: if the organization wants to keep building through young players, it has to make the city and the setup feel like a place they can see themselves staying.
That approach fits the way Seattle is trying to shape its roster right now. Botterill has made it clear the focus is on the clubs 23-and-under group rather than chasing a big free-agent splash, and the recent addition of Mackie Samoskevich is part of that thinking. It also leaves the Kraken leaning on trades as the most likely path to upgrade the team, which makes these summer touchpoints feel less like routine camp work and more like the start of the next round of roster decisions. [Read more 🡒]
Ron Francis Just Reopened A Painful Kraken Debate
Ron Francis is back in Pittsburgh in a front-office role, and the move has nudged open an old Seattle conversation along with it. Hired June 19 as a senior advisor to Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas, Francis has already been involved in draft decisions and development camp, while also looking back on the work he did building the Kraken from the ground up after leaving Carolina for the expansion project.
For Seattle, Francis remains tied to the franchises earliest identity: the arena, the locker room, the practice facility and even the Palm Springs minor-league rink all came together under his watch. The broader record of that launch still hangs over the organization, too, with the teams early rise, lone playoff trip and subsequent misses serving as a reminder of how quickly an expansion story can turn from promising to unfinished. [Read more 🡒]
Kraken Prospects Left Fans With One Big Stucky Cup Takeaway
The annual Stucky Cup gave Kraken fans one last look at development camp, and the prospect scrimmage had the kind of loose, fast pace that usually makes these sessions worth the trip. Team Blue came away with the win in the 4-on-4 format, getting goals from William Tomko, Will Reynolds and Zeb Forsfjall, while Team White answered through Ola Palme in a game that served as a clean snapshot of where several young players stand heading into the next stage of their careers.
Beyond the scoring, the more encouraging takeaway for Seattle was the list of prospects who kept popping up in the right places. Hawke Huff, Clarke Caswell, Ollie Josephson, Nathan Villeneuve and defenseman Rylan Singh all drew notice for strong showings, which is often the real point of a development camp finale anyway. The scrimmage also offered an early look at some of the organizations most intriguing young talent sharing the ice, a reminder that the Krakens prospect pipeline is starting to give fans a few names to track closely. [Read more 🡒]