Jared McCann has spent the last couple of seasons answering the same uncomfortable question: how healthy is he, really?
The Kraken’s all-time leading scorer has been dealing with an injury that stayed vague for months, first showing up as a “lower body injury” before McCann finally acknowledged after the 2024-’25 season that he needed a procedure to clean things up. At the time, he said, “I haven’t gone through the season I’ve gone through, especially this year with injuries … sometimes (in the past) it would be little things,” he told us this past April 17th.
“I had a procedure done yesterday in Utah to just kind of fix some things up. I’m definitely on the path to getting better now, which is good.”
He also said he expected to be ready for next season, adding, “I will,” he added, “I’m going to stick around here in Seattle for awhile and work with our rehab guys and medical team and make sure I’m good to go.”
That optimism matters because McCann is entering the final year of the five-year deal that pays him $5 million per season, a contract that has been a steal for Seattle up to this point. But the injury cloud hanging over him now makes the last stretch of that bargain a lot less tidy.
The production tells the story of how important he’s been. McCann led the franchise in scoring in each of its first four seasons, putting up 50, 70, 62 and 61 points. Even while he was clearly compromised late in 2024-’25, he still played all 82 games for the first time in his career.
The real extent of the problem came into focus at the 2025 postseason media scrum, when McCann admitted, “Um, I got a little, I’ve gotta clean the body up a little bit,” he stated. “I’ve got a procedure I’ve gotta do this summer, try to figure out where it came from, obviously I did a lot of weight lifting last summer, I don’t think that was the best thing for my body. This summer I’m going to spend a lot more time on the ice, more skill sessions, and focus more on the on-ice stuff this year.”
That procedure came with a six-week recovery period, and the issue didn’t simply disappear after that. Last season, McCann’s games-played total fell to 52, and he finished with 40 points, fifth on a low-scoring team.
It’s easy to point at Lane Lambert’s defensive-minded system, especially with the Kraken having gone through three head coaches in the last three seasons. But McCann’s health was the biggest factor, and it leaves the start of the 2026-’27 season looking uncertain for the 30-year-old, who turned 30 on May 31.
There’s also the contract-year wrinkle. Minor trade chatter has already started to bubble up, and with the Kraken not expected to make the playoffs in the Western Conference, the deadline could become a real talking point if McCann’s health remains a question.
For now, though, the focus is on training camp. That’s where the answers should start to come, and where every eye will be on No. 19.