Although that abundance of picks might appear to indicate a long-term build, general manager Ron Francis made it clear that the Kraken also want to be aggressive in the offseason by using some of the picks and their NHL salary cap space to upgrade their roster for next season.
"We've got 12 picks instead of seven in this year's draft. We've got 25 instead of 14 in the next two drafts," Francis said. "I'm not hoping to use all of those, but we do think we can get some good players with those picks, and we're hoping that we can move some of those, along with free agency, to help retool our franchise as we move into next year.
"We want to be every bit as competitive as any other team in the League as we start next season moving forward."
Francis acknowledged that Seattle (19-38-6) hoped to be more competitive in its first season, but with it being tied with the Arizona Coyotes for last in the Western Conference, Francis had little choice but to trade players on expiring contracts.
RELATED: [Giordano traded to Maple Leafs by Kraken | 2021-22 NHL Trade Tracker]
Those moves started Wednesday, when forward Calle Jarnkrok was traded to the Calgary Flames for a second-round pick in the 2022 draft, a third-round pick in the 2023 draft, and a seventh-round pick in the 2024 draft.
Francis then made three trades Sunday, including sending defenseman and captain Mark Giordano and forward Colin Blackwell to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a second-round pick in the 2022 draft, a second-round pick in the 2023 draft, and a third-round pick in the 2024 draft.
Later that night, defenseman Jeremy Lauzon was traded to the Nashville Predators for a second-round pick in the 2022 draft, and forward Mason Appleton was traded to the Winnipeg Jets for a fourth-round pick in the 2023 draft.
Francis competed his pre-deadline work Monday by trading forward Marcus Johansson to the Washington Capitals for forward Daniel Sprong, a fourth-round pick in the 2022 draft, and a sixth-round pick in the 2023 draft. He also acquired forward Victor Rask from the Minnesota Wild for future considerations.
Despite adding two forwards, the key was accruing "draft capital." Francis noted that the Kraken didn't have a lot of opportunities to do that last offseason because teams weren't as willing to make trades leading up to the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft as they were prior to the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft with the Vegas Golden Knights, who made the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season.
"They had learned their lessons. They weren't doing that," Francis said. "So when you go into try to make trades, now teams are looking for your first-round pick or they're looking for the guy you drafted like a Matty Beniers (No. 2 pick in 2021 NHL Draft). Certainly, that's not something we're looking to do at this point. We need those pieces. We need to build those long term.
"So by acquiring some draft capital and keeping what we think is a core to our team, we can build around that through adding in free agency or trades."
Francis said he believes there will be plenty of opportunities to do that prior to and after the 2022 NHL Draft in Montreal on July 7-8.
"They might be looking to move that guy for draft capital prior to the draft," Francis said. "They might do something while the draft is taking place. Sometimes those things happen there. And if you get beyond that, there's still the free agency period, so maybe somebody signs somebody, but then they've got too much and they've got to get under the cap, so they're looking to do stuff.
"So having that draft capital is certainly more valuable than not having those pieces."
