Brandon Tanev was an original Seattle Kraken, plucked from the Pittsburgh Penguins roster during the NHL expansion draft in July of 2021.
He played 238 games for the league’s newest franchise, posting 41 goals and adding 42 assists over almost four seasons. He did miss a substantial amount of time due to injury, including a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injury that limited him to 30 games during the team’s inaugural season.
“Turbo” was a Seattle fan favorite for his hard hits and his work ethic, not so much his scoring talents. He’d fail more often than not on the many breakaways he created with his tenacious play on the Kraken penalty kill.
He did post a career best 16 goals and 19 assists in 2022-’23, helping the Kraken earn their only trip thus far to the Stanley Cup playoffs.
With the club not a threat to make the postseason this time around, Seattle GM Ron Francis unloaded the pending unrestricted free agent (UFA) to the Winnipeg Jets on March 7th for a 2nd-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.
The 33-year-old returns to Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday evening with the Jets, the team that gave him his first opportunity in the NHL back in the spring of 2016, signing him as an undrafted free agent out of Providence College.
The Toronto native chose the US college hockey route and helped the Friars win an NCAA national championship in 2015. Tanev scored the winning goal in the final against Boston University.
Seattle fans should expect to see a video tribute and a warm welcome back for Tanev. Puck drop is a little after 6 pm.
