Kraken forward out four to six weeks with lower-body injury

Seattle Kraken forward Brandon Tanev sustained an injury during the opening night game against the Vegas Golden Knights. The Kraken announced that he will be out of commission for the next four to six weeks with a lower-body injury. He hasn’t played in any game since the injury took place.

The injury comes at a particularly awful time for Tanev. It happened on opening night which is never a time anyone wants to get injured and he was just getting started building off of his career-high setting 2022-23 season. Last year, Tanev set career highs all across the board, in games played (82), goals (16), assists (19), points (35), penalty minutes (44) and plus/minus (+21).

Tanev was brought over to Seattle in the expansion draft as their selection from the Pittsburgh Penguins. The choice came as a surprise to some as he was coming off an injury-riddled season and still had four years remaining on the six-year deal he signed with Pittsburgh following the 2018-19 season. He earns $3.5M annually from that deal and at the time of the expansion draft, he had only played 100 games over the previous two seasons, due to injury issues.

The injury issues continued in his first year with Seattle, when he played only 30 games, scoring 15 points. That’s why the 2022-23 season was such a breakthrough for the two-way forward. Now that he’s back to missing significant chunks of the season with injuries, it must be a bitter pill to swallow for him and the team.

Tanev has played 408 games throughout his nine-year NHL career. In that span, he has played for the Winnipeg Jets, Penguins, and Kraken. He scored 67 goals and 75 points, for 142 points along with 182 penalty minutes and a +51 rating. He has also appeared in 46 playoff games, scoring seven goals and 14 points.