Ryan Lindgren plans to carry his defensive-minded methods to Seattle Kraken

His older brother, Charlie, is a goalie with the Washington Capitals. The youthful Lindgren — who signed a four-year, $18 million contract with the Kraken on Tuesday — found out his skills had been higher fitted to the blue line than between the pipes when he was slightly child.

“I feel I let in most likely 10 or 11 objectives,” Lindgren stated Wednesday afternoon through Zoom. “After the ultimate purpose, I sort of laid there on the ice and was crying. My dad needed to come out, get me up. And ever since then, I by no means placed on the pads once more.”

It gained’t be the youthful Lindgren bolstering the goaltending depth for Seattle. That distinction belongs to veteran goalie Matt Murray, who the Kraken signed to a one-year contract via the 2025-26 season.

Instead, the defensive-minded Lindgren, 27, will likely be requested to help a squad that struggled to maintain pucks out of the web final yr. In 2024-25, the Kraken allowed 3.20 objectives in opposition to per sport, which ranked twenty fourth within the NHL.

Lindgren was by no means one to gentle the lamp all that regularly throughout 6-plus years with the New York Rangers, nor in his brief time with the Colorado Avalanche this spring. He’s tallied 14 objectives and 88 assists throughout 405 profession NHL video games. Don’t count on both determine to extend drastically throughout Lindgren’s tenure in Seattle.

“I’m not going to vary something about my sport,” Lindgren stated. “I simply need to go on the market and compete each night time, do the very best that I can and do what I can to maintain the puck out of our personal web. Obviously, that’s my greatest position, is being a defensive defenseman.”

When Lindgren was in New York, he regularly partnered with Adam Fox, winner of the 2021 Norris Trophy. It stays to be seen who Lindgren will accomplice with in Seattle, however he intends to profit from coaching camp and construct chemistry with the remainder of the Kraken defensemen.

For as a lot time as Lindgren spent within the Big Apple, he acquired an introductory course on altering groups when becoming a member of the Colorado Avalanche in March forward of the commerce deadline.

“Yeah, I feel it’s actually thrilling to have that new alternative,” Lindgren stated. “I performed with Foxy for almost all of my NHL profession, and that was loads of enjoyable. But, now it’s time to maneuver on and play with somebody new.”

So, too, is Lindgren prepared to maneuver ahead from a little bit of a down 2024-25 season. Unlike every of his first 5 full NHL seasons through which Lindgren logged not less than a plus-16 ranking, he posted a career-worst impartial ranking final yr.

Lindgren described his most up-to-date marketing campaign as a curler coaster, and that breaking his jaw in a preseason sport hardly did him any favors.

“That was a protracted, onerous course of to sort of get again from that,” he stated.

Now, Lindgren stated he feels nice bodily and is wanting ahead to bringing his defensive prowess to the Emerald City, akin to a willingness to dam pictures. He’ll accomplish that underneath a considerably acquainted face, too, in coach Lane Lambert, who was beforehand on the helm for one of many Rangers’ high rivals, the New York Islanders.

“I’m actually excited to play for him and speaking to him yesterday, it was a extremely good dialog,” Lindgren stated. “Just excited to get it going.”

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