Seattle Kraken pull Mark Giordano out of lineup despite night in his honor
It looks as though the veteran blueliner will be a one and done with the NHL's 32nd team.
Veteran defenseman Mark Giordano made history last year when he was named the first ever captain for the expansion Seattle Kraken, the National Hockey League's 32nd franchise. Of course, he already had ample experience as a leader, having served as captain for the Calgary Flames for multiple seasons.
But it appears as though the Kraken will be needing a new player to wear the "C" on their jersey. Giordano, a pending free-agent who has been the subject of multiple trade rumors, won't be playing in tonight's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning according to head coach Dave Hakstol, fueling speculation that a deal is imminent.
What's even more interesting is that tonight was scheduled as a celebration night for Giordano.
“There’s a lot of things that come into play,” Giordano said last month. “I can’t say, ‘Oh, I want to be out. I want to request a trade’ or anything like that because I don’t. I truly love coming to the rink every day and I enjoy the team. But I also understand sometimes, there is a business side to this sport. I’m honestly going to cross that bridge right when it comes to it. I’m not going to make my mind up until I have a good honest conversation with Ronny.”
"You definitely realize time is ticking when you get to my age,” Giordano continued. “You only have so many more cracks at winning the Cup. That’s my goal from here on out in my career. It’s not about anything else but that. We’ll see how it all plays out.”
The 38 year old Giordano has skated in 55 games this year with the expansion Kraken, scoring six goals along with 17 assists and a -21 plus/minus rating. Of course, he recently appeared in his 1,000th career game last week
