Kraken’s Jared McCann placed on IR, out 10 weeks with lower-body injury

The Seattle Kraken will be without a key piece of their offense for a while, as the team announced on Sunday that forward Jared McCann will be out for the next 10 weeks due to a lower-body injury.

As a result of the injury, McCann has been placed on injured reserve.

It’s not known what was the cause of McCann’s injury, as it was suddenly announced that he’d miss Saturday’s 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild only a few hours before the game. He had played the entirety of the Kraken’s previous game, a 5-3 win over the Utah Mammoth on Thursday, including the last shift of the game, so unless he had played through the injury, it occurred between the Kraken’s two games.

Based on the timeline provided, McCann’s injury will most likely keep him out until the new year, and will miss around 30 games for the Kraken.

McCann had a start on par with most of his Kraken career, as he had three goals and five assists for eight points in 11 games to start the season before his injury.

The injury is also a big blow for both player and team off the ice, as McCann is also in the final year of his five-year contract with a $5 million cap hit. For McCann, it could hurt his market value when he looks to sign a new deal, and for the Kraken, should they struggle and be in a position to sell at the trade deadline, the injury may also hurt McCann’s trade value as a pending free agent rental.

With McCann out of the lineup, Kaapo Kakko will replace McCann on the top line alongside Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle. Since Kakko joined the Kraken in 2024, this trio have played 171:43 together, with the score even at 7-7 with a 41.65% 5v5 score-adjusted expected goal share in that time, according to Natural Stat Trick.

The Kraken currently sit in third in the Pacific Division with a 7-4-1 record. They’ll look to bounce back from Saturday’s loss to the Wild when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday at 7 p.m. PT.