Kraken’s Ryker Evans out 6-8 weeks with upper-body injury

The Seattle Kraken announced on Wednesday that defenseman Ryker Evans is expected to miss 6-8 weeks due to an upper-body injury.

The injury comes as a bit of a surprise, as Evans played in Monday night’s 2-1 shootout loss to the Calgary Flames and logged a team-leading 25:40 minutes with a shot, a giveaway, two hits and a blocked shot. It’s not clear at what point he sustained the injury in the game, but it apparently didn’t feel as severe as it actually was if Evans was able to finish out the game.

Evans current timeline for return has him out until mid-to-late November, missing anywhere between 15 and 25 games. He did miss five games with an upper-body injury in February 2025, but it’s unclear if this is the same injury.

Evans finishes his preseason with no points in four games.

Evans is coming off of a breakout season in 2024-25, as he cemented himself as a full-time NHLer. Not only did he get a career-high five goals and 20 assists for 25 points in 73 games, he also established himself as one of the better shutdown defensemen in the league with a -0.158 5v5 regularized adjusted plus-minus expected goals against per 60 minutes that was 19th among defensemen with 1,000 minutes last season.

Evans’ great play was rewarded with a two-year contract with a $2.05 million cap hit over the summer.

With Evans out, Josh Mahura and Ville Ottavainen will likely be in the running for the final spot in the Kraken’s top-six group for their blueline. Brandon Montour and Vince Dunn are also dealing with injuries, but are expected to be ready for next Thursday’s season opener against the Anaheim Ducks.

The Kraken will wrap up their preseason action on Saturday when they host the Edmonton Oilers at 7 p.m. PST. Seattle is currently 2-2-1 through five exhibition games.