The Seattle Kraken are reportedly closing in on deals for Adam Larsson and Jamie Oleksiak

Expansion Draft Day is officially underway.

We won’t know the Seattle Kraken’s full roster until Wednesday night, but word is already starting to leak about some of their selections.

According to Frank Seravalli, Seattle is closing in on deals with defencemen @Adam Larsson and @Jamie Oleksiak. Both of them are unrestricted free agents this summer and they’ll reportedly be the Kraken’s picks from the Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars respectively.

Early word is #SeaKraken are closing in on contracts with two UFA defensemen: Adam Larsson (EDM) and Jamie Oleksiak (DAL).

Not finalized. But barring any last minute change, the expectation is those players will be the selections from #Oilers and #GoStars.@DFOHockey

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) July 21, 2021

This is a strong start for Seattle. Both Larsson and Oleksiak are coming off of seasons in which they were strong contributors to their clubs as defensive defencemen. The two of them could form a shutdown pairing for the Kraken right off the hop in 2021-22.

Larsson has reached the end of the six-year, $25,000,000 deal he inked with the New Jersey Devils, the team that selected him No. 4 overall, and will likely command a contract with an annual salary similar to the $4,166,666 he was making. Oleksiak, on the other hand, will surely be seeking a raise on the $2,137,500 annual salary on his most recent three-year deal signed back in 2018.