Arbitration has not been used by one of the best restricted free agents available.
On Friday night, the Seattle Kraken and their best defender reached a deal that will see Vince Dunn sign a four-year extension with an average yearly value of $7.35 million.
The agreement keeps Dunn with the Seattle Mariners through the 2026–2027 season, spares the parties from the acrimonious arbitration process, and sets Dunn up for success as an unrestricted free agent when his contract expires.
The fact that Dunn received such a large wage increase this summer is hardly shocking. The 26-year-old had a huge breakthrough season in 2022–2023–registering career-best totals of 14 goals and 50 assists for 64 points in 82 games while averaging over 24 minutes of ice time per night. With that performance, Dunn finished 11th out of all qualified defenseman and just outside the top 10 in the Norris Trophy voting at the end of the season. The Kraken will have a borderline top offensive defenseman at a great price for almost the next five years if Dunn can maintain this level of output for the foreseeable future. That’s some neat stuff for a team that, having advanced to the second round of the playoffs in their very first season of existence, appears prepared to launch into their contender window.
