SEATTLE (AP) — Few NHL teams are located in cities farther away from Sunrise, Florida, than Mackie Samoskevich’s new employer.
Samoskevich, previously of the Florida Panthers, was traded to the Seattle Kraken for the No. 25 pick this year and a second-rounder next year, which the Panthers then flipped to Ottawa for Brady Tkachuk
hours later. The Kraken also re-signed fellow forward Bobby McMann to a long-term contract on Sunday.Thankfully for the 23-year-old
Samoskevich, his twin sister, Maddy, can give him plenty of tips on how to make the cross-continent move.
Maddy, who played college hockey in Connecticut at Quinnipiac, is a defender for the Vancouver Goldeneyes of the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
“With her only being a couple hours away, it’s definitely a topic that came up right away,” Samoskevich said on a Zoom call on Monday. “I’ll be able to see her a little more, which will be great.”
Having his twin sister close by isn’t the only reason Samoskevich hopes to stick around in Seattle. He will need a new contract first, though, since he is a restricted free agent.
“I’ll leave that to the agents, that’s their job,” the one-time Stanley Cup champ said of signing a new contract. “I just got to worry about having a good offseason and making sure my body’s ready come training camp.”
When Samoskevich, who has 64 points across 160 NHL regular-season and playoff games, played for the Panthers, he said he disliked facing Seattle because of their skaters’ collective speed and skill.
Samoskevich hopes to provide the Kraken with a much-need infusion of talent after they missed the playoffs for the fourth time in their five years of existence. The No. 24 pick in the 2021 NHL draft became a lineup regular for the Panthers because of his skating and playmaking abilities, as well as his penchant for logging shots on goal.
The Kraken would benefit from the 5-foot-11 Samoskevich playing like current Montreal Canadiens coach and former Tampa Bay Lightning star Martin St. Louis, who he most closely models his game after. Seattle scored 2.73 goals per game in 2025-26, good for 28th in the NHL.
“He was one of those guys who I heard about his work ethic, and that’s something that I definitely cherish myself in,” Samoskevich said of St. Louis, who scored 391 goals in the NHL. “I’m not a big guy, obviously, but I got to find different ways to make an impact, for sure, and he was definitely one of those guys I watched.”
Outside of skating like St. Louis, Samoskevich hopes to bring elements of the way the Panthers played during his tenure there to the Emerald City. Admittedly, Samoskevich said, the rigorous game Florida presents to its opponents each night isn’t easy on its players.
But, the Panthers’ system was a successful one, and Samoskevich is optimistic the Kraken will find a way to bounce back next season.
“It’s something that obviously works at the end of the year, and playoffs and whatnot,” Samoskevich said. “So, it’s definitely something I want to bring over to Seattle, and hopefully win a ton of games for sure.”
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