The Seattle Kraken have re-signed Jacob Melanson to a three-year contract, the team announced.
The 23-year-old will earn a total of $4.35MM, at a $1.45MM cap hit until 2029, when the forward will turn 26-years-old at the contract’s expiration as a restricted free agent, just one year before he’d hit UFA status. Among right-wingers on bottom-line NHL roles, Melanson’s $1.45MM cap hit is 23rd in the league.
Melanson spent his 2025-26 season between both the Kraken and the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the organization’s AHL affiliate. In 36 NHL games, he scored 5 points. In the AHL, he produced nine goals for 19 points in 28 games and added five points in 11 Calder Cup playoff games. Notably, the 6-foot-1 winger is known for his bruising style of play, registering a team-leading, season-high 188 hits in that short span of NHL games. He also led the forwards in penalties in minutes, racking up 32 total, seventh on the team overall.
“We’re excited to re-sign Jacob,” said Kraken GM Jason Botterill. “He brought a lot of physicality and energy to our group last season, and we’re looking forward to seeing more from him these next few years.”
Formerly a fifth-round pick back in 2021, Melanson signed his entry-level contract back in the summer of 2022 after a productive 56-point season in the QMJHL with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in 54 games. He followed that up with a 50-goal, 99-point campaign in 2022-23, being traded to the Sherbrooke Phoenix during the season.
The Amherst, CAN native, since then has filled out his role as a reliable top-six AHLer, spending the majority of his past four years in Coachella Valley, scoring 50 points across 132 games, as well as a solid fourth-line NHL option for the Kraken, as there have been several call-ups to Seattle, six in the past two seasons.