The Seattle Kraken will be without Ryan Lindgren for roughly the next month and a half after placing the veteran defenseman on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
The club announced Thursday that Lindgren’s recovery window is about four to six weeks, which points to an early-November return if the timeline holds.
Lindgren left Tuesday night’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights only seconds after the opening faceoff. He had pinched at the blue line, turned his back to the play, and was struck from behind by Vegas forward Marc Gatcomb. Gatcomb was assessed a minor penalty for boarding.
The hit ended Lindgren’s night immediately and now takes him out of the lineup for an extended stretch.
The absence lands on a team that has opened the season well, even if the sample is only four games.
Lindgren had been skating on Seattle’s third pairing beside Cale Fleury. He had not registered a point, but he carried a plus-3 rating and was averaging 12:45 of ice time.
Before the night he was hurt, his average time on ice sat at 16:41, a lighter workload than he carried a year ago but still a regular shift in the rotation.
Last season was Lindgren’s first in Seattle after years with the Rangers. He stayed relatively healthy, appearing in 76 games and finishing with two goals and nine points, a minus-2 rating, and an average of 18:20 per night.
That durability makes the early setback more noticeable. A nine-year NHL veteran who had already settled into a bottom-pair role is now unavailable just as the schedule thickens.
His exit also forces a choice about who fills the spot. Seattle generally prefers to keep defensemen on their forehand. Under that approach, left-shot Josh Mahura is the straightforward replacement.
Mahura has been a depth option for the Kraken since the 2024-25 season and can slide in without rearranging the rest of the pairs. The other path is to give more ice to Ville Ottavainen.
The 24-year-old right-shot defenseman made the opening-night roster out of training camp, a mild surprise, and has already appeared in one game without looking out of place.
Seattle could decide that the chance to see him in a larger role is worth accepting an imbalance in handedness for a few weeks.
Either way, the Kraken are covering a regular rather than a spare. Lindgren’s minutes were modest, but they were steady, and the boarding call does not shorten the calendar.
Until early November, Seattle’s blue line will be one experienced body lighter, with Mahura or Ottavainen asked to absorb the shift.
