Seattle Kraken’s 2025-26 Report Cards: Cale Fleury – The Hockey Writers – Seattle Kraken

The 2025-26 season was a roller coaster for the Seattle Kraken. They had their best start ever and won their first home opener in their five seasons in the league. The Kraken were primed to take a playoff spot by American Thanksgiving, which is usually a decent indicator of who will make the postseason. With two major downswings in December and at the end of the season, the Kraken finished with a final record of 34-37-11. 

At the end of the day, there is no one person to blame for the Kraken’s demise. Hockey is a team sport, and it was a team effort in the end. Each player did their part to try and give Seattle a fighting chance at the postseason, but unfortunately, it was not enough. Some players had better performances than others. In this installment of the 2025-26 Kraken report cards, we’ll analyze and grade defenseman Cale Fleury’s performance.

2025-26 Performance

Fleury didn’t play with the Kraken a lot during the 2025-26 season. He only played in 23 NHL games, and his first game of the season was played on Oct. 18 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Throughout these 23 games, Fleury scored one goal and recorded two assists.

When he did get to play in an NHL game, it was due to a call-up when another player was injured or benched. Fleury did get to play in the Kraken’s last game of the season, on April 16, which was a milestone 100 career games for him.

During the time that he was not playing with the Kraken, Fleury laced up for their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate team, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. He played in 39 games and recorded 26 points via seven goals and 19 assists. Despite his role as a defenseman, Fleury had a strong offensive showing during his time with the Firebirds.

Impact With Seattle

When Fleury did get the chance to play with the Kraken, he played on either the second or third defensive pairing. His defensive partner switched as well, being paired up with either Josh Mahura or Ryan Lindgren. No matter who he was paired with, Fleury was always the right defensive partner.

Although he didn’t have the biggest impact on the scoresheet he might have liked, Fleury still performed well when it came to keeping the puck away from the opposing team. He ended his season with a plus-1 on Seattle and a plus-10 with the Firebirds.

Fleury getting paired with either Mahura or Lindgren was no accident. Both players have been playing in the NHL for a longer period of time, providing valuable veteran experience. By pairing Fleury up with either of these two players, he gets a chance to learn from a seasoned veteran in the greatest hockey league, which will only give Fleury a chance to grow and excel as a player.

Future With Seattle

Fleury is signed through to the end of the 2026-27 season. At the end of this season, he will become an unrestricted free agent (UFA).

There is only one more season for Fleury to make a strong impact to prove he should get another contract with Seattle. He has proven to make a strong impact in the AHL, but he hasn’t had enough time to really prove that in the NHL just yet.

This season might just be his chance to do so. According to Puckpedia, the current depth chart for the Kraken has Fleury listed as the right defenseman on the third pairing, alongside Ryker Evans. If the Kraken don’t sign any more players or acquire any defensemen in a trade during this offseason, there is a chance that he will get his full-time NHL start.

Overall Grade

For his 2025-26 performance, Fleury receives a C. The times he had a chance to play with the Kraken, he managed to have a decent defensive showing. In Coachella Valley, he had a strong defensive and offensive performance.

Fleury has the opportunity to play full-time in the NHL, and it will be up to his offseason training and his training camp performance to prove that he deserves a spot on the Kraken roster full-time. He had a good performance in 2025-26; let’s just see if he can kick it up a notch for 2026-27.