We The Fans: The Good, The Bad, and What to Expect From the Seattle Kraken this Offseason and Draft
The Seattle Kraken season is done. A top 8 pick is the guarantee, but there is a chance the Kraken wins the draft lottery. A lot of things went wrong in Seattle at the end of the season. The arrogance by management bringing up travel and leisure in the end of season presser was surprising, when hockey is the only thing that isn’t good (seemingly everyone, but management can see it), and the team collapsed and missed the playoffs in the weakest division in the NHL. We all know the fans are great and we all know the stadium is beautiful. Let's start by recapping the season. The Kraken opened the season with one thing on their mind and that was “Take a step forward and make the playoffs in year 5.” Up until both the Holiday and Olympic breaks the Kraken found themselves in spot to make the playoffs and at some point the message turned into “We want to play games that matter in March and April..” This change in theme showed as the Kraken failed to adjust as teams improved and turned up the intensity.
They played an abysmal 7-19 in the last 26 games of the season and two of those wins were against bottom of the league Vancouver. The Kraken finished the season with 79 points and haven’t been able to secure more than 81 points in the last 3 seasons. This season is worse than the previous season for the Kraken, but it gets worse before it gets better. The team finished with a plus/ minus of -37 collectively. The goaltending was not as amazing post olympic break, and captain Jordan Eberle (#7) stated in his exit interview “This is a failure… some trust was lost between Forwards and Defenseman, and gaps weren't filled properly and teams took advantage of that.”
When asked what went wrong First Line Veteran Defenseman, Adam Larsson (#6), said “We failed, missed the playoffs, this is the third year in a row and we took some strides, but we need the guys who have been here for a while to take a hard look in the mirror and guys who come back need to be ready to go, and we need to be better.” Larsson was solid for the Kraken and for myself personally he’s a veteran I would not mind seeing brought back. He’s been transparent, reliable for the Kraken, the Vet didn't have a great environment to succeed in as he was a primary penalty killer and directly noted how awful the PK was for the Kraken this season. For fans who are unfamiliar the Kraken finished with a 72.2% on the Penalty Kill, which puts them at 32 of 32 on the PK.
Jared McCann is coming off a season he spent banged up and with a year left on the contract. He has a Veteran scoring ability and a great shot, he should be at the top of the list of the tradeable players for the Kraken, and trying to trade him for picks and a prospect should be at the top of the list for the Kraken. They can not afford to keep getting nothing out of the league for veteran players and McCann is only 29. Jared McCann challenged the younger players to step up, and wants to see more from the Kraken youth and when you look at teams like Anaheim or Philly and the young guys are not scared to be mad about not winning. The younger players have to find a way to bring more intensity back with them and a fire to drive them, whatever that is. McCann finished with 20 goals, and management was looking for more like 40 goals out of this guy, but he just can not stay healthy.
Brandon Montour said “We don't have a bad culture, but we are a quiet team… body was not 100 percent at all.” When asked about his time in Florida and the big, tough, and nasty playstyle they were known for; Montour said “We do not have to have size to play in this league, speed is important and we are set up to play like Florida, because we don’t have star players. I think the Kraken should think about trading Tampa Bay 1st Round Pick, Next Season Tampa Bay 1st round pick, and Ryan Winterton to Ottawa for Brady Tkachuk. Dude is a serious first line wing and helps the Kraken find a voice. We need that grit and we get a top line forward for Team USA, Ottawa gets tons of picks and a solid wing prospect to fit into their line up.
The Kraken are not an organization known for making ballsy trades or headlines for the players we secure, even though we have every opportunity and we have plenty of assets. Drafting creates a consistent pipeline of players, quality hockey, and development; however it has not translated in Seattle. Next Season we are going to see a large number of drafted players on the Kraken Roster. The Kraken have an interesting opportunity to develop something like Montreal has with their core of young and exciting players.
Matty Beniers doesn’t watch hockey outside of if he's cheering for someone and while he's become a favorite of mine this season, he is a wing. He finished most games throughout the season with 45-48% face off percentage. He is not the 1C, but if the Kraken managed to sign Alex Tuch (29 years old) from Buffalo stepping into the 1C, Matty could play the wing and focus on scoring goals. Notably Tuch has 21 career playoff goals.
The Kraken have 14 draft picks in the next 3 years. Berkeley Catton has been a great addition to this Kraken lineup and pairing him with Shane Wright or Jake O’Brien is going to create some great hockey in the future. This was a learning year for the young guys, and Berkley Catton said when asked what he wants to improve on and he said “he has to work on his shot and to get better at burying his chances.”
Eeli Tolvanen mentioned he’s going to take a look in the mirror and see how he can improve, as he also expressed the same sentiment as other players that he needs time to rest and reflect like the rest of the team before he gets back into grind mode.
The players are aware of the epic collapse at the end of the NHL Regular Season. They know how they need to improve and that this season, while it had its share of highlight reel goals and hits, lacked a post season run for a city that has set an expectation that they want to see their teams win. Seattle is one of the best professional sports markets in the country: rivaled maybe only by Boston, Chicago, Denver, or Detroit. With it being a top 5 city, having some pieces coming up, the best practice facility in the world in Kraken Community Iceplex, and great food and amazing views. The Seattle Kraken is a team without a player that wants to leave a lasting legacy on the sport when it comes to being the guy who helped win it first in Seattle.
I don’t blame current NHL Stars for not wanting to be the guy who builds a legacy and sets the Stanley Cup Playoff groundwork in Seattle. After all, it's so much easier in the era of modern sports to join a contender with a rich history and deep roots. Vegas got better assets and traded to build something. However, the Kraken came right after and Ron Francis did not draft well. Vegas is 12M over the cap at 107.49M AAV, and the league’s new CBA looks to keep teams from icing a team over the salary cap in the playoffs. This is the last year of the Injury Reserve Loophole, utilized by Tampa Bay and then Vegas to win cups and add at the deadline, while getting around the normal 95.5 million AAV Salary Cap.
The end of year press conference from the Kraken saw them double down on this core that as of this season is bottom 5 in the NHL. Todd Leiweke talked about the fans, and the facilities, and arena, and everything except how bad the hockey was, he did acknowledge that this team isn’t where they planned on it being after 5 seasons in the NHL. Missing the playoffs 3 years in a row is being a trend, and the prices of season tickets are dropping lower and lower. This team can't afford not to put a solid product on the ice for a fourth consecutive season or I’m sure some less diehard fans will move on to greener pastures. Sam Holloway has marketed and built something amazing in the PNW, and I personally have fallen in love with the Seattle Kraken and I understand it is bigger than any one person or player. Fans, Players, Staff, Scouts, or Management: the common theme is people.
As far as the scouts go, the game has never been more competitive. With the success of players like Shea Theodore, Connor Ingram, Berkeley Catton, and other notable NHL contributors coming from Everrett, Seattle, Spokane, and etc. There is no reason why this team can not find a way to ice a quality product. There are players scoring goals in playoff series that should be seriously looked at for next year's roster as the Kraken offense has been non-existent for 2 seasons. Jason Botterill has been transparent that he wants to ice quality hockey, and made a note to take full responsibility for the team and all decisions made in this year's team. Botterill did stress fans should expect to see at least a couple Coachella Valley Firebirds on the opening night roster this upcoming season. Honestly it's about damn time!!!!
This team is 4 top 6 forwards from being competitive and that's not addressing replacing a few defenseman, but this organization has a deep stable of quality goaltenders. The Kraken development leagues, ECHL Kansas City Mavericks and AHL Coachella Valley Firebirds both made the playoffs and were top of the league.
The product on the ice has not been good, and the team seemed to double down on this roster, this roster is bad. Jordan Eberle isn’t a top 100 player in the NHL and these 30 something year old vets are eating minutes. When will the Kraken stop doubling down on mediocrity, and realize they are bad from a hockey stand point?
Will the Kraken figure the hockey operations and scouting out? Only time will tell, but this offseason I am going to read at least 5 books on Ice Hockey before next season to continue to improve these blogs and my scouting abilities. Covering this team while I am in business school is the most fun I have ever had watching a sport. I loved hockey before I started scouting in my free time, and writing this blog about hockey. This has really developed my passion and I look forward to continuing to study the game, and share as much knowledge as possible. Hockey is expensive, but it should not be hard to understand. I do realize people have different levels to their fandom, and at the beginning I set out to write something informative and fun. I look forward to sharing next season and future Kraken Seasons with my blog. Any and all support this season has been so appreciated!
Let’s Go Kraken!
Very Respectfully,
Caleb Nance