The Kraken announced a sweeping round of cuts from their training camp roster Thursday, assigning four players directly to the AHL and placing 10 players on waivers with the purpose of assigning them to Coachella Valley.
The players that got assigned directly to Coachella Valley without needing to go through waivers are:
- Luke Henman
- Ville Petman
- Peetro Seppala
- Ales Stezka
The players that have been placed on waivers are:
- Connor Carrick
- Cameron Hughes
- Kole Lind
- Max McCormick
- Gustav Olofsson
- Andrew Poturalski
- Mitch Reinke
- Jimmy Schuldt
- Devin Shore
- Marian Studenic
We will know at 11AM Pacific on Friday if anybody from the above group gets claimed by another NHL team. The players to watch are most likely Lind and Shore.
Coming into training camp, we expected Lind would be pushing for a spot on the opening-night Kraken roster. But he just didn’t seem to have the jump and physicality of the players he was competing against, and he didn’t demand one of the precious few available forward spots in the way that Tye Kartye has, for example. This open-net miss on Casey DeSmith Wednesday summed up Lind’s camp.
We did think Shore, with his 422 games of NHL experience and effective play in preseason, would edge out Hayden to at least be considered as one of the last cuts. But Hayden had a good showing in Abbotsford against Vancouver Wednesday and demonstrated his toughness by squaring off with the much bigger Tyler Myers. That may have tipped the scales in Hayden’s favor.
More cuts to come
Backup goalie situation unresolved
This round of trimming puts Seattle’s roster at 27. The club needs to get down to 23 before opening night, so there are more moves to be made.
The goalie situation remains unresolved, though we have a feeling that determination has already happened. We know that at least the Tampa Bay Lightning (and perhaps other teams) are in need of goalie help with Andrei Vasilevskiy out long-term after undergoing back surgery. So, exposing one of Joey Daccord or Chris Driedger to waivers is likely just a waiting game, while Seattle hopes to see other teams’ situations get settled.
Though Driedger ($3.5 million salary cap hit) makes more money than Daccord ($1.2 million), the cap hits will be about the same for Seattle, regardless of who they send down to the AHL. The Kraken can only “bury” $1.15 million in Coachella Valley. Daccord’s cap hit is only $50K above that number. So, effectively, if you add the cap hits of Driedger and Daccord together, then subtract that $1.15 million, that is the cap hit Seattle will face, regardless of which goalie plays in the AHL.
If Driedger gets put on waivers and claimed by another team, then his full $3.5 million would come off the books, saving the Kraken an extra $2.35 million against the cap. If Daccord gets put on waivers and claimed, Seattle would only save $50K against the cap.
We do think Driedger’s higher cap hit will give teams more pause.
Bubble players still with the team
Players still with the Kraken include Ryker Evans, Tye Kartye, Shane Wright, Hayden, Cale Fleury, and Jaycob Megna.
Since there are four cuts left to come, and one of those will be a goalie, that means only three of the players listed above will make the team out of camp.
Here’s where things stand after this latest round of cuts:
Forwards
Jared McCann / Matty Beniers / Jordan Eberle
Jaden Schwartz / Alex Wennberg / Andre Burakovsky
Oliver Bjorkstrand / Yanni Gourde / Eeli Tolvanen
Brandon Tanev / Pierre-Edouard Bellemare / Kailer Yamamoto
Defense
Vince Dunn / Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak / Will Borgen
Brian Dumoulin / Justin Schultz
Goalies
Philipp Grubauer
Joey Daccord
Chris Driedger
Vying for spots
Tye Kartye
Ryker Evans
Shane Wright
John Hayden
Cale Fleury
Jaycob Megna
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Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
The fact they’re still sitting on 3-D makes me wonder what’s up with Dunn’s injury.
I’m curious – are all these updates public somewhere? Or is this word of mouth? Is there some internal “official” NHL source where these are posted?
Unfortunately, Shane will go down for now to save from others hitting the waiver wire. I also see Megna and Fluery also going down because we have Hayden playing heavy(can’t say enforcer anymore). However, I do not know the waiver status for Menga and Fluery or Hayden. I am sure Seattle does not want to lose any of these 7 guys to waiver. Look what Eili has done after we got him on waiver. Plus, who will be available on the waiver wire in the next few day. Maybe another Finish Smash
Seattle isn’t sending both Megna and fluery down especially since it makes no sense to have evans be the 7th dman and basically be nothing more than a rotation player so its going to be one or the other.
Feel like Kartye has to stick. He’s the oldest and probably most physically mature of the young guys, and more so than anyone else vying for spots has proven he belongs and is ready to play with this squad. Wright needs to play heavy minutes, feel like y’all have already suggested he belongs in the AHL and is maybe the first to get called up if a top 3 C goes down. Evans looks ready, and I think has a legit case to be part of the top 6 D rather than the 7th man.
For John, Darren, and “Chris”…
Is there reason to believe Hakstol will play a rotation? If they keep Kartye it sounds like two spots for him, Tanev, AND Yamamoto. I don’t think they want to regularly sit any of those guys. Kartye did seem to prove he can be called up and plugged in anywhere.
I know your question is addressed to the SOH guys, but I have a couple of thoughts. For one thing, the Kraken got Yamamoto for a reason. He’s looked good so far, but he has deficiencies in his game, and I don’t think you can pencil him in as a guy that won’t get subbed out. The other thought is entirely about how versatile Kartye has shown to be. I don’t think he’s just a candidate to rotate in the 4th line like Donato and Sprong did. I think he has the potential to be rotated in any of the 4 lines should a forward need a night off without having to break up another line. He showed he can play with Beniers and Eberle in the playoffs last year, and he looks like he’s been moved around a ton in the pre-season so far.
Chas G…
Good points… and I agree with you… but it doesn’t answer my question. Obviously after what he showed in the playoffs and the preseason it reasonable to expect Kartye can play anywhere – on short notice – in this lineup… but what you seem to describe is a rotation of Yamamoto and Kartye throughout the lineup and Tanev as a solid on the fourth line. That would go back to my original question… is there any reason to believe Hakstol would deploy like this? Without injury this seems to mean a lot of “maintenance” days or quality players getting a healthy scratch. I honestly believe this team is even deeper than last season.
So much for the SoH guys’ prediction on Devin Shore. It has been obvious since before camp what was going to happen, with only a single open question. They will keep 13F and 8D, like last year. If Dunn is out, they will keep Evans up until Dunn is healthy then send Evans to CV.
Neither Fleury nor Megna will be waived, just like last season, but will be the D scratches. Wright will also be sent down, as will Driedger and his big contract.
The only open is whether they want to keep Hayden up for extra toughness, instead of Kartye, as Hayden could be lost on waivers. Hakstol clearly likes both but with only 13F spots, one has to go down. Kartye does not require waivers, so that may decide it if RF wants to preserve all his assets. It probably does not make much sense for Kartye to be scratched, as there is only one playing spot open about Yamamoto, Kartye, and Hayden.
Whatever happens, expect Kartye to be playing up the lineup soon, as the inevitable Schwartz injury occurs. For that reason, RF may choose to keep one over the other, for now.