The Seattle Kraken scored early, often, and in a variety of ways Tuesday, hanging a crooked 8-2 score on the Montreal Canadiens, embarrassing them in their building and getting the road trip off on an extremely positive note.
The big score brought with it some massive stats from a few players, most notably Seattle’s two biggest offseason acquisitions: Brandon Montour, who had a natural hat trick and one assist, and Chandler Stephenson, who had four assists. In addition to Montour’s three goals, Jamie Oleksiak and Ryker Evans also had goals, setting a new franchise record for number of defensemen scoring in a game.
“There’s no secret about really scoring goals in this league,” coach Dan Bylsma said. “You’ve got to have shot volume, you’ve got to have guys at the net, and you’ve got to have people in and around the net. And it’s not just one guy. It’s two guys who can converge on the net and get the opportunity, and tonight, in the first [period] in particular, we were very good at that.”
Here are our Three Takeaways from a lopsided 8-2 Kraken win over the Canadiens.
Takeaway #1: Natural Montour
It was a little surprising to hear that this was the first hat trick in Montour’s career. He has been so incredibly good for the Kraken that I just assumed that he had previously had games like this, where several of his opportunities had found the back of the net.
In this game, it seemed like everything the Kraken threw at Canadiens goalies Sam Montembeault and eventually Cayden Primeau had a chance of going in, and that was especially true for Montour, who only had four shots on goal in the game.
Montour’s goals came when the game was largely out of reach already for the Habs, with the first being a seeing-eye wrister from the point on the power play at 1:32 of the second period to make it 5-1. The second was my personal favorite goal of the game for the Kraken, coming off a set face-off play in which Jamie Oleksiak found Montour cutting below the defense to make it 6-1 at 8:44 of the second.
DOUBLE MONTY! 🚨
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 30, 2024
Set play off the face-off, and Brandon Montour gets his second of the night. #SeaKraken making it look easy tonight. 6-1 now.
Watch out for MTL to start getting chippy as this thing wears on. We’re still just halfway through. pic.twitter.com/7j2AQtPlKR
I mean, look at that! Just look at it!
Shane Wright wins the draw back to Jaden Schwartz (who also quietly had a goal and two assists) at the top of the circle. He passes to Oleksiak at the left point, and you can see that as the defenders are being drawn toward the Big Rig, he has zero interest in shooting, knowing that Montour is sliding down around the right dot. Meanwhile, Wright and Oliver Bjorkstrand are shifting toward the slot to pull the lower defenders over, and now Oleksiak has a seam for Montour. Indeed, Oleksiak finds Montour, who shoots and then gets his own rebound.
Oleksiak said they “freestyled” the play, rather than executing something that was drawn up, but they did at least discuss what they were going to do…
“You know what? Jaden just kind of told me to slip backside there,” Montour said. “I don’t know who was covering, but I obviously got lost, and it went to the big guy there, and he found me back side. So, it was a great look by both of them.”
Montour capped off his hat trick with a one-time blast on a 4-on-3 power play to make it 7-1 at 14:12 of the third.
Adam Larsson then pulled one of the more hilarious stunts we’ve seen from a Kraken player, throwing his helmet on the ice as Montour went past the bench.
Adam Larsson throws his helmet on the ice to celebrate Brandon Montour’s first career hat trick. #SeaKraken
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 30, 2024
😂 🎩 🦁 pic.twitter.com/hKE5CR86Q8
Takeaway #2: Big night for Stephenson too
The other big offseason acquisition was very noticeable in this game, as well, setting up four of Seattle’s eight goals.
I said recently on a Sound Of Hockey Podcast episode that one of the challenges for Stephenson in breaking through with the Kraken fanbase is that he hasn’t historically been a big goal-scorer. He does many things well, like winning face-offs and board battles and bringing a calming influence on the ice, but those things don’t always jump off the page for the more casual fan.
He demonstrated on Tuesday why his less tangible attributes are important, though, with so many of his plays directly leading to goals from his teammates.
“He’s such an intelligent player, he’s such a calm player,” Bylsma said of Stephenson. “He brings that presence and that smarts and intelligence to our team. And in a centerman down the middle of the rink, it’s much needed for this group.”
The most memorable play Stephenson made was in the lead-up to Schwartz’s power-play goal at 7:27 of the first that made it 3-0. This one didn’t come from a typical power-play setup in the offensive zone.
Instead, Stephenson received the slingshot pass back from Montour at Seattle’s hash marks and went on a 180ish-foot journey all the way to below Montreal’s goal line. He effortlessly cruised through the neutral zone, sliced between Montreal’s defenders at the blue line, then instinctively twisted a pass out into the slot, where Schwartz was waiting and got on the other end of it.
Beautiful.
Stephenson won’t get four assists every night, but it is nice to see him get rewarded for the things that he quietly does well.
Takeaway #3: Joey played a surprisingly big part
Last time I wrote a Three Takeaways, two games ago, I vowed in the comment section to never discuss Kraken goaltending again because of the many dissenting voices that tend to pop up in the comments and ruin my day (not really) when I do write about them.
But…
The plot is thickening on the goaltending front. Before Seattle’s 3-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Oct. 23 I had already started sensing the winds blowing toward a less even split in the crease. I asked Bylsma before that game what it would take for him to start leaning on one of his goalies more than the other. He gave a lengthy and thoughtful reply, but he ended it with, “Their play will also dictate the kind of rotation we have going forward.”
While it wasn’t clear from that conversation that Joey Daccord would be the guy Bylsma would eventually turn to with more frequency, I thought this was where things would head. Indeed, Daccord got his third consecutive start on Tuesday, and although the scoreboard told a tale of a Kraken massacre on the Canadiens, Seattle actually relied quite heavily on its netminder in this game.
He came up big on a number of occasions, including a clear-cut breakaway for Alex Newhook in the first period and a 2-on-1 that turned into a partial breakaway for Logan Mailloux in the third.
Where Daccord was especially important in this game, though, was late in the first after Cole Caufield got an easy shoo-in goal from the top of the crease to get Montreal on the board at 4-1. While the lead was ultimately insurmountable, the Habs had life at the end of that frame and pumped five shots on Daccord in the final three minutes. He stood tall, taking wind out of the sails of the Habs as they headed to intermission, but if they had gotten a second goal in those closing minutes, then this could have been turned into an uncomfortable game for Kraken fans.
Instead, Montour came out in the second period and put a nail… then another nail… then another nail in Montreal’s coffin, and Seattle cruised to one of its more disproportionate wins in franchise history.
Daccord ended the Kraken-Canadiens game with 28 saves on 30 shots and 3.04 goals saved above expected. Would you believe the Canadiens actually had 61 percent of the shot quality in this game?
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.
Three more takeaways:
1. Shane Wright, 0 points but on the ice for 4 Kraken goals. Had a role in each one, 3rd assists, draws, etc.
2. Two MVPs this season so far: Montour and Joey. Evans moving up the list and Stephenson making a case.
3. Great about Larsson throwing his helmet on the ice after the Monty hat trick. May start a trend.
Harder games to come on this road trip. If they can go 2 for 4 in those games, then it will be a good trip. Wonder which games PG starts?
Good comments. Ha! I agree on the “helmet drop” trend. I thought the same thing. Especially during away games, we could see whole benches dropping their helmets.
I’ve got to think Joey gets Boston so I would assume Grubauer gets Ottawa.
My first reaction after we pulled ahead 4-0 was “this is what we need…dominating in our games against the bad teams.” Then it occurred to me Montreal had the same 4-4-1 record we did.
Love all your takeaways. One takeaway for me is we still don’t shoot the puck enough, especially on the PP. Monty basically proved the point…because he shoots the puck! It’s still frustrating to watch us play hot potato in the offensive zone without taking a single shot, even when we have 1-2 guys dutifully going to net front. It’s a mystery.
I agree were not taking a ton of shots – and a few lucky ones got through last night – but I think they’re making the shots they take count. I think Bylsma mentioned they need more shots, but they need to be quality shots with guys – with an “s” – at the front of the net. Last season it seemed like just throwing the puck at the next regardless of the actual opportunity.
I’d kind of rather have them take a flyer and throw a puck at the net. There was one sequence in the 3rd where it seemed no one was even considering shooting. They would each get the puck and immediately look for a pass. After around ten passes the puck left the zone. Very frustrating.
I think when you’re up by four or five in the third… possession IS the play you make.
Situationally they were most likely not considering it… You in the third, up a bunch of goals. Throwing pucks on net and trying to aggressively run the score up is a great way to take a bunch of cheap shots from the other team risking a pointless injury from a resulting fight or otherwise. Move the puck, run the clock, reset, move the puck, run the clock, keep possession, and if a great chance opens take it.
That is one of the strangest takes I have ever heard. I’ve played some pretty high level hockey, and not once did we say “let’s just play hot potato in the offensive zone and not get pucks to the net to kill the clock.” It’s not soccer. That’s also a very slippery slope. Playing good hockey is as much about having strong habits and not having to think too much. The game is too fast. Wanting to score isn’t a switch you just turn on and off. It always has to be in the on position.
Sorry Seattle G… I think it’s pretty well established that at the “highest level” teams do exactly what you’re saying you’ve “not once” experienced.
I looked up the Habs’ record after the game and was shocked to see how not-awful it was. I guess hosting the rogues gallery of high-end playoff teams that Seattle has been facing so far this season gave me an unrealistic set of expectations for mid-level teams. The team the Kraken played against last night looked like it was trying to get the first-overall pick in comparison with Colorado, Winnipeg, and Carolina. Maybe the Canadiens really did just have one of those nights where everything goes wrong all at once, but I feel confident enough in what I saw to say that Seattle and Montreal are not in the same tier regardless of their similar records. Sure, Montembault had a career-worst night, but his skaters repeatedly hung him out to dry like old laundry. Yes, their forwards got some good rush chances of their own, but they came at the expense of responsible play in their own zone. Yes, they had most of the high-danger chances, but that was because the Kraken did not need to push for offense for fifty minutes of the game.
It was just a better team beating up on a weaker team. As such, I am hesitant to take any lessons from the game apart from, “Wow, Stephenson and Montour are big league ballers.” I guess I could also say, “Daccord is pretty diddly-dang good when there is a break-away coming his way,” but we already knew that.
One thing I will say for the Canadiens… well, one player in particular–the guy who declined to fight Will Borgen: after delivering a mean but legal hit to Belligerent Bill, it could have easily been go-time in a game that had already gotten out of hand on the scoreboard. Borgen, expecting that to be the case quickly divested himself of his hand protection and squared up. Then, to Borgen’s surprise, the Canadiens player (please tell me his name) dropped his gloves so as not to leave Borgen standing alone with his gloves off and then politely bowed out and skated to the penalty box like an absolute Sir. Now that is what I call good sportsmanship.
Early returns… but after 10 games I’m seeing pretty similar baseline numbers out of Chandler Stephenson and Elias Lindholm.
Lindholm also had very similar numbers and progression to Stephenson following the departure of Tkachuk and Gaudreau… but for some reason folks seemed just fine with him getting $1.5m more a season than Stephenson for the same seven years.
I guess maybe it’s because he’s seven months younger.
I’d be curious what a Boston fan thinks about Lindholm.
Nice start to the road trip.
Go Kraken!!!
I think hat trick = Full Monty!
At the beginning of the 22/23 season fans (I believe) were expecting the worst following their dismal inaugural season. Then – early on – the team embarked on a 4 game east coast swing that started with a shutout win at Boston (if memory serves me) and ended with Kraken winning all four games, at which point the tone for the season was set. Let’s hope for a similar result this time…
I think the Boston shutout came later in the season… but I’m all on board with the thought.
Go Kraken!!!
Totally agree Darren, Joey was awesome! 3 goals above expected! Montreal had FIVE xG that game. Daccord seemed very much in control. He played aggressively but smartly — I don’t think he lost his net once all game, and was also his usual helpful self in D–>O breakouts.
Stephenson and Montour have been good/great so far, but the pleasant surprise to me has been Evans. He struggled at times last season and seemed to wear down as the season progressed, but I thought he was fantastic yesterday, he’s been solid/good all year, and he’s only 22! Seems like he’s gaining confidence and making smart plays, but also has natural offensive instincts. I legitimately can’t wait to see what this D and team will be like when Dunn returns.
Lastly can Burakovsky please stop giving up breakaways? It’s gotten to the point that I’m nervous when he touches the puck.
Sorry I’m dissenting from both Darren and my brother on Stephenson. He had one nice play last night to feed Schwartz. The other three assists were secondary assists where he didn’t really do anything (except sort of win the faceoff on Oleksiak’s goal, but with a lot of help from 95). Even after last night, he has 3 primary assists and 1 goal on the season.
OK, says Darren, but he does the “little things” “like winning face-offs and board battles and bringing a calming influence on the ice, but those things don’t always jump off the page for the more casual fan.” Not sure how to assess “calming influence,” but I like to think I’m more than a “casual fan” and, other than the faceoff “wins” — which we know are meaningless — I’m not seeing anything.
I’m with Curtis — Stephenson has looked disinterested on defense. In transition and in the o-zone, he turns over the puck with regularity. During his first couple years on Vegas, his main value was in game breaking speed. I actually loved watching him then for that reason. He wasn’t some kind of defensive or play-driving ace. And now he does not have that same speed anymore.
Frankly, with respect to the non-scoresheet stuff, I think Wennberg was way better — Wennberg was actually a good possession player — he just didn’t produce enough offense. Stephenson is NOT a good possession player… AND he produces very little offense. So we’re using up tons of cap face for 7 years for… his calming influence?
OK let’s say, best case scenario, Stephenson doesn’t produce offense, he’s not fast anymore, not much of a shot, but he wins some faceoffs and is a “calming influence,” and contrary to both analytics and my eye test, he plays solid defense. At a $6.25 million cap hit, they are paying for more than that.
Bottom line is, setting aside that Wennberg might not have wanted to sign here, I would trade Stephenson straight up for Wennberg — and I was not even a huge Wennberg fan. Not only that — I am pretty sure that if it was the only option other than the status quo, I would give Stephenson’s contract to Wennberg. OK maybe I’m getting carried away, but it’s a close call.
Curtis did a thorough analysis on this before the season, which was more detailed but consistent with what all national analysts were saying. I’m looking forward to an update from Curtis at some point during the season (or has he been banned from writing any updates because it got Darren into too much hot water?). Maybe my eyes are deceiving me and it’s confirmation bias after reading so many very thorough and convincing take-down articles over the summer about how inexplicable this contract was. I am fully willing to accept that possibility.
So secondary assists don’t count now? Just make sure you apply that standard across the board to all players.
Foist I’m not a fan of the Stephenson signing but Weinberg? I’m just happy he’s gone I don’t think he was a great fit for the team. Stephenson is not completely out of line for his contract this year but it’s not a contract that will age well. He’s definitely an element that helps the kraken in the short term.
Are you really going to give Burky more credit on the Oleksiak goal than Stephenson? What did he do try to pass to someone else but miss place the pass so it bounces around the boards to Oleksiak? 😂 was that before or after he gave the puck away on the blue line… does it even matter? Waste of space at the moment.
A very good effort and very good goaltending by Daccord, we put a lot of pucks in the net but still have stuff to complain about 😆
Let’s keep Daccord in net until our back to back upcoming set of games. Looking forward to the rest of the road trip.
I wasn’t complaining about that one game. I was saying despite that game, the fact remains that Stephenson is a 4th line center, at best, getting first line minutes on a 2nd line contract. Sure enough, next game, his crappy defense contributes to 2 goals against and his pathetic PP performance leads to nothing.
Foist… you forgot to mention Stephenson was on the ice for half of Montreal’s goals.
Ranking on a guy for four assists!?!? Maybe we should cool it a bit on Montour’s hat trick – after all, two of those goals were on the power play.
I’m sure there will be plenty of time this season to hate on the Stephenson contract, but right after he has a four point night seems a bit much.
But the way – last season, 10 games in – Wennberg… zero goals, one primary assist, one secondary assist.
The Curtis take reminds me a lot of the difference between academics and policymakers. Academics are persuasive in telling you what’s wrong, but they’re not very good at providing a better alternative. The Curtis solution was “sign another Bellemare” instead. Easy to suggest when you don’t actually have to do it or answer for the results. Even easier when you can simply smile with satisfaction knowing the thing you suggested that never actually got done would have definitely turned out much better.
Half way to 20 games.
I don’t want another Bellemare!!!! Did Curtis actually suggest such a ting? I would have been ok with not signing him and bringing up a younger player from the farm. Definitely an odd time to have a go at Stephenson, he had a good game regardless if he got a few lucky assists.
If we were to break down the game did we actually play that well or did Montreal just have a very bad night in goal?
I will say this as it relates to goalie advanced stats. This is the second game that I would say the advanced stats don’t give a true representation to the actual game. Not taking anything away from Joey he was very solid and a big part of the lopsided victory but we had much more dangerous chances. The advanced stats didn’t seem to recognize that, is there just no way to do that without actually watching the game? The formula eventually works out but it can be really wrong some games.
Yes… Episode 302 30:30.
Bellemare.
One thing that I have seen from Stephenson that I did not see from Wennberg is that in the offensive zone Stephenson is in constant motion drawing attention and taking guys out of position. How much of that is the new coaching staff and how much is the player? It’s arguable, but the effect is that ice opens up when Stephenson is on it. And that’s another thing–Stevenson is significantly better than Wennberg at advancing the puck up the ice. You are right that Stephenson is not the defensive player that Wennberg is by a long shot, but often the best defense is to not be in your own end of the ice.
Speaking of which, does anyone else want to take a moment and appreciate just how clean and reliable the Kraken’s zone entries have been this year? It’s not just Stephenson either; Beniers has been outstanding at taking the puck beyond the blue line in marked contrast to the previous year.
Good news for Grubauer…
The league average save percentage is now down to .897.
Grubauers .881 still sucks even in the lowered average 😆.
Still amazed (though not surprised given the newbie Seattle fan base) at some of the hate for Stephenson. There isn’t a team in the NHL that wouldn’t want him, and no one in Vegas was happy to see him go. The players, the coaches, management and people who have actually experienced playing competitive hockey at a high level are all happy he’s here. It’s true—having poise night in and out and giving a team confidence is hard to measure with stats, because there aren’t stats for “consistent veteran compete level” and “transfer of pro hockey knowledge and behavior to younger players.” That doesn’t mean they aren’t important or extremely valuable.
I think that, more than anything else, the criticism is due to folks not liking his contract. When Stephenson was signed, absolutely everyone hated the deal. It was too much money for someone with his statistics. The term was too long. That biased some people against the on-ice product that he delivers. People like to be right about things like player acquisitions, so that was bound to happen. Now, we will see how long that bias lasts in the face of his noticeably better than expected over-all performance and individual plays like that nasty assist he had where he took the whole Canadiens team for a ride around the rink.
Seattle fans are new, like you said, but I am surprised at how quickly the local fans have picked up a more nuanced understanding of the game. They got the basics down a couple years ago, and they have been getting into advanced stats for the past couple years. They are only now starting to understand assignments and skaters’ responsibilities, which a lot of fans league-wide do not often pick up. We are about to have a pretty canny fan base here in a couple years, especially with the new TV deal letting more folks actually watch the games and with our local sportswriters being a cut above the views-chasing, hot take-slinging hacks who you often find in other markets.
I agree with you to a certain extent, the “fan” that don’t like the deal are the knowable fans that have been following hockey forever would be by guess. The fans that understand the cap and how important it is to not be overpaying players. I think the “newer hockey fans” probably don’t have as much of a grasp on what exactly this deal means long term. Long term is the key I don’t think anyone out there is surprised he’s making our team better right now. This deal really can’t be properly evaluated by anyone until we get in 4+ years of his contract.
As much as everyone hated the contract, pretty much every board going into free agency had him as the No.2 center available behind Elias Lindholm who signed for 7 x $7.75m in Boston.
Nashville – who “won” the off-season – is now looking for help down the middle. Barry Trotz just said on the radio, “No one is trading anyone right now. I would like to get a centre, but no one is giving their centremen away.” Also, about half a dozen other teams are also looking for a top-six center.
Hate the contract all you want… when I look at the list of centers who logged over 19 minutes a game last year and realize how hard it is to get one of those… I’m glad Beniers and Wright aren’t getting caved in every night with Gourde and Winterton or Bellemare centering the bottom six.
Instead it’s Stephenson getting caved in. 33 percent expected goals share while he’s on the ice. You can even forget the contract, he plain sucks. He’s the worst center on the team, by far.
TLDR!
“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one”
Apologies in advance…
It’s only 11 games… but here are the No.1 centers Stephenson has been matching up against. No.1 is either the obvious such as Hintz or minutes such as Backlund:
Robert Thomas
$8.13m
Marco Rossi
$863k
Roope Hintz
$8.45m
Ryan O’Reilly
$4.5m
Morgan Frost
$2.1m
Mikael Backlund
$4.5m
Nathan McKinnon
$12.6m
Mark Scheifele
$8.5m
Sebastian Aho
$9.75m
Nick Suzuki
$7.88m
Auston Matthews
$13.25m
I would point out that Seattle has not lost a game to a team whose No.1 center is making less than $8 million.
Obviously this is not causality, but it helps to point out a few things.
First, $8m+ centers are hard to come by. In fact, every $8m+ center on that list was drafted by the team they play for. Furthermore, with the exception of O’Reilly and Suzuki – who was traded as a prospect – every center on that list is with their original team.
Chandler Stephenson is not an $8m center… and he never has been, but that’s who he was brought in to play against.
Second, “Instead it’s Stephenson getting caved in”.
Yeah, that’s the point. Instead of your two future “$8m centers” getting their asses handed to them every night, you have a guy who can eat big minutes and even though he’s gonna lose a lot of those matchups, he’s not going to get absolutely steamrolled the way you think he is. He’s minus two four times this season. Each time against teams with those “big time” centers. Against St. Louis, one against was on the PK with a Thomas assist. Against Winnipeg, one was in overtime against Scheifele, Connor, and Ehlers. Against Carolina, one was an empty net. Against Toronto, both were even strength, but each had two $11m+ forwards picking up points on the goals – Marner & Matthews and Nylander & Tavares.
Third, it’s been 11 games and he’s been on four different lines with five different wingers… none of which are Eberle or McCann. The center is key, but the wingers matter… and so does “chemistry”. His most common linemate has been Schwartz, but Burakovski is next, sharing more than a third of his five-on-five time.
The McCann, Beniers, Eberle line is an even 50% expected goals share but they’re outscoring opponents 7-2. The only other line with a goal differential above one… the Schwartz, STEPHENSON, Bjorkstrand trio at 4-2 in 40.5 minutes. Overall, the Kraken are even in five-on-five goal differential. Given the schedule they’ve faced… I’ll take it.
I think Wennberg could have done the job they’re asking Stephenson to do – and I think they wanted to resign him for just that reason. We know how that turned out. Stephenson is making $1.25m more than Wennberg… for a lot longer. He’s also making $1.5m less than Lindholm (who is also not a true No.1 center) for the very same term. The term is what it is… but I think folks are somehow expecting a six-and-a-quarter million dollar center to match up even with the NHL’s true No.1 centers eleven games in with a new team. That’s not who they signed and that player isn’t available… you have to develop that player, which is, what I think, Stephenson was signed to facilitate.
By the way… debating these players and this team… excellent!
Personally, it’s November 1st and I’m still excited about this season’s team.
Go Kraken!!!
Darryl, those are fair points. And not even that long! Succinct, even.
I would just question a couple things. One, that Beniers or Wright would get caved in if Stephenson wasn’t. I know they are young and have growing to do, but I’m pretty sure they are already better, and that includes more trustworthy on defense, than Stephenson right now. Two, the idea that Stephenson is “eating minutes.” The implication of the “eating” metaphor is usually that the person is competently filling those minutes. Stephenson isn’t. He’s getting killed.
I know he’s not getting paid like a no. 1 center, and the kraken have — supposedly — not even had a chance at getting one of those (I say “supposedly” because front offices with some cojones have managed it through trade in recent years, see VGK and FLA). Fair enough. But he is getting paid like a 2nd line center to play like a 4th line center, and without the grit. If they had signed a quality 2nd line center and given him top line minutes bc he’s the best they’ve got, it wouldnt be ideal, but the press would not be hammering them so bad.
As far as centers go, I kinda think the Eichel trade is the “exception that proves the rule”. In Florida however… Barkov is the clear No.1, and he’s home grown. Bennett and Lundell both pull about the same five-on-five time as him, but he logs almost twice as much PP/PK time. Also, Barkov is a clear “superstar”.
Lundell looks like he could be the “real deal”, but he’s also a drafted player. I think Bennett is a very good pivot, but he’s passing the puck to Tkachuk… which brings us back to trades.
When Tkachuk forced his way out of Calgary, he went to the reigning President’s Trophy winning Panthers. He’s not a No.1 center, but he’s absolutely the next best thing… and maybe even better. Him and Gaudreau played almost a thousand five-on-five minutes with Elias Lindholm in between them their final season with the Flames, and since they left his numbers have been on a steady decline. I still cannot believe folks hate the Stephenson signing but we’re fine with Lindholm at $7.75 x 7! Unlike Seattle – who I believe had a kind of unique role for Chandler – Boston brought in Lindholm to be their legit No.1 center… and between Pasternak and Marchand, why not? Well if you listened to 32 Thoughts today… it hasn’t been working out that way.
But back to the trades. I think both those examples (VGK/FLA) highlight one of the challenges Seattle faces. There were compelling reasons for players to want to go to those places and in both cases the players pretty much forced their way to where they wanted to be. I hear what you’re saying about “cojones”, but I think it takes more than that. When Curtis says they could have made a trade but it’s hard to know what was out there, I disagree. I think it’s easy to know what’s out there and it’s exactly what Ray Ferraro said on Ray & Dregs last week… “oh, you’re looking for a center? How about a No.1 right-shot D too?… a center or a righty-D… you and sixteen other teams.” What’s out there is a bunch of teams looking for the exact same thing the Kraken are looking for… so the “mythical” trade that could’ve brought Seattle – a place that is not a destination – a legit top-six center… yeah, right. So it’s free agency… and just about every board I saw had “righty” Montour as the top defenseman and Stephenson as the second center behind Lindholm. You may not like the term, but I think you have to have “cojones” to go out and land what you “need” when half the league is looking for the exact same thing. I’m just glad Francis didn’t settle on Lindholm instead… ouch!