With a whimper, the Seattle Kraken season mercifully came to an end Thursday after they lost both games of a back-to-back, 4-1 at Vegas on Wednesday and 2-0 at Colorado on Thursday. Following the Olympic break, the Kraken posted an embarrassing 7-17-2 record in 26 games and took themselves from third place in the Pacific Division all the way down to the sixth-best odds in the NHL Draft Lottery.
Normally, we would use this space to provide you with Three Takeaways from the game(s). But considering there’s not much to really even write about from these two contests—save for some solid performances by the Kraken’s AHL goalie duo of Nikke Kokko and Victor Östman, who made his first NHL start and stopped 33 shots in Denver—we’re taking this in a different direction.
Last week, Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke promised a “prolific” offseason, which implies that big changes will be coming to the roster. Of course, such an implication would mean that the team will add talent, but to do that, spots also have to be cleared.
If things really are going to dramatically change, then multiple Kraken stalwarts will likely have to depart. Here are the players that may have played their last games in Kraken uniforms.
Unrestricted free agents
The Kraken UFA’s are pretty obvious candidates to be on their way out. Although the Kraken don’t have a deep prospect pool of defensemen, I’d be surprised if Jamie Oleksiak returns next season. I’d be even more surprised if Jaden Schwartz returns.
Both players have been around since Day 1 and have contributed in big ways, with Schwartz registering 79 goals and 89 assists in 301 games across five seasons and Oleksiak racking up 21 goals and 68 assists in 389 games while playing in a defense-first role. Both players are 33 years old, and the fact that Seattle re-upped Jordan Eberle before the trade deadline but did not do so with either of these players tells me they’re likely on their way to the market.
For the other two UFA’s—Eeli Tolvanen and Bobby McMann—I’m not sure what the future holds.
Tolvanen is in his prime at 26 years old and has received high praise at times this season from coach Lane Lambert for his versatility. He was one of the highly regarded moves Ron Francis made as general manager, claiming him off waivers from the Nashville Predators and watching him flourish into a key contributor. But he also saw his role diminish late in the season and even got healthy scratched. With that in mind, is there still mutual interest between the two parties?
Meanwhile, McMann is the most interesting question of the four. He personally had an outstanding showing as a member of the Kraken, with 10 goals in 18 games after being acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs at the NHL Trade Deadline. He also only said great things about the organization, but has he really been happy here? The team has been in turmoil since he arrived, imploding around him every step of the way and tailspinning out of the playoffs. McMann definitely saw the worst version of what this team can be, and he will be one of the more coveted free-agent options on the market this summer.
If he’s even interested in returning, we would expect the Kraken to have to pay out the nose to keep him.
Trade candidates
We at Sound Of Hockey also think the Kraken should be willing to listen on every player on the roster. If there’s a deal to be done that’s going to bring back some semblance of star power, GM Jason Botterill needs to at least consider it, even if moving a player out feels painful.
Here are a few players that—although it wouldn’t be fun to see any of them go—could be traded this summer.
On my recent Sound Of Hockey Podcast interview with Kraken broadcaster John Forslund (viewable below), he independently brought up Jared McCann as a player that could go.
McCann, who has registered 20 or more goals in all five of his seasons in Seattle and topped out at 40 in 2022-23, has one year left on his deal. His latest season was disrupted by injuries, leaving him to play just 52 games—the fewest he’s had by a long shot since joining Seattle.
Losing McCann would sting. But he’s one of those guys on the roster who could fetch real value, and if Botterill doesn’t see the 29-year-old as part of the long-term plan, then this is the summer to move him.
Likewise for Vince Dunn. Since the Kraken acquired Brandon Montour in free agency on July 1, 2024, I’ve always wondered if there was a world where Dunn could become expendable, given that the players have similar profiles, and the team is clearly committed to Montour, who still has four years left. With Dunn’s $7.35 million AAV contract also set to expire after next season, now is the time to move him if the front office is looking to maximize value.
And then, of course, there’s Shane Wright, whose name percolated in trade rumors for a good chunk of this season. By all accounts, Wright had a disappointing season. Everyone in Seattle expected him to take another big step and become one of the Kraken’s core players in 2025-26. That didn’t happen, plain and simple.
After scoring 19 goals and 25 assists under Dan Bylsma in 2024-25, Wright looked lost at times this season, while Lambert tried him in a wide variety of roles, including moving him to the wing to try to simplify things for him. In the end, he produced just 12 goals and 15 assists.
Surely the hope was that he’d emerge as the team’s No. 2 center this season, pushing Chandler Stephenson down the depth chart. Instead, you could tell Lambert was having a hard time trusting Wright and even worked around him for much of the campaign by having him take almost exclusively offensive-zone starts.
I don’t think Wright belongs on the wing, but I’m also suddenly having a hard time understanding where he fits in general when considering the longer term. Here’s why. Let’s say, for the sake of a thought experiment, that the Kraken acquire a true No. 1 center this offseason. That would move Matty Beniers into a No. 2 center role and Chandler Stephenson into a No. 3 center role—positions in which I believe both players would excel.
Being that Wright has not yet overtaken Stephenson, where does that leave him? On the wing? On the fourth line? I don’t want him in either of those spots, so packaging him as part of the deal to land said magical No. 1 center could be the way to go.
The thing that stinks is that Wright does appear to be a young player who would benefit from a change of scenery. Giving up on him right now could mean trading him for less than he’s worth—and what’s worse, you can just imagine him getting that change of scenery, getting to a new team, and blossoming into an outstanding player.
Still, it is feeling likely that he could be dealt this summer.
What say you, Kraken fans? Which other players could be on the move?
P.S. We’ll have lots more content in the coming days, but since the season has finally come to a close, I thought it was a good time to say thanks for following along all season. I appreciate you. Keep it friendly in the comments.
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.
If you were a UFA, would you re-sign with the Kraken, who have no stars present or coming and no viable playoffs in their future? A Western Conference UFA has a much better playoff future in San Jose, Anaheim, Utah, Vegas, Edmonton, Colorado, Dallas, or Minnesota.
On trades, I think this is all “take our bad guys and give your good guys” thinking. Why would anyone want to trade anything of value to the Kraken? And what players would waive their NTC clauses to come to an organization that is entirely without an identity or success? Trading successfully is a skill that Botterill does not possess. Compare to the masterclass put on by Dubas and others over the last several years.
Trading middle of the table pieces for the same is just not relevant. A winning culture is what attracts players and the Kraken just have not built it.
The players they should be after would have no trade protection since they ought to be <25. Team just needs to realize that going young is the only route open to them so they can improve enough to be taken seriously by “stars” down the road. Lambert’s dreary style isn’t going to help there, either. It’ll be far easier to deal for a Knies than a Nylander, for example (though not necessarily cheaper).
Dunn and McCann are valuable pieces for any playoff teams; they’re also of an age that should cause the Kraken to move on since they’re going to be declining by the time this team is competing. Trading Daccord ought to be a consideration though goalie trades rarely bring back a quality return.
Anything is better than running back the same veteran for another go around…
Exactly. Lots of people imply everybody has full no trade clauses which is far from accurate. Young guys move all the time… Zegras, Peterka, Chinokov, Gauthier, etc. This team is probably not getting a true 1st line anytime soon, but why not try to build 3 second lines instead. Unfortunately, I don’t trust the FO is a good judge of talent, as guys like Tolvanen, Marchment, Gaudreau, Stephenson, and Kakko are not 2nd liners.
What’s bizarre is you thought all of those guys were acquired to be second liners. Gaudreau was always meant to be on the 4th line C and Stephenson the third. Shane’s lack of development (his own fault) into a true top line C has caused the team to need to rely on Stephenson more than they had to.
Not saying they were all supposed to be 2nd line – saying they don’t belong on the roster going forward given we have no path to a top line. Stephenson didnt get 7 years to be 3c, he became the #1 face off guy (since we didnt have one) thus logs the most minutes of any forward on the team with tons of special teams ice time.
It’s easy to let your emotions cloud your vision, but to say any of the guys listed are bad guys is disingenuous at best. While they may not be top liners, literally every team would be happy to have consistent 20 goal scorers or a puck moving defeneman.
The problem with your logic with the UFAs is the cap. Half the teams you listed would be unable to actually fit a premier UFA in their lineup. The other part of it is your analysis of the team is a lot worse than most players analysis of the team is going to be (largely due to aforementioned emotion involved).
Your comments on Botterills trade skill are ignorant at best. The Marchment trade proves you wrong there. You had a guy who was a passenger on a team for half a season and he was able to UPGRADE the picks the team used to get him.
Yeah, if I’m an opposing GM I would look at this roster and see a number of juicy reclamation projects. I’m sure a bunch of these guys would love to escape LL’s system. For Wright’s sake I hope he gets traded, it’s painful to watch him waste away on the bench.
I also don’t get this take… for Wrights sake I hope he gets traded…
As fans do we really want to trade away our better prospects just because we can’t develop offensive players under a crap coach? Shouldn’t we be hoping/demanding for changes in how our organization works with these guys instead?
In hindsight we should have kept disco Dan, we definitely would not be in a worse situation today and at least we’d have a coach that is ok with development.
Oh I wish for a lot of things as a fan, but it’s clear that Wright doesn’t have a pathway for more playing time with the Kraken. These “big roster moves” that are coming are going to be to find more guys like Bobby who are fits for LL’s system and dispose of ones like Tolvanen who don’t fit the mold.
Glad to be proven wrong though!
Wright is wasting away because he still has yet to take a step and through no fault of the team. He’s been given favorable zone starts all year and he has show little to prove he deserves them. Wright’s pathway, as it always has been, is to put in serious work to get better and by all accounts, he hasn’t. Whether it’s mental or physical, he has put together the pieces to make a good showing. Contrast that with Catton who is shown some serious progress almost every game. Same with Matty this year who has looked more and more confident despite the team melting down around him.
Before anyone screams “but they suck at development”, the progress Catton has made and how good OFM looks directly put that to bed. This also doesn’t account for Ryker being a solid D man and Winterton who was a third round pick (statistically extremely unlikely to even play a game) being regulars in the lineup.
Kraken will select 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th, or 8th in 2026 (depending on lottery outcome). I’d seriously consider playing the youngsters, moving on from every veteran with value, and hoping for a very high pick in 2027. I’d sell Grubauer while his value is relatively high, after a great year. I’d platoon Daccord with Kokko, with Ostman as a call-up for injury. I’d send Wright somewhere he can grow and flourish; he deserves that. Get more picks instead of bodies, unless you can’t resist a good deal, maybe a young guy who also needs a change of scenery. Really test the prospects, and don’t expect playoffs. Have a couple years of high draft picks and development. Make Lane Lambert understand that, if he wants to stay, his job is clear; it isn’t to get Stephenson 22 minutes a night.
I agree with a build through the draft mentality. The moves I have hated last few years have set us back considerably in that effort. It’s time to stop aiming for respectable, and start the long process of building a championship contender.
This team’s track record in the draft is mediocre, at best. It is especially obvious when somebody like Dubas gets scolded for taking Kindel “too early” at 11 (Seattle could have had him at 8) and then within months looks like a genius. Taking Shane at 4 just bc he dropped ignored what others saw. Sale might never make the team. They draft Firkus in the 2nd knowing his size, but now he is too small to even get a look this year. Bottom line: if they wind up selecting all 4 first rounders they have the next 2 drafts, we are in serious trouble.
Using outliers in the draft as evidence of bad drafting is ridiculous. Their track record is drafting best player available for every first round pick that they made. Your comment also doesn’t hold water when despite only having one #2 pick who is already not a prospect according to Wheeler, he ranks our prospect pool #7.
Your entire comment reeks of hindsight bias.
Boist?
This is a weird list of examples. Right now the only pick we’ve made that looks bad is Sale, and its the lowest first round pick we’ve had. Who did you want us to take at 4 in 2022 over Shane? Because if it’s Gauthier and he didnt want to be here, we would’ve had to have traded him the same as the Flyers. Jagger Firkus has been looking terrific in the AHL and will have a chance to make the team next year, as will Jani Nyman. Jake O’Brien just had an amazing season in the OHL and looks to be developing on schedule, and should be able to spend next season up in the AHL.
If this winds up being more than a one year step back, I think you might consider Joey as a trade piece. That’s a valuable contract he’s on.
I think it was smart to get a look at the goalie prospects at the NHL level, even for just a couple games.
I’m hopeful they can do something over the offseason. What that is in particular I can’t say. Saying they should “tear it down” or “make a big splash” or “win some trades” is just noise and for me to say something specific is just uninformed noise.
From a broad standpoint, I’m a little concerned with how the front office closed things out down the stretch. Not with the roster. Not with adding McMann or not moving the expiring UFAs. I’m concerned with what they’ve done on the management side. I get letting Ron Francis go. Even though he’s wasn’t the GM, his presence may have been an issue and it’s about accountability. Fair enough. The problem, to me, is more about how they’ve set up what comes next.
Coming out and so publicly excoriating the organization and then leaving Botterill in place seems to really put a gun to his head. I can’t imagine that’s the best position to be in going into the offseason. I mentioned this before, when he was in that position in Buffalo he gave Jeff Skinner the equivalent of $11.5m x 8 contract. As Friedman is fond of saying, ‘when you’re drowning, they don’t throw you life preservers, they throw you anchors.’ They are, I think, in a decent position to make some moves over the offseason, but I’m a little concerned they’ve completely undermined the GM’s footing on making deals and I’m afraid he’s gonna be desperate to “do something creative” that just ends up being something dumb.
On to the Lottery!!!
Well stated Daryl. I always appreciate your perspective
My biggest concern, and your concern about a GM with a gun to his head exacerbates it, is the team uses its capital to immediately improve the team at the expense of potential greatness.
I want a long term plan designed to win a championship and a GM with a gun to his head will not be thinking long term, as you implied with the Skinner contract.
I think there has been too many moves focused on putting a “respectable” team on the ice at the cost of long term results
I think it’s a non issue. Botterill will either be determined to be the guy they want after the audit or not. If he is, then he shouldn’t feel any more pressure than any other GM in the league. I also don’t get your comment about them undermining him. I have seen zero evidence of this. Got examples?
The idea of “undermining” Botterill is drawn from the speculation – and I thought I was pretty clear I was speculating this – that making such a public proclamation of the “desperate” situation the team considers itself to be in won’t do him any favors when it comes to negotiating trades and contracts.
I can’t honestly comment on what the actual pressure on him will be, but I think the public statements from the CEO and the fact that he’s been part of the leadership group from day one, if he’s not feeling more pressure than most of the GMs around the league, I think he’s incredibly obtuse.
This team isn’t going to “rebuild” in my opinion. They are going to probably try a retool of sorts. Being that they didn’t clean house I have little hope, hope to be proven wrong.
We have to accept that Lambert isn’t the coach that is going to build a hockey team that brings our young players to the forefront. He’s a coach that will continue to chase out players like Wright.
I don’t even understand the thought process that goes with needing to develop our young talent but wanting to trade Wright at a discount because he didn’t work out in Lamberts system. Last season it looked like he was coming along, in this situation you don’t give up on the player you need to recognize that this coach isn’t the guy who will work with the path the kraken need to go in.
Unfortunately I could seriously see the kraken letting a few URFA’s walk that they should have traded at the deadline. Trading Wright along with a few prospects in the farm system for a 28+ year old second liner. Overpaying for a few middling FA players and try to sell us that they are doing bold things and breaking out of their old form.
Personally I think Botts and Lambert get at least one more year. I’m not happy about that but constant change is never good for drawing players or to see if there is improvement. I think Campbell and/or Schneekloth are let go. There has to be some changes and I think that’s the most likely. Lambert stays because Seattle isn’t going to be on the hook for paying 3 coaches at one time. If the pieces are wrong then it is time to move some of the players. Botts was in a tough spot at the TDL and showed he was an optimist on betting the team would reach the playoffs.
It was old school but I loved how Bowness called out the CBJ players about being ok with losing. LL needed to do that. Seattle doesn’t need more draft picks because they aren’t creative enough to leverage them in a manner to improve the team. But they can, and should, start moving out some of the veterans. I’m ok with not bringing back Oleksiak (I think we all are at this point), Schwartz, and Tolvanen. McMann is going to get at least 5×5 which seems like a lot for a late bloomer but we can see if fits the system well enough and the cap is going up. Rather than hitting UFA’s go with what you have and bring up Nyman, Firkus, and/or Morrison to see if they can be fixes.
But I mean f*ck. If I was that good at this stuff I would be working in hockey.
I liked the Bowness comments too… but if I remember correctly he pulled the same stunt on his way out the door in Winnipeg. It’s beginning to sound like an excuse to me. “Don’t look at me, the coach, these guys are soft”.
It’s interesting you mention the Bowness comments. That’s the absolute worse thing to do. Lambert actually reference them in one of the pressers saying they have similar problems here. Lane’s been clear about that for weeks now. The public lambasting may feel good for fans and make good memes, but it’s a shit thing to do as a coach.
I also think your numbers on McMann are conservative. McCann got them much on a weaker showing and on the old cap. I would not at all be surprised to see Bobby asking for 6-7. It would be an overpay and likely a mistake, but he’s selling high. 5×5 was about what he was asking earlier in the year before the trade and then he went on that hot streak at the end of the year.
As for assistants, if Lane himself isn’t gone I could see some changes there but I don’t see any reason to dump Jessica. By all the public comments by the players, they’ve benefited from using her. She’s also not responsible for anything this team is struggling with and I have a hard time believing she’s contributing to the locker room issue.
I feel there is zero evidence that she is a problem in the locker room, I also feel like she should have been gone along with all the other coaches last season when they cleaned out the coaches. She would have benefited from more time in the AHL and I do feel they rushed her into the NHL just so they could have the first female coach.
It will be very difficult to fire her, who wants to be the first team to fire a female coach… at some stage it should happen, almost all coaches eventually have to move on.
I do feel that if you only believe what the team is saying then you really don’t have a good grasp on how hockey works. Players say things that they feel they should say, it’s very rare that a player breaks that standard. It doesn’t mean they don’t feel very different, you sometimes have to read the room. I’m not saying the players don’t like her because like I said I haven’t seen anything that would suggest that. I do feel like she was a factor in our inability to get a decent coach last summer, your asking a lot of you are demanding that the new head coach must keep her on the bench.
You were saying not long ago that RF had nothing to do with player movement (because he said so) then the team said otherwise when he was fired…. Perfect example.
I am well aware that you have very strong opinions without little basis in reality. No need to keep replying to me with them.
Your comment about what I said about RF is misrepresenting what was actually said by the team. I also didn’t say RF said so.
I’ll also correct you on player comments and public comments. When people say things UNPROMPTED and unrelated to the question and specifically bring up people’s names as having helped them, that’s them being honest in the moment.
“I do feel like she was a factor in our inability to get a decent coach last summer, your asking a lot of you are demanding that the new head coach must keep her on the bench.”
This is the most ignorant thing you could have said and just makes it clear you listen to a certain other podcast that often takes quotes out of context and rage baits people.
Like I’ve said before, you are detached from reality and it’s clear blinded by the emotion you feel about how the team should be run. It’s fine to feel those emotions, but it’s not find to reframe every single line of text and distort its meaning to fit your narrative which is what I see you do repeatedly in here.
I won’t be replying to you again
😂 best day ever, thank you.
Unfortunately, some of the contracts prevent major changes to the team – I love Larsson but three more years at $5.25 million (with full trade protection until the last two years of modified trade protection) is a brutal contract. Due to that, Evans needs to be upgraded so Larsson can play fewer minutes (and get sheltered). The back end of this team needs serious work.
Four more years of Stephenson throwing drop-pass pizzas to no one at $6.25 million/yr (and no movement clause for TWO more years), is also brutal. The conundrum with any young center (or center upgrade) is exacerbated by the Stephenson deal which is unmovable right now. You don’t pay $6+million and give out no movement clauses because someone can win faceoffs at a 52% clip.
Stephenson also had the most ATOI of any Kraken forward and generated a whopping 93 shots on goal in 80 games. 93! At 5v5… 54 shots on goal. He doesn’t drive play. He doesn’t prevent scoring chances. He had the second most ice time of any forward on the worst PK in all of the NHL. Just an absolutely brutal contract to have to deal with the next four years, cause he’s not going to get better as he ages.
Botterill has his work cut out for him cause there is some serious dead weight that needs to be moved but not a lot of options to do so.
Fun Facts on Shane Wright: 1) Highest shooting percentage in franchise history. 2) Has never had a net-minus season with the team (4/4) – only other player who can say that is Mahura (2/2). If they can get value for Shane, fine make a fair deal for both sides. But if not, find a way to give him 16-18 minutes of ice time. And please, give him some chances in shootouts since showing a pulse there is an easy way to add 5 standings points a year (they finally gave Berkly one chance late in the year and all he does is win the game for you).
We need a patient Coach who will encourage young players to grow. For too many years young players have not gotten ice time, because of overpaid old has-beens. What good is it to have a strong prospect pool, if there never given the minutes they need. We don’t really know if we have a good pipeline or not. We need NEW OWNERSHIP, come in and everybody goes, GM, Coach, and Players. If you’re going to play Candy Ass hockey, like Stephenson, fine $10K, for everyone time, he fails to engage on a Forecheck. Humiliate him and others in Public and Run them out of Town. New Ownership is needed, current Ownership is Spineless.
Its always fascinating watching every fandom whine about ice time for youngsters as if it’s a magic bullet that will all of a sudden make a struggling kid like Shane become a good hockey player (it isn’t). It’s also fascinating seeing them do it in the face of this org having several kids as regulars in the lineup including Winterton, Evans, and Catton. All of whom are have gotten better of the course of the season.
I’m not at all surprised to see the emotional comments in the comment section after a rough season, but it does sadden me to see so many regurgitate the same tired arguments that don’t hold water given the actual evidence that’s out there.
Shane on the ice boosts offensive output plain and simple. Yes, he turned over the pick a lot this year, but his first 170 games of production warrants more than 13 min of ice time on a team with minimal ability to generate their own offense. Heck, they can’t even take the puck cleanly into the o zone on the power play.
A rough season? This org has wasted five years! This is a nothing team and nobody would bat an eyelid if they blew up everything. I doubt ownership has the stones to do that which is unfortunate. They need to reset completely, build through the draft for a few seasons and come up with a completely new identity and approach. Even one more game, let alone season, of this nonsense we’ve had to put up with is beyond the pale.
What I expect is ownership attempts at finding lipstick for this pig. A “Big Star” signing like they tried with Panarin… I watched almost every game Panarin played for the Rangers, he was a top 3 player in the league at his peak around 2019. Now he is a shadow of that player yet the owners/management wanted to overpay him severely solely for name/brand recognition…. “Look we have the Breadman, woo!” What a joke.
This ownership group is not serious about winning (winning meaning actually winning the Cup). The only thing that will convince me they care about creating a winning team with the talent to go for the cup down the road is if they genuinely build through the draft and take the time to get it right. But they won’t. From all that they are saying that is not in their world view, they think they can throw money at the problem and sort it out. But hockey does not work like that.
Buffalo, Ottawa, Montreal, Anaheim, Utah, Philadelphia all made the playoffs this season after rebuilds. San Jose will soon enough.
You proved my point there. You way overly reacted to 4 words. The rest of your post has no basis in reality so I won’t bother addressing it.
You avoid the very real success of the teams I mentioned because you have no counter to that argument.
Your path means more of the same failed approach. The Kraken have tried to prop up failure year after year (and the one year they made the playoffs they had a flukey team that never was going to challenge for the cup) hoping to make the playoffs with bad, no hope teams. Clearly that is what ownership wants.
You point to the success of some of our youngsters, guess what, other teams have youngsters succeeding too at a much greater rate at that. San Jose, for one team, will rip the Kraken to pieces year in year out in the very near future. The Kraken does not live in a bubble of its own, the league table makes that perfectly clear.
I didn’t address it because like I said your post comments are ignorant to the state of the teams you listed. 4 of those teams have struggled for the better part of a decade and are just now finding some minor success.
You also falsely attribute a plan to me. I haven’t proposed a plan. You keep proving my point and replying emotionally… going so far as to put words into my mouth. Take a step back. Have a good summer and come back rested and ready to cheer.
Hey witt, I get folks criticisms of ownership and management and I don’t even think many of them are misplaced, but do you honestly think they “don’t care about winning” or “aren’t serious about winning a Cup” simply because they’ve followed a path or plan different than the one you prescribe?
I think you typically make a lot of good points about the team, but I also think too many people are overly convinced of the righteousness of their own views to the point of questioning the integrity of others beyond cause. I’m sure there are some on here who will ask, “Who the blank do you think you are, fanboy, questioning what anyone else thinks”? Fair enough… who am I to say.
Nonetheless, I think there’s plenty to be critical of, but “they don’t care” just seems a bit petty to me.
It seems like they care about making the playoffs but not what happens after that, this is the feeling that they have put out there by not showing a clear picture of anything past that.
It will be very interesting to see what their “plan” is going to be when they release it. It was encouraging that they said they were going to be much more open in the post RF term. How secretive they were was always frustrating.
Again, this sounds like they must not care because they see things different than you.
“It seems like they care about making the playoffs but not what happens after that, this is the feeling that they have put out there by not showing a clear picture of anything past that.”
Exactly this. They always talked about the playoffs and everything they did was about pushing them into the playoffs, regardless of if they had a useful team or not. They just cobbled together something they hoped was enough and pushed a lot of marketing. To me all they care(d) about is to have a mid-team decent enough to make the playoffs for revenue and the hullabaloo associated with that. This opinion is based on their actions. Most of us understand that to win the real thing it takes a hell of a lot more than that.
People can get hung up on the word ‘care’ all they want, but reality is that this org never has been close to fielding anything like a meaningful team simply because they never had the nuts and bolts to build one; and they haven’t exactly tried very hard to create one. We’ve seen plenty of taking the easy option out which predictably has led to this debacle.
Sorry, the half-arsed short cut way doesn’t work. We’ve seen this over the decades as far too many lazy orgs have tried it time and time again.
Chicago, Vancouver, Detroit, Columbus, New Jersey and New York (Rangers) are six teams whose teardowns are either long suffering or in retreat… none of them are in the playoffs. I’m not saying it can’t work. I’m saying the surety of such a path is, I think, more uncertain than a lot of folks acknowledge. Committing to the suck as an expansion team? I’m not sure how you sell that to a new fanbase.
Indeed and Philly has gone through at least one cycle as have Buffalo and Philly. The majority of teams he listed have also sucked for way longer than we have. People forget a rebuild takes minimum 5 years and often longer and there’s almost no guarantee it will be successful even with the #1 pick. Like I said, it’s just emotions running high and people wanting to blame anyone when the reason for a team being bad is often not just one thing.
…and Toronto.
It would not have been much different than this season. Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t the kraken get over half of their total points against a historically bad pacific division? We’re literally talking about a team that is as bad as it can be without actually getting a first round pick.
I’d hesitate to include Vancouver in that list they just officially started their tank. Chicago might be a stretch as well.
Vancouver is another team that “just tried to make the playoffs” with troubled teams. Detroit has never fully bottomed out so they lack that crucial edge in talent. Columbus management has made a lot of mistakes, partly because of desperation that they couldn’t hang on to players like Panarin and Bobrovsky, but also avoidable mistakes such as hiring poor coaches and bad team building. This could be because Columbus is seen as a not desirable place to play/live by players. New Jersey blew it simply, bad management cost Fitzgerald his job (also they have a problem with being too lightweight similar to the Kraken). The NYR abandoned the rebuild because the owner demanded the team make the playoffs before they were ready to compete for real. Another badly managed org.
Bad ownership/management has consequences.
“but also avoidable mistakes such as hiring poor coaches and bad team building. This could be because Columbus is seen as a not desirable place to play/live by players”
😂 I thought you were talking about the kraken for a second.
I think ultimately it comes down to which players want to be here and which ones don’t . Seattle does have an identity that they are building on, the identity is total team effort. All chip in and do their part , no one above any other , it’s all of us as a team and Seattle knows that. Seattle knows they don’t have that superstars like Nathan, Connor, Cale, Sidney. When you have a player like that that does everything and you rely on all season. Think about, would you want to go all out and pay one or two players, or would you rather have 5 maybe 7 or 8 players who can all contribute and score 20 plus goals. Anyone would want a team with 5 plus players who can score 20 plus goals . We don’t need the best players, we need the right ones lol no pun intended . So the key is finding the right players, again no pun intended
This identity thing is stupid, we don’t work hard I’m not even sure what team that could be implying to? There is no total team effort unless by effort they mean standing around and letting teams skate around them. They can feed us these lines if they want but we see what is going on the ice and our identity that lambert is trying to build just flat out sucks.
I just read through this entire posting and a few things seem clear.
1. This Koist poster is a complete arse. He/she/they attack other posters in every single post. Must be a very unhappy person in the real world.
2. Otherwise, lots of good comments from different perspectives. I think the one question that is most important is, will next season be any different from this season, and why, without assuming any players are available who are not currently under contract?
3. The majority owner of the Kraken seems top notch. There was a good article about her hockey efforts over on the Athletic. She admits to being new to hockey, with basketball more her thing. I think she has gotten into a situation where she has had to trust hockey people who are supposed to know the sport, such as Tod Leiweke. Despite all his experience across many sports leagues, Leiweke has not translated that into hiring the right hockey executives for the Kraken. I am not sure what she is supposed to do now. Since Leiweke is there for the long run with the Sonics return, and he is making sure the team is profitable, she is kinda stuck. Sure, it would be nice if she could do all the community outreach, make money, and have a successful team, but if she can only have two out of three, perhaps the first two are more important to her. Would not be the first time a sports owner decided their priorities were different than the fans. We’ll see how she responds if next season goes like this one.
Agree, would love a mechanism where we could block Moist’s condescending posts. The comments section is otherwise pretty civil, even in disagreements.
Definitely, you’d think he/she/they would get it by now. Been called out by so many people.