We’ve reached the dog days of the hockey summer, when general managers and other members of NHL front offices pack up and head to their respective cottages. During this period between the quieting of free-agent signings and the start of training camps in September, very little—like, practically zero—business historically gets done between franchises. It’s a time when teams begin to look relatively “set” as they head into the next season.
Much like last summer around this time, I find myself still waiting for news of the big offseason acquisition from the Seattle Kraken, realizing that with every passing day, such a blockbuster becomes less and less likely. I recall asking my co-hosts on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, John Barr and Curtis Isacke, during this period last summer if it was possible the Kraken would actually head into the 2025-26 season with effectively the same roster as the year before. Surely, they wouldn’t run it back, right?
John predicted that was exactly what they would do, and indeed, that’s ultimately what Seattle did. Once this quiet pocket on the hockey calendar arrived, it became clear that Mason Marchment would remain the biggest get of last summer… and we all know how that turned out.
Now, following big promises being made at end-of-season press conferences, it’s looking like the Kraken—after acquiring Mackie Samoskevich, re-signing Bobby McMann, letting Jaden Schwartz, Jamie Oleksiak, and Eeli Tolvanen walk, and taking a painfully public rejection from Jason Robertson—could be all but done altering their roster for next season.
Seattle crumbled in spectacular fashion after the Olympic break in 2025-26 and finished well outside the playoff bubble. After that collapse, it was clear that personnel improvements were needed to get the Kraken into the postseason conversation for 2026-27. Has that happened? Or have they actually gotten worse this offseason?
Improvement or decline?
Whether general manager Jason Botterill has actually improved his club this offseason is hard to say. He was smart not to blow a bunch of his abundant cap space on marginal free agents, but the trade market didn’t work out the way many of us expected and hoped.
On paper, the Kraken lost three veteran players in Oleksiak, Schwartz, and Tolvanen, assuming Tolvanen’s time in Seattle is done. At this point, the 27-year-old Finn remains an unsigned, unrestricted free agent, so he could theoretically return if the Kraken wanted him back. But we will assume here that the Goodship Tolvy has sailed.
To backfill those departures, Seattle added only Samoskevich and 6-foot-9 depth forward Curtis Douglas. What all that amounts to is essentially a wash in terms of offensive production.
Now, Samoskevich could be a great fit. He played down the lineup in his first two full NHL seasons with the Florida Panthers and averaged just 14:28 of ice time last season. At 23 years old, a reunion with his old University of Michigan buddy, Matty Beniers, coupled with an opportunity to play true top-six minutes, could result in a nice boost from his 31 points (15-16—31) in 2024-25 and 32 points (12-20—32) in 2025-26. There is real upside there.
Is the young Samoskevich better than a 34-year-old Jaden Schwartz? I would say yes, although Schwartz was one of the few players in deep sea blue who was consistently willing to go to the dirty areas. Still, call it a slight upgrade from an older veteran to a younger, speedier winger just reaching his prime.
The other piece to remember is that after McMann’s acquisition at the NHL Trade Deadline, Schwartz ended up playing way down the lineup, dropping as low as the fourth line on some nights. Not only did he seem ready to move on, but his fit in the lineup had also become muddied after his return from a scary facial injury—he was clipped in the face by a skate on March 7—that kept him out for a month late in the season.
Schwartz was a good soldier and an impactful player from Day 1 of the franchise, but it was time for the Kraken to let him walk.
As for a Tolvanen replacement, that will almost surely have to come from within. Assuming no other trades before the start of the season, Botterill is banking on young players like Ryan Winterton, Jacob Melanson, Berkly Catton, and others in the system to take additional steps. He has said publicly that he does not want to add a bunch of depth players to block the youngsters out of the lineup.
On the back end, Oleksiak certainly had his fair share of detractors within the Kraken fanbase, so many folks were fine to see him head across the border to sign with the Vancouver Canucks. I, too, got frustrated with Oleksiak’s long stretches of non-physically imposing play—he could truly be a dominant and scary defensive force if he wanted to—but I always thought he was a bit underappreciated by fans. He played hard minutes, blocked shots, and used his long reach to make it difficult for opponents to get to the front of Seattle’s net.
Oleksiak’s role and Lane Lambert’s trust in him certainly eroded as last season went on, though, so it was time for him to move on. What concerns me is that there isn’t an obvious “shutdown” defensive replacement waiting in the wings. It looks like one of Cale Fleury or Josh Mahura will get a more regular role in 2026-27, after each played 23 games for the Kraken last season.
The Bobby McMann X-factor
McMann’s impact on this team’s outlook is perplexing. He ended up being an incredible acquisition for Botterill, potting 10 goals in just 18 games as a Kraken and totaling 29 goals in 78 games between Toronto and Seattle. Botterill said his main priority this offseason was extending McMann, and he was able to bring the speedy winger back for six years at a reasonable $5.75 million annual cap hit.
But why did the Kraken spiral into a pit of misery after McMann arrived? It certainly wasn’t his fault, but something happened after the Olympic break that caused nearly every other player in the room to lose confidence.
Perhaps the summer will give those players an opportunity to reset and clear the negative vibes that were permeating through the dressing room in the closing weeks of the season. And perhaps having McMann around from the start will give him a chance to play some winning hockey in Seattle for a change, something he has yet to experience.
Outstanding business
There are still rumors floating around that the Kraken could be looking to add a player before the start of the season, and let’s not forget that the Shane Wright situation has not been resolved. He has requested a trade and remains on the Kraken roster at this point. Meanwhile, we’re heading into the final seasons of Jared McCann’s and Vince Dunn’s respective contracts. Trading either or both still makes sense, but it feels like we’re past that point in the offseason.
By the way, McCann still posted 20 goals despite ongoing injury woes that limited him to just 52 games in 2025-26. Assuming he is here for the full season (and he did have a procedure done immediately following the end of the season, so perhaps he gets back to full health), could we see a bounce-back campaign from him as he looks for one more big payday?
I say all this as a reminder that it is not set in stone that this is how the Kraken will begin the season. But if I had to guess, this is how the lineup will look on Opening Night.
How to feel about Seattle’s chances
I’ve mostly felt pessimistic about the way things have gone for the Kraken front office this offseason, most notably with Robertson’s rebuff and Wright’s trade request. But I also remember that this team was firmly in a playoff spot at the beginning of February before faceplanting down the stretch.
So, while that pessimism gnaws away at the front of my mind, I also can’t help feeling little tinges of optimism in the back of my mind that perhaps this young group will learn from what caused things to go sideways late in the year. Maybe Lambert can get them to believe in themselves again, and those painful lessons of 2025-26 will help the players see it through and reach the postseason.
That does feel like a long shot, though, doesn’t it?
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.
This team is still in the process of figuring out what the core of players is around which to build and improve. We probably thought Shane Wright was a piece, but he may not be. Adding Mackie Samoskevich is probably a bigger deal than most fans realize, because he could be a very key piece. Just find the video of Sam Bennett gushing about how much he likes playing with him. Also looking like a steal for the Kraken after Sillinger signed for 3 x 4.6m. Who are the others? Obviously Matty is in there. Catton looks promising. Kakko? Evans? O’Brien? Miettinen?Obviously, the team is trying to make room for another young player to step up and prove themselves, or maybe anticipates bringing in someone else like Samoskevich. Maybe a Kent Johnson? We are probably in a 5-year window before really being competitive. Kakko would be 30. Matty will be 28. Catton will be 24. McCann would be 35, which isn’t crazy on a contending team if he stayed. Reid and anyone we draft after this point will only be 23 or younger. There aren’t many championship caliber teams with more than one 23 or under player.
Adding McMann and Samoskevich (and maybe even Douglas) while moving on from Oleksiak, Tolvi and Schwartz are actually fairly significant changes. Next wave out are Eberle, Larsson, Lindgren and Gaudreau. Possibly also Dunn. Who is replacing them? it’s interesting Kraken still have $18m+ cap space and there could still be some big moves coming around the league in the offseason. What are Fantilli and Gauthier getting, and how do ANA and CBJ accommodate?
I agree with you on everything but the window. 5 years would be a full rebuild, not a steadily improving prospect pool which is where we’re at. Unless your definition for competitive is one of the 6 teams realistically challenging for a cup. If so, I think that’s a poor metric to use overall
No the karken haven’t improved themselves they are not even close to being a championship team they are light year’s away from being a great team like Colorado and Carolina and Dallas team’s like that they are probably maybe 5 to 10 year’s away with Jason being a very great team
This team is, unfortunately, lost at sea. I find it funny to listen to the SoH podcast these days because John in particular is so incredibly optimistic about this team and it’s chances. Indeed just looking at this article it was easy to predict how it turned out – if Curtis wrote it, it would have been “No, they’re not better”. If John wrote it it would have been “Hey they have a great chance to be better!” and Darren wrote it with the predictable “Maybe, let’s wait and see”.
Why do no free agents want to come here? Because it’s pretty blindly obvious that nothing is going to happen in this market for at least a decade. It’ll take another 3 or 4 years for current management to be washed out, another 3 or 4 years after that to truly bottom out and attain top end talent from some top 3 picks in the draft, and then a final 3 or 4 years to actually build into something resembling a contender. If you’re a free agent chasing a cup now, would you want to come here and live through that? I’m actually impressed that Shane stuck it out as long as he did – I hope he does leave and finds better success elsewhere. I can see why somebody like Matty doesn’t ask out – he’s a first line center here! Do we think he’s even a second line center on an actual good team? Probably just a third liner?
We’re not “one player” away. Managing to actually sign a big name player (whether it was Panarin, Robertson, or the current name-du-jour Fantilli) is not going to appreciably move the needle. I think the players know that. Ownership seemingly doesn’t. At least not yet anyway. Maybe in another 3 or 4 years…
I would change your name to “EnjoysBeingPessimistic.” Just because Panarin only wants to play in a big name market to impress his Russian friends back home (and thank goodness that didn’t work out) and Robertson obviously only wants to play in Dallas, doesn’t mean free agents don’t want to sign in Seattle. In fact, the opposite is true. McMann, McCann, Eberle, Larsson, Dunn, Montour, Stephenson, Daccord all signed contracts to play here, and Tolvi, Schwartz and Oleksiak probably would have if offered. You will probably argue something stupid like “oh, but they all suck!” But of course you would be ignoring a bunch of other facts, like other teams wanted these players, the GM of EDM was shocked Larsson signed a deal to play in Seattle, assuming he would just want to re-sign in EDM, etc etc.
Most people have never built anything meaningful or valuable in their lives, so I don’t blame them for not understanding the challenges. The small percentage of people who do it like the challenge, but unfortunately take a lot of shit from the vast majority of losers who for some reason try to convince themselves they know better.
Seattle G did a good job of picking apart a lot of this but I’ll add some more.
Your assertion that signing a 30 goal scorer doesn’t move the needle is, frankly, idiotic. You’re instantly a playoff team which ties into your other comment about FAs… they aren’t rolling into the team because we’re not winning. Winning solves everything. It’s also not true that FAs don’t want to sign. Your examples of Robertson and Panarin were both players who had no intention of going anywhere but where they ended up.
Your comments about Shane also seem to show ignorance to Shane’s actual situation. His entire problem is between his ears. The pod has already given you all the data you should need to invalidate your world view (the team giving him all the opportunities they can).
As for Matty, cmon man. Third liner?
here here on the 30 goal scorer point. how many games (once you knock off the empty netters) did this team lose by one goal last year? A LOT. a pure scorer on this team who has that extra gear the big ticket players have could move the needle enough to account for 5-10 more wins over the course of a season. 5 more wins last year has them knocking on the door 10 has them in the above the oilers points wise (assuming there were 5 ot games worth of loser points to carry over against the 20 points from 10 wins).
matty needs to be a 30 goal scorer this season and he has it in him, cattons numbers should get a bump if hes been putting on muscle this off season. i dont really know whats going to happen this season but im ok with it either way. i see the youth and i think theyve drafted as well as they could have. if the year takes a nose dive flipping mccann and dunn to contenders for picks will help going into 2027.
I belive there’s still time this offseason for one more move.
For example, Darren Ferris was recently on the PuckPedia podcast talking about the Philip Broberg offer sheet. He pointed out that didn’t get signed until August because they needed to wait for the second buyout window to close so they could limit Edmonton’s options for matching.
With all the smoke still swirling around Columbus, it’s hard to be sure exactly what could happen there. As I understand it, with Cole Sillinger having filed for arbitration, even though he reached an agreement the Bluejackets they will still have a second 48 hour buyout window. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some movement following that… Krill Marchenko’s name keeps getting floated out there.
53 days until puck drop.
Go Kraken!!!
marchenko would be a good pick up
I think the biggest issue is whether their systems will be better this year, they were abysmal on the PK which was shocking considering Lambert was known for his excellent PK systems as n assistant coach, and their PP wasn’t very good either. I think if we can see Lambert implement the core defensive systems he is known for that in itself will go a long way towards improving their chances. And Joey Daccord had a really off year last season, if he returns to form that will be big as well, but he needs defensive support and the team to come together to play a full 200 foot game.
Your D pairs definitely sound like what we expect to see, they have a nice balance between offensive and defensive partners in the Top 4, although we are still hoping Evans will make the jump into the Top 4, but it is hard to compete with a veteran like Lindgren. And Fleury of course can swap into the 3rd pairing as needed, another right shot, he is just a bit inconsistent.
Up front I really like when they had Kakko (and Nyman) with Beniers in the spring two seasons ago, so I wouldn’t mind seeing them reunited (or Catton in place of Nyman since he may be back in the AHL), but I can understand if they want him to have more veteran linemates. But I think they should go with Samoskevich as the top line, as you said he has familiarity playing with Beniers and potential to shine in a top 6 role. This would allow McCann and Eberle to stay together, they are probably the most defensively responsible two-way wingers so they would work well as and 2nd pairing shutdown unit. One would expect Stephenson to center them, but he has struggled a bit defensively in a top 6 role, and part of Wright wanting to be traded is that he wants top 6 minutes, so maybe swap them allowing Stephenson to play slightly easier 3rd line minutes while mentoring the youngsters. The 4th line is pretty much as expected, although we are still waiting for Melanson to re-sign, so if he doesn’t then Nyman would end up being the extra. And Douglas, I don’t understand why they felt they needed an enforcer type on the roster…
Stephenson’s “struggles” are being distorted by him having to take so many D draws because Shane just can’t. I still think you’d rather someone else center a second line but I don’t think it’s as bad as the stats would make it look.
Last season only one forward in the entire league, Chandler Stephenson, was on the ice for more than 800 combined 5v5 d-zone starts and faceoffs (848). Michael Backlund was secomd at 763. Only four forwards in the entire league had over 700 combined and third on the list, at 746, was Kraken teammate Freddie Gaudreau.
It’s really hard to overstate just how sheltered Wright’s minutes have been. In all situations last season, of the 374 forwards who played 600+ minutes, no one had a lower goals against per 60 than Shane Wright at 1.64. Is he that good defensively, or maybe getting 70% and 80% of his draws and starts, respectively, in the o-zone helped.
Back to Stephenson…
In all situations only three forwards in the entire league were on the ice for more goals against than Chandler Stephenson’s 100… Kyle Connor (109), Alex Wennberg (107), and Mika Zibanejad (102). At 5v5, however, his 47 goals against is tied for 76th in the league. Almost half of the on-ice goals against Stephenson (46/100) came either on the PK or with an empty net.
You’re truly the best kind of nerd. Im way too lazy to do stat pulls for people.
I wonder if the sheltering of Wright is less about his play in the d-zone and more about how terrible he is at faceoffs. Stephenson is by far our best faceoff guy and Wright is the worst. Matty has progressed his draws but Wright got worse last season. Matty putting on some bulk will benefit him there – so I was glad to hear in his chiclets interview that his offseason priority was packing on the pounds.
Moving Wright to the wing would allow LL to deploy him in more situations and he may prove to be more effective there. He doesn’t seem to be a terrible liability while playing on the D zone. I didn’t notice as many atrocious turnovers as Catton had and don’t recall many bad penalties (Catton was noticeable for dumb hooking calls).
I am intrigued by the idea of a line of McMann/Matty/Mackie. That would put a lot of speed together on a line. It would be the first time the kraken roll out a line that could really push the pace with all skaters. Sadly our 4th line doesn’t seem to have much identity other than an attempt to be a 3b line. Melanson and Douglas paired together would at least be a lot of fun to watch even if they don’t put up points and may give teams pause before taking liberties.
Little bit of column a and a little bit of column b. Losing the draw in the D zone when you’re already struggling in the d zone isn’t a recipe for success.
Since you brought up Backlund, let’s compare. He was one of the closest matches I found for Stephenson’s deployment, though nothing is ever exact.
Backlund: 2.17 GF/60, 2.53 xGF/60, 5.04 OZS/60, 12.41 OZF/60
Stephenson: 1.92 GF/60, 2.00 xGF/60, 8.17 OZS/60, 13.93 OZF/60
Backlund: 2.17 GA/60, 2.85 xGA/60, 14.63 DZS/60, 26.71 DZF/60
Stephenson: 2.58 GA/60, 3.75 xGA/60, 16.67 DZS/60, 29.83 DZF/60
Backlund: 50.00% GF, 47.04% xGF
Stephenson: 42.68% GF, 34.74% xGF
Backlund: 74.38% of in-zone starts in the DZ, 68.28% of in-zone FOs in the DZ (does not include NZ or on-the-fly)
Stephenson: 67.11% of in-zone starts in the DZ, 68.17% of in-zone FOs in the DZ
All numbers 5v5, from Evolving Hockey.
I do not believe that Stephenson’s deployment fully excuses his performance, although it’s obviously a contributing factor. He does not seem particularly well suited for the role he’s being asked to play.
I am also not convinced that it was a net positive for the team to use this deployment. Compare the results from 25-26 to those from the previous year, when their deployments were much less extreme. Some of this is certainly the result of differences in systems/roster and fluctuations in things like shooting percentage, but I don’t understand the narrative that Stephenson absolutely had to be deployed this way because Wright isn’t capable of playing NHL minutes and never has been.
Average across both players’ 5v5 minutes, weighted by ice time
24-25: 1985.6 TOI, 2.84 GF/60, 2.84 GA/60, 50.00 GF%, 2.11 xGF/60, 2.97 xGA/60, 41.56 xGF%
25-26: 1961.0 TOI, 1.99 GF/60, 2.17 GA/60, 47.79 GF%, 2.26 xGF/60, 3.26 xGA/60, 40.98 xGF%
And to compare deployments,
24-25
Stephenson: 1068.4 TOI, 9.94 OZS/60, 10.89 DZS/60, 18.36 OZF/60, 22.58 DZF/60, 52.28% DZS, 55.15% DZF
Wright: 917.2 TOI, 8.96 OZS/60, 8.24 DZS/60, 18.25 OZF/60, 17.47 DZF/60, 47.91% DZS, 48.91% DZF
25-26
Stephenson: 1094.1 TOI, 8.17 OZS/60, 16.67 DZS/60, 13.93 OZF/60, 29.83 DZF/60, 67.11% DZS, 68.17% DZF
Wright: 866.9 TOI, 13.98 OZS/60, 4.15 DZS/60, 21.94 OZF/60, 11.07 DZF/60, 22.89% DZS, 33.54% DZF
No one is saying Shane is incapable of playing NHL minutes. Hes real bad at faceoffs and makes some absolutely brutal turnovers getting out of the zone making it extremely hard for a coach to decide to start him in the D zone hence his usage. Shane has complete control over his faceoff numbers and has his entire career. Thats something easy to work on in the offseason and yet he isn’t getting meaningfully better.
I completely agree, I do not think Stephenson is particularly well suited for the role he is being asked to play. Also, Mikael Backlund is absolutely the best comp for Stephenson right now. Charlie Coyle is another one, but Backlund is the one I’ve looked at the most for a long time.
Backlund gets the same “turd sandwich” Stephenson gets when it comes to starts and faceoffs but he somehow makes it into a tasty meal it would seem. He managed an impressive 52.63 goals for percentage at 5v5 even tough he got dumped in his own end a lot. At least that’s how it was going until they traded away Nazem Kadri and his 41.56 GF%. I think it’s safe to say who was getting the tougher matchups there.
After the Flames shipped Naz to Colorado, Backlund’s GF% plummeted to 43.48 even though his shooting percentage jumped from 6.48% to 14.29%. These numbers are strikingly similar to Stephenson’s 42.68% and 14.81%.
Stephenson, Backlund, Coyle… none of these guys are No.1 centers. As far as how this affects Shane Wright – Stephenson’s 5v5 ice-time didn’t change one second from Bylsma to Lambert. It was exactly 13:40 under each. Wright’s down just six seconds a game under Lambert to 11:36. There has, however, been significantly less time on the improved power-play for Shane.
Unfortunately, they don’t have the difference-maker they need to push everyone down into the role they belong in. It’s been said, “they’re not one player away” and I believe that’s true to some degree. But adding the right player at the top would improve half the forward group by allowing them to play where they belong. I think there was hope that player would be Wright when they drafted him – and even when they signed Stephenson – but to me it’s seeming more and more each day that’s not going to happen.
An as yet unmentioned point, I think we really need to find Matty a long term wingmate and allow Eberle to age out. Kakko showed promise when acquired tho was then injured to start the season and never got a look. Mackie could be that piece, especially given they have history too.
That then frees Eberle to mentor Wright. He has done so with Beniers to great effect and I really think the lack of an equivalent veteran mainstay on his wing has been detrimental for Shane.
So I largely agree with TKNoodle’s lines, tho not the same deployment pattern, at least not to start the season.
My hesitation is that leaves a combo of Catton-Stephenson-Kakko who were not effective last season.
Aside from our musings, the fact we have no settled line combos entering the 6th season is perhaps the most concerning part of the way the roster has developed thus far. Truly effective top lines gel together over multiple years, and we haven’t even taken the first step down that path.
IDK it’s not looking to good without a definitive offensive shooter on board. Unless there’s someone in the prospect pool we haven’t heard about, the season has the potential to be ugly.
Sounds like Edzo is stepping down from the KHN to devote more time at home. He will continue to do games on TNT.
Some did not care much for him, but I enjoyed his insight and the back and forth he had with John Forslund.
Eddie-O would drive me crazy!… but you’re absolutely right about him and Forslund. Those two going back and fourth was gold and I really think it’s gonna be hard to find such a perfect foil. For John’s sake I hope they can keep it fun in the booth because he is hands down the best in the business and always, always makes it fun to watch.
So long Edzo… thanks for the laughs.
ill never hear him scream “THERES TOO MANY MEN ON THE ICE JOHNNY” on the kraken broadcast again, breaks my heart.
joking aside ill miss Edzo a lot, him and john are hilarious together and do a great job killing dull stretches of hockey.
I’m glad Jason is pivoting the strategy through this re-tool. Having $18.4 million available right now provides strong leverage. Expect some trades soon, unless ownership handed down a payroll reduction mandate like we’re seeing with the Canucks. Having Vincent gives us a safety valve as Lambert’s leash is shorter than we might think.
Clearly there’s no payroll mandate when they offered Robertson 15 mil
I feel similar about the Vincent hire – if the team doesn’t produce before Thanksgiving, I can see Lambert getting the axe in favor of Vincent. I also feel somewhat the same about Botterill/Allvin, but I’ll give that a little more time (at least until the New Year).
I am glad that Darren pointed out that Oleksiak blocked a crazy lot of shots last season. He really took more than a few for the team. Everybody is talking about goal-scoring, but defense is the real concern to me. Now that Oleksiak has moved a few miles north, there is really nobody apart from Adam Larsson and Vince Dunn among the defensemen who I would want playing on a penalty kill line. Garth has top-four skill, no doubt. Montour is a play-driver and great in transition. Lindgren is every inch as fearless as Oleksiak is. None of them is good at roving the circles and shutting down shooting lanes like Oleksiak is. What really worries me is that teams will discover that they can sauce the puck cross-crease at will whenever Dunn and Larsson are not on the ice and make Daccord and Grubauer look like they are playing goalie in NHL ’94 all year.
And god help us next season if they can’t get Dunn to re-sign. Top-pairing defensemen are not found easily, and Seattle got really fortunate to find Vince Dunn stuck on the Blues’ third pairing. There is likely nobody comparable who will be available between the next trade deadline and the day Chase Reid turns twenty-six. And if Adam Larsson starts to show his age soon, the blue line could get real ugly real fast. But that is a problem for another day.
Now for some positivity. There is no place for the penalty kill to go but up. It was absurd that a penalty kill on a team with with Dunn and Larsson, Freddy Gaudreau, and Chandler Stephenson would perform so catastrophically down the stretch. I expect some changes among the assistants to put things back in order. Two big collapses in one year screams “coaching problem.” PK2 does worry me, though. Who can be expected to play well there? Maybe Jared McCann, Cale Fleury, Ryan Lindgren, and… Shane Wright? Boy, wouldn’t that be a development! Hey, Lambert said his defensive game has gotten better. Maybe give the kid a chance to showcase it. I wonder if Wright would go for that. I wonder if it would not be a disaster.
Speaking of which, one big hope for the upcoming season is that there will be no reason to shelter Shane Wright anymore. If he is going to be traded, there is no point in going easy on him, and if he is going to stay he had better get comfortable quickly. Wright is probably going to blow his share of assignments, but it would be better than sticking Chandler Stephenson and a good scoring winger like Jared McCann or Ryan Winterton in the defensive zone all night. Even if that means that Wright will not score any more goals than he did this past season, the Stephenson line will score more goals. We rarely get the chance to see it, but he is kind of good on offense (remember that fastest overtime goal in NHL history?), and nothing needs to be said about Jared McCann’s offensive skill. I do not want to see McCann playing defense all night even though he can. More advantageous deployment alone may account for a significant uptick in points even given the loss of Jaden Schwartz and Eeli Tolvannen.
This is how the Kraken lose fans. They can’t make any moves and it all becomes irrelevant. You guys are likely pulling more stats than Botterill.
I also noticed that Darren is starting to sound as pessimistic as myself! Or maybe we’re just realists? Yea, that!
Thanks Darren. Great article! And great insight from you fans! Ain’t hockey great? Go Kraken!!
i wouldnt mine them just swapping wright into 2nd line center and letting him sink or swim. let him blow defensive zone draws, let him get trapped in the zone and struggle. when you can take him to the film room and definitively say “the other 4 guys are covering their positions and youre here, losing battles, weak clearing attempts, bad passes out of the zone, blown assignments” night after night either he will pick his head up and get it right or will accept moving to the wing, or can go to coachella for the rest of the season until his ELC runs out and we trade his rights. i expect a 50+ point campaign out of him assuming he stays healthy this year because this is a prove it year. this year will determine his money and his trade destination if thats the direction it goes. hoping he finds that dog in him and gets after it. hope he stays and puts 25 in the net and takes his place as the 2C.
mccann and eberle or mccann and mackie with wright. lets see it for 10 games.
How can you expect him to elevate his game when he’s already such an alpha male?
reality can be a cold glass of water in the face. he thinks hes the man, put him in the position he thinks he deserves. i know theyve juggled him around and i know theyve sheltered him. the tape doesnt lie. start him 2nd line for 10 games and dont juggle lines, show him his warts and then lay out options. imrpove, slide to wing or healthy scratch/coachella until they find an appropriate trade partner. it applies a different kind of pressure where he isnt being coddled, maybe he stays a lump of coal maybe he turns into the gem everyone thought hed be.
i hope that line about him seeing himself as an alpha is some nonsense internet slop. having these numbers and metrics and insisting that is delusional at this stage.
To me, his actions speak volumes. Requesting a trade when you can see the metrics and in theory know you’ve failed to deliver is a sign of a kid with an ego who doesn’t get it
i mean, i agree. its sensible to assume that, but through experience with my own kids sometimes they think they know better and deserve certain things. easiest way to break that train of thinking is to go ahead and give them the opportunity to surprise you and when they dont go back through it and show them what they were doing wrong. on top of, it could be enough that hes just fussy about being 3C and left his effort in the locker room, but that is very untypical for the average hockey player. its all speculation on my part, but assuming he has something to play for (contract or trade or both) if he makes it to the beginning of the season on this roster i hope to see a marked improvement.
at least in this scenario lambert and botterill can say “we moved you up and you still didnt move the needle, now its time to make a decision. right wing, 3C, Coachella. pick one.”
i realize my idea is not a great way to run a hockey organization, but it throws shane in the deep end and gives everyone the best look at whether they move on or not.
im with you on throwing him into the fire but it would cause absolute mutiny. Lambert preaches accountability. Elevating wright to 2C so he can figure it out is not a move that benefits the team. it benefits him.
Id avoid that and deploy him as he has been deployed. It just blows my mind he cant excel in the 3rd line support scoring role. that should be his bread and butter yet he lets himself and his teammates down time and time again with his sloppy and lose play.
thanks for the read darren. good stuff.
Do they need to get better? No. They need to develop. they wont be good until prime o’brien and reid. thats not for a while folks. in the meantime just enjoy the ride.
Hopefully they’re bottom 10 again this year and get a shot at the lottery again. DuPont anyone?? they will be worse mid year after dunn and mcCann trades. hopefully getting proven NHL talent AND draft capital.
Anyway, heres my read. I see the second line as a shutdown line while the third being a support scoring line.
mcCann, beniers, ebs
mcMann, stephanson, kakko – this line looked great last year. best combination for kakko by farrrrrr. getting him going will be key
catton, wright, mackie – this line needs to chip in. if they do. they’re one goal losses become wins. or OTLs
douglas , gaudreau, winterton
scratch = mely, myers
Dunn, Larsen
lingren, Montour – hopefully they elevate evans. free this man!
evans, D6
scratch = D6/D7
daccord
gru – trade gru but that contract will not allow it.
Who watches CV? I’m just as in interested in CV these days. can we get a dedicated CV correspondent? there’s real talent down there.
We need chandler off the second line, he is a third line player it’s time to face reality. We might not have a better second line option but is honestly rather see catton or wright used more in that roll if we have no other options. Who cares about his face off abilities, just put him out for important draws and send him back to the bench if necessary.
I’m not sure that Grubauer isn’t tradable at this point. Last year of his contract… if he has a season similar to last I’d think a playoff bound team would be happy to take him on as insurance.
Douglas is interesting to me. He’s young and big and was playing for the worst team in the league last season and they didn’t want him back…. Why would the Canucks not want a young big body when they are rebuilding? My thoughts are that melly is going to be our better option on the 4th and it’s very likely Douglas ends up being sent to the farm, you have to be able to skate at an nhl level first and then that big body helps.
Chandler isn’t going anywhere. I don’t get the hate. He’s just a solid nhl player. He does everything with ease and just glides around the ice, always in the right position.
No one on this team deserves the 2C position more than Stephenson. It really is that simple. Wright hasn’t shown it. Catton hasn’t shown it. Who else can we name. McCann? Gudreau? Myers? Winterton. No no no and nope. Non have played to Stephenson caliber. (Yet)
On Gru being traded, I don’t see it happening because of cap constraints playoff teams experience. Just let the guy live out the rest of the contract in SEA and give him the send off he deserves.
Douglas will drop the gloves. He has a place on the 4th line. You don’t sign a guy only to drop him to CV. He’ll remain a scratch at worst. But you’re right, he’s a giant of a man who’s just starting to get his skating legs. I’ve read his skating is continuously improving though.
I actually think they should trade Melly. I don’t think his stock will ever be higher. And with the lengthy contract negotiations I’m guessing he wants term.
He’s just not always in the right position and maybe that’s part of the problem. He’s a capable third liner and that’s it, if he’s on our second line we just aren’t a good team. Never should have been signed he’s just a road block, LL loves his vets and overplays them even if they don’t produce.