The last week and a half have been bonkers for the Kraken and their fledgling fanbase. Thirty players were selected in the Expansion Draft, three of those were traded away, seven prospects were taken in the NHL Entry Draft, and three significant unrestricted free agents were signed. There will come a time in the near future when we will feel the need to analyze and dissect every transaction that involves a Kraken player. But with things happening in such rapid succession, we really haven’t had a chance to take a step back and consider what the Seattle Kraken actually have in their initial roster.
So, let’s give it a gander, shall we?
Projected depth chart
Forwards
Jaden Schwartz – Alex Wennberg – Jordan Eberle
Jared McCann – Yanni Gourde – Calle Jarnkrok
Brandon Tanev – Colin Blackwell – Joonas Donskoi
Morgan Geekie – Mason Appleton – Nathan Bastian
Defense
Mark Giordano – Adam Larsson
Vince Dunn – Jamie Oleksiak
Carson Soucy – Haydn Fleury / Jeremy Lauzon
Goalies
Philipp Grubauer
Chris Driedger
Joey Daccord
—
Vying for spots
Forwards
Alexander True / Luke Henman / Carsen Twarynski / Kole Lind
Defense
Cale Fleury / Will Borgen / Dennis Cholowski
—
Now, this is obviously just our guess at how things will shake out. Yanni Gourde had surgery and is expected to miss a month or two, so already the Kraken may have a spot for a guy like Alexander True out of the gates, though we think more forwards will be added before the season starts.
Impressive at defense and goalie, better than people realize at forward
The depth on defense is impressive. We see Haydn Fleury and Jeremy Lauzon as interchangeable options on the third pair, but both of those guys are legit NHL players who played as many as 25 minutes on a given night this past season. We also list Cale Fleury as being on the outs, but he played 41 games for Montreal as a 22-year-old, so he will get a look in training camp. He’s also a right-shot defenseman, which is valuable, as he is one of just three on the Seattle Kraken roster (Adam Larsson and Will Borgen are the other two).
With Philipp Grubauer taking over the starting spot in the goalcrease and Vitek Vanecek sent back to Washington, the Grubauer/Chris Driedger tandem looks to be one of the better batteries in the NHL. Combined, the duo had a regular-season save percentage of .924 in 2020-21, which legitimately puts Seattle at the top of the league if they both put up comparable numbers. So, with all that, it’s pretty easy to imagine the Kraken being a difficult team against which to score.
“I think our D corps is really good,” Grubauer said on Friday during his media availability. “Forwards too. With [Jaden Schwartz], some experience in the forward section there, so it’s going to be really interesting what system coach puts in place, and we’ve got to find our identity as a team too. The team looks great on paper, but obviously you’ve got to play and create some chemistry, and I think it’s a young team so really looking forward.”
Even with the free agent signings of Schwartz and Alex Wennberg, though, the prevailing theory seems to be that the forward corps is thin and won’t produce enough goals. There is a good group of secondary- and tertiary-type scorers in guys like Gourde, Jared McCann, Calle Jarnkrok, and Joonas Donskoi. That should bring a balanced attack throughout the top three lines, regardless of how head coach Dave Hakstol draws it up. But without high-octane scoring leaders, can Seattle get enough offensive production in a score-by-committee approach?
I’m no data guy, but let’s look at this from a slightly more analytical angle, rather than just straight-up eyeball testing it. The 12 forwards and six defensemen that we have slotted into the above depth chart (let’s assume the last spot on the blue line goes to Haydn Fleury just because he has more NHL experience than Lauzon) combined for 168 total goals in the shortened 2020-21 season. That sounds weak, right?
Well, actually, if the Seattle Kraken had played this past season and those 18 players had made up the entirety of their roster and produced that exact same amount of goals, they would have landed even with the Boston Bruins in a tie for 14th place in the NHL.
That’s an oversimplification because there are myriad factors that we are not taking into account that would skew things in both directions. For example, Wennberg was playing on a very good line with Jonathan Huberdeau and Patric Hornqvist, so perhaps his numbers were skewed up. Schwartz missed 16 games and only managed eight goals after scoring 22 the year before, so we would imagine that his production was skewed down.
The point is that although the first glance may tell you there isn’t enough firepower in the forward group, it does feature a pretty good contingent of guys who consistently score 20+ goals in the NHL. If you put enough of those guys in one lineup, they collectively produce at a pretty good clip.
The below tweet also looks quite nice.
Here is how the WAR roster builder projects the 2022 NHL standings after two days of free agency. pic.twitter.com/2EdHra8aRN
How will intangibles factor into the Seattle Kraken roster?
We also can’t forget about the intangibles. It’s no secret that Ron Francis and company have been focused on finding “character” guys and players who never quit on a play, and they have been successful in this endeavor. How that factors into the team’s success remains to be seen, but things like that do have an impact.
“I think everybody kind of has a little bit of the same makeup,” said Kraken forward Colin Blackwell during a Zoom call with press on Friday. “A lot of guys have talked about just what a good group of character guys it is, and I can’t tell you how far that goes in the game that we play, bringing in a bunch of good guys.”
“The roster is shaping up really well,” Blackwell added. “We’ve got a lot of guys that are kind of like myself, guys that can play up and down the lineup. We’ve got a good mix of some young, really good players, some people that are really hungry and maybe have only played one or two years under their belt but have a lot of potential and can really turn into some great players. You have a great mix there, and it starts with goaltending and the goaltending that we got is really good… So I think the roster is looking awesome. I’m extremely excited about it.”
Will the Kraken be the top-scoring team in the league? Absolutely not. But they’re going to score enough to get by, their defense appears very solid, their goaltending looks outstanding, and their compete level should be quite high. Let’s not forget, there’s still plenty of cap space to add either before or during the season, so Seattle is in a pretty good spot here.
Header photo by Brian Liesse.
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at Sound Of Hockey and the host, producer, and editor of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is an inconsistent beer league goalie who believes that five players have to make a mistake before the puck gets to him. Follow him on Twitter @DarrenFunBrown or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
Newly acquired center Alexander Wennberg was all smiles Thursday morning when he met with the local media. You would be smiling too if you had signed a three-year contract worth $4.5 million a year with the Seattle Kraken the day prior.
The former Florida Panther and Columbus Blue Jacket is excited to join the Kraken and the new experiences that await.
“Who doesn’t want to be a part of a new franchise and feel the atmosphere and feel the fans?” the 26-year-old Swede said. “They’re vibing right now in Seattle so for me it’s really exciting times.”
Wennberg’s addition to the Kraken gives them a solid center who can play in the top six. He played the bulk of last season on Florida’s second line, at center, between Jonathan Huberdeau and Patric Hornqvist.
Seattle general manager Ron Francis said Wednesday that Wennberg would play in the top six for the Kraken as well. Can he step up to take the top center spot? That remains to be seen, but Wennberg is coming off his best goal scoring season and is a strong two-way centerman with good and consistent possession numbers.
“He was the guy that kind of went on the ice and calmed things down, and I think he’s a smart player,” Francis added. “You know, I think he can play in all three zones… (he has) the skill set to play the power play so hopefully last year was just the start for him and he can continue to get better from that moving forward.”
Wennberg was given a better opportunity in Florida than he had in the six previous seasons he played for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
That boosted his confidence and put him on the ice in leveraged situations, in key positions, and allowed him to play close to 20 minutes a game. It’s something that he took advantage of.
“They believed in me, they wanted to play me, and I feel like this just helped me to play my game a little bit better,” Wennberg said about the Panthers. “So, I mean obviously there’s some great players there, playing behind (Aleksander) Barkov, and maybe get some opportunities on the second line. For me I feel like I’m growing my game, last year was way better, and improved my goal scoring as well. I’m looking forward to the challenge and I feel like Seattle believes in me as well and I want to prove it to them.”
He scored 17 times with the Panthers last season, more than he had scored the three previous seasons combined with the Blue Jackets, and shot an incredible 20 percent.
Alex Wennberg is the OT hero for the @FlaPanthers!
That shooting percentage is more than double his career percentage. While its hard to see him keeping that number up, if he can continue the improvement and shoot above his career average of 9 percent, the Kraken will reap the benefits.
“I always work to improve my shot and there’s small details like where you shoot the puck,” he said about his increase in shooting. “Coming to a new team, I had a fresh start. I was really excited for it, and playing with some really good players, that gives you better spots to score. It’s hard to say why but you try to build on it. The confidence right now is good and coming to a new team again you get the same excitement and same feeling again.”
Whether he tops his previous goal mark or not, Wennberg brings more to the table then goal scoring.
His possession numbers are strong. When his line is on the ice, they’ll have the puck more than not. That means strong offensive play but also playing responsibly in his own end, something Wennberg has been consistent in throughout his career.
The Panthers opened up the ice last season which led to chances at both ends – something that cost them in the playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning. But when Wennberg played for a more defensive-oriented Blue Jackets team in 2019-20, Columbus goalies had a .930 save percentage with him on the ice.
Looking at the makeup of Seattle’s roster, it’s more likely they will play sound defense and not open up the ice. That makes Wennberg a valuable center.
“I always want to be a 200-foot player,” Wennberg said. “I want to be an offensive player who can be that threat and really contribute that way, but I feel like the responsibility to play PK and be a solid defensive guy is just as important.”
Wennberg not wasting time getting to Seattle
Wennberg says that he’s never been to Seattle before, but he’s excited to get to the city as soon as possible. He has some visa issues to settle but is hoping to get moved sometime in August.
He’s also excited by the roster that the team has assembled and to play with a couple individuals in particular.
“There’s a couple of Swedes here which it’s always nice to have,” he said. “Adam Larsson is there, I played World Championships with him before. (Calle) Yarnkrok is another Swede so I feel like it’s always nice to have them. In this case, everyone’s new to this team so I feel like it’s gonna be easy to come in. Everyone’s probably looking to get to know each other and get that team building going… it’s going to be exciting to see what we can do in this league.”
Everyone likes a donut, except for maybe on a hockey roster. After the Expansion Draft, the Seattle Kraken were light in the middle, like a donut. The team addressed that hole Wednesday by signing center Alexander Wennberg to a free agent contract.
Wennberg, 26, is listed at 6-foot-2, 197 pounds and is a veteran of 471 NHL games, which includes six seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets and this past year with the Florida Panthers.
“Alexander is coming off of his best goal-scoring season to date and gives us an offensive-minded center down the middle,” Seattle Kraken general manager Ron Francis said Wednesday via press release. “He’s still young and we think he has room to grow even further as he has taken large strides in each of his last few seasons. We like his combination of size and skill and think he will fit well with our group.”
The deal was reportedly a three-year contract coming in at $4.5 million a year.
Who is Wennberg and how will he fit in with the Seattle Kraken?
Alexander Wennberg by the numbers
Last season was indeed Wennberg’s best goal scoring season as he notched 17 goals in 56 games for the Panthers. Over his career, he’s tallied 57 goals, 173 assists, and 230 points.
Can he score at that rate for Seatte?
One potential red flag is that Wennberg’s shooting percentage last year, in the season he set a career high for goals, came on a shooting percentage of 20. That was a career high, far surpassing his average of 9.8 and a huge jump from the 6 and 3 percent he shot the two prior seasons.
If he regresses back towards his career average, expect the goal scoring rate to come down as well.
The good news is that his underlying possession numbers are strong.
At five-on-five he had a positive Fenwick number of 53-percent and his expected goals (xG) number was just above 50 last season. Unlike his shooting, these numbers last year are consistent with his career numbers. His possession numbers have been in the positive for each of the last five seasons.
The possession numbers are made more impressive and encouraging when you consider Wennberg has never been a plus-50 percent faceoff winner in the NHL.
Where does Wennberg fit in Kraken lineup?
Wennberg is still young but is not an elite center. His possession numbers are a positive and he will win shifts, getting the puck into the offensive zone.
Is he a No. 1 center? On a Kraken roster that doesn’t yet have a true and clear top center, Wennberg should be in the mix. Playing Wennberg alongside some finishers like Jordan Eberle, Jaden Schwartz, and Joonas Donskoi – all of whom consistently get shots off and shoot in the teens – could create a productive line.
With Florida last year, most of Wennberg’s minutes were spent playing between Patric Hornqvist and Jonathan Huberdeau, and the trio was one of the Panthers’ top lines. Wennberg definitely benefited from two scoring wingers but managed on his own. In the limited time (three minutes a game) on the ice without both Huberdeau and Hornqvist, he still put up positive possession numbers (53 percent FF) and a xG of 64 percent.
Wennberg won’t carry a line by himself but can be a very complementary center and be productive for the Kraken if deployed properly.
Francis said Wednesday that he sees Wennberg in the top six and praised his defensive play, hockey smarts, and play in all three zones of the ice.
“He was the guy that kind of went on the ice and calm things down and I think he’s a smart player,” Francis added. “You know I think he could play in all three zones… (he has) the skill set to play the powerplay so hopefully last year was just the start for him and he can continue to get better from that moving forward.”
Splish splash, went the Seattle Kraken on the first day of their first-ever NHL free agency period. When the waves of last week’s Expansion Draft calmed into ripples, Seattle had three relatively young goalies in the fold in Chris Driedger, Vitek Vanecek, and Joey Daccord. But the makeup of the team’s goaltending platoon changed dramatically on Wednesday when the Kraken signed the top backstop on the unrestricted free agent market, Philipp Grubauer, to a six-year deal worth north of $35 million.
The 29-year-old Rosenheim, Germany, native was a Vezina Trophy finalist this past season, after putting up outstanding numbers in Colorado. He finished the year with a 30-9-1 record, boasting a 1.95 goals against average and .922 save percentage in 40 games. Those numbers are not an anomaly. Throughout his career, which spans six seasons with the Capitals and three seasons with the Avalanche, his save percentage is an impressive .920 in 214 games. He also won a Stanley Cup with the Capitals in 2018, though he only had a couple of playoff appearances that year, with Braden Holtby getting the vast majority of playing time.
There was plenty of talk prior to the Expansion Draft that the Kraken would select Carey Price and his monster $10.5 million annual cap hit for the next five years. General manager Ron Francis confirmed at the time that he and his staff had seriously considered it, but they ultimately decided it was just too big of an investment. Instead, they went the UFA route to bring in Grubauer, who is four years younger than Price and will cost them $5.9 million against the cap. So, it’s a big contract, but in the context of what Seattle almost had, this is a fair price and term for an elite NHL netminder.
Grubauer is not gigantic by goalie standards at 6-foot-1, 188 pounds, but he plays big in the net. He has quiet feet and reads the play in front of him exceptionally well. With that anticipation, he puts himself in position to make the save just about every time.
“We’re excited to add a goaltender of Philipp’s caliber, especially coming off of a season where he was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy,” Francis said via press release. “He was a part of a Stanley Cup-winning team and has been one of the top goaltenders in the league over the past few seasons, and we’re happy that he chose to join our team.”
Seattle is poised to have a strong blue line in its inaugural season, and with a top-tier netminder playing behind it, this is going to be a hard team against which to score goals. The question remains whether the Kraken will be able to score goals of their own, although they did make a couple more moves on Thursday in adding Jaden Schwartz and Alex Wennberg to address that concern.
Vitek Vanecek traded back to Capitals
Though Francis previously made it sound like he and his staff were very comfortable going into the season with Driedger and Vanecek as their battery, we at Sound Of Hockey had a hunch the team still hoped to add a more veteran goalie either through free agency or trade. Though both of those netminders are promising, it just seemed unlikely that this team would bank so heavily on two players with essentially one full year of NHL experience each and zero years as a true No. 1 starter. Going with that combo was always Plan B.
“We took Vitek Vanacek thinking that he’d be part of our goaltending tandem with Chris Dreidger,” Francis said Wednesday. “I don’t think we expected Grubauer to get to free agency. I think any team would tell you when you’ve got a goaltender that has that experience you’ll sleep a lot better at night.”
The Grubauer signing meant that the Kraken needed to jettison one of their goalies. Driedger just signed a three-year contract and was one of the six players the Kraken trotted out on stage at the Expansion Draft, so they clearly saw him as part of the puzzle. Vanecek would require waivers to get to the AHL, so the Kraken opted to move him and get an asset out of the selection. Remarkably, they are getting a second-round pick in 2023 back from the Capitals, the team from which they snagged him just one week ago.
The #SeaKraken have traded goaltender Vitek Vanecek to the Washington Capitals for a second round pick in the 2023 #NHLDraft.
With Vanecek out, the Kraken still have north of $16 million in cap space. They do need to get Vince Dunn under contract still (we project him in the range of $3 million to $3.5 million), plus perhaps their three other RFA’s, Carsen Twarynski, Dennis Cholowski, and Will Borgen. Those three will likely be on two-way deals, though, so they can be assigned to the AHL and will not count against the cap.
There are likely a lot more moves coming in this condensed offseason, but starting your inaugural campaign with a good blue line, elite goal crease, decent forward group, and more than $10 million in cap space is a pretty good spot for Seattle.
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at Sound Of Hockey and the host, producer, and editor of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is an inconsistent beer league goalie who believes that five players have to make a mistake before the puck gets to him. Follow him on Twitter @DarrenFunBrown or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
Remember when the Expansion Draft happened… like… a year ago? Oh, what? It was last Wednesday? Well, it certainly feels like it happened much longer ago, because so much has transpired for the Seattle Kraken in such a short period of time. In the frenzy of pre-Expansion Draft activity, one particular little nugget of news briefly showed its face before retreating back down into the depths of Lake Union. The Seattle Kraken had apparently had conversations with free agent left wing Jaden Schwartz about signing him and in turn selecting him from the St. Louis Blues. The conversations happened during Seattle’s 48-hour exclusive window in which it could negotiate with unrestricted free agents.
The Kraken had contract talks with pending UFA Jaden Schwartz but ultimately did not sign him during the window which just closed, source confirms. So the Kraken's pick will be another Blues player. Dunn? Tarasenko?@TSNHockey@TheAthletic
Sure enough, the Kraken did circle back with Schwartz, and on Tuesday, the day before free agency officially opens, Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic reported that the deal was done.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the terms of the contract were unknown, but Schwartz is coming off of a five-year deal that carried an annual $5.35 million hit against the salary cap.
What the Kraken have in Jaden Schwartz
With the hockey world clamoring for the Kraken to snag Vladimir Tarasenko and his $7.5 million cap hit in the Expansion Draft, the team resisted and instead selected 24-year-old defenseman Vince Dunn from the Blues.
Why that’s relevant here is that one has to wonder if Schwartz was truly ready to sign with Seattle during its 48-hour exclusive negotiating window, but the team instead opted to have him wait so it could also get Dunn. Whether that’s the case or not, it’s a masterful job by general manager Ron Francis and company to end up with two very valuable pieces from St. Louis instead of one.
So what do the Kraken have in Schwartz? Well, first and foremost, he possesses the “never quit” attitude that Seattle clearly values in the players it has brought in so far. Watch him get in on the forecheck to pry a puck loose, then find a quiet spot in front of the net and bat the cross-crease pass out of the air to give his team a late lead in the 2018-19 opening playoff round against Winnipeg.
That season, when the Blues won the Stanley Cup, Schwartz played an enormous role, potting 12 goals in total and adding eight assists in the postseason. In the below video, you’ll get a good understanding of the types of goals that Schwartz scores. He has a nose for the net, and he’s willing to grind and battle in front to find space. But he also has good puck skills and regularly uses his exceptional hand-eye coordination to find and re-direct pucks.
The 29-year-old Wilcox, Saskatchewan, native remains a fan favorite in St. Louis, and it was interesting to see replies from Blues fans on Twitter Tuesday, who were generally quite angry that the team had reportedly lost Schwartz to the Kraken. That’s typically a good sign. In fact, even the Blues themselves apparently find him to be quite marketable, being that he still adorns the homepage of their website.
Jaden Schwartz by the numbers
In ten total seasons with St. Louis, Schwartz had 154 goals and 231 assists in the regular season, plus 26 goals and 28 assists in the playoffs. His peak offensive output came in 2014-15, when he posted 63 points in 75 games, including 28 goals. Schwartz was drafted No. 14 overall by St. Louis in 2010 after one season with the USHL’s Tri-City Storm. He then played two seasons at Colorado College before turning pro and splitting his first season between the AHL and NHL.
He really emerged as a mainstay in the top six for the Blues in 2013-14 when he erupted for 25 goals and 31 assists. His possession numbers have been good over the course of his career as well (he was a plus player in Corsi for and expected goals for percentages in 2019-20), but those dipped into the minuses in the shortened 2020-21, when he also missed time with injury.
We shall see what the details of the contract are when they are announced (we assume) on Wednesday, but if the Kraken got even a fair deal here, Jaden Schwartz is a great signing that should be a huge factor in the early days of this organization.
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at Sound Of Hockey and the host, producer, and editor of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is an inconsistent beer league goalie who believes that five players have to make a mistake before the puck gets to him. Follow him on Twitter @DarrenFunBrown or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
What a week it was. The Seattle Kraken held an Expansion Draft, participated in an NHL Entry Draft, and signed some UFA’s all in one week. It probably was the busiest week the Kraken will ever experience.
A lot happened, starting with the Expansion Draft held at Gas Works Park.
The anticipation was high thanks to some of the big names that were left exposed to the Kraken. On top of that, the hockey world expected so many side deals that Seattle was going to have a bucket of extra NHL Draft picks – yes, they keep those in buckets.
Well, the party was fun, but we didn’t get big-name vets nor extra draft picks.
That led to the NHL Entry Draft where Seattle had seven picks and selected seven players. Matty Beniers was the prize, and Seattle snapped up a great player up with the No. 2 pick.
When the week ended, the Kraken had a full roster of players, seven new prospects, and a ton of cap space to keep tinkering with the roster. Here’s a look back at the week that was.
Expanding on Kraken Expansion Draft
We didn’t get the side deals we were hoping for, and Ron Francis didn’t spend all his money loading up on veterans with big contracts. In the end, the Kraken went young.
Seattle has two players over 30 years of age – Jordan Eberle (31) and Mark Giordano (37) – and 17 who are 25 or younger. The defense looks solid with Giordano, Adam Larsson, and the big Jamie Oleksiak. Up front there are solid vets like Yanni Gourde, Eberle, Joonas Donskoi, and Jared McCann. Most of the scoring is on the wings, and at first glance, the Kraken are a bit of a donut team – missing centers.
But before we start planning for the 2022 NHL Draft lottery, let’s wait to see the finished product.
“We’ll see what things happen here over the next few months, but you know we like to say this is kind of a snapshot in time,” Francis said following the Expansion Draft at Gas Works Park. “There’s still opportunities. We’re going to draft on Friday night with the second pick overall and we might get a guy that can step into our lineup.
“Then on Monday, you have the qualifying offers that are necessary for restricted free agents and there might be some guys that shake loose. We certainly will be looking at free agency next week and then, you know, as you go through the summer there are teams that have to get cap compliant to start the season. We have some cap space, and we’ll look at taking advantage of that if we can.”
So, not done.
Francis has over $30 million in cap space available to him on Tuesday, the day before NHL free agency opens on Wednesday morning. That doesn’t mean he’s going to go on a shopping spree by throwing money at every top free agent on the market, but there will be additions to the roster.
Only three teams have more cap space and two of them – Detroit and Buffalo – are in serious rebuilds and are unlikely to be big-time buyers this week. Seattle will be able to offer a potential free agent more money than their competitors.
On top of that, the Expansion Draft show at Gas Works demonstrated to the league how amazing Seattle is and how rabid the fans are before one puck has been sent deep. The Kraken should be attractive.
Getting playing time and stepping up
Joining an expansion team means some players will be getting more playing time and will be put in better positions than with their previous teams. Example No. 1 is William Karlsson with the Vegas Golden Knights.
When Vegas selected Karlsson from Columbus, the center had never scored more than nine goals in any season. Year one in Vegas? 43.
That’s not to say that Seattle has a Karlsson sitting on its roster now, but there are some players who could benefit from more minutes in an elevated role.
One player to watch here is Morgan Geekie.
Morgan Geekie has scored everywhere he’s played. (Checkers photo)
Playing mostly in the bottom six on a talented Hurricanes roster last year, the 23-year-old center scored just three times along with six points. But he’s scored every other stop in his career. In junior, with the Tri-City Americans in Kennewick, Geekie had back-to-back 30-plus goal seasons before turning pro.
In the AHL, he has two full seasons with the Charlotte Checkers in which he scored 19 and 22 goals respectively.
He has a chance in Seattle to move up the forward rotation.
Geekie was relegated to just under 10 minutes a game last season and only generated .8 shots per game. But, in the AHL when he was a top-six player in 2019-20 – his best year – he produced 2.34 shots a contest and shot an impressive 17 percent. In his rookie year in the AHL, he shot 20 percent.
The kid can shoot.
Even in his limited role last year in the NHL he shot a healthy 10 percent.
His underlying numbers with the Hurricanes last year are also encouraging as he was a positive possession player and had an expected goal (xG) percentage of 52 percent.
What will his offensive numbers be if he gets 15 or 20 minutes a game with the Kraken?
Matty Ice first-ever Kraken draft pick
There was not a whole lot of drama at the top of Friday’s NHL Draft. Buffalo took Owen Power as nearly every single person predicted, and that cleared Seattle to select Michigan center Matty Beniers.
It’s an exciting pick. Not only is he the first Kraken drafted but he’s a player that checks off a lot of boxes. He can score, play defense, and make his linemates better.
“I think what tipped the scales into his favor is his unbelievable enthusiasm and work ethic,” Kraken director of amateur scouting Robert Kron said. “He’s got a never quit attitude and his energy level is very high at the beginning of the shift or late in the shift. He plays a very strong game in all three zones, and on top of that will show that he’s got incredible offensive upside as well.”
Beniers was also part of history as never before had two teammates gone first and second overall. By the end of the night, Michigan had four players selected over the first five picks. That includes Luke Hughes, who will be a freshman at Michigan next year.
With a loaded lineup, the Wolverines could be favorites to win the Frozen Four. That is, of course, assuming all four guys come back to college which is now the big question for Seattle. Will Beniers sign before the season or return for one more college year and sign with the Kraken in the spring?
“Honestly, I really don’t know what exactly the best thing is for me next year,” Beniers said Friday in the Zoom call with media. “Whether it’s going back or going to play for the Kraken.
“Obviously, I think that’d be really exciting to get to play with the Kraken. I think going back another year to keep building confidence [would be important] … But I think at the end of the day it’s what is the right thing for me to do as a hockey player and as a person?”
You have to love that maturity.
Will Beniers eventually wear a ‘C’?
Leadership is a big thing in hockey and the captain holds a special place within a team. Beniers has been praised by scouts as a leader with the Michigan team.
He was impressive in his press tour after the draft and has ‘future captain’ written all over him. There are different types of leaders. Some will be vocal, with a lot of yelling and screaming and maybe smashing something, while others will lead by example.
Both can be effective if the right guy is in place.
“I’m grateful that other people see me as a leader,” Beniers said. “I think for me it’s just being a guy that people are going to approach. It’s setting the example for other guys, whether it’s off the ice, on the ice, or in the locker room.
“For me, the way I lead I think it’s not as much talking, saying things people already know. It’s kind of going out there and showing them, showing them by example, lead by example, and doing the hard stuff out there. Hopefully, guys will follow, and I think that’s how to build really good team chemistry.”
What a great answer.
Draft day two
If you watched and managed to stay awake during the unbearable length of NHL Draft day two, you saw the Kraken select six more players in rounds two through seven.
Perhaps the most intriguing pick for Seattle came in the third round when the Kraken selected center Ryan Winterton from the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs. The OHL did not play last season due to COVID-19 which meant Winterton had no film or live viewings to impress scouts until he played seven games for Canada at the U18 World Championships.
He did play in 53 games as a 16-year-old for Hamilton in 2019-20 and scored 12 goals and 23 points which are impressive numbers for a rookie in the OHL. It’s one of the more fascinating aspects of this year’s draft as amateur leagues were up and down, shortened, and in Winterton’s case, canceled.
Hamilton rookie Ryan Winterton scores his 10th goal of the season.
But, reading the wrap-ups from the myriad of draft experts, Winterton is a guy that consistently was praised by those that have seen him play as a great pick by the Kraken. So, tune in to some Bulldogs games this coming season.
Best moment of the week that was for the Kraken
There was so much good that went down over the past week in Kraken land. They have a roster and at the Expansion Draft party, there were six actual NHL players wearing actual Kraken jerseys. It doesn’t get much better than that. It’s what we’ve been waiting for.
But, the best moment of the week was witnessed by just a handful of people.
Just prior to the Expansion Draft show starting, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman held a pre-draft media scrum with the local press. The scrum was held behind the stage right at the Lake Union water’s edge. The handful of reporters and television cameras attracted the kayakers and boaters that were out enjoying the sunny weather.
As is tradition, the kayakers booed Bettman. Always willing to play the heel, Bettman turned around and yelled to the booers, “That just proves that you are true hockey fans.” The result? The boos turned to cheers and a ‘Gary!’ chant broke out from the kayakers, paddle boarders, and a nearby boat.
