The uncertainty surrounding the Seattle Kraken American Hockey League affiliate in Palm Springs received clarity Wednesday morning.
As reported by The Desert Sun, Oak View Group’s planned 10,000 seat arena project, which had been delayed indefinitely, is back on albeit in a different location. Rather than being built in downtown Palm Springs the project has been moved north of the city to a location OVG hopes will make it more accessible to the greater Coachella Valley.
The new AHL team was slated to begin play in the upcoming 2021-2022 season but that no longer will be an option as ground breaking of the arena won’t begin until 2021 with a last quarter of 2022 completion target.
Because of that delay, the Kraken will not have a dedicated AHL affiliate in 2021-2022.
“On behalf of David Bonderman and our ownership group we are excited to share this vision of a championship AHL Franchise in a spectacular arena in one of the most beautiful communities,” said Tod Leiweke, CEO of the Seattle Kraken in a press release. “This new arena will offer a great game day experience from parking to puck drop and house a state-of-the-art training center. We will engage our fans in the Valley starting with the Kraken’s launch in 2021 as we sequentially build toward the launch of our AHL franchise.”
Originally, Oak View was going to work with the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians on tribal land in Palm Springs for the arena location.
Groundbreaking was scheduled for this past February but the project was inexplicably delayed – a simple “extenuating circumstances” was the only reason offered by the tribe.
That delay put the project in jeopardy and forced the Kraken, along with OVG, to scramble for options.
“After more than a year of good faith negotiations we were unable to finalize an agreement with the Agua Caliente tribal leaders for OVG to lease, develop and operate the privately funded arena,” said Tim Leiweke, CEO of Oak View Group via a statement.
The Kraken, who are set to play in the 2021-2022 NHL season, will need to have minor league players. Without a dedicated affiliate they will look to lend, or share, an affiliation with an existing AHL team.
Sharing prospects is not a unique situation as the Vegas Golden Knights had players join the independently owned Chicago Wolves in their inaugural season to play alongside prospects of the St. Louis Blues. Chicago became the sole affiliate of the Golden Knights the next year as the Blues reached an agreement with the San Antonio Rampage.
This summer, Vegas bought the Rampage and moved the franchise to Henderson, Nevada and berthed the Henderson Silver Knights who are now the Vegas affiliate.
Just 12 of the AHL’s 31 teams are independently owned and it would reason that it will be one of those 12 teams that Seattle looks to for housing its prospects for the 2021-2022 season. Vegas had 13 players in Chicago for its first season in 2017-2018, three of which were picked up in the expansion draft, two via trade, and the eight remaining were free agent signings.
No details as to a time line for selecting a team, or teams, to share players with was given. Kraken general manager Ron Francis and assistant GM Ricky Olczyk will be tasked with exploring options for their players.
The new Palm Springs Arena is privately funded and a partnership between OVG and the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation. Initially, OVG, received 2,500 season ticket deposits and says that they will honor the deposits as well as offer refunds to anyone who wishes one. The arena will be a 300,000 square-foot project used for hockey and other community activities as well as the AHL team’s practice facility.
Raise your hand if you picked the Dallas Stars as your Western Conference champions at the beginning of the 2019-2020 season.
[Scans room. Sees no hands raised.]
Ok, now raise your hand if you had the Dallas Stars as your Western Conference champions at the beginning of the playoffs.
[Scans room. Sees no hands raised.]
Ok, now raise your hand if you ever once envisioned Anton Khudobin as the catalyst to bringing a team – any team at all – over the hump and into a Stanley Cup Final.
[Scans room. Sees no hands raised.]
There you have it. Scientific proof that nobody saw this coming.
Now, in the interest of fairness, perhaps the collective dismissal of the Stars by the hockey universe was a bit hasty, especially considering that this is a team that did actually win a playoff round in 2018-2019, and pushed the eventual Cup-winning Blues to a seventh game in the second round.
But – and again, this is in the interest of fairness – the core of this team has not been altered in years (by “core” I obviously mean Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin), and since the two-headed monster was born in 2013-2014, Dallas had never gotten beyond the aforementioned second round. This core missed the playoffs completely three times in seven seasons with that two-headed monster leading the way. Heck, this core was referred to as “f***ing horses**t” by team CEO, Jim Lites, to close out the 2018 calendar year.
So why are the Dallas Stars suddenly so great? What’s different this year?
**Editor’s Note: NHLtoSeattle is aware that literally everything in the world is different in 2020, but we’re talking specifically about the Dallas Stars here.**
Well, a lot is different, actually, as apparently there is now more to the Dallas Stars than just Benn, Seguin and Alex Radulov.
Who knew?
VETERAN DEPTH
GM Jim Nill made a series of shrewd moves over the past two seasons to bring in veterans Andrew Cogliano, Blake Comeau, Corey Perry, and – most notably – Joe Pavelski, a consummate playoff performer who has predictably been a beast in this postseason with nine goals and five assists.
Joe Pavelski continues to be an impactful playoff performer with nine goals this postseason.
The problem with this team for the better part of a decade was that it was glaringly top heavy. Central Division fans may remember watching Ken Hitchcock send Seguin, Benn, and Radulov out to get their goals – which they did often get – only to have zero secondary or tertiary attack to support them night after night.
Teams with effective checking lines could easily run them out against that top trio, and if they were successful in shutting down the big three, then the game was all but won. Now, with these reliable veterans sprinkled through the second, third, and fourth lines, “easy to check” simply isn’t in this team’s identity anymore.
Individually, none of those acquisitions would have moved the needle enough to get this team to the promised land, but as a whole, the addition of this veteran depth has had a profound impact.
YOUNG GUNS
Fans of the Central may also remember that while there wasn’t much veteran depth in the lineup a couple of years ago, there were some decent young players that looked to be developing positively, with John Klingberg already standing out on the blueline. Well, fast forward, and now Miro Heiskanen has emerged as another one of the best young defensemen in the NHL, while up front, Denis Gurianov and Roope Hintz appear to be superstars in the making.
Both still just 23 years old, Gurianov and Hintz combined for 39 tallies during the regular season, and have continued contributing in the postseason. Gurianov has notched some of the biggest goals in franchise history (nine in all, plus eight assists in 21 games) to help propel this club into the Final.
You know I had to do it. The Denis Gurianov postseason scoring reel. Guy is so freakin fun to watch pic.twitter.com/VVWiDlL26m
Below, take a look at a Stars line-up from 2018-2019 (left) versus the current Stars line-up (right), according to DailyFaceoff.com. While many of the main characters are still around, it’s the supporting cast that has quietly evolved and developed, and this has made all the difference in Dallas.
“INTERIM” COACH
Meanwhile, you have a lovable “interim” head coach in Rick Bowness, who Nill has indicated will return next year, as the second-biggest no-brainer coaching hire in recent history behind Craig Berube.
The long-time journeyman benchboss has been everywhere, and comically quipped to NBC Sports recently that when his team faced Calgary in the first round, “It was one of the few teams in the league that I had never coached any of their players.” Bowness brought a 123-289-51 career record to the table at the time of his promotion in December, but turned in an impressive 20-13-5 before the NHL’s March shutdown, and is 12-8 in these playoffs.
Now at the precipice of head coaching greatness for the first time in his 30-year career, Bowness has had a positive impact on countless players over the years, and his jovial spirit certainly seems to be rubbing off on his current squad.
Ben Bishop was the big free agent splash signing three years ago, and if the Stars were going to make it to a Stanley Cup Final, it would certainly be him that would lead them there, right?
[Thick Russian accent]: “Not so fast, silly American.”
Though unorthodox in playing style, Anton Khudobin has always been an effective back-up netminder, with a solid 2.46 GAA and .919 save percentage in 218 career games played. He’s the kind of guy that every team loves to have around, because you can throw him in net on any given night – even when he isn’t expecting to play – and he’ll still give you a chance to win that’s at least close to what the starter would have provided. And heck, if the starter goes down with a significant injury, Khodobin could even take the reins for a few consecutive games and pick up some wins in the process.
That’s exactly what has happened in these playoffs, and not only has Khudobin taken the reins with Bishop on the shelf since the first round, he’s been the biggest reason that Dallas now has an opportunity to hoist hockey’s greatest prize.
Dobby has been so good that he may have finally played himself into a starting role with another franchise when his contract ends after this next series.
—-
The Stars have caught lighting in a bottle, which is ironic, because they could face the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Final. Everything is going right for this team right now, as it seeks its second Cup in franchise history, from the coach to the veterans to the young players to the quirky career backup netminder, who just happens to be on fire at exactly the right time.
Maybe these guys aren’t f***ing horses***t after all.
It happened again… Darren has experienced more travel woes – this time wildfire related – and he is back to share about it in “Storytime with Darren” to start the show.
Tons of goalie talk in this episode, as John, Andy, and Darren consider the offseason implications on Seattle, especially after that landscape has dramatically changed during these playoffs. Read this article that John wrote to bring yourself up to speed.
Also, some talk about the NHL awards that have been announced, and a WHL Update from our WHL Correspondent, Andy Eide.
Segments this week include Goalie Gear Corner featuring this and this, Let’s Get Quizzical, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
For most of the 2019-2020 regular season it seemed as if the hockey pundits had already identified the Seattle Kraken expansion draft goalies and it felt like we had a firm grip on who we should expect Seattle to announce at next summer’s expansion draft. The consensus was that Seattle would select Antti Raanta from Arizona, Matt Murray or Tristan Jarry from Pittsburgh, and a young goalie from Vancouver named Thatcher Demko. That would have been a solid 1a/1b with Raanta and Murray and a goaltender of the future with Thatcher Demko.
In just a few months, that scenario has almost completely blow up:
It has been reported that the Arizona Coyotes could be moving their #1 goalie in Darcy Kuemper, thus opening the door for the Coyotes to protect Antti Raanta in the expansion draft. (thought #7)
Thatcher Demko may have played himself into a starting goalie position in Vancouver casting some doubt if resigning pending UFA Jacob Markstrom is really necessary with the salary cap crunch coming around the bend with pending RFAs Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes in 2021.
The goalie landscape is about to change dramatically, and it will all impact Seattle. It should be a very interesting off season so let us start at the top with the UFAs (Unrestricted Free Agents).
Robin Lehner and Jacob Markstrom could certainly re-sign with their respective teams and, in the case with Markstrom, it will certainly create an interesting dilemma on who Vancouver would protect in the expansion draft. It could create a side deal scenario where Vancouver offers something else up that sweetens the pot for Seattle to take someone else in the expansion draft in lieu of Demko or Markstrom.
Braden Holtby is a little more nuanced. By Holtby’s standards, this was a down year. Teams on the market might think this is the start of the decline or just an off year. Either way, he will land on his feet somewhere and it might be on a team that already has a starting goalie for a platooning situation.
Seattle Impact: Wherever these 3 land, they will probably be protected by their respective teams in next year’s expansion draft. Of course, if they are protected, that means someone else in their teams’ goalie depth charts will be exposed.
All 4 of these guys are over 33 and will likely land somewhere in another tag-team goalie scenario for the 2020-21 season.
Seattle Impact: Minimal. All 4 of these guys could have a good year next year and because of their age, they could all be exposed. If exposed and they continue to put up decent numbers for the 2020-21 season, Seattle might consider one of these guys to share the work with another starting goaltender.
Trade Bait
I am not making this stuff up, but it does feel a little speculative.
Pittsburgh: Matt Murray or Tristan Jarry
As mentioned before, Pittsburgh Penguins General Manager Jim Rutherford told The Athletic’s Josh Yohe that they are likely moving Murray or Jarry. Most people project Murray as the one to move on.
“There is already interest. And it looks like we’re going to have to move one of them.”
-Pittsburgh Penguins General Manager Jim Rutherford
Arizona: Darcy Kuemper
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported last week that Darcy Kuemper is a “very attractive piece” for trade talks and Arizona is desperate for some assets after trading draft picks for Taylor Hall and losing draft picks to NHL sanctions.
Toronto: Fredrik Anderson
Toronto General Manager, Kyle Dubas, isn’t shopping Anderson, but people (other GMs) are calling and Dubas is listening.
New York Rangers
The Rangers have a 3 headed monster in net which has always been unsustainable or a waste of valuable cap space. It cannot continue into next season. Whether it is a trade or a buyout, it appears Henrik Lundqvist’s days in New York could be over. Or the team might move Alexander Georgiev as Igor Shesterkin appears to be ready to take a more full-time role in net. Either way, something needs to give in New York.
Columbus Blue Jackets
The Blue Jackets are sitting pretty well in the goaltender department and really don’t have much to worry about for the pending expansion draft. Elvis Merzlikins is exempt from the expansion draft which enables the Blue Jackets to protect Joonas Korpisalo. That said, the Blue Jackets might want to deal Merzlikins or Korpisalo to cash in on some of that value to add some scorers to a team that is on the upswing. Matiss Kivlenieks played a few games in the NHL this year and might be ready for a more regular back up role in the NHL next season.
Vegas Golden Knights: Marc-Andre Fleury
Ever since Marc-Andre Fleury’s agent tweeted a not-so-subtle picture of the Golden Knights head coaches influence of the reduction on Fleury’s ice time, people are assuming he will get moved this offseason. If Vegas re-signs Lehner, you can almost guarantee Vegas moves Fleury.
Seattle Impact: It depends. If Murray, Kuemper, Georgiev, or Merzlikins/Korpisalo get moved, they will almost certainly be protected in the expansion draft by their new team. Again, that will expose another goalie in their system.
Current Expansion Landscape
Obviously, things will change, but here is who I have projected as protected next summer.
Note that the “Locks” are just that. It’s very unlikely things change between now and next summer’s expansion draft. “Projected” are based on current roster, so if a Tier 1 UFA is signed there or if there is a big trade that lands a goalie by one of these teams, then the projection could change.
For those keeping score at home, that leaves the following teams without a clear goalie to protect in the upcoming expansion draft, several of which could also be shopping in the free agent or trade market.
Carolina Hurricanes
Calgary Flames
Detroit Red Wings
San Jose Sharks
Toronto Maple Leafs
All of these teams will likely add a goaltender between now and the expansion draft next summer, which they will subsequently protect.
There will be a lot going on with goalies this offseason and a lot of the moves will impact who is available for the Kraken in next year’s expansion draft.
The Seattle Kraken are a season away from playing but the NHL playoffs feature players who cut their teeth in the Northwest. There are guys who played junior hockey locally – we’re just talking Washington and Oregon here, not British Columbia which is technically Southwest Canada – or are natives of the area.
As the playoffs progress, we’ll check in with guys who stood out on the ice.
By Andy Eide
At the end of Game 7 between the New York Islanders and the Philadelphia Flyers, Mathew Barzal looked like he belonged on the UFC’s Fight Island instead of Long Island.
The New York, and former Seattle Thunderbirds, star had stitches over his right eye and a bandage in his nostril to assuage bleeding incurred from a collision on the ice. For good measure, he was tagged in the head by an errant puck during warm-ups. It was a rough series for the 23-year-old.
He looked like he’d been playing playoff hockey. Any pain he might have been feeling was tempered by the fact his Islanders were moving on to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 1993.
“As you go along, you’re going to look more and more like a hockey player if you’re winning,” Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said about Barzal after the game. “So right now, he’s getting a little marked up. I loved his response. He’s taking sticks to the face, things are happening. They’re taking shots at him, all that, he’s just playing through it. That’s the growth of a young player.
“That might have been his best game as a pro, since I’ve been on the island. He played the right way, he was dangerous, his battle level was high, and his focus was razor sharp…there was no cheat in his game.”
That’s high praise for a guy who didn’t record any points in Game 7 but Barzal has been dangerous throughout the post season and will be a player to watch as the Islanders start the conference finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday.
His 13 points (5 goals, 8 assists) aren’t the tops on the Islanders stat sheet but he’s contributed night in and night out, forcing the play, and creating chances. “The points will come,” Trotz added after Saturday’s game.
If the points come, and New York advances, Barzal could become a contender for the Conn Smythe.
Barzal has been a positive possession player for New York, with a Corsi-For Percentage of 53.9 at five-on-five. He’s creating grade-A scoring chances for himself and his teammates. With Barzal on the ice, the Islanders have 69 high-danger chances while the opponents only have 38.
Trotz has his team playing a detail-oriented game based on a strong defensive foundation. Barzal has fit in well, playing a 200-foot game, back checking, and at five-on-five the Islanders have outscored the opposition 12-5 during Barzal’s shifts.
While he doesn’t lead the Islanders in goals scored, his scores have been of the timely variety. Two of his five goals gave the Islanders a lead and one, a spectacular one, was an overtime winner against the Washington Capitals in the first round.
Barzal centers a line with Jordan Eberle and Anders Lee on his wings. They’ve been good for New York and will have to continue to play well against a deep and talented Lightning squad. They’re a line that has been buzzing and perhaps have yet to cash in as much as they potentially can.
Collectively they’re shooting at a 4.67 percentage which is lower than their regular season mark of 7.1. If that percentage rises to its norm, then the Lightning will have some problems.
With the offensive fire power that Tampa Bay features, Barzal and company will have to play a responsible game. Thus far in the playoffs, Islanders goalies have a combined .951 save-percentage when the Barzal line is on the ice.
They’ll need to continue that if they want to reach the Stanley Cup Final.
While Barzal isn’t the front-runner in the MVP race, he’s in the conversation and the next few weeks will determine how serious of a contender he is. He has some experience in this area, winning Playoff MVP in 2017 with Seattle as he led the Thunderbirds to their first WHL Championship.
For a player who loves to compete, and craves to be a difference maker, it might be foolish to bet against him.
The Seattle Kraken are a season away from playing but the NHL playoffs feature players who cut their teeth in the Northwest. There are guys who played junior hockey locally – we’re just talking Washington and Oregon here, not British Columbia which is technically Southwest Canada – or are natives of the area.
As the playoffs progress, we’ll check in with guys who stood out on the ice.
Demko was putting on a show for the ages and willing his Vancouver Canucks to stay alive during Friday’s Game 7 of the second round playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights were dominating the play but couldn’t beat Demko and the game remained scoreless into the third period. The rookie goalie had not allowed a goal in 139 minutes of play but that streak would end with just over six minutes left in regulation. On the power play, Theodore got the puck at the line, took a couple strides to his right, and with a quick flick of his wrist put Vegas up 1-0.
Vegas would add a couple of empty net tallies to win the game 3-0 and advance to its second Western Conference Finals in its three-year existence.
“It’s crazy,” Theodore said after the game. “I think we had so many good quality chances. I thought we did a lot better of a job getting to the net tonight, getting rebounds…to finally break that tie, that’s huge.”
It was a huge series for the former Seattle Thunderbirds defenseman and he has skated his way into the Conn Smythe Trophy conversation, perhaps as the front runner.
Theodore leads the Golden Knights in scoring with 16 points that he accumulated on six goals and 10 assists. That puts him 12th in playoff scoring but seven of the players ahead of him have been eliminated and will be out of the running for playoff MVP.
Only Colorado’s Nathan McKinnon has more shots than Theodore (65 to Theodore’s 64) and he’s nearly doubled his shooting percentage from the regular season.
If the traditional stats aren’t convincing enough, Theodore’s underlying numbers are just as impressive.
At five-on-five, with Theodore on the ice, the Golden Knights have a 60.52 shot attempt advantage (Corsi For %) over their opponents. Theodore is driving the possession and kick starting the Vegas offense.
He’s playing against top lines and still, Vegas has had 86 high-danger chances with him on the ice at five-on-five compared to 41 against. The game is ultimately about scoring goals and with Theodore on the ice Vegas has outscored its opponents 20-8 at even strength, which is the best ratio in the playoffs.
The playoffs have showcased some of the young talent that the NHL features on the blue line. Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes has been electric, as was Colorado’s Cale Makar. Dallas Stars Miro Heiskanen is rocketing up the defensive ranks as well.
Those players have been flashy and they’re young but so is Theodore; he turned 25 in early August.
“What do you say,” Vegas head coach Pete DeBoer said Friday about Theodore. “He’s turning into a Norris caliber defenseman right before our eyes and he’s going to be in that conversation for a long time.”
Theodore was a star during his four-year stint in Seattle (2011-2015). He left as the top-scoring defenseman in the history of the Thunderbirds franchise and was named WHL Defenseman of the Year in 2015.
His mad dashes up ice that saw him weave his way through defenders became commonplace. Doing that against major junior players is one thing, but certainly he couldn’t do that against NHL quality players.
Turns out, he can, and he’s already scored the prettiest goal of the playoffs after he beat all five Vancouver defenders in Game 5.
The Anaheim Ducks selected Theodore in the first round (26th overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft and after two seasons where he was up and down between the AHL’s San Diego Gulls and the Ducks he ended up traded to Vegas. Anaheim gave up Theodore in order to ensure that the Golden Knights took Clayton Stoner, and his salary, during the expansion draft.
It couldn’t have worked out better for Theodore or the Golden Knights.
There is still a lot of hockey to play and Theodore, and the Golden Knights, will most likely have to win the Stanley Cup Final – the Conn Smythe Trophy has only been awarded to a player from the losing side five times — for him to win the MVP award.
Heiskanen is in the running and will be going up head-to-head with Theodore as the Stars and Golden Knights open the conference finals Sunday evening in Edmonton. On the Eastern side of the bracket, Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov are contenders as is New York Islander center – and former Seattle teammate of Theodore’s – Mathew Barzal.
No matter how it plays out, Theodore has taken a step this postseason from the ledge of ‘really good defenseman’ to the elite peak and he’s still climbing.
He just might leave the bubble with two shiny trophies.
