Seattle overachieved last season, so a fallback was likely. That said, their current struggles are more extreme than most expected.
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43 Comments
Was expecting this video. š¦:(
I miss Geekie on the Kraken. My 67 Geekie jersey hanging there looking a little sad
As a Seattle fan, it feels like they've been too committed to the expansion draft guys. Last year may have been a curse in retrospect, because after that first year you wanted to get younger. But the success made the front office believe in the older guys they had, leading them to dump guys like Sprong and Geekie. Now we're seeing an number of guys that don't have as much enengy, don't hit, and they're losing all the close battles they won before.
the nhl decided rigging the league for a second expansion team would be overkill
Blame Eddie Olczyk…lol #Blackhawks are still in the toilet.
No doubt the upcoming home stand will define the season here in Seattle. Great video as always Shannon.
The fact that they knocked out the reigning champs at the time , Colorado Avalanche is just pure utter BSš
At this point I just hope we don't embarrass ourselves at the winter classic š³š¦
In offense, they have 7 guys over 4.5 under 5.5, no stars or superstars.
In defense, they have 1 guy under a million and the most paid player on the team Vince Dunn at 7.35
In net, they have among the most underperforming and overpaid goaltender in Grubauer at 5.9
They have one of the fairest distribution of salary around the league with no star or super star eating a massive % of it alone, but somehow canāt win ? Is it possible that the risk of overpaying good players is greater than overpaying stars ?
When Seattle announced their coach I knew they would be bad and they were. Last year was a nice change, but I also knew it wouldn't last. Maybe they'll be like the Flyers and make the playoffs every other year for awhile. It's one of the same coaches after all.
McCann is the closest thing the team has to a star player, but by no means is he remotely close to Art Ross contention. With Beniers and Company cooling off from last year, they're not scoring by committee to make up for the lack of having a difference-maker.
Goaltending is up and down, but even when Gru or Daccord play like world beaters there's no help in front of them. Last year the Kraken outshot their defensive issues. This year they don't have that to rely on.
Even if the prospects bear fruit (Kartye is a good addition), I don't see this team making playoffs or even advancing if by miracle they reach a wildcard position with the pieces they have.
Vegas got spoiled? Vegas was just smart about it xdd
While I don't think the goaltending is entirely to blame for this, i wouldn't be opposed to giving Driedger another shot honestly
Hockey is like a marriage. For better or worse. Just hope the worse doesn't last too long. š
I think McCann will pick it up
I would like to see a video comparing stats for player quantities and total man games lost due to injuries, across the entire NHL. Kraken have dealt with some devastating injuries.
Weāre are definitely toast this year. No way we are making the playoffs again. Personally, Iām focusing on the future and the pipeline for years to come.
My completely uneducated opinion:
There was lots of confusion and anger in the fanbase when we let Geekie, Sprong, and Donato walk in the offseason. People are understandably upset that we lost a lot of offensive power from those three. So why didn't we sign them?
The problem there is, we have lots of young talent waiting in the wings with Wright, and Evans to name a few and there's a salary cap. Kartye came out of absolutely nowhere and had a killer AHL season, so with needing to sign Dunn and the likely scenario of giving Beniers a raise this offseason, we need cap space.
It's been mentioned consistently that Ron Francis wants to "weaponize cap space", so why this is a surprise to anyone is confusing. Is it disappointing to watch the Kraken slump this year? Absolutely, but that was expected and what I'm hoping for at this point is that we're playing the long game with young talent. Is that a gambly strategy? Ticket prices are still sky high, but there's still interest in the team and merch still seems to be flying off of shelves, so they have time.
Other than that? What I've seen in games is that our playbook seems stale and we're consistently getting shut out of passing lanes (which is where turnovers come into play) and high danger shot chances. I don't know enough about hockey strategy to know why but it seems we just can't seem to get an engine going the vast majority of the time.
pain.
Last year, they were scoring way more than they should and allowing a bit more than they should. By expected goal differential, they were 16th with 0.14 (below Jets, above Rangers)
This year, they are scoring way a bit less than they should and allowing way more than they should. By expected goal differential, they are tied for 19th with -0.04 (now tied with Jets and Rangers, which is quite hilarious).
So, I guess they aren't that much different from what they had a year before. Just goaltending and puck luck aren't on their side anymore.
The should of sold after last year and capitalized on a real rebuild.
team defense first period in own zone?
the kraken are so weird because they started out the year playing well enough in the 1st half of games and then being completely unable to hold onto leads in the 3rd. but the past stretch of games has been the complete opposite story- they come out really really slow in the 1st and then battle back in the 3rd (but not well enough to come back from the hole they dug themselves into). the goals for/against per period really do not tell the full story because just looking at the numbers you'd say the 3rd is a problem when recent game records would tell you the opposite
and none of this is helped by the fact that their schedule has been completely jam-packed since the beginning of the season. theyve had more games played than pretty much every other team all the way through, and theyve only had 2 or more days off in a row 3 times. it's been more or less a game every other day for almost 2 months so no real time to rest or get in a good stretch of practice to reset. and on top of all that, key guys keep getting injured (burky out for 6-8weeks, tanev out for a month, eberle was out a few games, schwartz out for the next month and a half at least…).
honestly it feels like to me that they just haven't been able to mentally recover from when the puck luck and shooting percentage was just abysmally bad at the beginning of the season. even when they started to be less unlucky, they had already lost some of the fighting, tirelessly hardworking mindset that carried them through last year
4th line and Centers have been a disaster. They were set up to have Wright and Evans step in (and offset some of the lost offense) instead they brought in Dumoulin and Bellemare and left the kids in the minors
This is what the league deserves think that they could repeat what the gloden knights did
We have 32 teams only 16 teams make Playoffs ā¦ We need to adjust our mindsets to appreciate reaching POā¦ because it seems we will see much more shakeups from one season to anotherā¦
Just like with Buffalo and their schedule, they will go into Christmas dinner out of playoff contention.
I hoped that some of the players would score close to the same amount as last season. As much as I'm disappointed, I'm not surprised. It makes me appreciate last season's 7-game win streak even more. Also, injuries don't help either.
I think also a part may also be the constant movement of player between the kraken and their AHL team the firebirds. Both teams have not been playing well this year and I think the organizations idea is that if we move some people around we will win, but we have year to find a solution that works and it is costing us both teams.
You just did this video to wear that new jersey
Toronto has left the chat…
lol Seattle
Fans sure got big heads last playoffs.
Yeah, the Kraken won't make the playoffs. I'll win a bet with my friend. Winner chooses a Mariners or Sounders game. I'm choosing the Sounders. F the Mariners and that cheap ass POS Stanton
They out of it.
I'm disappointed but not really panicked I guess. Expectations were high, but reality has set in. We watched them struggle, but grow, the first year. It'll be another year of that unfortunately. My biggest expectations before next season are selling smart at the deadline, cultivating our prospects and doing something effective on UFA day.
Not too surprised. Like Oilers they were really good last season but not able to sustain it. Who's their star player?
might Seattle use defensive blue liners? Tanev from Calgary? other defensive blue liners?
Maybe we'll get a Sprong career video in a couple years– the guy gets kicked around the league on prove it contracts, doesnt play badly, doesn't get signed either. We could have had solid, inexpensive depth.
Everything did go as perfectly as they could last year. What were they, 5th in goals for? That loss in depth has really hurt. On paper, substitutions like Yamamoto for Sprong seemed fine, but they haven't worked out (Yamamoto needs to ride shotgun but Sprong is able to do it on his own). Kartye was a pleasant surprise at the end of the year & playoffs, but he hasn't taken the next step. Wright seems lost, so I don't know what his role will be. The bottom six was probably the best in the league, and now it's less than average.
Dunn has been great, but when Schwartz went down, I wrote the season off. He was someone who was always a presence on the ice, when so many others float and/or disappear for huge stretches.
Quite no one is talking here about the big question. What the Kraken have is mainly a coach issue.
Be a seller at the deadline and get Celebrini. You see that clean jerseys?? Celebrini the houdini is gonna be fire in one of these.š„
Two things you didn't mention are they have too many guys who won't shoot the puck and they don't drive the net. Both things need to change.
Iāll summarize this easily
Team did nothing to improve the roster in the offseason. It actually got worse.
Basically the whole roster had career years last year, and these players are back to āwho they areā.
Kraken lack a true superstar or someone to take over the game and will them to a win. All top teams have Atleast one.
Only way to really improve is sign high ticket players, which I canāt see Francis doing, and develop within.
TL:DR Kraken overachieved last year and this is the true kraken team