Seattle Kraken: What The Hell Are They Doing?!

Holy dung!

Desperation. Kraken ownership desperately wants this club to make the playoffs this season, to bring some excitement into the building and prove something to the fan base. Although I’m not sure what that something is.

This expansion team is in the fifth year of its existence, the equivalent of an existing NHL club doing a start-from-scratch rebuild. Five years in and the Kraken are still stuck in the middle.

At the moment it appears the desperation is limited to the front office. On ice, the team has two wins and four losses coming out of the Winter Olympic break, with one of the wins coming against the pathetic Vancouver Canucks and the other a minor-miracle against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Middling. Their centers are all second or third liners and their only move at the trade deadline was to add a middling winger in 29-year-old Bobby McMann. That was actually a desperation move, again, keeping up some kind of appearance for a relatively novice fan base and from a management team that’s backed itself into a corner.

It’s a great opportunity for McMann, who can utilize a fresh start and the change of scenery to up his value for summer free agency or negotiations with Seattle. That’s whether the club makes the playoffs or not.

Initially, I wished I had written the article I was going to write a few days before the deadline, entitled something like “Kraken Need To Be Sellers At The Deadline”. But now I’m glad I didn’t, because I’d simply be repeating myself here, since they didn’t do anything they should have done.

Apparently there wasn’t a strong enough market for Shane Wright.

For fun, let’s pretend it’s still before the deadline, and here are/were my arguments.

Jamie Oleksiak. A 33-year-old lefty D-man with diminishing returns and poor analytics, for those of you into that sort of thing, he simply has to be moved. He’s an unrestricted free agent who could fetch at least a fourth round pick. A third or fourth round pick provides another piece of trade capital for later, or can snag you someone like Jacob Melanson (actually a 5th-rounder in 2021) or Ryan Winterton (3rd round, same year).

Oleksiak went out and had a career high 11-hit game against the Hurricanes last week, I guess a way of proving to Seattle that he still brings value. His true value would have come in a trade. Instead, remarkably, he walks away in the summer for nothing. The Kraken would be nuts to re-sign him.

Jordan Eberle. I don’t have a problem with this one. In fact, in the summer when I predicted which pending Kraken UFA’s would be dealt and which two might/could sign (Eberle and Eeli Tolvanen), I thought Eberle would sign sooner. I spoke to him before the Olympic break and the soon-to-be (May 15th) 36-year-old said his top priority would be to win his first Stanley Cup. Guess what “Ebs” …

Then again, he and his family love Seattle, he still produces, he’s a leader and the club’s captain. With his new two year deal it’s looking like he’ll have to pull off some version of a Ray Bourque to get that Cup. Pick the right contender to move to at age 38, if he’s healthy and they want him at that point, and hope for the best.

Keep in mind, had Seattle moved Eberle before the deadline, no one could say “sky’s the limit”, but the return would have been pretty nice from a contender loading up and looking for an enticing veteran rental.

Tolvanen. He likes Seattle and the club gave him a second life when they picked him up off waivers from the Nashville Predators in December of 2022. That said, that was two head coaches ago, the systems have changed, and even with slightly reduced numbers, his value has gone up. The Finnish Olympic bronze medalist brings an underappreciated grit to the game and he’s a sniper.

This could have been done already. There have been limited talks, but it’s likely quiet now until the off-season. If the Kraken don’t open negotiations with something in the six-million range, he’d be foolish not to try the free agent market on July 1st. Again, the Kraken would potentially be watching another UFA walk without getting anything in return.

In the meantime, they’ve lost all of the leverage in negotiations with “Tolvy”. Sentiment only goes so far.

Conventional thinking sees him traded at the deadline as well. He turns 27 next month, still in his prime, and could have pulled in a pretty decent return.

Jaden Schwartz. Again, this is a Kraken self-rental in an effort to make the postseason. With a limited no-move clause, a 16-team no-trade list, Schwartz was movable. It’s safe to argue based on comparables he would have fetched at least a 2nd-round NHL Draft pick. Instead, he could walk as a free agent on July 1st. The 33-year-old already has a Stanley Cup win (St. Louis Blues 2019), but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind another.

With the NHL salary cap going up about eight millions dollars for next season, free agency is particularly enticing for players in what will be a limited market talent-wise. “Schwartzy” will either be overpaid by Seattle or he’ll go bye bye with nothing in return.

I empathize with the Kraken and understand why they did what they did. Or didn’t do. They’re under pressure from the top down. That said, in the long run, Seattle management has put themselves in this situation with the lack of effective transactions over the last 60 months.

Remember, the club’s only playoff appearance came when all of the planets aligned. In 2022-’23, they had the top 5-on-5 shooting percentage in the NHL, a fourth line that scored a total of 45 goals, a Calder Trophy winner in Matty Beniers, and a blueline that only lost about a dozen man-games to injury. Those phenomena haven’t repeated themselves.

One might recall all three of those fourth liners walked after that season; all three signing with Original-Six clubs for $2-million. One of them, Morgan Geekie, already has 34 goals this season for the Boston Bruins after potting 33 last year.

During the summer I also predicted the Kraken wouldn’t make the playoffs this season. I don’t have a dog in the fight, but for the sake of all of the aforementioned, I hope I’m wrong.

Earlier Kraken:

— Kraken Singing The Blues (Again); Lose 3-2

Earlier Canucks:

— Canucks Trade Tyler Myers; Whipping Boy Turned Respected Leader

Trying to make some sense of it all
but I can see that it makes no sense at all.
Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor?
I don’t think that I can take anymore.

Clowns to the left of me!
Jokers to the right!
Here I am stuck in the middle with you.

(I always thought it was the Beatles or Bob Dylan. The song was actually written and performed by a Scottish band called “Stealers Wheel”)