Seattle Kraken Options with 8th Pick at the 2024 NHL Draft

On Tuesday, the NHL held its annual NHL Draft Lottery. It makes for a different topic of conversation while the Stanley Cup Playoffs rage on. It’s also a big moment on the NHL calendar because teams that missed the playoffs or who were ousted in the earlier rounds get to ponder what moves they might make at the draft. Such is the case for the Seattle Kraken. As was predicted by many, Seattle will select eighth in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft. It’s not the most alluring spot, but beggars can’t be choosers. Today we have a gander at some potential draftees who might be called upon to adorn Kraken colors next season. 

What Do the Kraken Need?

Well, first and foremost the Kraken need a head coach since Dave Hakstol was fired recently, but we’ll get to that topic in a future article. Regardless of who stands behind the bench in Seattle next season, the club’s strengths and weaknesses were obvious for all to see in 2023-24. Furthermore, general manager Ron Francis is an astute hockey individual and fully capable of working with his scouts to start mulling over who the team might select eighth overall. Despite the murky coaching situation, we’ll operate with the assumption about Seattle is most likely looking for. 

The club’s offensive ineptitude has been covered extensively here at The Hockey Writers. The playoff-less Kraken were the 29^th highest-scoring team in the NHL, tallying a forgettable 2.61 goals per outing. That placed them just above the Anaheim Ducks (2.49 goals per game) and behind the Washington Capitals (2.63). They took the 25^th most shots on target (2,347) and finished with a shooting percentage of 9.1%, which was 29^th league-wide. Their best offensive ranking concerned the power play, which operated at 20.7%, making Seattle the 17^th-best. 

Spoilers: Seattle probably isn’t looking at a defenseman or a goalie. Prospect Shane Wright showed flashes of greatness in late-season matches when he was called up from the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, but that isn’t enough. Injuries to Jaden Schwartz and Vince Dunn didn’t help, but there are obvious deficiencies here.

Another spoiler: With the eighth selection, the Kraken won’t get their gloves on Macklin Celebrini. Enjoy, San Jose Sharks.

Who Might the Kraken Get?

To answer that question, one has to look over the fence at how things are going on the teams that fortune ordained would pick ahead of the Kraken. The Chicago Blackhawks, Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Montreal Canadiens, Utah franchise, and Ottawa Senators all get their picks of the litter before Seattle. 

The Blackhawks, Ducks, Blue Jackets, Canadiens, and Utah (formerly the Arizona Coyotes) can’t score. They’re all bottom 10 on the attack. The Sens, for all their weaknesses, were decent at scoring 2023-24. Does that mean every team listed other than Ottawa will aim to pick a forward? Not necessarily. Chicago, Anaheim, and Columbus were atrocious defensively. Montreal wasn’t much better, but judging by what THW’s fine Habs writing team has to say, they’re loaded with bright defensive talent. 

As per our publication’s draft and prospects experts, after Celebrini, the top five hopefuls are Ivan Demidov, Sam Dickinson, Konsta Helenius, Cayden Lindstrom, and Anton Silayev. For our purposes, Dickinson and Silayev are eliminated because they play defense. Would any of the others still be hanging around once the Kraken are on the clock? Who’s to say? The low-down on Helenius is that, although he’s talented, his size might affect his draft placement. It is dubious if Francis would want to take a chance on that, but that will also depend on how desperate he and his advisors believe the situation is.