Three Ways Kraken Can Prepare For The Future

It’s been a rough inaugural season for the Seattle Kraken.

Expectations are typically low for a new franchise in its rookie year, but it’s hard to have foreseen things becoming this disastrous.

The future continues to look bright; however, that doesn’t lessen or stop the Kraken’s present problems. But where should they start?

Some great hockey minds have always advocated for the ‘build-from-the-back-out’ approach, yet it’s tough to determine what to do with Philipp Grubauer or Chris Driedger. Both goaltenders are historically much better than they’ve looked this season, so perhaps the real affliction is with the defense.

On the other hand, scoring goals on a regular basis has also been an issue. Only Jordan Eberle and Jared McCann have more than 10 goals (although Ryan Donato is sitting at nine), leaving the possibility of a 30-goal scorer to be highly unlikely. Brandon Tanev also has nine goals, but his season is unfortunately over due to injury.

At the end of the day, one question is more important than the rest—what can the Kraken do today to ensure they’re better in future seasons?

1) Thoroughly Evaluate Current Roster Players

Focusing on current roster evaluation in the midst of a tough season is a cliché, default move for a reason. Bad teams have a lot of questions that are best answered once the organization truly knows what it has.

At a glance, Seattle seems to have a wealth of players capable of filling the middle/bottom portions of an NHL lineup. In short, they lack the top-end caliber talent needed for sustained success.

Forwards

Eberle and Jaden Schwartz are the closest they have up front, but both project more as lower-end, top-six forwards. Especially now that their best years are behind them. Either one is still more-than-capable of racking up 50-60 point campaigns; however, injuries and inconsistencies have also proven to be an issue in recent seasons.

Question marks also surround Alex Wennberg (two years remaining, $4.5M AAV) and Joonas Donskoi (one year remaining, $3.9M). Wennberg only has four goals and 18 points through 38 games. Donskoi has yet to score (aside from the shootout), with just 14 assists in 38 games.

Wennberg may never replicate his career year (13 goals, 59 points in 80 games during 2016-17), but he simply needs to be more productive at that price tag. It’s tough to call a player ‘overpaid’ when they have a lower-end AAV, but that also shouldn’t excuse underperformance.

Donskoi’s lack of scoring is surprising, since that’s more-or-less been his calling card. The 29-year-old ended last season on a high note as well, potting a career-high 17 goals in 51 games for the Colorado Avalanche. His stats may have been a little inflated given the exposure he had to offensively-gifted players in a high-powered offense; however, he did put up similar numbers in a handful of years before that with the San Jose Sharks.

All of the forwards mentioned so far are the only ones signed beyond this season (with Yanni Gourde being the only omission). As such, all eyes will be on them throughout the second half. The Kraken will undoubtedly be sellers at the trade deadline, but there’s also a handful of UFAs that will likely be on the way out before any of the aforementioned players.

Defense

Things are even thinner on defense. Mark Giordano is the closest thing to a ‘star’, but top-pairing duties are a tough assignment for a 37-year-old who has slowed down significantly.

Another mystery is what to do with Adam Larsson and Jamie Oleksiak. Both are 29 years old, with at least three years remaining on their contracts (four remaining for Oleksiak). The two of them were more-or-less brought in to form a shutdown pair, yet it’s tough to justify playing them together.

Frankly, they’re too slow and similar in their play styles to be consistently effective. Not to mention they’re making a combined $8.6M AAV. That’s a steep price to pay for a couple of defense-first, second-pairing (at best) players who struggle to consistently drive play/contain the opposition in their own end.

Other defensemen signed beyond this season include Vince Dunn and Carson Soucy, but the narrative around them is naturally much more positive. After 2022-23, Soucy will be a UFA but Dunn will fortunately be an RFA (with arbitration rights), and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Kraken bring back one or both of them.

2) Give Promising Prospects A Taste Of The NHL

Towards the end of a bad season, fans of a losing team can always get excited for one thing—top prospects having a year-end, proverbial cup of NHL coffee.

Junior seasons wrap up, college hockey ends, and the organization gives their young guns a taste of the NHL/AHL. This carries some importance as NHL debuts often come with a lot of pressure; therefore, giving prospects some big league experience in low-stakes, essentially meaningless games is a great way to get their feet wet.

In Seattle’s case, one part of the future is far more exciting than the rest—Matty Beniers. The 19-year-old American center was the first draft pick in franchise history, going second overall in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

Beniers is having a whale of a season for U. of Michigan in the Big-10. As a member of one of the most stacked NCAA teams in recent memory, he’s racked up 14 goals and 30 points in just 24 games.

The NCAA championship is set for April 9th, and the chances of Beniers and his team being a part of it are high. Following that day, the Kraken have 10 regular-season games remaining. The only stipulation is that Beniers still remains unsigned, but getting an ELC done also shouldn’t be an elongated process.

The signing would, unfortunately, cause Beniers to forfeit his remaining NCAA eligibility, but the chances of him returning to Michigan next year were highly unlikely anyways. The Charlotte Checkers (Seattle’s current AHL affiliate) have a shot at making the playoffs, so getting a deal done would also allow Beniers to join them for their playoff run.

Another potential recall is 2021 second-round pick (35th overall) Ryker Evans. Now 20 years old, Evans was one of the oldest players selected in last year’s draft—meaning he could be more NHL-ready than other Kraken prospects.

Young defensemen usually need to prioritize bulking up when turning pro, and Evans is already well on his way (six feet tall, 191 points). Through 33 games with the Regina Pats (WHL), he’s racked up six goals and 36 points.

Center and defense are the Kraken’s two biggest needs, so both Beniers and Evans will surely be welcomed with open arms.

Another prospect of intrigue is 2021 third-round pick (67th overall) Ryan Winterton. He could potentially get into some games with the Kraken following the OHL season, but he’s still too young to play in the AHL due to the NHL/CHL agreement.

He’s also barely played this year due to injury, but is now getting back into the swing of things with the powerhouse Hamilton Bulldogs. In fact, his most recent linemates were Mason McTavish and Jan Mysak—two super prospects who are arguably too good for the OHL already. Not a bad way to develop.

3) Analyze Upcoming Free Agents/Potential Trades

Heading into the summer, the Kraken currently have just 11 players (goalies excluded) under contract. Of the 12 players set to leave, seven are RFAs with arbitration rights—meaning they will more than likely re-sign thus giving Seattle 18 roster players for next year.

That is technically enough to ice four lines and three defense pairings; however, the problem of lacking top-end talent still exists. If you exclude the RFAs, the Kraken only officially have $54.4M committed to their roster. That would leave them with just over $27M in projected cap space.

As previously mentioned, center and defense are absolutely the organization’s biggest needs. Prospects like Beniers and Evans could make the team as early as next year, but their ability to truly make an impact is unlikely to be immediate.

If Seattle is willing and able to go whale hunting, this is a decent offseason to do so. At center, there are high profile players available including Nazem Kadri, Tomas Hertl, and Ryan Strome. There are also some more ‘seasoned veterans’ options in the form of Joe Pavelski, Claude Giroux, and even Jeff Carter.

On the back-end, players like Kris Letang and John Klingberg are available. Hampus Lindholm also comes to mind. Perhaps they may even explore bringing Giordano back on reasonable money. After all, he is the captain.

Another option is to explore the trade market. The Kraken can even beef up their asset reservoir if they’re able to sell some pending UFAs at the trade deadline. They don’t exactly have any mouth-watering players up for grabs, but there could still very well be a market for the likes of Calle Järnkrok, Marcus Johansson, and Riley Sheahan.

Giordano could also be on the move, depending on whether he’s interested at one last shot at the Stanley Cup (something tells me he just might be).

Keep on keeping on, Kraken fans. Your time will come.