Vince Dunn has a long NHL career ahead of him. (How about that breakout season from now-Stars defenceman Jani Hakanpaa as well!) In the final year of his contract, a player like Niederreiter would have been a tougher pick to make, but they are just two of eight rostered players on the Hurricanes who have been considerably more impactful this season. The Hurricanes were one of those teams that did have to expose some talent by way of the expansion draft, with players like Nino Niederreiter and Dougie Hamilton available. But the opportunity cost of picking Geekie was quite high. The 23-year-old Morgan Geekie has been okay for Seattle, a middle-six attacker with 10 points in 33 games. #Seattle kraken roster free#Giordano is 38 Kylington has 16 points in 28 games on a league-minimum deal and is a restricted free agent at year end. I don’t think it’s fair to blame the Kraken for grabbing a player who has been one of the best defenders in the entire league over the past decade, but it’s fascinating that this is the spot where the Kraken decided to punt on youth and go for a veteran voice. Speaking of the Flames: Oliver Kylington was five minutes away from joining the Kraken, but Seattle had their eyes set on veteran defenceman Mark Giordano. The fourth-round pick for Pitlick is nice, but this feels like a miss. #Seattle kraken roster professional#I thought this pick was perplexing for three reasons: Pitlick has been nothing more than a fourth-line journeyman in his professional career, and the Coyotes had both immediate value (by way of defenceman Alex Goligoski) and cheaper, younger value (by way of forward Michael Bunting) available for Seattle to take. The Kraken selected forward Tyler Pitlick from the Coyotes, eventually flipping him to the Calgary Flames. The Kraken opted for youth here, but in doing so sacrificed a lot of short-term value from the Ducks. No one could blame the Seattle Kraken for missing Sonny Milano’s (eight goals, 14 assists in 30 games) breakout season, but they did miss it, and Milano has been one of the better playmaking forwards the league’s had to offer this season.Īnother option? Established winger Adam Henrique, a 31-year-old veteran with three years still left on his deal. Let’s zoom in on a few of the more contentious ones: #Seattle kraken roster full#In the case of the Dallas Stars and Toronto Maple Leafs, it’s fair to say the Kraken nailed their picks – Jamie Oleksiak has been full value on a pairing with Mark Giordano (and Dallas really had little to offer), and Jared McCann has 19 points in 28 games, comparable to Alex Kerfoot (19 points in 31 games) in Toronto.īut there are several other selections worth debating. The table is ordered by the value realized by the Kraken from the player they originally selected. I’m using the regression-based Goals Above Replacement measure as our measure of production since (among other things) we will need to compare forwards against their defensive counterparts.įirst, let’s look at straight-line comparisons across player production for draft eligibles this season – a full eligibility list can be found here: Let’s look at those roster decisions once more, this with 30 or so games of hindsight in our stow. The results have invariably led to increased second-guessing about what the team did (and did not do) last summer. The goaltending has been dreadful, but the play in front of Philip Grubauer, Chris Driedger, and Joey Daccord has been similarly ugly. Setting aside the organization’s longer-term intentions, this team surely expected to be more competitive than it has been this season. And with a bunch of front offices well aware of how the Golden Knights abused their counterparts on the trade block leading up to the expansion draft, the road for Seattle always figured to be more challenging.īut at 10-19-4 and a -30 goal differential, there are genuine questions being asked about the team’s draft strategy. The Kraken have an ultra-clean cap situation and a wealth of assets. Which, it should be noted, is still a rock-solid strategy. But so far, it’s just been a lot of losing.Įxpectations may have been tempered just a touch when, during the expansion draft, the Kraken consistently opted for strategies that were friendly towards youth and the salary cap. There was earnest discussion post-expansion draft as to whether this team could contend for a playoff spot straight away, not dissimilar to what we saw from the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017-18. In the past few weeks, there has been increased focus on the Seattle Kraken.
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