Kraken 2021 `year-end’ review

The Seattle Kraken’s maiden season came to a grinding halt last week when the National Hockey League extended its holiday respite as the specter of COVID loomed over the hockey world.

The Kraken return to action this week against the Philadelphia Flyers and the Calgary Flames (hopefully). But as the 2021 year comes to an end this is as good a time as any to look back at Seattle’s first three months of play – especially since the NHL isn’t going to pause for the Olympics in February as first expected.

THE OVERVIEW

How fans feel about the Kraken’s 10-17-3 record could depend a lot on what their pre-season expectations were. Of course, the Vegas Golden Knights spoiled things for the Kraken when they became arguably the best expansion team in the history of major league sports posting a 51-24-7 regular season record and then advancing to the Stanley Cup finals in 2017-18.

However, the NHL is a league where just about all the teams started as expansion teams – the Boston Bruins were an expansion team in 1924 – and most of them were pretty bad. The Kraken have already surpassed the Washington Capitals, possibly the worst expansion team ever, who posted an atrocious 8-67-5 record in 1974. For what it’s worth, the Kraken should finish the year with a higher winning percentage than at least five other first-year teams. And thanks to the Arizona Coyotes, Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators, the Kraken  most likely won’t finish with the league’s worst record this year.

It seems obvious that Kraken GM Ron Francis wasn’t able to snooker other teams the way the Knights’ George McPhee did leading up to the 2017 draft. Other teams made what in retrospect looked like ridiculous moves giving the Knights extra players and draft choices for not selecting other players. Unfortunately for the Kraken the rest of the league was on guard this time around.

It was an interesting draft. The Kraken selected established players like captain Mark Giordano, Jordan Eberle, Adam Larsson and Yanni Gourde, but also picked young players such as former Seattle Thunderbird star Alexander True, Kole Lind, Will Borgen and goalie Joey Daccord. Even some players who had a fair amount of NHL experience like Jeremy Lauzon, Colin Blackwell and Morgan Geekie, were picked as players whom the Kraken hope haven’t  reached their potential.

Some fans would have liked to have seen the Kraken go for more established players but Francis stayed under the salary cap (a relatively modest $75 million in the NHL) and then signed the free agents he wanted after the draft – forwards Jaden Schwartz and Alexander Wennberg, along with goalie Philipp Grubauer.

In retrospect, the entry draft that was held two days after the expansion draft may be looked back upon more fondly by Kraken fans. With the number-two selection the Kraken selected University of Michigan forward Matty Beniers, who’s currently representing the USA in the World Junior’s in Edmonton. Michigan has five first-round picks on its’ squad and the speculation is those players will all turn pro next year, presumably after the Wolverines win the national title. Defensemen Ville Ottavainen (Team Finland at the Juniors) and Ryker Evans (junior hockey in Canada) are two other Kraken amateur picks who have had good seasons.

THE SEASON

Some of Francis’ pre-season moves have worked, others not so much. After a slow start, culminating in a six-game losing streak, the Kraken have shown flashes of brilliance in home victories over Edmonton, Washington and Carolina and then marching into Miami to hand the Florida Panthers their first home loss of the season.

Those are victories that lead to the question – if the Kraken can beat Alex Ovechkin’s Capitals and Connor McDavid’s Oilers, shouldn’t they be able to beat anybody? However, the record shows that the Kraken have lost to bottom feeders such as Arizona (the Coyotes first win of the season no less) Chicago, New Jersey and Philadelphia. When Seattle’s lost it’s been plagued by turnovers, defensive breakdowns, giving up easy goals, and a lack of scoring.

Individually, Eberle and Schwartz have lived up to offensive expectations. Eberle leads the team with 12  goals (tied with Jared McCann) and 20 points overall. Schwartz ranks second in points and is tied with Joonas Donskoi with a team-high 14 assists. Eberle, Schwartz, and maybe McCann, are the Kraken forwards who could play on the top two lines of most NHL teams.

Not that being a so-called `third line’ player is a negative thing. The Kraken boasts two prototype third-line forwards in Gourde and Brandon Tanev, two high-energy players who work hard, play physical and get under their opponents’ skin. Unfortunately, Gourde gets an `incomplete’ on his report card due to a shoulder injury and COVID, and the Kraken announced on Monday that Tanev’s done for the season and will undergo knee surgery.

Some wondered about Kraken goal scoring at the beginning of the season but after a slow start, Seattle has actually scored more goals than the team’s directly above them in the Pacific Division standings  Vancouver, Los Angeles and San Jose. Goaltending and defense were expected to be a strength but that hasn’t been the case.

Grubauer with Colorado and Chris Driedger with Florida were two of the hottest goalies in the league last season. Grubauer was even a Vezina Trophy finalist given to the league’s top netminder. But goalies tend to be streaky, and while they’ve had some marvelous games  Grubauer and Driedger are both under 90% in save percentage.

Grubauer appears to have poor games when he plays a lot in a short period of time. That makes the recurring injury problems that Driedger has suffered even worse. However, Driedger appeared he might be hitting one of those `hot streaks’ before the league shut down. He beat his old team the Panthers in Miami, and even after missing a few games with the dreaded `lower body injury’ he turned in a stellar effort against Edmonton, stopping 35 shots in a losing effort.

While currently in last place, it’s probably not a good idea to bet the mortgage on the Kraken making the playoffs. But never say never. Seattle has 11 games left with Vancouver, San Jose and Los Angeles and another eight with teams near the bottom of their divisions – Montreal, Ottawa, Arizona, the Islanders, Philadelphia. These are the games that Seattle will need to win pretty consistently although those clubs surely view Seattle as a team they should beat.

If the Kraken are hopelessly out of the playoffs it’s likely they would trade veterans – Eberle, Giordano, Schwartz, Wennberg – for younger players and draft choices. And it will take a few years to see how those deals work out.

Record aside, the Kraken’s opening season has been a resounding success. There have been sellout crowds every game (well, at least announced sellouts) and loud, enthusiastic crowds. A Kraken game is a fun night out, from Seattle grunge on the PA to various celebrities showing up on the scoreboard to coax fans to yell louder. And the Kraken lead the world in marketing. Does everyone in Seattle have a Kraken sweater or hoodie?

However, fans can lose interest in bad teams pretty quickly. But if the Kraken show gradual improvement (with marketable players like Matty Beniers) over the next few years it should be a fun ride.