OffThePost.org

Yep. Ronnie Franchise just doesn't make good bets on starting goalies it appears. But admittedly even I'm stunned at how bad he's been. Unfortunately Driedger is as bad if not worse.

I can't explain it--he looks so very uncomfortable out there, especially on breakaways, which were most definitely not his strong suit to begin with.

This team sucks and Ron Francis sucks.

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It's kind of nice to see a normal expansion team again though. I just wish they were in the east.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Gotta be disheartening though--this team is doing everything right to stay in the mix, even in a Pacific division that's waaaay tougher than everyone expected. They're simply not getting the goaltending. At all. Both Groob and Driedger have been unimaginably bad.

The digs in Seattle are gorgeous, it's something to see a rink that's actually built into the ground like that.

It's a shame the fan experience there looks so fantastic, and yet the on-ice product gives those fans nothing to cheer about.

If it were me running that team, I'd have gone out of my way to make the most entertaining roster possible. Run and gun and damn the consequences. If you're gonna lose, lose 7-6 or something like that. Build the fastest team you possibly can with as much talent as you can muster (while keeping the cap flexible of course). Tank, but tank in style.

Unfortunately it's the worst of both worlds. They're designed to be an exceedingly dull team that prevents goals and doesn't score any on the other end, but the severe lack of quality goaltending is thwarting that.

This is great (other than him not having earned anything from Slap Shot)
https://www.theday.com/professional-sports/20220101/organist-from-iconic-slap-shot-movie-begins-first-real-life-hockey-gig-at-kraken-games

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Sara Civian tweeted that Dave Hakstol scratched Haydn Fleury both times the Kraks were set to face off against Carolina, his original team.

On top of being a terrible coach, Hak is egomaniacal dickhead to boot.

Kraken re-sign Jared McCann to a 5 x 5M AAV extension. The team's leading scorer at the moment and their only 20 goal scorer. He was a best kept secret before, but not anymore.

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Wonder why it didn't work in Pittsburgh. Guess it just took the right amount of time and the right situation.

He was good in Pittsburgh, they just couldn't afford him long-term.

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Not sure an AHL salary gets you far there, but it's gonna be pretty sweet to play in Palm Springs for Seattle's affiliate next year.

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The Coachella Valley Firebirds? HELL YES.

https://cvfirebirds.com/

So a couple questions--I was told the NHL requires their AHL affiliates to wear the same colored pants and helmets as the parent club, with a few notable exceptions (obviously the Hershey Bears and Chicago Wolves DGAF). These guys are sporting all-black uniforms (which look great BTW). Also...didn't Vegas try to get an affiliate set up in Palm Springs?

EDIT: Never mind, they're blue.

I'm not sure this is the AHLs first attempt to set up in Palm Springs, but they needed an arena this time around and Leiweke is building a fancy one here to host concerts etc.

The AHL has some sweet west coast markets at the moment: playing in Ontario, Palm Springs, San Diego, Tucson, Henderson ain't half bad. Poor Bingo never stood a chance.

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Article by Geoff Baker in the Seattle Times about how poorly the first season went. Season ticket holders were promised a winner and couldn't give away their tickets at the end. They're mad and feel cheated.

Vegas will forever be the outlier, but Seattle hired a dud in Francis. Nothing but timid moves, no pushing the chips, no clearing of the decks for picks. As a GM, he's a loser, plain and simple.

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Cheated? What team doesn't promise a winner? Half the NHL doesn't make the playoffs.
I know I too often bring the Isles into other teams' conversations, but how do Kraken fans think Isles fans feel? Conference Finals twice in a row, the long awaited new building, so fans paid a ton for season tickets, parking, etc... And they're on the next tee time after the Kraken players. It's sports. Nobody can really guarantee anything.

Were Francis' moves very milk toast? Yep. But to feel "cheated"? It just sounds silly.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

It still befuddles me that Francis helped build one of the most impressive analytics departments in hockey...and then didn't listen to them at all. Spent all kinds of resources assembling the biggest, slowest, most unskilled blueline in hockey. They were only a couple steps away from being what Bergevin had in Montreal. Hell, even Bergevin knew the value in having a guy who was sort of in between like Jeff Petry. They put together a bunch of big bodies that can't skate or move the puck, gave them all money and term, and then kinda added on Vince Dunn at the end.

Francis also bet big once again on goaltending, and lost big. No way was his analytics department telling him that was a good idea, Grubauer's Vezina finalist season was an outlier and his performance in three separate postseasons has been less than stellar. And his implosion this season was also a bit of an outlier but not overtly so. He's just an average starter. You don't sign guys like that long-term. This might be even more disastrous than the Scott Darling acquisition, and that's saying something.

Also...Hakstol??? You couldn't find a better coach than that!?



Oh c'mon man, it's "milquetoast." You gotta use the more fun spelling of the word that defines blandness.

I get that Vegas kinda turned everyone's expectations on their ear, but I don't think anyone, including Kraken fans, were expecting a repeat of that. In fact, it was clear with all the side deals done prior to the draft that the 30 other teams were ready this time, there would be no panicky windfalls or spiteful Dale Tallons this time around. But I think the fans wanted a fun, somewhat competitive team. This team was built to slog it out, and despite the fact that they were actually pretty decent defensively, they had absolutely no firepower whatsoever and their goaltending was the absolute worst in the league outside of New Jersey. And there's not a huge disparity between the Kraks and the Devils there, either. The fans should have AT LEAST gotten some entertainment.

If it had been me, I would've put every emphasis on speed and skill that I could. I would have taken on at least one of the megadeals that was up for grabs (Duchene, Tarasenko, etc.). I would've tried to get any hangers-on that proved in small sample sizes that they could hang in the NHL, like Jacob MacDonald from the Avs. I would have only gotten the big, ugly meatheads for the third pairing and fourth line. That's it. I also would've gone out and rolled the dice on the coaching staff. No way would I have gotten one of these established veteran coaches (well...maybe Boudreau, but I'm a big fan of Bruce's) who get continually recycled. I would've gotten a guy as fresh-faced as the team I was building.

Seattle fans got the worst of both worlds--they got a team and coach that played the most boring style imaginable...and they sucked royally on top of that.

Kinda funny in hindsight, I thought Dundon was kind of a fool for firing Ronnie Franchise, but it looks like that was the right move. Right away Don Waddell made some bold decisions that put the Canes where they are today, instead of a club that had good underlying metrics but continually just spun its wheels.

I too expected a more analytically-minded roster, and I thought the idea of stacking the lineup with 3rd line zero-sum 5v5 forwards who can skate was actually a sound idea given what was out there, but the defence didn't make sense at all. None of the AHLers they banked on (Lauzon, Cholowski, Borgen etc) panned out, but thank goodness Dunn worked out in the second half. So many instances where they could've picked up a pro like Kulak but opted for a minor leaguer, and none of them cracked the roster.

Some bad luck involved with Grubb/Dreidger, but how much is that going from good teams to bad teams? They should've had better intel before dropping long-term coin.

They hit a homerun on Beniers and look to get another top three pick, so iron out the defence and the team might be a little more competitive in a year or two.

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Their first official offseason is not off to a great start.

https://twitter.com/SeattleKraken/statu ... 2203757568

Driedger tore his ACL playing in the gold medal game in the Worlds, a game Finland eventually won.

Honestly if I owned an NHL team no goddamned way would I send players to that glorified exhibition tournament. Olympics, World Cup, fine. But not that. The only one less relevant is the Spengler.

Burakowsky and Bjorkstrand are decent adds for this team. Mesh well with Schwartz and Eberle as solid top 6 guys.

Them with Beniers, McCann, Gourde and Wright up the middle, suddenly there's potential for a quick turnaround. Defence still stinks though.

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I think the Kraken had a solid offseason. Not sure what they're thinking with Wright but I'd consider sending him back to Kingston.

Schwartz-McCann-Eberle
Burakowsky-Beniers-Bjorkstrand
Gourde-Wennberg-Donskoi

Not a bad top-9.

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