Release the Kraken!

[Pokecheque]

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.

I still think their defense blows dead bears, their coach is a rather unimaginative type (and I give it about a month before Burakovsky lands in his doghouse and never gets out), and I have no earthly idea what they were thinking going out and getting Martin effin' Jones as their Driedger replacement. AND they gave his trade protection. Really? REALLY!? If that guy and his agent had the gall to ask for an NTC, modified or no, I'd definitely tell them where they could shove their signing pens. Like, you're better off getting some scrub from the minors or a decent Euro veteran. Jones has been pure ass for about 4 years now.

So...solid offseason up front, absolutely. And really, Ronnie Franchise built a very good forward corps in Carolina too. But he never quite got the defense right, and his moves in net ultimately unraveled his tenure there. Looks like things are kinda/sorta repeating themselves in Jeff Bezos Arena.

[Chris18]

Kraken release Buoy the Troll as their first mascot. I like how they say it's their first, as in they know it won't last long.
https://sports.mynorthwest.com/1673097/ ... en-mascot/

Looks like a Norfin troll. I get that teams want mascots approachable to kids, but this is so lame. Even with the things that tie into the team/area.

[E.L.]

Missed opportunity to get a squid-like Cthulhu creature mascot who's too big to walk down the aisles and knocks everyone's beers out of their hands.

[Chris18]

Missed opportunity to get a squid-like Cthulhu creature mascot who's too big to walk down the aisles and knocks everyone's beers out of their hands.

You missed your calling in antagonizing the home crowd.

[Pokecheque]

Yeah this mascot ain't exactly winning hearts and minds.

https://twitter.com/EmeraldCityHky/stat ... _&ref_url=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[harmfuljays]

Well I have read that it was in reference to the Fremont Troll.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fremont_Troll" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Fremont Troll (also known as The Troll, or the Troll Under the Bridge) is a public sculpture in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, Washington in the United States. The Fremont Troll is an example of hostile architecture, having been erected to deter the presence of homeless people and antisocial behavior under the bridge after winning a competition held by the Fremont Arts Council.

The construction of the troll provoked immediate complaints from homeless people who previously lived under the bridge, and in 1991, just a year after it was erected, neighbors funded powerful floodlights to deter squatters and "late-night revelers" from acts of vandalism targeting the troll's beard and hair,[9] as well as the continued dumping of trash around it by homeless people who used to live there.[10] Despite the intent of the arts council, the sculpture has periodically been the target of vandalism,[7] although local activists have made efforts to clean graffiti on a regular basis,[11] and the city of Seattle has swept homeless encampments adjacent to the sculpture following repeated five drug overdoses in January 2019;[12] from January to mid-May alone, the city received 28 complaints about needles or homelessness within a block of the sculpture.[13]

Great! If "hostile architecture" keeps drug over dosing homeless people out of the area....well so be it!

I have been to Seattle but never seen the sculpture.

[Pokecheque]

Well I have read that it was in reference to the Fremont Troll.

Great! If "hostile architecture" keeps drug over dosing homeless people out of the area....well so be it!

I have been to Seattle but never seen this.

Hostile architecture really doesn't solve the problem and it does little to deter homeless people, if anything, they'll just congregate in more obvious areas. Mostly it makes for really bad, shitty design (like this) that is a far greater blight on the landscape than some poor unfortunate just tryin' to survive by sleeping under a bridge. Every time I pass by a building downtown in any metropolitan area and I see fucking spikes next to the windows, I know what it's there for. They also make benches impossible to sleep on, but they also make them nearly impossible to sit on too.

It's been proven time and time again, if you want the unhoused off the streets, far and away the best and most cost-effective solution is to HOUSE THEM. But that's a discussion for another day.

I was largely neutral on the mascot thing and I heard it was a reference to some local legend or something, but now that I see it's a fucking reference to an ugly-ass sculpture purposely designed to gentrify the underside of a goddamned bridge and was done in the fucking 90s, I'm thinking this was an abhorrently bad idea by a franchise that seemingly keeps coming up with them after a very promising start.

[harmfuljays]

I agree "hostile architecture" doesn't do anything but move the problem somewhere else. But out of sight out of mind for some folks.

Youch....have you been to downtown Denver lately? I was just down there 2 weeks ago...first time pounding around local job sites in 20 years. My how its changed..not only is 16th street all dug up but everywhere smells like piss and shit and there are tweaked out homeless folks in every nook and cranny of businesses along the way. And they are f'n mean and aggressive. Product of the system it seems.

Yeah....didn't mean to rain on the parade with the mascot. But that's what I do apparently. Perhaps I should clarify that "inspiration" was drawn from the Fremont troll sculpture. Maybe that's worse...but that's what I read.

Buoy is inspired by the Fremont Troll, found under the George Washington Memorial Bridge, aka Aurora Bridge in the Fremont neighborhood. The 32-year-old Seattle landmark sculpture is visited by hundreds of thousands of people each year.

"We are proud to introduce Buoy and mark another milestone moment for the Kraken," said Katie Townsend, chief marketing officer for the team. "We are rooted in the local community and everything we do is inspired by the wonderful place we live. Buoy was not only inspired by the Fremont Troll, he is a big fan of the Seattle music scene."

https://www.nhl.com/kraken/news/kraken- ... -335975266" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Pokecheque]

Eh, not raining (fitting reference for Seattle BTW ) on the parade really, they're doing a good enough job of that themselves.

Personally I think these guys have just made some good moves, but they've also made a huge number of mistakes with the product both on and off the ice. I think they're going to regret hiring Ronnie Franchise. I used to think he was quite insightful but looking at his entire body of work so far in Carolina and Seattle...I just don't think he's all that good.

Seems like they're wasting more than a bit of the good will they've mustered with the fanbase. Whenever I watched, the atmosphere at games felt kinda languid and dull.

I think I already said this, but I predict Hakstol will have no patience whatsoever with Burakovsky (a player YOU MUST have extreme patience with in order to tap his potential) and staple his ass to the bench by game 10.

[Pokecheque]

Kraks set a record that I can't believe didn't exist before this--they are the first team in NHL history to sweep a 7-game road trip. I suppose road trips of that length are pretty rare to begin with but still, I can't believe in over a century of NHL hockey that never took place.

It's utterly astounding that they're pushing hard to actually overtake the Golden Blights despite goaltending that's still shaky as all hell.

[Chris18]

Kraks set a record that I can't believe didn't exist before this--they are the first team in NHL history to sweep a 7-game road trip. I suppose road trips of that length are pretty rare to begin with but still, I can't believe in over a century of NHL hockey that never took place.

It's utterly astounding that they're pushing hard to actually overtake the Golden Blights despite goaltending that's still shaky as all hell.

That is crazy, both that they did it, but also that nobody else has before. You'd think the 80s Oilers or some Habs team would have done it by now.

[Chris18]

If you blinked you might have missed Brandon Montour set an NHL record, scoring only 4 seconds into OT vs Montreal. Sorry it was at your expense Habbers, but that was fun to watch.

[Pokecheque]

This offseason will be very interesting for the Kraken. Rumors abounding that there might be a major upheaval behind the scenes, as they've kinda been spinning their wheels and not building toward anything. They had that insane playoff run a couple years back but that was the epitome of "PDO." They came crashing back to earth the year after and haven't accomplished anything since. And while they sold off some assets in Gourde, Bjorkstrand, and Tanev, they remain a very mediocre team with no real superstars on the roster, nor is their prospect base a particularly strong one, or so I've read.

I can't imagine they'd part ways with Dan Bylsma after one season (and there'd be quite the PR headache if they canned Jessica Campbell as well) but I think Ronnie Franchise's future is very much in jeopardy. Between his time in Carolina and now in Seattle, he's proven to be a pretty bad GM...ESPECIALLY when it comes to signing goaltenders.