In just their second season in the league, the Seattle Kraken had themselves a fantastic regular season and a great playoff run. If you were to tell someone before the season started that the team that finished third worst in the league the year prior, would be among the top three teams in the Pacific Division, most hockey fans wouldn’t believe it. Given the fact that they were able to make such a significant jump in their second season, you have to consider this year a massive step forward for the organization, making it quite a successful season. Not only was it a success but unless you’re a fan of a team that was eliminated by the Kraken, you’d be pretty hard pressed to find a reason not to enjoy this little run the league’s newest team went on. They really didn’t have any significant superstars on their roster which led to them playing quite a team oriented game and sure enough, it got them through 14 games of playoff hockey and had them one goal away from heading to the Conference Final.
For as unprecedented of a year the Kraken had, I did have them in my bracket as one of the big upsets, knocking out the contending cup champs and had them falling to the Stars in round one as they eventually did. Despite my predictions and most people's expectations for this team going into the year, it’s fair to say this team did some overachieving and shouldn’t have much to hang their heads over this offseason. While the Avalanche were very injured and had their own faults to how they played in round one, the fact that Seattle was able to force a Game 7 and take down the defending champs is a huge feat in their first playoff appearance. It also goes to show that their success was no fluke as they came just as close to taking down Dallas in what came down to a one goal defeat in the Conference Semifinals. Their team oriented play among other things certainly led to their success but now, how they will move forward becomes their biggest question heading into the offseason.
I mentioned how they proved their talents weren’t a fluke as they were able to give a very skilled Dallas team a run for their money. However, the real test of whether or not this season’s success was a fluke will be determined by how they follow up this year heading into next season. Will this playoff run be a big turning point for the young franchise or did things just really click this year as they’re still figuring out the direction of this organization? It’s hard not to be optimistic for this team who in addition to having a great year, has a pretty strong prospect pool to take a dip into. They took a very interesting approach to the expansion draft in 2021, passing up on several big name players and opting to go with a build from the ground up type of approach. This not only allowed them to really make this team their own but allowed them to stockpile picks and prospects, eventually putting together a top Western Conference team not even two full seasons later.
Ron Francis has done impressive work in Seattle thus far but will have his work cut out for him this summer. In addition to the handful of unrestricted free agents he’s expected to lose in Carson Soucy, Ryan Donato, Jesper Froden, Joonas Donskoi and Martin Jones, he has some pretty important pieces who will become restricted free agents in need of new contracts. Among them are Vince Dunn, Morgan Geekie, Daniel Sprong, William Borgen and Cale Fleury. In terms of the salary cap, Seattle should be in a good enough spot to bring back their RFA’s and still be able to improve this team in free agency. A big part of that has to do with the young talent on this team as well as the talent in the system.
Another big question with Seattle will be their plans regarding their big name prospect in Shane Wright. Wright became quite the storyline this year as for the longest time, he was projected to be the first overall pick in his draft class. Not only did the Canadiens go a different direction in their first overall selection, but Wright ended up falling to the Kraken in the fourth overall position. Wright began the year with Seattle but saw very little ice time and spent more games in the press box than on the ice. The organization saw value in him just being with the team and getting experience being in the NHL but eventually, re-assigned him to his junior team where he was able to play on a nightly basis. Essentially, Wright got an extended nine game trial window as he only suited up in eight NHL games where he put up a goal and an assist. He was over a point per game player with the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL and put up four goals and two assists with the Coachella Valley Firebirds in the AHL.
It’s definitely been a unique year for this highly coveted prospect but you have to assume the hope is that he will be able to crack the NHL full time next season. If the Kraken can run a center core of Matty Beniers, Alex Wennberg and the Shane Wright everyone expected, they’ll be in a pretty ideal situation. Even without any free agent signings or trades, the Kraken are in a good spot to run it back with the majority of last season’s group. Not to mention, they spent a good chunk of the year without one of their top forwards in Andre Burakovsky, who they had big expectations for in signing him in free agency. They’ll need to sign some depth for their fourth line and to add a piece to their back end to replace Carson Soucy but overall, they should be looked at as a threat in the West going into next season.
Philipp Grubauer will need to be a bit better for them next season as he split time with Martin Jones throughout the regular season and just barely had a save percentage higher than .900 through a five hundred record in 14 games. Jones was a bit of a surprise this season as he was signed to be a veteran backup and ended up starting in almost half the games for Seattle this season. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle that situation with him set to hit the open market. Do they attempt to bring him back or do they look to sign a different backup goaltender in hopes that Grubauer can handle starter responsibilities next season? They still have Chris Dreidger under contract through next season who spent the year buried in the AHL and only saw 14 games himself. He could be a buyout candidate for Ron Francis as he’s only signed to one more year but regardless, they’ll likely be in the market for a goaltender this summer.
With a goaltending improvement, another year of this group clicking and maybe one big addition to this team, Seattle could even be considered a favorite out of the West next season. There’s a lot to like about this team and if they can continue to ride the wave that built up this season, they’ll be in a great spot. With a lot of these Elimination Evals that I write it’s about what went wrong and how the team can move forward but with Seattle, there isn’t much to really hammer on about as they’re still so new to the league and in a great spot to move forward. This is a group that had an identity, stuck to their systems and played as a whole. Those are all really important traits that are typically used to describe winning team’s so as long as they stay true to who they’ve become, Kraken fans shouldn’t have much to worry about moving forward.
Chris Feldman
Comments