Kraken need (but still won’t commit to) a proper rebuild
One of the youngest franchises in the NHL is trying to get ahead of the pack, but is failing mightily.
The Seattle Kraken have missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs in four of the team’s first five years of existence, including three straight early exits since their surprising run to the second round in 2023. The poor performance led to Ron Francis stepping down as general manager, with some wondering what the next steps will be.
Some believe that the Kraken should start over and rebuild by offloading some of their talented assets. However, many suspect that the group will try to compete for a playoff spot, even though they don’t have the tools to do it.
On Friday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton discuss why the Kraken need to kickstart a rebuild, despite knowing that they probably won’t.
Tyler Yaremchuk: I asked Dave Penyota the other week, I was like, “Hey, now that Ron Francis is gone and there should be some fresh voices in the mix in that front office heading into this off-season, is there a chance they do things the right way?” The right way would be sell off your veterans, collect some assets, pray for some lottery luck, and try to land a few legit franchise-changing pieces in the draft. Instead, it sounds like the Seattle Kraken are going to continue to chase their tail. Sure, they have a bunch of good players…they don’t have any great players, though.
Next year, they’re going to spend money in free agency, they’re going to try a Hail Mary trade for Robert Thomas or whatever, and it’s probably not going to work, and then next year they’re going to finish 10th or 11th in the Western Conference again. I just look at this team and I think they lack direction, and I think they lack the proper vision to properly build a hockey club.
Carter Hutton: I think that’s the tricky part here, too, and this is doing it without a superstar. Jordan Eberle: 55 points he ended up with last year. That’s good for 103rd in the NHL, and that’s your leading score on your Seattle Kraken, a team that lacks superstars. I know Bobby McMann came in, and he did a great job, but they are in need of some game-changing players.
So, it will be interesting to see where they start throwing money around, because they had a good thing going. Philipp Grubauer had a great year, he really bounced back. I think Lane Lambert deserves a lot of credit for what he’s been able to do with this group. He’s had complete buy-in, right? He came into a tricky situation where, “I don’t really have a superstar; I have to find a way to win by committee,” and they did a good job of hanging around, but they need to make some big adjustments over the next few years if they really want to have a seat at the table as we watch other teams on the ascend in the division.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…