Not every team can be the Vegas Golden Knights in their first year of existence. The Seattle Kraken have easily been one of the most exciting teams in the NHL this season, proving that there are different ways to build a successful expansion franchise.
I can’t be the only one who thought that the Seattle Kraken was screwed in its first year of existence over by the unprecedented success of the Vegas Golden Knights.
How were the Kraken realistically supposed to follow up the Vegas Golden Knights Stanley Cup Finals run in its first year in the NHL back in 2017 given the changes the NHL has experienced since then?
Not only has the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way the 31 other NHL teams manage their rosters and view draft picks, but the fact that the Golden Knights swindled so many teams to build the second-best roster in hockey in 2017 assuredly made the rest of the NHL smarter and more cynical.
So, in the end, it made sense why the Kraken were unable to make the sneaky blockbuster trades that the Vegas Golden Knights made (ex: Jonathan Marchessault trade, Alex Tuch trade, Reilly Smith trade, Shea Theodore trade), why they couldn’t get the overwhelming draft capital Vegas received to not pick unexposed players, and why they were unable to pick up quality players from the expansion draft (ex: Marc-Andre Fleury, William Karlsson, David Perron, Alexei Emelin, Erik Haula, and Nate Schmidt) during their expansion offseason.
Simply put, the rest of the NHL didn’t want to get burned again, and that forced the Kraken to have to build up an NHL team the old-fashioned way: through the draft and free agency.
Though, that’s obviously a slow, lethargic process as the Kraken needed time to develop their top draft prospects, such as 4th overall pick Matty Beiners, resulting in them going 27-49-6 to finish last place in the Pacific division and drafting 3rd overall in the 2022 draft during the club’s inaugural season.
Not a great start.
And it was made even worse as they also had a few major misses in the 2022 free agency market. Namely, Philip Grubauer, who became a Vezina Trophy candidate during his years with the Colorado Avalanche, has been nothing short of horrific in a Kraken uniform with his .889 SV% last season and his .888 SV% this season, even though the Kraken have the 17th best defense (in terms of GA) this year.
Sure, it’s not a great defense by any stretch of the imagination, but it certainly isn’t one where Grubauer should have a sub .900 SV%.
Anyway, defense is not what has made the Kraken so explosive and exciting this year as it has been the offense which has propelled them to 27 wins and 1st place in the Pacific division.
Like I said, the Kraken’s development of Matty Beniers and their free agent signing of Andre Burakovsky (a member of the 2022 Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup winning team), the offense has exploded onto the scene as it currently has scored 165 goals, the third most in the NHL.
Only the Boston Bruins (173 GF), who are this year’s super team, and the Edmonton Oilers (174 GF), who are led by the runaway Art Ross recipient Conor McDavid, have scored more goals than the Kraken.
Yes, it’s easy to dismiss the Kraken as they play in one of the weakest divisions in hockey, and they have a rather mediocre defense at best, but the work GM Ron Francis has done to improve the offensive side in one offseason is nothing short of remarkable.
The Kraken literally went from a team that couldn’t buy a goal last season to a team that now boasts of the third best GF in the league and has 7 skaters (Andre Burakovsky : 38 PTS, Matty Beniers: 36 PTS, Jordan Eberle: 35 PTS, Vince Dunn: 34 PTS, Jared McCann: 31 PTS, Yanni Gourde: 30 PTS) over 30 points, which is only matched by the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The future is definitely bright in the Emerald City for the Kraken.
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