Kraken Bench (Photo by Dinur Blum, via Flickr).
The Seattle Kraken are halfway through their inaugural season. At the 42 game mark, Seattle has a record of 13-25-4, good for 30 points. That puts them last in the Pacific Division, and they have the fourth-lowest point total in the league. Now is a good time to review what’s happened so far and look forward to what’s ahead. We will do it roundtable style.
If you missed Part 1 – Click HERE.
Pacific Northwest Sports contributors Jonathan West and Ciara Durant join me for this discussion. We also have a special guest RJ Eskanos.
RJ joins us as the Content & Media Manager for Emerald City Hockey, independently covering the Seattle Kraken. He founded ECH with Dylan Travers in the summer of 2020 with the goal of providing high-quality, interactive coverage of the team through its website, social media, YouTube channel, and podcast. RJ is a local member of the Seattle Kraken media.
Gotta sell now since the Kraken are not playoff contenders, but also in the first year, they need to retain ticket holders. Use those fine analytics and dip more than toes into free agency! It’s going to be a very delicate balance if Ron Francis does it right.
The Seattle Kraken need to be sellers at the trade deadline. It’s never too early to start thinking about a strategy when it comes to the trade deadline, especially when you are in the position to sell and add assets to your arsenal.
As my last answer shows, the Kraken should be sellers, almost to the point of moving out whatever isn’t nailed down. No one on the current roster is untouchable (although I’d like to hold on to Jared McCann and Brandon Tanev). Organization-wide, Matty Beniers isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
If Francis has to take on a big contract to get a high pick or top prospect, he should do it. As long as it isn’t a long-term commitment.
The Kraken should be sellers. The unfortunate reality is this team isn’t making the playoffs, which means that players on expiring contracts come more into focus at the trade deadline. Seattle has five pending unrestricted free agents (UFAs) and eight pending restricted free agents (RFAs).
They’ll need to decide which of those players they view as part of the longer-term core and take offers on the rest. Anyone with an expiring deal besides McCann, Geekie, and Donato should be available in the right deal.
As mentioned earlier, most players on expiring deals should be in play. But as far as big trade returns, it starts with the captain. Moving Mark Giordano seems like a foregone conclusion at this point, and an asking price in the ballpark of a second-round pick plus a mid-tier prospect wouldn’t be unreasonable.
Given his recent hot streak, Calle Jarnkrok could also fetch a nice return. One dark horse trade candidate is Chris Driedger. It’s a hot goalie market, Driedger and his affordable $3.5M cap hit could prompt some teams to make Ron Francis an offer that’s too good to pass up. Joey Daccord won’t be waiver-exempt next season, so if the Kraken wants to keep him in their plans long-term, Driedger may have to go.
Losing a captain is not a good look in year number one, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Mark Giordano goes back home to Calgary. It will be interesting to see what happens among Yanni Gourde, Jaden Schwartz, and Alex Wennberg. All three sit as a point-every-other-game players and potential playoff assets.
Last week, I wrote about the Kraken’s six best tradeable assets. At the top of my list were Mark Giordano, Vince Dunn, and Chris Driedger.
I think everyone has already mentioned the prospect of trading captain Mark Giordano. Granted, losing their captain isn’t ideal in their inaugural season, but there are plenty of players who can step up in his place. Nevertheless, there are a few other options I think the Seattle Kraken should take calls on.
Mason Appleton is an intriguing trade chip. He hasn’t been a huge producer for the Kraken this season, but he put up some decent numbers with the Winnipeg Jets last year. He plays hard and has an incredible work ethic that would fit in nicely with teams looking to add depth to their bottom-six the closer they get to the playoffs.
Calle Jarnkrok is another interesting name that I have seen pop up in trade rumors recently. The 30-year-old forward isn’t going to start any fires anywhere, but he’d be a solid guy for any team he joined. He’s a good option for special teams, and he has a lot of playoff experience that could be useful come May.
I also heard rumors that the Kraken are listening on offers for Jordan Eberle. I don’t blame them for trying to use one of their leading point producers as leverage.
There is only one answer to this question. Jared McCann. He has been stellar for the Seattle Kraken this season. He’s already notched a career-high in goals and is well on his way to eclipsing his career-high in points, which is 35. In my opinion, he should have been their representative for the All-Star game, but I digress.
No disrespect to Jordan Eberle, but McCann has been Seattle’s best player and scorer, bar none. And Ron Francis, if you’re reading this, extend the man already!
The fans. They buy tickets, show up (for the most) to the arena, and cheer hard for their team. Throw out the criticism of Seattle being a non-traditional market. Kraken fans love the NHL.
For a player, even though Jordan Eberle will represent Seattle at the All-Star Game, I’ll take Jarred McCann. He has the same amount of points as Eberle and is better in many other stat categories.
Davy Jones, no question. On the ice, though, I’ll go with Jared McCann because he’s provided most of what the Kraken need the most. Seattle simply doesn’t generate enough offense, ranking near the bottom of the NHL in expected goals for.
McCann has done more than any other Kraken player to remedy that. He’s been a dynamic offensive weapon all season long and is one of the few players on the team able to single-handedly create scoring chances out of thin air. There’s a good reason the comment “Clone Jared McCann” comes up often in our Postgame Live shows.
Zoidberg! Haha, sorry, I’m still fixated on this fan-favorite from my last article. But on the ice, it’s a big toss-up with players that have short stretches of consistency. Jared McCann and Jordan Eberle are at the front of the produce aisle but without a decent plus/minus.
On offense, I really like Colin Blackwell. He has a high shooting percentage and leads the team in face-offs with only 18 games played. And he’s quite personable with good interviews. I like Carson Soucy on defense. His first multi-goal game was recently, and he plays well on both special teams.
What are your thoughts on the Seattle Kraken’s first half-season? Let us know in the comments below.