GDT: 2021 Kraken Entry Draft

[The Marquis]

Well, better than stretching it out another day.

 

[RainyCityHockey]

LW - Justin Janicke #195

 

[gstommylee]

Final pick LW Justin Janicke

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Janicke is a very young kid with June 23rd, 2003 birthday.

His review in Black Book says that he took a step back with his offense last year but there is a very good chance that he bounces back and could be a great value pick.

 

[gstommylee]

yea players that late in the draft are basically AHL fillers.

 

[Frozen]

These are the ones we picked. Interesting bunch and fun to see what comes of them in the future. I have a feeling few of them will surprise nicely.

It's the first time I have followed the entry draft this closely and deeper into the rounds, thanks to finally having team to really feel for and follow closely. In the past it's only been the first round and mostly its top picks for me.

Also thanks to the people here providing all kinds of info on these draft picks and organizing them well on the boards here.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Overall pretty satisfied with the draft. Ryker was the only surprise and it was nice to have Ron Francis provide some details on why he was picked and may look like a reach. Really appreciated the transparency from him there.

 

[gstommylee]

Overall pretty satisfied with the draft. Ryker was the only surprise and it was nice to have Ron Francis provide some details on why he was picked and may look like a reach. Really appreciated the transparency from him there.

He could be going right to the AHL if the team choose to.

 

[King'sPawn]

Did Francis make zero trades at the NHL draft, too? Not even trading down to get more picks to further grow a reserve list?

 

[gstommylee]

Did Francis make zero trades at the NHL draft, too? Not even trading down to get more picks to further grow a reserve list?

says a lot about the quality of the draft pool itself. It was weak and next year has a better draft. Better wait to trade extra position players when you get better value.

 

[King'sPawn]

says a lot about the quality of the draft pool itself. It was weak and next year has a better draft. Better wait to trade extra position players when you get better value.

31 other teams moved around, whether it was to move up, down, in or out. Is Francis unable or unwilling to move?

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

31 other teams moved around, whether it was to move up, down, in or out. Is Francis unable or unwilling to move?

Not sure. But honestly, does not matter since I feel that we did pretty good with the draft.

 

[King'sPawn]

Not sure. But honestly, does not matter since I feel that we did pretty good with the draft.

Of course - Francis has to trust his scouts. I was just very high on several players who fell. So at the risk of me sounding like I know better, I'm just concerned at the few picks made for an organization that had an empty depth chart.

We'll see how things go, but as many teams moved down a few spots and picked up extra picks, I'm reluctant to agree the Kraken did well. They have a virtually empty prospect pool.

Even if you feel the draft was weak (I dislike using that term for any draft, but ego aside), could those picks not be used to nab other prospects they like orpicks for 2022?

 

[gstommylee]

Of course - Francis has to trust his scouts. I was just very high on several players who fell. So at the risk of me sounding like I know better, I'm just concerned at the few picks made for an organization that had an empty depth chart.

We'll see how things go, but as many teams moved down a few spots and picked up extra picks, I'm reluctant to agree the Kraken did well. They have a virtually empty prospect pool.

Even if you feel the draft was weak (I dislike using that term for any draft, but ego aside), could those picks not be used to nab other prospects they like orpicks for 2022?

3 have extra dman that we can trade for assest including picks i feel like its better to trade the extra for next years picks better draft.

 

[StarterHart]

Did Francis make zero trades at the NHL draft, too? Not even trading down to get more picks to further grow a reserve list?

31 other teams moved around, whether it was to move up, down, in or out. Is Francis unable or unwilling to move?

This is my only mild criticism for the draft today. In a draft like this, with uncertainty surrounding most of the players, the logical thing to do would be to trade down as much as possible and gather more darts to throw at the board. Other than that, good draft.

 

[kihei]

It will be a while before we know what kind of draft it was. What we do know for sure now is that Francis has idiosyncratic ways of approaching drafts. Let's hope he is on to something and taking the franchise where it needs to go.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

This is my only mild criticism for the draft today. In a draft like this, with uncertainty surrounding most of the players, the logical thing to do would be to trade down as much as possible and gather more darts to throw at the board. Other than that, good draft.

I don't even view it as a criticism. Not making any trades on the 2nd day of the entry draft or deals during the expansion draft just surprises me. We have made 1 trade so far and that was Tyler Pitlick.

At first I thought he just does not like making trades, but based on what I found he is normally pretty open to making trades:

History of hockey trades by general manager Ron Francis - NHL Trade Tracker

So, I honestly do not know why he has been so passive so far.

 

[The Marquis]

Of course - Francis has to trust his scouts. I was just very high on several players who fell. So at the risk of me sounding like I know better, I'm just concerned at the few picks made for an organization that had an empty depth chart.

We'll see how things go, but as many teams moved down a few spots and picked up extra picks, I'm reluctant to agree the Kraken did well. They have a virtually empty prospect pool.

Even if you feel the draft was weak (I dislike using that term for any draft, but ego aside), could those picks not be used to nab other prospects they like orpicks for 2022?

A team without any structure is pretty shallow. Give it time, the Kraken literally got their first real NHL players earlier in the week. Free Agency hasn't even started yet. So many spots to fill. Almost every team in the NHL did nothing but pick their assigned slots, just like the Kraken. It's not fair to expect a team to behave like 2017 Vegas, or Chicago, Carolina and CBJ this year. Most do very little. Tampa for example. Back to Back Stanley Cups and they aren't really a team known for making a buttload of moves.

Am I saying the Kraken did poorly in the 2021 draft? No. Am I saying they did well? No. It's still 2021.

 

[The Marquis]

Despite a personal history of hating the bastard (as a Timbers fan), I know one thing about Tod Leiweke. He's not going to put up with poor results for very long. He's going to demand results because all of his previous endeavors have had results when he's been in charge and Ron Francis is not going to escape this if he doesn't produce a quality team. I would bank on it.

 

[King'sPawn]

A team without any structure is pretty shallow. Give it time, the Kraken literally got their first real NHL players earlier in the week. Free Agency hasn't even started yet. So many spots to fill. Almost every team in the NHL did nothing but pick their assigned slots, just like the Kraken. It's not fair to expect a team to behave like 2017 Vegas, or Chicago, Carolina and CBJ this year. Most do very little. Tampa for example. Back to Back Stanley Cups and they aren't really a team known for making a buttload of moves.

Am I saying the Kraken did poorly in the 2021 draft? No. Am I saying they did well? No. It's still 2021.

Every team had at least one pick in the draft where movement occurred. The only time Seattle moved from their third selection out of the group is when they won the lottery.

There was literally zero movement from Francis. No additional picks. No fewer picks. No moving up and no moving down.

I'm not expecting Seattle to have the same picks as Vegas, but I'm concerned that all other GMs are able to make moves. With Francis, and the collection of calls he HAD to be involved with between Expansion and the Entry Draft, I'm concerned that Francis either:
1) cannot execute his plan
2) has a weak or no plan

Counting on free agency, IMO, is a bad plan because that's when teams overpay on term and cap the most. You're not weaponizing cap space if you're just going to join in on the fray to overpay like everyone else.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Every team had at least one pick in the draft where movement occurred. The only time Seattle moved from their third selection out of the group is when they won the lottery.

There was literally zero movement from Francis. No additional picks. No fewer picks. No moving up and no moving down.

I'm not expecting Seattle to have the same picks as Vegas, but I'm concerned that all other GMs are able to make moves. With Francis, and the collection of calls he HAD to be involved with between Expansion and the Entry Draft, I'm concerned that Francis either:
1) cannot execute his plan
2) has a weak or no plan

Counting on free agency, IMO, is a bad plan because that's when teams overpay on term and cap the most. You're not weaponizing cap space if you're just going to join in on the fray to overpay like everyone else.

The concern around the lack for movement in the entry level draft is understandable. So is asking questions about it. Unfortunately, we may never find out why he didnt make any moves unless one of the reporters asks him that and can get a legitimate answer from Francis.

I don't think Francis is counting on just Free Agency. I think he is also waiting on GM's with cap issues have their backs further against the wall before he swings deals with them. I totally get why our fans are concerned if that even happens (given the lack of trades made by Francis so far) but you have to hope that he wants to wait as long as he can before he starts doing 'favors' by dealing with desperate GM's.

 

[Irie]

Yep. And it is annoying for me to see this because I am coming over the Sharks who did exactly this for years before handing over the scouting/drafting to Doug Wilson Jr within the last few years. They focus on advanced stats too but skill is the other thing they look at.

I was down in the South Bay when the Sharks came into the league and followed all of their drafts - for 25 years Tim Burke was the absolute worst! The only time he would pick the PBA is if they dropped (or if it was a top 3 pick, but even then, half the time he tried to prove he was smarter than everyone else and went off the board).

Riihijarvi, Kaspar, Morris.... so many terrible picks.

This draft I have to say I am not thrilled with. Going off the board and not trading down to grab extra picks in the process is a waste of draft capital. I gotta think that some of these picks would still be on the shelf if Francis moved down 9 or 10 picks and picked up some extra late round assets. Very disappointing.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

I was down in the South Bay when the Sharks came into the league and followed all of their drafts - for 25 years Tim Burke was the absolute worst! The only time he would pick the PBA is if they dropped (or if it was a top 3 pick, but even then, half the time he tried to prove he was smarter than everyone else and went off the board).

Riihijarvi, Kaspar, Morris.... so many terrible picks.

This draft I have to say I am not thrilled with. Going off the board and not trading down to grab extra picks in the process is a waste of draft capital. I gotta think that some of these picks would still be on the shelf if Francis moved down 9 or 10 picks and picked up some extra late round assets. Very disappointing.

Yeah Burke is terrible.

Our draft this year was not bad but there was certainly an emphasis on bigger players who are defense first than smaller but more talented players. I did notice though that most of them are still average or better skaters which is big positive.

The main reason I am not really too worried about this draft is because of the shortened season. I am very excited about this season. Following the development of our prospects to see how they do in their Draft+1 seasons and am hoping they do get to play the full season.

 

[Irie]

Every team had at least one pick in the draft where movement occurred. The only time Seattle moved from their third selection out of the group is when they won the lottery.

There was literally zero movement from Francis. No additional picks. No fewer picks. No moving up and no moving down.

I'm not expecting Seattle to have the same picks as Vegas, but I'm concerned that all other GMs are able to make moves. With Francis, and the collection of calls he HAD to be involved with between Expansion and the Entry Draft, I'm concerned that Francis either:
1) cannot execute his plan
2) has a weak or no plan

Counting on free agency, IMO, is a bad plan because that's when teams overpay on term and cap the most. You're not weaponizing cap space if you're just going to join in on the fray to overpay like everyone else.

I have a feeling it may be one of two things.

1. Movement seemed to be down a bit this year compared to some years, and I attribute that to Covid and the lack of scouting. GMs weren't particularly set on moving up to select players they hadn't thoroughly scouted. There was some movement though, so I think Francis possibly could have stepped in and made a deal or two.... which brings me to my next theory -

2. Francis was so dead set on not taking any salary cap in the expansion draft(smart move imo), that right now he is public enemy number one. All GMs were counting on him to alleviate some of their troubled contracts, and he said no to everyone one. Now, 31 GMs have their panties in a bunch and went full blown "sour grapes" on Seattle andFrancis in the entry draft.

It's my baseless conspiracy theory. Thinking about printing up some T-shirts to promote it....

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

Yeah. Goalies are hard to pick anyway. But this kid has good stats and is one of the younger kids with a February 2003 birthday.

You mean one of the older kids...Younger would have been a B-day closest to Sept 15th the cutoff for 2003 draft eligible players