Kraken 2024 Offseason chatter

[Fistfullofbeer]

Would be a good idea to use this for the offseason chatter instead of using the 2023/24 Roster discussion. We can discuss offseason moves, etc. here.

Click to read more...

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Hakstol may come back next season but not having the confidence of Francis definitely puts him in the hot seat.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Some other interesting quotes:

 

[Fuhrious]

Hakstol may come back next season but not having the confidence of Francis definitely puts him in the hot seat.

I guess what's disappointing to me about this one is that Hakstol honestly did a perfectly adequate job with the flawed roster that Francis has assembled, and the issues this team is currently facing arent particularly solveable by Hakstol but rather Francis. So...who is "evaluating" Francis, then?

 

[Scomerica]

I guess what's disappointing to me about this one is that Hakstol honestly did a perfectly adequate job with the flawed roster that Francis has assembled, and the issues this team is currently facing arent particularly solveable by Hakstol but rather Francis. So...who is "evaluating" Francis, then?

I guess the question is If he do trade away some vets like Gourde, Tanev or whoever and have to rely on younger players, is Hakstol the man to develop them, especially with his job at stake if he survives the offseason?

 

[Scomerica]

What are the chances they do move on from Hakstol? How soon do they typically make those decisions? I know NFL has black monday

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

What are the chances they do move on from Hakstol? How soon do they typically make those decisions? I know NFL has black monday

If you asked me before that quote, I would have put Hakstol's chance to be back at 90%. Now, about 70%.

A lot of his quotes were interesting. One that kind of stood out was the one below. I wonder if he is seriously thinking of flipping some of our prospects for immediate help.

 

[Scomerica]

If you asked me before that quote, I would have put Hakstol's chance to be back at 90%. Now, about 70%.

A lot of his quotes were interesting. One that kind of stood out was the one below. I wonder if he is seriously thinking of flipping some of our prospects for immediate help.

Who makes sense though to trade prospect wise? I don't think there's a log jam anywhere quite yet

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Who makes sense though to trade prospect wise? I don't think there's a log jam anywhere quite yet

Would really depend on the return. We have quite a few forwards in our prospect pool. Outside of Wright, I don't really consider our forward prospects untouchable. Not that I am advocating moving them but we really have quite a few:

Rehkopf
Sale
Nyman
Firkus
Goyette
Winterton
Morrison
Molgaard

And that is without counting Wright or Beniers. The biggest need for our team, in my opinion, is getting a true top line forward. Guentzel would be a great fit but I don't want him because of his age as well as the fact that he is the best UFA available and will get money thrown at him.

A feasible scenario, in my head, starts by trading Gourde. I doubt he returns anything to improve our roster right away BUT if can bundle the picks/prospects he returns, with one of our own, it may be good enough to get us a player like that. I am not great at player evaluations but I am thinking if we get a late 1st for Gourde you try something like:

1st (from Gourde)
Kraken forward prospect
Top-10 protected 1st round pick 2025.

Should be able to get a pretty decent roster player back.

 

[kihei]

I think the window for getting a 1st for Gourde, even a late one, closed at the trade deadline. But that package should indeed attract a decent return. Francis' comments also smack of leveraging the future to be more competitive now, and that always seems a devil's bargain to me. Maybe Francis isn't that high on the forward prospects in the system, but he drafted them so the responsibility is his. If this is the plan, though, colour me apprehensive; I don't like the idea of trading potential high first round draft choices at all,

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

I think the window for getting a 1st for Gourde, even a late one, closed at the trade deadline.

Meh. I think he can still get one. GM's are weird like that.

Maybe Francis isn't that high on the forward prospects in the system, but he drafted them so the responsibility is his.

I don't see it as a responsibility thing. He could very well love our prospects but may consider a lot of them in the same tier. That means moving one of them does not harm the long term future of the team. Ofcourse, the prospect he trades could end up being a star but there is a bigger chance that he does not.

If this is the plan, though, colour me apprehensive; I don't like the idea of trading potential high first round draft choices at all,

Not that I am fan of trading 1st round picks, considering the draft is my favorite hockey event of the year, I just can't see us being in a situation similar to this season IF Francis actually goes the route of acquiring a legit 1st liner via trade. A top line player and a 3C are the 2 pieces missing from this roster which would make us a playoff team.

 

[RainyCityHockey]

Some more from Francis

Kraken Notes: Hakstol, McCann, Dunn

The Kraken haven't yet decided whether to bring head coach Dave Hakstol back next season, GM Ron Francis said Monday (via Geoff …

www.prohockeyrumors.com

I'm curious to see what he does but looking at his quotes it seems ownership wants to win now and asked him to be aggressive.

I would go the other way but if he does go for it, I hope it's not some half a$$ed crap.

 

[gstommylee]

delete

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Some more from Francis

Kraken Notes: Hakstol, McCann, Dunn

The Kraken haven't yet decided whether to bring head coach Dave Hakstol back next season, GM Ron Francis said Monday (via Geoff …

www.prohockeyrumors.com

I'm curious to see what he does but looking at his quotes it seems ownership wants to win now and asked him to be aggressive.

I would go the other way but if he does go for it, I hope it's not some half a$$ed crap.

Yeah. I am pretty sure they are going to try and win now. I would not be shocked if they go hard after Guentzel or Reinhart in FA. But we need to lighten the roster first to make those spots. I mean who do you start moving to the bottom-6?

McCann-Beniers-X
Y-Wright-Bjorkstrand

** X is the UFA acquisition.
** Y is one of Tolvy, Eberle, Burakovsky or Schwartz.

The ideal fit for Y is Bura since he has shown to be pretty ineffective in a bottom-6 role. So that leaves Tolvy, Eberle, Schwartz, Gourde all for bottom-6 roles. Sure it adds depth but that is going to be a very expensive bottom-6 after Tolvy gets his new deal. Add Tanev to the list as well.

The only pieces from that bottom-6 we can move are Tolvy, Gourde and maybe Tanev. Of those three, I would rather keep Tolvy. Maybe I am being overly optimistic here but I do think that adding that 1 "elite" 1st line player to the roster, the snowball effect will improve the team considerably.

 

[Scomerica]

Yeah. I am pretty sure they are going to try and win now. I would not be shocked if they go hard after Guentzel or Reinhart in FA. But we need to lighten the roster first to make those spots. I mean who do you start moving to the bottom-6?

McCann-Beniers-X
Y-Wright-Bjorkstrand

** X is the UFA acquisition.
** Y is one of Tolvy, Eberle, Burakovsky or Schwartz.

The ideal fit for Y is Bura since he has shown to be pretty ineffective in a bottom-6 role. So that leaves Tolvy, Eberle, Schwartz, Gourde all for bottom-6 roles. Sure it adds depth but that is going to be a very expensive bottom-6 after Tolvy gets his new deal. Add Tanev to the list as well.

The only pieces from that bottom-6 we can move are Tolvy, Gourde and maybe Tanev. Of those three, I would rather keep Tolvy. Maybe I am being overly optimistic here but I do think that adding that 1 "elite" 1st line player to the roster, the snowball effect will improve the team considerably.

I know Brock Huard isn't a hockey guy but thought he put it pretty well this morning when he said the Kraken ownership are fighting for relevancy in this market when you are competing against the Huskies who are coming off a national championship appearance and seem aggressive with this new coach, the Seahawks clearing house and aiming to contend soon, Mariners being a bubble team. You can't afford too many blah seasons like last (and that doesn't include any future Sonics that you would share an arena with)

 

[gstommylee]

Yeah. I am pretty sure they are going to try and win now. I would not be shocked if they go hard after Guentzel or Reinhart in FA. But we need to lighten the roster first to make those spots. I mean who do you start moving to the bottom-6?

McCann-Beniers-X
Y-Wright-Bjorkstrand

** X is the UFA acquisition.
** Y is one of Tolvy, Eberle, Burakovsky or Schwartz.

The ideal fit for Y is Bura since he has shown to be pretty ineffective in a bottom-6 role. So that leaves Tolvy, Eberle, Schwartz, Gourde all for bottom-6 roles. Sure it adds depth but that is going to be a very expensive bottom-6 after Tolvy gets his new deal. Add Tanev to the list as well.

The only pieces from that bottom-6 we can move are Tolvy, Gourde and maybe Tanev. Of those three, I would rather keep Tolvy. Maybe I am being overly optimistic here but I do think that adding that 1 "elite" 1st line player to the roster, the snowball effect will improve the team considerably.

and who's gonna replace gourde?

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

and who's gonna replace gourde?

Trade. UFA. Much easier to get a 3C than an elite top line forward.

We need to be looking at how to improve the roster, not how to retain the same players. Plus Gourde is a pending UFA after this season. I do not believe losing Gourde would prevent us from making the playoffs.

 

[gstommylee]

Trade. UFA. Much easier to get a 3C than an elite top line forward.

We need to be looking at how to improve the roster, not how to retain the same players. Plus Gourde is a pending UFA after this season. I do not believe losing Gourde would prevent us from making the playoffs.

but if we need a spot for a for a top line player getting rid of Gorude, you'll need to open another roster spot just to fill that 3C spot.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

but if we need a spot for a for a top line player getting rid of Gorude, you'll need to open another roster spot just to fill that 3C spot.

We don't need to open an additional spot when Gourde leaves. The spot gets opened when he leaves. The challenge would be moving one of Tolvy, Eberle or Schwartz to the 4th line. Its not ideal or fair to any of them, but something we need to do if we want the roster improved.

Hypothetically, lets say we acquired Guentzel as a UFA. Same problem. We need to move Schwartz, Eberle or Tolvy to the 4th line. But not just that, with Tolvy's raise and Tanev's current salary we are talking of a very expensive bottom-6. This is assuming we are not already over the cap.

But here is the thing. There are not many solutions to our problem because the contracts of Bura and Schwartz make them hard to move, even if they did not have clauses. You want to keep Gourde, then Francis may have to consider trading Tolvy instead of him IF he wants to improve the roster. I am against this but can warm up to it, depending on what player we are getting for the top line.

Do you have any alternatives on how to improve the roster? The current roster is built for mediocrity. I don't see any of our current prospects jumping in and making an impact any time soon. The alternative to that would be deciding that you don't want to improve the roster and are willing to wait till you have Beniers as a legit 1C, Wright as a legit 2C and atleast 2 of Rehkopf, Nyman, Firkus, Sale or any of our current prospects ready to step in as legit top-6 forwards.

TLDR: Improving the roster for next season will require us to move player(s) out. Either for cap space or simply creating roster spots.

 

[Scomerica]

I just saw how many goals Geekie and Sprong scored for their respective teams. Daaamn. Not saying they would have done it here but that would have made them 3rd/4th top scores in the Kraken.

 

[majormajor]

I just saw how many goals Geekie and Sprong scored for their respective teams. Daaamn. Not saying they would have done it here but that would have made them 3rd/4th top scores in the Kraken.

They're cheap enough for what they bring too ($2m cap hits). We were better off with them than cheaping out with Yamamoto and Bellemare. Penny wise, pound foolish.

As far as whether they'd have done it here, Geekie wasn't doing it here before, but Spronger was. He's been consistently superproductive. I'd bring him back, I know he's not good defensively but from everything we know he's still a very helpful player to have.

 

[majormajor]

We don't need to open an additional spot when Gourde leaves. The spot gets opened when he leaves. The challenge would be moving one of Tolvy, Eberle or Schwartz to the 4th line. Its not ideal or fair to any of them, but something we need to do if we want the roster improved.

Hypothetically, lets say we acquired Guentzel as a UFA. Same problem. We need to move Schwartz, Eberle or Tolvy to the 4th line. But not just that, with Tolvy's raise and Tanev's current salary we are talking of a very expensive bottom-6. This is assuming we are not already over the cap.

But here is the thing. There are not many solutions to our problem because the contracts of Bura and Schwartz make them hard to move, even if they did not have clauses. You want to keep Gourde, then Francis may have to consider trading Tolvy instead of him IF he wants to improve the roster. I am against this but can warm up to it, depending on what player we are getting for the top line.

Do you have any alternatives on how to improve the roster? The current roster is built for mediocrity. I don't see any of our current prospects jumping in and making an impact any time soon. The alternative to that would be deciding that you don't want to improve the roster and are willing to wait till you have Beniers as a legit 1C, Wright as a legit 2C and atleast 2 of Rehkopf, Nyman, Firkus, Sale or any of our current prospects ready to step in as legit top-6 forwards.

TLDR: Improving the roster for next season will require us to move player(s) out. Either for cap space or simply creating roster spots.

Have you tallied it up on armchair GM? I'll believe we're running out of cap space when I see it, even with an imaginary Guentzel in place.

As for Schwartz, Eberle, or Tolvanen, I don't have any problem with having a deep team and a veteran or two parked on the 4th line for a bit. There will be injuries. Schwartz himself will probably be injured, and he's also very old and slow and should maybe be on the 4th line next year anyways.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Have you tallied it up on armchair GM? I'll believe we're running out of cap space when I see it, even with an imaginary Guentzel in place.

As for Schwartz, Eberle, or Tolvanen, I don't have any problem with having a deep team and a veteran or two parked on the 4th line for a bit. There will be injuries. Schwartz himself will probably be injured, and he's also very old and slow and should maybe be on the 4th line next year anyways.

Yeah. I was playing around with capfriendly, though I my estimates for salaries may be way off.

I gave Beniers 6.5M, Tolvy 4.5M, Guentzel 9M.
Traded Gourde with 1.66M retention (makes it 4M AAV).

I would not be shocked if both Beniers and Guentzel's numbers are higher though. Also, keep in mind, the cap is supposed to go up to 87M+ next season. One my problems with the roster is that we have Tolvy on the 4th line. It's overkill.

 

[The Marquis]

Do the Kraken have the weakest centers in the NHL? I mean, high potential sure, but we're talking about today. Beniers, Wright (assumedly), Gourde and Kartye? Woah. I mean... I can't expect us to be good for at least 3 more years with those 4 at center. 3 of them aren't there yet and the other guy... well, not young.

 

[The Marquis]

For the rest of you... Why not Sam Reinhart? We could definitely use a guy who can get 80-95 points. Or is there something I don't know?