Confirmed with Link: Kurtis MacDermid to Avalanche for 4th round pick, 2023.

[Fistfullofbeer]

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[Fistfullofbeer]

Good move. He was never going to see the light of day in our roster. Though, not sure why the Avs would trade for him.

 

[LokiDog]

Francis is starting to warrant some actual criticism now. Why draft MacDermid and then flip him for what will be a pick in the 90s next year when you could have had Clague or Grundstrom? Similarly, why take Pitlick over Fischer if you weren't going to utilize Pitlick for a specific role. Fischer is young enough to do something with increased opportunity, especially on a team that isn't as offensively inept as Arizona. Grundstrom for sure has 3LW upside and Clague would have been a very good young PMD for us. Two additional 4th round picks is unimpressive. I'd give both 4th rounders we acquired for Clague and think I won the deal.

@Fistfullofbeer it's true he was never going to crack the roster, but why take him in the first place? LA in particular had 2 medium-high upside rookies available.

 

[RainyCityHockey]

OK, I'll post it here again.

 

[The Marquis]

I think it's fine. Some of the picks needed to be a throwaway. There are too many players. Gotta shed that D. Better to lose MacDermid than Clague to free up the spots. That's nearly 1m more in cap space. What is the PLANNNNNN!!!??

 

[The Marquis]

OK, I'll post it here again.

This totally reads like you are the most excited person on earth about getting a 4th round pick for a goon.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Francis is starting to warrant some actual criticism now. Why draft MacDermid and then flip him for what will be a pick in the 90s next year when you could have had Clague or Grundstrom? Similarly, why take Pitlick over Fischer if you weren't going to utilize Pitlick for a specific role. Fischer is young enough to do something with increased opportunity, especially on a team that isn't as offensively inept as Arizona. Grundstrom for sure has 3LW upside and Clague would have been a very good young PMD for us. Two additional 4th round picks is unimpressive. I'd give both 4th rounders we acquired for Clague and think I won the deal.

@Fistfullofbeer it's true he was never going to crack the roster, but why take him in the first place? LA in particular had 2 medium-high upside rookies available.

At the end of the day it comes down to how Francis and the team evaluated the players from the Kings. I am with you, in that MacDermid was not the best pick for you to begin with obviously Francis and the team saw it differently

 

[RainyCityHockey]

This totally reads like you are the most excited person on earth about getting a 4th round pick for a goon.

You, good sir, are on to something.

 

[The Marquis]

You, good sir, are on to something.

To me.. seems like a great move. If the plan all along was to move MacDermid for picks... cool.

 

[Tasteless Beaver]

Francis also could have picked Dillon from WSH and turned him into a pair of 2nd rounders. What's he doing??

 

[LokiDog]

At the end of the day it comes down to how Francis and the team evaluated the players from the Kings. I am with you, in that MacDermid was not the best pick for you to begin with obviously Francis and the team saw it differently

That doesn't inspire me with a lot of confidence in the team's evaluations. MacDermid was an undrafted 27 year old with a career high of 45 games in a season who they obviously had no need for, so they flipped him for a 4th.

Grundstrom is a 23 year old former 2nd round pick who played 47 games this season and paced for about 20 points while registering over 100 hits. Clague is also a 23 year old former 2nd round pick who put up 6 points in 18 games and shows good promise as a puck mover (which we have one of). It doesn't take an analytics department or a team of scouts or geniuses to see that there's far better value in either of the 23 year old 2nd rounders than in MacDermid, and this trade proves that as well. It is a bit concerning.

Even if the roster wouldn't have room for Clague or Grundstrom, they're players who can still develop and have a role or be valuable as a trade chip down the line. They're young enough and have shown enough promise that their value likely increases. Appreciating assets vs depreciating assets. MacDermid was basically like throwing a pick away. Same with Quennville (UFA - can't trade him for anything) and Bayreuther (UFA - can't trade him for anything).

 

[RainyCityHockey]

Francis also could have picked Dillon from WSH and turned him into a pair of 2nd rounders. What's he doing??

He took the young goaltender making a bit over league minimum who'll probably able to be the backup goalie.

 

[gstommylee]

There were always going to be meh picks in an expansion draft. There were a number of them with Vegas.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

That doesn't inspire me with a lot of confidence in the team's evaluations. MacDermid was an undrafted 27 year old with a career high of 45 games in a season who they obviously had no need for, so they flipped him for a 4th.

Grundstrom is a 23 year old former 2nd round pick who played 47 games this season and paced for about 20 points while registering over 100 hits. Clague is also a 23 year old former 2nd round pick who put up 6 points in 18 games and shows good promise as a puck mover (which we have one of). It doesn't take an analytics department or a team of scouts or geniuses to see that there's far better value in either of the 23 year old 2nd rounders than in MacDermid, and this trade proves that as well. It is a bit concerning.

Even if the roster wouldn't have room for Clague or Grundstrom, they're players who can still develop and have a role or be valuable as a trade chip down the line. They're young enough and have shown enough promise that their value likely increases. Appreciating assets vs depreciating assets. MacDermid was basically like throwing a pick away. Same with Quennville (UFA - can't trade him for anything) and Bayreuther (UFA - can't trade him for anything).

Yeah. There were a few headscratchers in the expansion draft but again, I would reserve judgement in how the team looks like at the start of the season. I am not as concerned about the intermediary moves.

 

[gstommylee]

Yeah. There were a few headscratchers in the expansion draft but again, I would reserve judgement in how the team looks like at the start of the season. I am not as concerned about the intermediary moves.

Even Vegas had head scratchers in their draft. Its suddenly alarming when vegas did the same thing...

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Even Vegas had head scratchers in their draft. Its suddenly alarming when vegas did the same thing...

At some point in time Seattle should stop pointing at Vegas and look at themselves. Vegas were not perfect but they certainly looked well prepared for their expansion draft and side deals.

 

[LokiDog]

Yeah. There were a few headscratchers in the expansion draft but again, I would reserve judgement in how the team looks like at the start of the season. I am not as concerned about the intermediary moves.

I'm still okay with the overall roster, and excited for the inaugural season. In no way do I think these are doom and gloom moves. I just don't like, or understand, the philosophy of leaving useful, young players with good upside on the table in favor of absolute throw aways. Passing on all the big ticket, high price tags names, I do get. For the most part, it's also what I wanted. Unless we'd been able to convert Tarasenko or JVR at 50% into a REAL haul (1st + prospect) than I didn't want any part in those guys. But when it comes to youth that has real upside, it frustrates me more. They don't need to be in the immediate plans or have an opening day roster spot, but having some young guys who can push for a roster spot, who can be an injury call up or who might actually be enticing in a trade package seems like a no-brainer. For example, Jarnkrok is a UFA after this year. What if Grundstrom stewed in the AHL for most of the season with a couple of call-ups and was able to step in and replace him next year? Like I said, these are by no means end of the world, enraging situations, but I have a very hard time seeing ANY way of justifying the choice to pass on those type of kids for a guy you're going to cap dump 7 days later.

 

[gstommylee]

At some point in time Seattle should stop pointing at Vegas and look at themselves. Vegas were not perfect but they certainly looked well prepared for their expansion draft and side deals.

And look at what vegas just did... They traded fleury with out even telling him first... All i am saying there is always a few picks in expansion drafts that tend to be garbage decisions.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

And look at what vegas just did... They traded fleury with out even telling him first... All i am saying there is always a few picks in expansion drafts that tend to be garbage decisions.

I am not sure what is the correlation? Are you insinuating that Fleury was a bad pick from Vegas?

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

I'm still okay with the overall roster, and excited for the inaugural season. In no way do I think these are doom and gloom moves. I just don't like, or understand, the philosophy of leaving useful, young players with good upside on the table in favor of absolute throw aways. Passing on all the big ticket, high price tags names, I do get. For the most part, it's also what I wanted. Unless we'd been able to convert Tarasenko or JVR at 50% into a REAL haul (1st + prospect) than I didn't want any part in those guys. But when it comes to youth that has real upside, it frustrates me more. They don't need to be in the immediate plans or have an opening day roster spot, but having some young guys who can push for a roster spot, who can be an injury call up or who might actually be enticing in a trade package seems like a no-brainer. For example, Jarnkrok is a UFA after this year. What if Grundstrom stewed in the AHL for most of the season with a couple of call-ups and was able to step in and replace him next year? Like I said, these are by no means end of the world, enraging situations, but I have a very hard time seeing ANY way of justifying the choice to pass on those type of kids for a guy you're going to cap dump 7 days later.

Only person that can answer why is GMRF. I was bothered on expansion draft day. Now its done and its better to just not worry too much about that and move on.

Just a PSA.

The main forums are going to be full of folks who are beating up on the Kraken and Francis. This is not uncommon and happens with every team. Try to not take these sentiments personally. There is nothing wrong with staying away from the main boards and just stick to our own if that is what makes you more comfortable.

 

[The Marquis]

At some point in time Seattle should stop pointing at Vegas and look at themselves. Vegas were not perfect but they certainly looked well prepared for their expansion draft and side deals.

why would you not want to model your expansion off of the single greatest expansion in the history of the big 4 team sports?

besides, the FO is definitely not pointing to Vegas except the explain how other GM’s were behaving.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

At some point in time Seattle should stop pointing at Vegas and look at themselves. Vegas were not perfect but they certainly looked well prepared for their expansion draft and side deals.

And you are doing exactly what you say Seattle should stop doing. Comparing us to Vegas.

We can either believe Ron Francis when he says that teams were better prepared and not as amenable to make deals like they were with Vegas OR we can complain about the lack of moves using Vegas as an example. I am not giving Francis a pass for some of the head-scratching moves that he has made in the expansion draft. But, we are months away from knowing our final roster and playing a game. And even then, nobody can predict the performance of the team based on the roster itself. A team is a sum of its parts and Vegas is a prime example of that.

 

[UnkleKraker]

Good move. He was never going to see the light of day in our roster. Though, not sure why the Avs would trade for him.

Avs are one of the least tough team in the league and were victimize for it by Vegas. This is the antidote.

 

[LokiDog]

And you are doing exactly what you say Seattle should stop doing. Comparing us to Vegas.

We can either believe Ron Francis when he says that teams were better prepared and not as amenable to make deals like they were with Vegas OR we can complain about the lack of moves using Vegas as an example. I am not giving Francis a pass for some of the head-scratching moves that he has made in the expansion draft. But, we are months away from knowing our final roster and playing a game. And even then, nobody can predict the performance of the team based on the roster itself. A team is a sum of its parts and Vegas is a prime example of that.

I agree with all of this. It just seems like, in a few small cases, we passed on having $10 for $5. None of the moves that I disagree with are going to dramatically, if at all, impact our ability to compete, but they're head scratchers nonetheless. A guy like Grundstrom really has productive 3rd liner written all over him and taking Mac only to dispose of him just frustrates me, because I feel like we went 90% on solid future moves but missed on a few that seem obvious.

On the one hand, griping over Grundstrom vs MacDermid is a good thing; it means I don't have anything worse to gripe over. On the other hand, it's just one of those things that's going to be a pet peeve for me. It's the same feeling as passing on the BPA in the draft to go for some off the board pick. It just gets under my skin lol

Even looking at our roster right now:

Jarnkrok - Gourde - Eberle
Donskoi - McCann - Appleton
Tanev - Geekie - Blackwell
- True - Bastian

Grundstrom could already slot on that 4th line, with the potential to grow into a third liner. I know we'll sign a couple of players and this will look different, but our call ups are Lind and Twarysnki right now. I'd have really liked Grundstrom as a 4th liner with upside or the 13th forward with an eye toward a bigger role in the future.

 

[King'sPawn]

Not impressed so far. Francis took one of the least valuable Kings players, presumably to fill a role (which I accepted - I'm a Kings fan but adopting Seattle as my second favorite team since I live here). He apparently had no intention of keeping him though? Surely Wagner and Grundstrom are more valuable and Clague has more upside.