Ronnie's Roulette - Year two TDL Edition

[RainyCityHockey]

Lmfao “trade activity”. The Megna trade was so long ago I don’t even count it as a deadline trade. Did any other team do absolutely nothing in the last 14 days?

Well, we also did that waiver claim thing in December for Tolvanen.

Overall, llooking at the insane prices, I think think it's OK to do nothing else.
Though, I think Francis should've looked what Soucy could've brought and sold him if anyone was offering a 2nd or even more.

BTW: I can't wait for that Francis interview to be accessable in pdf format or with a couple of tweets on twitter.
You know, while everyone else is in the 21st century and acutally records that and posts a video about it.

 

[sigma six]

Glad they didn't trade for JvR or Klingberg, I don't think they would have moved the needle at all. Also happy that the rumor of trading Borgen away didn't happen. Status quo isnt bad in this team's case...everyone can just relax and laugh at Philly. (HF Flyers certainly is.)

 

[Scomerica]

I was thinking the same thing. We may have been one of the quietest teams this week.

Wasn't that a criticism of him in Carolina that sometimes he was too conservative at trade deadlines when they had good teams?

 

[Scomerica]

"I am very happy with the way our team has played this season. I trust these group of guys and feel like we have a good chance to make the playoffs without disrupting any of our team chemistry."

Close

 

[NiagaraKraken]

Well, we also did that waiver claim thing in December for Tolvanen.

Overall, llooking at the insane prices, I think think it's OK to do nothing else.
Though, I think Francis should've looked what Soucy could've brought and sold him if anyone was offering a 2nd or even more.

BTW: I can't wait for that Francis interview to be accessable in pdf format or with a couple of tweets on twitter.
You know, while everyone else is in the 21st century and acutally records that and posts a video about it.

I agree with Tolvanen. They didn’t need to go add a top 9 forward the way Tolv is playing. Now if Burakovsky was done for the year, different scenario but he’s coming back.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

This bothers me because I don't care much about Burke and is a pretty poor way of looking at the TDL. Yes, there is only one SC cup and there are 32 teams. By that reasoning only the team destined to win the cup should make moves.

 

[kihei]

Well, this at least should be popular in the room, and I am sure will be seen as a welcome vote of confidence by the players. That may seem like not much for the day, but it's not nothing either.

 

[wewantyoursoul]

We may not do well if we make the playoffs...but the one team that would be absolutely scared to death to play us (assuming we reached the Finals) is Boston. We've probably played them as stout (or better) than any team in the league. We are built to give them a hard time.

So maybe, just maybe, we might get that chance.

One can dream.

 

[Irie]

Yeah. So we did nothing. Definitely surprised because while I know this team will do nothing in the playoffs, they have a good chance that they make their first playoff experience. Figured Ron would do something small to help out the team.

I feel like there was a lot of talk of making moves just for the sake of making moves, but it really all came down to the question, " who do you upgrade?".

Then look at upgrade options, look at acquisition costs, and ask yourself, " is the upgrade worth the price?"

I think the answer was a big "no". Especially not for an expansion team with not enough prospects to even have a proper development camp.

I could have seen Francis interested in maybe swapping a roster player(scoring winger) for a different type of player (energy defensive winger), but not be able to find a suitable trade partner. (Those are the types of deals that are always availabe in the offseason, but rarely at the TDL).

 

[The Marquis]

I feel like there was a lot of talk of making moves just for the sake of making moves, but it really all came down to the question, " who do you upgrade?".

Then look at upgrade options, look at acquisition costs, and ask yourself, " is the upgrade worth the price?"

I think the answer was a big "no". Especially not for an expansion team with not enough prospects to even have a proper development camp.

I could have seen Francis interested in maybe swapping a roster player(scoring winger) for a different type of player (energy defensive winger), but not be able to find a suitable trade partner. (Those are the types of deals that are always availabe in the offseason, but rarely at the TDL).

I definitely agree with all this. I do t think any of the prices paid are actually worth what the buying team got in return.

 

[GrungeHockey]

I definitely agree with all this. I do t think any of the prices paid are actually worth what the buying team got in return.

No, overall they aren't, but the guy who wins the cup will look like a genius and the guys that went all in and lost might lose their jobs. Eastern battles are going to be crazy.

Ottawa's a big winner imo. They got a piece for next year not just a rental. They should make a big playoff push now and perhaps knock out the islanders for that last spot.

 

[majormajor]

I feel like there was a lot of talk of making moves just for the sake of making moves, but it really all came down to the question, " who do you upgrade?".

Then look at upgrade options, look at acquisition costs, and ask yourself, " is the upgrade worth the price?"

I think the answer was a big "no". Especially not for an expansion team with not enough prospects to even have a proper development camp.

I could have seen Francis interested in maybe swapping a roster player(scoring winger) for a different type of player (energy defensive winger), but not be able to find a suitable trade partner. (Those are the types of deals that are always availabe in the offseason, but rarely at the TDL).

I think teams can justify it if it's the right player.

Like L.A. gave up their first to get Gavrikov and Korpisalo, a couple players I know well. They had terrible goaltending and a weak side on LD. So those two happened to cover their needs really well. They're well positioned now to win the West.

There's no analogy to that for the Kraken. Who are we upgrading on? Normally teams have obvious lineup holes they want to fix. The Kraken don't have holes. They're just kind of flat, they could use top end help, not depth. That's why all these rumors about this or that depth piece coming (or going) didn't many any sense. They needed a depth D and they got him in Megna. That's it.

 

[Irie]

There's no analogy to that for the Kraken. Who are we upgrading on? Normally teams have obvious lineup holes they want to fix. The Kraken don't have holes. They're just kind of flat, they could use top end help, not depth. That's why all these rumors about this or that depth piece coming (or going) didn't many any sense. They needed a depth D and they got him in Megna. That's it.

That is exactly it.

It is both their strength and their weakness. And thus the problem.

Upgrades for the top end talent they are lacking is mostly unavailable or completely price prohibitive, and for a team that can't even run a development camp due to lack of prospects, further emptying those cupboards for marginal upgrades is probably unwise.

 

[kranuck]

Francis seems like he’s still the same GM he was in Carolina.

Not bad at drafting. Not bad at signing smaller pieces.

Completely risk adverse to the point that it got him fired and will probably end the same way here.

He’s letting a mediocre team age without even trying to improve or rebuild. Result is a lack of direction and a team that’s just gonna get older and more expensive with a shallow prospect pool (and no more high picks coming).

Local media and fans just justify it as “we don’t want to be Vegas”.

At this point I’m so sick of watching their dumpster fire style defensive play that I just want him and Hakstol gone. 10 million for mediocre goaltending (without either guy even playing a game before the deals were signed).

Also not a huge fan of letting Dunn rack up 60 points in a contract year. RFA or not, he’s cheaper if he’s extended last year.

 

[kranuck]

price is too high to make any impactful trades.

Price is always too high for Francis.

I'd rather see this team take another year or two to become better naturally. Seems wiser than torpedoing its future trying to shore up for a playoff run in year #2.

Why would they get better naturally? Much more likely they get older and more expensive while drafting mid to late first round.

Wright and Beniers are great pieces but the rest of the team is gonna be mediocre, transition to sucking hard, and end up in a rebuild with a GM who has proven (twice by this point) that he’s not capable of putting a team over the top.

So Vegas, Edmonton and L.A. have made some moves with Vegas and L.A. probably still looking to do something.

We won't do much more, according to Franics and I do agree with him.


The prices are nuts right now and it could benefit us quite a bit in the long run to keep our assets while other teams will have to find other ways in the future.

Though, I'd really like to know if there was any real interest in Soucy and if so what was offered.
I get you don't want to ruin any kind of chemistry, especially with this group of non superstars, but if we could've gotten anything close to a first rounder I would've been really tempted to sell.

prices are always nuts. Good GMs find guys for prices that are worth paying.

Depends on which Kraken team shows up. We have gone hard against the Bruins in the last 2 times we faced them. Shows that we can keep up with the best of them. So in theory, yes.

But we really need to start playing January hockey.

they played absolutely atrocious hockey the second game vs the bruins.

That game should have been a clear signal that changes absolutely need to be made because the the defensive play of this team is inexcusable.

After seeing all of these pricetags... I'm not sure I want Francis to be buying at all. Nothing is coming in anywhere near the right value. That Van/Det trade involving Hronek is completely bonkers.

A first and a second for a top pairing right d with a year left is not bonkers and never has been. Fans are bonkers and completely delusional about the value of a pick vs a player.

Ottawa just got Chychrun for a 1st and a 2nd.
At least unless they make it to the ECF this year, cause the 2nd would turn into a 1st thanks to that.

If Ron would've wanted he could've done that and would've also taken pressure of those negotiations with Dunn.

chychrun does make me nervous because of his injury history, but absolutely.

I think Fleury should be given a chance elsewhere. While I don't expect Nelson to be NHL ready next year, I certainly think Evans will be. Even if it is in a 7D capacity.

Dunn-Larsson
Schultz-Oleksiak
Megna-Borgen
Evans

I would not be surprised if Evans actually beats out Megna for the 3rd pairing job next season.

The thing I am genuinely curious about is how Francis approaches the roster building next season. The obvious start would be re-signing Dunn and Borgen. That rounds off our top-10 F and top-6 D.

Bura-Beniers-Eberle
Schwartz-Wennberg-McCann
Tolvanen-Gourde-Bjorkstrand
Tanev-?-?

Dunn-Larsson
Schultz-Oleksiak
Megna-Borgen

We could re-sign Donato and Geekie to round this off. Keep spots for Wright and Evans. But the only way we are actually a better team is IF both Wright and Evans step into the team full time by outplaying the competition. And that is far from a guarantee.

The option would obviously be improving that top-4 D somehow and shoving Megna to 7D or adding a more skilled forward again forcing to move Eberle or Schwartz down to the bottom-6. Man, I am just torn on what we should do next season.

Tear it all down.

More expensive, older, worse.

Dude doesn’t seem to want to take any risks at all ever to improve the team so he should just start the rebuild now.

I'll give RF a one-time pass for standing pat, if that happens, this year. It's a unique year of team building when a playoff appearance is a good outcome. From next year onward I want to see either buying/selling every year

He blew his free passes with last seasons debacle. Extremely disappointed in Francis as GM so far.

Seattle will make big deadline splashes when it makes sense too. It’s dumb to throw away draft picks and prospects when you are trying to build it from ground up. Every year of buying and selling of getting rid of players, draft picks and prospects is not how you build a team to contend.

Ron Francis will never make a deadline splash. You
Don’t build a team to contend by being mediocre and standing pat. Right now the Kraken are in absolutely the worst position a team can be in.

In the building phase I'm okay standing pat. I'd argue that the building phase will be over next year it should be a contending year considering the growth this year. I want to see meaningful acquisitions if a team is a contender. Look at my other team the TBL. They were fairly quiet at the deadline for years under Yzerman. JBB came in as GM and was aggressive. Obviously that worked out okay.
On the other side of the coin, almost all teams acquire prospects & picks when they're out of it and I assume GMRF will do the same. Messing around in the middle of the pack is not anything I feel like watching, i.e. the Mariners for all of the 2000s & 2010s.

Edit: And for the record, I would make minor SELLING deals this year. I wish the Kraken had an above average G, another top-4 D, and a bonafide finishing F because the west is so weak again this year. But they don't and I don't want to try to acquire those things at the trade deadline

this team is not built to contend at all.

In the building phase I'm okay standing pat. I'd argue that the building phase will be over next year it should be a contending year considering the growth this year. I want to see meaningful acquisitions if a team is a contender. Look at my other team the TBL. They were fairly quiet at the deadline for years under Yzerman. JBB came in as GM and was aggressive. Obviously that worked out okay.
On the other side of the coin, almost all teams acquire prospects & picks when they're out of it and I assume GMRF will do the same. Messing around in the middle of the pack is not anything I feel like watching, i.e. the aMariners for all of the 2000s & 2010s.

Edit: And for the record, I would make minor SELLING deals this year. I wish the Kraken had an above average G, another top-4 D, and a bonafide finishing F because the west is so weak again this year. But they don't and I don't want to try to acquire those things at the trade deadline

Dude was fired from Carolina because he didn’t make moves.

Francis has no plan. He’s gonna be a mediocre GM here just like Carolina and when he’s finally turfed the rebuild will be awful.

Glad they didn't trade for JvR or Klingberg, I don't think they would have moved the needle at all. Also happy that the rumor of trading Borgen away didn't happen. Status quo isnt bad in this team's case...everyone can just relax and laugh at Philly. (HF Flyers certainly is.)

status quo is awful.

Teams needs to pick a direction and go. Standing pat with a mediocre team is the worst possible move.

Wasn't that a criticism of him in Carolina that sometimes he was too conservative at trade deadlines when they had good teams?

Yes. He could draft well but he’s seemingly incapable of taking even the slightest risk to improve the team.

I

Close

translation: I’m a coward who is headed towards getting fired again in a couple years.

This bothers me because I don't care much about Burke and is a pretty poor way of looking at the TDL. Yes, there is only one SC cup and there are 32 teams. By that reasoning only the team destined to win the cup should make moves.

yeah that’s such dumb shit. Just the dumbest excuse.

Francis is a terrible GM.

Well, this at least should be popular in the room, and I am sure will be seen as a welcome vote of confidence by the players. That may seem like not much for the day, but it's not nothing either.

Why would it be popular in the room?

Hey guys, you’re good but not good enough for me to risk a mid round pick improving things.

We may not do well if we make the playoffs...but the one team that would be absolutely scared to death to play us (assuming we reached the Finals) is Boston. We've probably played them as stout (or better) than any team in the league. We are built to give them a hard time.

So maybe, just maybe, we might get that chance.

One can dream.

Boston flattened them easily last time they played. Boston would love to play the kraken, it would be over in 4 as they score at will.

I feel like there was a lot of talk of making moves just for the sake of making moves, but it really all came down to the question, " who do you upgrade?".

Then look at upgrade options, look at acquisition costs, and ask yourself, " is the upgrade worth the price?"

I think the answer was a big "no". Especially not for an expansion team with not enough prospects to even have a proper development camp.

I could have seen Francis interested in maybe swapping a roster player(scoring winger) for a different type of player (energy defensive winger), but not be able to find a suitable trade partner. (Those are the types of deals that are always availabe in the offseason, but rarely at the TDL).

Then it’s time to rebuild.

Francis just sucks. Same shit as when he was in Carolina.

Man is a coward.

I think teams can justify it if it's the right player.

Like L.A. gave up their first to get Gavrikov and Korpisalo, a couple players I know well. They had terrible goaltending and a weak side on LD. So those two happened to cover their needs really well. They're well positioned now to win the West.

There's no analogy to that for the Kraken. Who are we upgrading on? Normally teams have obvious lineup holes they want to fix. The Kraken don't have holes. They're just kind of flat, they could use top end help, not depth. That's why all these rumors about this or that depth piece coming (or going) didn't many any sense. They needed a depth D and they got him in Megna. That's it.

The kraken do have obvious holes. Their D sucks.

 

[Irie]

Price is always too high for Francis.

Why would they get better naturally? Much more likely they get older and more expensive while drafting mid to late first round.

Wright and Beniers are great pieces but the rest of the team is gonna be mediocre, transition to sucking hard, and end up in a rebuild with a GM who has proven (twice by this point) that he’s not capable of putting a team over the top.

prices are always nuts. Good GMs find guys for prices that are worth paying.

they played absolutely atrocious hockey the second game vs the bruins.

That game should have been a clear signal that changes absolutely need to be made because the the defensive play of this team is inexcusable.

A first and a second for a top pairing right d with a year left is not bonkers and never has been. Fans are bonkers and completely delusional about the value of a pick vs a player.

chychrun does make me nervous because of his injury history, but absolutely.

Tear it all down.

More expensive, older, worse.

Dude doesn’t seem to want to take any risks at all ever to improve the team so he should just start the rebuild now.

He blew his free passes with last seasons debacle. Extremely disappointed in Francis as GM so far.

Ron Francis will never make a deadline splash. You
Don’t build a team to contend by being mediocre and standing pat. Right now the Kraken are in absolutely the worst position a team can be in.

this team is not built to contend at all.

Dude was fired from Carolina because he didn’t make moves.

Francis has no plan. He’s gonna be a mediocre GM here just like Carolina and when he’s finally turfed the rebuild will be awful.

status quo is awful.

Teams needs to pick a direction and go. Standing pat with a mediocre team is the worst possible move.

Yes. He could draft well but he’s seemingly incapable of taking even the slightest risk to improve the team.

I

translation: I’m a coward who is headed towards getting fired again in a couple years.

yeah that’s such dumb shit. Just the dumbest excuse.

Francis is a terrible GM.

Why would it be popular in the room?

Hey guys, you’re good but not good enough for me to risk a mid round pick improving things.

Boston flattened them easily last time they played. Boston would love to play the kraken, it would be over in 4 as they score at will.

Then it’s time to rebuild.

Francis just sucks. Same shit as when he was in Carolina.

Man is a coward.

The kraken do have obvious holes. Their D sucks.

Feels like you made an account just to troll an entire thread and rip on Francis.

Opinions are fine and welcome, but hot takes that are out of touch with the reality of the current situation are looking rather silly given the current position the team is in.

 

[Sad People]

Feels like you made an account just to troll an entire thread and rip on Francis.

Kinda got this same feeling as well lol

 

[gstommylee]

Price is always too high for Francis.

Why would they get better naturally? Much more likely they get older and more expensive while drafting mid to late first round.

Wright and Beniers are great pieces but the rest of the team is gonna be mediocre, transition to sucking hard, and end up in a rebuild with a GM who has proven (twice by this point) that he’s not capable of putting a team over the top.

prices are always nuts. Good GMs find guys for prices that are worth paying.

they played absolutely atrocious hockey the second game vs the bruins.

That game should have been a clear signal that changes absolutely need to be made because the the defensive play of this team is inexcusable.

A first and a second for a top pairing right d with a year left is not bonkers and never has been. Fans are bonkers and completely delusional about the value of a pick vs a player.

chychrun does make me nervous because of his injury history, but absolutely.

Tear it all down.

More expensive, older, worse.

Dude doesn’t seem to want to take any risks at all ever to improve the team so he should just start the rebuild now.

He blew his free passes with last seasons debacle. Extremely disappointed in Francis as GM so far.

Ron Francis will never make a deadline splash. You
Don’t build a team to contend by being mediocre and standing pat. Right now the Kraken are in absolutely the worst position a team can be in.

this team is not built to contend at all.

Dude was fired from Carolina because he didn’t make moves.

Francis has no plan. He’s gonna be a mediocre GM here just like Carolina and when he’s finally turfed the rebuild will be awful.

status quo is awful.

Teams needs to pick a direction and go. Standing pat with a mediocre team is the worst possible move.

Yes. He could draft well but he’s seemingly incapable of taking even the slightest risk to improve the team.

I

translation: I’m a coward who is headed towards getting fired again in a couple years.

yeah that’s such dumb shit. Just the dumbest excuse.

Francis is a terrible GM.

Why would it be popular in the room?

Hey guys, you’re good but not good enough for me to risk a mid round pick improving things.

Boston flattened them easily last time they played. Boston would love to play the kraken, it would be over in 4 as they score at will.

Then it’s time to rebuild.

Francis just sucks. Same shit as when he was in Carolina.

Man is a coward.

The kraken do have obvious holes. Their D sucks.

Francis doesn't suck. The reason why the canes are where they are at now was cause of him..

Reminder we are a year 2 team of course its going to have holes. If people want everything to be perfect after our 2nd season, then i don't know what to say...

its not worth throwing away future picks and assets for players that probably won't make that kind of difference... We are several years away from having the roster in order for us to compete to for the cup its not worth it. Just throwing away picks and assets just to make big splashes is how you set up the team to fail season wise in the long term. Look at Vegas they are going to hit rock bottom hard at some point with what they been doing with asset management.


Btw The next entry daft is 2 rounds deep and we have 4 picks...

 

[Kat Predator]

Francis doesn't suck. The reason why the canes are where they are at now was cause of him..

He did establish a very solid scouting department in Carolina and many of those picks were hits. I'd quibble a bit with the "it was all Francis" take though. Waddell hasn't just sat in the corner playing with a Nintendo. He's brought in some veterans, spent more money on the roster, and is the guy that oversaw the younger kids that are playing now.

 

[kranuck]

Francis doesn't suck. The reason why the canes are where they are at now was cause of him..

Reminder we are a year 2 team of course its going to have holes. If people want everything to be perfect after our 2nd season, then i don't know what to say...

its not worth throwing away future picks and assets for players that probably won't make that kind of difference... We are several years away from having the roster in order for us to compete to for the cup its not worth it. Just throwing away picks and assets just to make big splashes is how you set up the team to fail season wise in the long term. Look at Vegas they are going to hit rock bottom hard at some point with what they been doing with asset management.


Btw The next entry daft is 2 rounds deep and we have 4 picks...

Francis got fired because all he could do was draft. The man is comically risk averse. His big move was to sign a goalie. Completely failed.

Sound familiar?

Right now he’s standing pat on a team that’s probably going draft around 20th.

That’s terrible. That’s the worst position to be in. Team will just keep getting older and more expensive while drafting too late to make a difference.

 

[RainyCityHockey]

Francis got fired because all he could do was draft. The man is comically risk averse. His big move was to sign a goalie. Completely failed.

Sound familiar?

Right now he’s standing pat on a team that’s probably going draft around 20th.

That’s terrible. That’s the worst position to be in. Team will just keep getting older and more expensive while drafting too late to make a difference.

Francis brought in Bjorkstrand, Burakovsky and Schultz last offseason and added Tolfvanen on waivers.

All of his moves he made last offseason have worked and turned a team that 60 points last year into a team that is in the playoff race and has a good chance to make it.

What he didn't do was "go for it" in a year were a lot of teams did so and mortaged their future.

Him doing what you wanted would've been really Jim Benning by him cause no matter how nice this season has been so far, this team's not just one piece a way from making a run at the cup, IMO.

BTW: I get that being in the middle of the pack is the worst thing you can do in the franchise system of north american sports.
That's why I'm also very sceptical of the "stay competitive" talk if you're stuck in the middle and don't have a young, up and coming team.

Though, it's the first year we're in this spot and given that we've hopefully drafted our future at center during the last two drafts, adding a 20th OVR pick(in a deep draft like this one) into the mix isn't a bad idea.
We could either draft a guy or use it in a trade at the draft, where you can get for a guy for a full season.

To me that's just a better idea(at this point) than "going for it" and adding a guy in his late 20's that you need to re-sign to a big contract and who might even play the same position as Beniers and Wright.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Francis got fired because all he could do was draft. The man is comically risk averse. His big move was to sign a goalie. Completely failed.

Sound familiar?

Right now he’s standing pat on a team that’s probably going draft around 20th.

That’s terrible. That’s the worst position to be in. Team will just keep getting older and more expensive while drafting too late to make a difference.

Or miss the playoffs.

Do you have any suggestions on what you would have done differently here? What trade(s) would you have made?

Most of us have been very happy with the moves Francis has made. Making the playoffs in our second season is a big accomplishment on its own since we didn't go the Vegas route by mortgaging our future. Infact, quite the opposite. We have a future ahead of us because we preserved our picks and prospects.

The way to succeed in the playoffs in not buy your way through them but have enough drafted talent on your own to buy complimentary pieces or fill in holes. That takes time. People look at Chicago and Tampa Bay for playing the cap but look at the drafted talent they already had on their teams before they started to play those games to go 'over the top'.

And yeah, the team will keep getting older, it happens to everyone. But that matters only if you already have star players on your team with a closing window. We have no star players at this point. Period. Yes, Matty is on his way but still needs a season or 2 more. McCann could arguably be called one but we need a bigger sample size.

Either way, this team does not need to rush into mortgaging its future to be able to go from a 1st round exit to a 2nd round exit. Not this season. Just making the playoffs is enough of an accomplishment.

 

[Kat Predator]

Francis got fired because all he could do was draft. The man is comically risk averse. His big move was to sign a goalie. Completely failed.

Sound familiar?

Right now he’s standing pat on a team that’s probably going draft around 20th.

That’s terrible. That’s the worst position to be in. Team will just keep getting older and more expensive while drafting too late to make a difference.

We're an expansion team in its second season of operation. The second season hasn't even completed at this point.

The expansion draft dictates that the franchise must select veterans. Every team gets to protect all its prospects. It's just not possible to raid prospect pools out of the ED and walk away with a really young team. The expansion team doesn't get a fruit basket full of top draft picks either. Francis didn't make those rules.

OTOH, Francis did select younger players on cheaper 1st veteran contracts with many of his ED selections. He did not go the Vegas route of taking veterans with big contracts who might be fading a bit.

And standing pat at this TDL wasn't that unreasonable. First, it suggests that management is pleased with the way this roster is performing. No reason to flip the apple cart. Second, it acknowledges that while we have a solid 20 to 23 perhaps, we're not deep enough to sell players and plug holes with the fodder down in Coachella Valley at this point. We're an expansion team after all. Third, Francis is conservative and he isn't going to trade away his highly prized draft picks. We have 10 draft picks, 4 in the first 2 rounds, coming this draft. That shows a commitment to the overall plan. Despite some nice success this season, Francis remains committed to drafting and developing through the draft. This comes after 11 picks last year and a Kraken draft class that was highly graded. And we have extra picks in 2024 as well. Down the round, Francis is clearly intending to backfill with all these prospects. He's said so from day 1.

 

[kranuck]

Or miss the playoffs.

Do you have any suggestions on what you would have done differently here? What trade(s) would you have made?

Most of us have been very happy with the moves Francis has made. Making the playoffs in our second season is a big accomplishment on its own since we didn't go the Vegas route by mortgaging our future. Infact, quite the opposite. We have a future ahead of us because we preserved our picks and prospects.

The way to succeed in the playoffs in not buy your way through them but have enough drafted talent on your own to buy complimentary pieces or fill in holes. That takes time. People look at Chicago and Tampa Bay for playing the cap but look at the drafted talent they already had on their teams before they started to play those games to go 'over the top'.

And yeah, the team will keep getting older, it happens to everyone. But that matters only if you already have star players on your team with a closing window. We have no star players at this point. Period. Yes, Matty is on his way but still needs a season or 2 more. McCann could arguably be called one but we need a bigger sample size.

Either way, this team does not need to rush into mortgaging its future to be able to go from a 1st round exit to a 2nd round exit. Not this season. Just making the playoffs is enough of an accomplishment.

They don’t have a good future ahead of them.

He’s standing pat on a mediocre team and ensuring that rebuild will be long.

Tampa and Chicago both tanked hard and got rewarded for it.

Tampa and Chicago also made really good trades to improve those teams. Colorado too.

We're an expansion team in its second season of operation. The second season hasn't even completed at this point.

The expansion draft dictates that the franchise must select veterans. Every team gets to protect all its prospects. It's just not possible to raid prospect pools out of the ED and walk away with a really young team. The expansion team doesn't get a fruit basket full of top draft picks either. Francis didn't make those rules.

OTOH, Francis did select younger players on cheaper 1st veteran contracts with many of his ED selections. He did not go the Vegas route of taking veterans with big contracts who might be fading a bit.

And standing pat at this TDL wasn't that unreasonable. First, it suggests that management is pleased with the way this roster is performing. No reason to flip the apple cart. Second, it acknowledges that while we have a solid 20 to 23 perhaps, we're not deep enough to sell players and plug holes with the fodder down in Coachella Valley at this point. We're an expansion team after all. Third, Francis is conservative and he isn't going to trade away his highly prized draft picks. We have 10 draft picks, 4 in the first 2 rounds, coming this draft. That shows a commitment to the overall plan. Despite some nice success this season, Francis remains committed to drafting and developing through the draft. This comes after 11 picks last year and a Kraken draft class that was highly graded. And we have extra picks in 2024 as well. Down the round, Francis is clearly intending to backfill with all these prospects. He's said so from day 1.

If management is pleased with the way this team is performing that’s another reason to fire management. This team is a dumpster fire night after night in their own end.

Being conservative isn’t a good thing. He’s a coward. He’s completely incapable of taking any risk, beyond repeatedly signing goalies to huge contracts before they play for his team.

There is no plan. Sitting around and drafting late in the first or getting a couple extra seconds isn’t a plan.

As soon as Carolina got a GM with a plan they started making moves and turned a bubble team with potential into conference finalists. Still on an upward trajectory since then.

Francis just doesn’t do anything and expects to win. It’s ridiculous.

 

[RainyCityHockey]

They don’t have a good future ahead of them.

He’s standing pat on a mediocre team and ensuring that rebuild will be long.

If management is pleased with the way this team is performing that’s another reason to fire management. This team is a dumpster fire night after night in their own end.

Being conservative isn’t a good thing. He’s a coward. He’s completely incapable of taking any risk, beyond repeatedly signing goalies to huge contracts before they play for his team.

There is no plan. Sitting around and drafting late in the first or getting a couple extra seconds isn’t a plan.

As soon as Carolina got a GM with a plan they started making moves and turned a bubble team with potential into conference finalists. Still on an upward trajectory since then.

Francis just doesn’t do anything and expects to win. It’s ridiculous.

Why are you so angry at Francis and the front office?

This is year two of this franchise and we're in a playoff spot with 16 games to go while also having drafted two solid looking centers with back-to-back top five picks.

Again, I understand the fear of becoming a middling team and I also get that Francis should be finding trades that help.
And he has with the Bjorkstrand one, for example.

My question would be the same or similar to the one @Fistfullofbeer asked.

Looking at this TDL.
What move should Francis have made?

To me the only thing that would interest me would be the Chychrun trade given that he's got a great contract for two more season.
Doing that would've most likely cost us our 1st round pick, another 2nd rounder(or two) and possibly a prospect like Evans, Firkus etc.

We could've done that, but we didn't do so and now have the opportunity to either draft another guy in the first round or use that pick to trade for a guy at the draft.

BTW: I think Carolina's front office and GM are doing a very good job.
Though, they did end up profiting from Francis draft classes and having the #2 OVR pick(Svechnikov) falling into their laps right when they started.