2024-25 Kraken Roster discussion

[majormajor]

You meet some strange people in beer league.

Once in a chippy game this 6'6 guy fired a slapshot at my teammate - not the goalie - a few seconds after the whistle. So I went over and started crosschecking with him and everyone piled in for a scrum. A teammate pulls me out and says "stay away from that guy he'll kill you". I said "yeah I know, he's huge." And he says "no I mean he'll actually kill you, he's insane." He later told me the guy was known to smash up rinks with his sticks when he got upset and would scare the shit out of his own teammates.

 

[The Marquis]

I actually spent an entire season, the only one I played goalie, being a replacer and being replaced and being a replacer again. Was my final season. There can be a little too much drama in beer league.

 

[RainyCityHockey]

I almost had a dream come true.

(just kidding he's been okay lately).

Would be funny if quite a few of Francis free agent highlight signings would end up playing for the Firebirds....

 

[Scomerica]

I heard on the radio that the Kraken have a pretty large amount of the team on NTC's and they apparently used this for players reluctant to join an expansion team. Is this the case (relative to the league). Feels like a recipe for disaster if true.

 

[majormajor]

I heard on the radio that the Kraken have a pretty large amount of the team on NTC's and they apparently used this for players reluctant to join an expansion team. Is this the case (relative to the league). Feels like a recipe for disaster if true.

Some type of NTC or NMC is becoming the norm for UFA aged contracts aged 27+ at $4m+ or $5m+. And that's the majority of our team. This is an older club with a lot of mid-level players.

 

[CLW]

I heard on the radio that the Kraken have a pretty large amount of the team on NTC's and they apparently used this for players reluctant to join an expansion team. Is this the case (relative to the league). Feels like a recipe for disaster if true.

When it comes to the Kraken it's not that great an issue. As you said those contracts were necessary to buttress the initial years of the expansion team. Most of those contracts will age out when the drafted players start to hit the age where they will be mainstays at the NHL level. Remember that the Kraken is a very young team/org that has not yet seen even five drafts.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Some type of NTC or NMC is becoming the norm for UFA aged contracts aged 27+ at $4m+ or $5m+. And that's the majority of our team. This is an older club with a lot of mid-level players.

Yeah. This team is in a messy state right now, but cap is not a big concern after end of next season. After the 2025-26 season we will not have any of these players on the books:

Bjorkstrand
Gourde
Tanev
Schwartz
Eberle
Tolvanen
Oleksiak

Then by the end of the 2026-27 we have pretty much all of our "current" contracts done:

Burakovsky
Grubauer
Dunn
McCann

Fairly certain we are going to keep some of those players, but my hope is Francis or whatever GM we have at that point, is not making the same mistake of giving middling players 4+ year contracts.

The smart play here, atleast in my mind, would be extract as much value as you can from these aging contracts. This team is not going to be competitive next season unless we have a massive add like Rantanen or similar elite player making the roster and actually making that type of impact.

Most teams are unlikely to hand over top prospects unless we are looking at trading someone like McCann or Bjorkstrand. I would love if we can move one of the two for a top prospect who is likely ready to play by the start of the 2026-27 season. If our GM is aggressive at the right time, this team can be in a really good state by then.