Toggle sidebar

2024-25 Kraken Roster discussion

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.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Renopucker
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.
 
Scomerica said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Fistfullofbeer
Scomerica said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
majormajor said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
IMG_6072.jpeg
 
Bear of Bad News said:
View attachment 976014
Click to expand...
I have heard rumbling of him being available as well. The names I have heard so far are:

McCann
Bjorkstrand
Schwartz
Oleksiak
Gourde
Tanev

The bottom-3 will give a return but doubt it will be anything significant. However, if we can flip one of the top-3 (really top-2) with retention, we could get a haul. I am pretty sure Francis would really like a top-end prospect instead of a 1st round pick because he probably does not want to wait 3+ years for the pick to help the team.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bear of Bad News
Fistfullofbeer said:
I have heard rumbling of him being available as well. The names I have heard so far are:

McCann
Bjorkstrand
Schwartz
Oleksiak
Gourde
Tanev

The bottom-3 will give a return but doubt it will be anything significant. However, if we can flip one of the top-3 (really top-2) with retention, we could get a haul. I am pretty sure Francis would really like a top-end prospect instead of a 1st round pick because he probably does not want to wait 3+ years for the pick to help the team.
Click to expand...

If they really trade McCann with his $5M cap hit for two more seasons I doube they have the retain anything and should also get a haul.
Especially with the cap going up so much over the next couple of seasons.

Though, overall I'd still be surprised to see more than Gourde(and whatever we can get for him) and Tanev moved with an outside shot of Bjorkstrand or Oleksiak being moved as well.
 
RainyCityHockey said:
If they really trade McCann with his $5M cap hit for two more seasons I doube they have the retain anything and should also get a haul.
Especially with the cap going up so much over the next couple of seasons.

Though, overall I'd still be surprised to see more than Gourde(and whatever we can get for him) and Tanev moved with an outside shot of Bjorkstrand or Oleksiak being moved as well.
Click to expand...
Historically speaking, it is hard to see Francis move McCann or Bjorkstrand but there has been talk from more than 1 source about this. If Francis got buy-in from Management about letting this season and the next slide, moving Bjorkstrand and/or McCann to get a high-end prospect would be ideal. Someone who can ideally join the team in 2026-27 would be perfect.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CLW and majormajor
Well, the insiders sure are trying to keep eyeballs on their media with the lack of NHL games. Its just over 2 weeks to the deadline and damn few games until then… 3 Kraken games to be exact and none of them in that dumb tournament.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Fistfullofbeer
Fistfullofbeer said:
I certainly hope you are right. Still miffed that the team waited so long before making the surgery decision.
Click to expand...

Makes sense to me they tried rehab first, surgery is the last resort. He still has plenty of time to get fully fit for the playoffs and that's what matters to the team that trades for him.
 
Fistfullofbeer said:
Historically speaking, it is hard to see Francis move McCann or Bjorkstrand but there has been talk from more than 1 source about this. If Francis got buy-in from Management about letting this season and the next slide, moving Bjorkstrand and/or McCann to get a high-end prospect would be ideal. Someone who can ideally join the team in 2026-27 would be perfect.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure why he would move McCann who still has two more years at $5M.
It would have to be a pretty big haul to trade him away.

I also doubt that the team giving up o this season would mean trading McCann, cause I don't see ownership being interested in any kind of longer term rebuild.

CLW said:
Gourde will still return a good haul imo. Pedigree is important in the NHL.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure about that.
He most likely won't be able to return before the TDL and that's never good in negotiations.

I wouldn't be surprised if the return would be something similar like Wennberg's(2nd rounder + mid round pick) last year.
 
RainyCityHockey said:
I'm not sure why he would move McCann who still has two more years at $5M.
It would have to be a pretty big haul to trade him away.

I also doubt that the team giving up o this season would mean trading McCann, cause I don't see ownership being interested in any kind of longer term rebuild.
Click to expand...
Moving McCann would only make sense if we are getting an blue chip prospect back. For example, if someone like Nemec would be the piece coming back from NJ (something some NJ fans have floated around on the main threads). If Francis wants a blue chip prospect, it is more likely to come by trading McCann than Bjorkstrand/Gourde.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Top Bottom