Kraken 2024 Offseason chatter

[kihei]

^^^^^^^^
His sister was supposed to get married on the weekend. That's why he was there. Immeasurably sad.

 

[majormajor]

There's some things I'm very angry about right now.

Why are people with DWIs allowed to drive again? This guy had been caught before and the charges were dropped when the arresting officer didn't make the court appearance. Driving is not a right. Some people should not be allowed to operate a deadly machine.

Why do we allow bars to have customer parking lots? Knowing that your average customer is going to be DWI? (We actually force them to have large lots in the zoning). They shouldn't have customer parking at all. It should just be part of the bar ritual to use alternative means of getting around.

Pedestrian and cyclist deaths are both up 80-90% since about 2008. And road deaths overall are now higher in the US than in Russia. Far higher than any well developed country. It's incredible the amount of death we put up with. We need to stop putting up with it.

That means taking drunk driving much more seriously, designing our roads for lower speeds (when they are designed for speed, people will speed, regardless of the posted limit), cutting down/ banning deadly suv/truck sizes with high hoods, banning customer parking for bars, etc.... We also need to enforce bans on people holding their phones while driving - I was nearly run over while biking the other day by a driver that went right by me without even seeing me, because they were on their phone. That should be an infraction where you lose your license.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

There's some things I'm very angry about right now.

Why are people with DWIs allowed to drive again? This guy had been caught before and the charges were dropped when the arresting officer didn't make the court appearance. Driving is not a right. Some people should not be allowed to operate a deadly machine.

Why do we allow bars to have customer parking lots? Knowing that your average customer is going to be DWI? (We actually force them to have large lots in the zoning). They shouldn't have customer parking at all. It should just be part of the bar ritual to use alternative means of getting around.

Pedestrian and cyclist deaths are both up 80-90% since about 2008. And road deaths overall are now higher in the US than in Russia. Far higher than any well developed country. It's incredible the amount of death we put up with. We need to stop putting up with it.

That means taking drunk driving much more seriously, designing our roads for lower speeds (when they are designed for speed, people will speed, regardless of the posted limit), cutting down/ banning deadly suv/truck sizes with high hoods, banning customer parking for bars, etc.... We also need to enforce bans on people holding their phones while driving - I was nearly run over while biking the other day by a driver that went right by me without even seeing me, because they were on their phone. That should be an infraction where you lose your license.

ALL DUI's are avoidable and inexcusable. At the end of the day, I blame human judgement and stupidity for it. I also agree with you that not having parking lots around bars could help, but I'm not sure it would really be that helpful. I have seen folks park 2-3 blocks away from the bars in Seattle and then walk back and still drive home.

I don't bicyle so have never had the shitty experiences you have had, but know several people who have.

My brother-in-law got a DUI in his late 20's. To be honest, I was surprised it took that long for him to get pulled over. Luckily, it was not an accident but just speeding. He got his license suspended and after the waiting period he had to go to classes, pay a fine and also get a breathalyzer installed in his car. He had to blow really hard into it to start the car (those who went there, get your filthy minds out of the gutter). And I am not talking about blowing a dry leaf off your hand either. Point being, if you get caught even once, this is the minimum you need to do to get on the road again.

We have all these safety features in cars nowadays. What we could really use is a system that can check for sobriety before the car can even start.

 

[majormajor]

ALL DUI's are avoidable and inexcusable. At the end of the day, I blame human judgement and stupidity for it. I also agree with you that not having parking lots around bars could help, but I'm not sure it would really be that helpful. I have seen folks park 2-3 blocks away from the bars in Seattle and then walk back and still drive home.

I don't bicyle so have never had the shitty experiences you have had, but know several people who have.

My brother-in-law got a DUI in his late 20's. To be honest, I was surprised it took that long for him to get pulled over. Luckily, it was not an accident but just speeding. He got his license suspended and after the waiting period he had to go to classes, pay a fine and also get a breathalyzer installed in his car. He had to blow really hard into it to start the car (those who went there, get your filthy minds out of the gutter). And I am not talking about blowing a dry leaf off your hand either. Point being, if you get caught even once, this is the minimum you need to do to get on the road again.

We have all these safety features in cars nowadays. What we could really use is a system that can check for sobriety before the car can even start.

I'm not claiming there is a single thing you could do that would be a silver bullet, but if we actually took the problem seriously as a society, each of those things would be included in the obvious bare minimum of what we could do. I don't think your brother in law has a right to drive a car.

 

[The Marquis]

People driving high is as big of a problem in this area these days.

I think human judgment is to blame, and parking lots aren’t help, but seriously, what the f*** is 0.08%? I don’t drive often at all even though I drink out at bars, and never after more than 2 drinks with dinner, but what the f*** is 0.08%? Nobody knows when they hit that threshold and it’s partly to blame.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

People driving high is as big of a problem in this area these days.

I think human judgment is to blame, and parking lots aren’t help, but seriously, what the f*** is 0.08%? I don’t drive often at all even though I drink out at bars, and never after more than 2 drinks with dinner, but what the f*** is 0.08%? Nobody knows when they hit that threshold and it’s partly to blame.

Good point. But I think if you have had one drink , you don't drive. One drink for a skinny 100 lb person would be very different than that for a 250lb person. It's when people start to go with the, "oh its just two beers" approach that things take a bad turn.

 

[Fuhrious]

Not to downplay the (alleged?) drunk driving aspect to the tragedy, but I live in a rural area and the sort of thing this guy did happens here ALL THE TIME. Specifically, people on two-lane roads going 60mph (or more) not wanting to slow down for someone turning left at an intersection and overtaking at full speed on the right shoulder. I've even begun preaching caution to my driver-in-training daughter about turning left in front of another turner, as someone may be screaming around them on their right. It's just insane.

 

[majormajor]

We didn't get around to doing prospect polls this summer, but does anyone want to venture a prospect ranking?

I don't know enough, but I imagine most will start something like

Wright
Catton
Rehkopf
Firkus

I'm personally so enamored with Miettinen that I might have him third here. Rehkopf is a huge talent but he doesn't have the consistent drive, the physical edge, and the perfect details that Miettinen has.

 

[majormajor]

Not to downplay the (alleged?) drunk driving aspect to the tragedy, but I live in a rural area and the sort of thing this guy did happens here ALL THE TIME. Specifically, people on two-lane roads going 60mph (or more) not wanting to slow down for someone turning left at an intersection and overtaking at full speed on the right shoulder. I've even begun preaching caution to my driver-in-training daughter about turning left in front of another turner, as someone may be screaming around them on their right. It's just insane.

I've been immersed in the stats trying to understand the staggering increase in road deaths. As big of a problem as drunk driving is, it's still only a third of road deaths (per NHTSA, MADD, etc...) The other two thirds are sober people driving like drunks - passing on the right, swerving while looking at their phones.

I've been in the car with multiple people where they've been looking at their phone and swerving, and these are the people that say they don't look at it much, or look at it in a safe way! My mother is one of them, my best friend is another.

 

[Quackenator]

We didn't get around to doing prospect polls this summer, but does anyone want to venture a prospect ranking?

I don't know enough, but I imagine most will start something like

Wright
Catton
Rehkopf
Firkus

I'm personally so enamored with Miettinen that I might have him third here. Rehkopf is a huge talent but he doesn't have the consistent drive, the physical edge, and the perfect details that Miettinen has.

I'd add Winterton in for top 5 discussion as well

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

We can just do the prospect polls again. Does anyone want to do that? If not, I can start it up.

 

[kihei]

We can just do the prospect polls again. Does anyone want to do that? If not, I can start it up.

It would be fun just to get a chance to see what other people think.

 

[PocketNines]

Just driving up I-5 toward Tacoma from a meal in Olympia on the water, saw the license plate next to a Kraken logo "KRKDOUT", love it. Which one of you is that?

Unrelatedly I'm enjoying kihei's book. (I am going to turn you around on The Rover when I write my review)

 

[Kevinsane]

Book? How’d I miss that? Kihei, fill me in.

 

[majormajor]

Just driving up I-5 toward Tacoma from a meal in Olympia on the water, saw the license plate next to a Kraken logo "KRKDOUT", love it. Which one of you is that?

What restaurant did you go to? And how was it?

 

[kihei]

Book? How’d I miss that? Kihei, fill me in.

Basically the book is a collection of the film reviews that I write on the Entertainment page. It was accepted for publication by a small university-affiliated press in Toronto. The book is called Beyond Hollywood: 21st Century International Film, and it covers almost exclusively non-English language film with the exception of reviews of films from the British Commonwealth countries. The book covers nearly 700 films from about 70 countries covering the period from 2000 to 2015. I think it is a good introduction to the international films of this period, and it is written with people who do not like subtitles in mind, not academics. Available on both Amazon. com and Amazon. ca, where it is actually cheaper.

 

[PocketNines]

What restaurant did you go to? And how was it?

Budd Bay Cafe, good calamari and service.

We tried Fish Peddler on the water in Tacoma last week and had to leave after we didn't get our food for an hour and a half while the table of four next to us sat down five minutes after us and were paying and leaving. It was "I don't have a Yelp account but I'm creating one to talk about how abysmal this place was." The waiter hid like a coward and stopped coming out to us. We are never going back to Fish Peddler

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

I did not want to post this in the roster discussion for this season as this is more relevant to the 2026-27 season. If things go our way, the forward group would have a ridiculous amount of depth.

Forwards still under contract:

Beniers
Stephenson
McCann
Burakovsky

Potential forward prospects making it to the NHL:

Wright
Catton
Nyman
Rehkopf
Goyette
Sale
Winterton
Firkus
Morrison
Miettinen

Defensemen still under contract:

Dunn
Montour
Evans (RFA expected to be still with the team)

Potential D-men prospects making it to the NHL:

Ottavainen
Price
Nelson

Goalies still under contract:

Gruabuer


Potential goalie prospects making it to the NHL:

Kokko
Vedenpaa

I have been unhappy with Francis at times, but there is no doubt that he has setup this team for success in the long term. The G position is unpredictable, and while D is not a position of strength in our prospect pool, if Dragicevic hits and Jugnauth takes the next step, it is not all that bad. That top-9 has a potential to be nasty in 2026-27.

 

[majormajor]

Budd Bay Cafe

I'll let my mom know about that place, she has plans to move in to the boardwalk apartments a block from there.

 

[majormajor]

That top-9 has a potential to be nasty in 2026-27.

The depth looks good but I think the "nasty" level will depend more on whether any prospects break through to elite level.

 

[kihei]

Budd Bay Cafe, good calamari and service.

You ate our cousins?

 

[PocketNines]

You ate our cousins?

and I played bluesy music (eg, Jeff Beck and Joss Stone 'I Put A Spell on You') on the drive home thinking about how our teams open the season in a month ... at 1:30 pm ... on a Tuesday ...