Kraken 2025-26 Offseason (different but the same??)

[RainyCityHockey]

I listened to the EmeraldCityHockey podcast and they talked about the direction of the team(starts around the 39:00 minute mark) or lack thereof.

I'll link it here again.


They talk about that everytime someone asks the team about what exactly they're trying to do they just duck, hide and run away from that question.

They also say that you need to choose a direction and that fans would understand either direction and support it.
The thing you can't do is doing both cause that just doesn't work.

I couldn't agree more.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Fuhrious]

While I don’t always love their continued humoring of the “we like them and just want them to have fun!” members of their viewer base, they ARE very good at presenting grounded takes that offer realistic critical perspectives on the team’s upper management without sounding “salty”. All that to say, their comments on “fan apathy” really resonated with me.

I’m old and don’t have the patience I maybe used to have for rudderless teams. Last season was a real slog for me, my enthusiasm for supporting the Seattle Kraken took a real hit. That was entirely due to the phenomenon they so accurately describe in the above clip : a team that claimed to want to both compete for the playoffs and “develop their core youth” but instead failed spectacularly at both.

I’m not sure I make it through next season if it’s like the last one. I’m not even mad at Bylsma, I honestly feel sort of sorry for him. He was brought in as the “prospect whisperer” who did great things in CV, and then found himself coaching for his life just to try to keep his job rather than work towards any sort of developmental mandate. The fact “new management, same as the old” Botterill STILL can’t seem to provide a straight answer when it comes to the larger mission statement of this team is really just very disheartening.

 

[RainyCityHockey]

Yeah, it's been something we've been talking about for some time on these boards.

Choose a direction and actually go for that.

If win now is everything that matters than show it by going for it. And by that I don't mean more great free agent deals, but rather trading for some high end talent and using your picks and/or prospects for it.

If you want to develop your young guys and build around them. Fine. But if so, you've got to start moving older guys and make room for more of the younger guys.
Even if you don't compete for the playoffs like that you at least show a direction and fans will actually be fine with that.

Them doing that in between thing is just frustrating and basically wasting everyones time.

Though, I'm giving Botterill the offseason and hope he surprises everyone.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

While I don’t always love their continued humoring of the “we like them and just want them to have fun!” members of their viewer base, they ARE very good at presenting grounded takes that offer realistic critical perspectives on the team’s upper management without sounding “salty”. All that to say, their comments on “fan apathy” really resonated with me.

I’m old and don’t have the patience I maybe used to have for rudderless teams. Last season was a real slog for me, my enthusiasm for supporting the Seattle Kraken took a real hit. That was entirely due to the phenomenon they so accurately describe in the above clip : a team that claimed to want to both compete for the playoffs and “develop their core youth” but instead failed spectacularly at both.

I’m not sure I make it through next season if it’s like the last one. I’m not even mad at Bylsma, I honestly feel sort of sorry for him. He was brought in as the “prospect whisperer” who did great things in CV, and then found himself coaching for his life just to try to keep his job rather than work towards any sort of developmental mandate. The fact “new management, same as the old” Botterill STILL can’t seem to provide a straight answer when it comes to the larger mission statement of this team is really just very disheartening.

I did not watch a lot of Kraken games last season. I subscribed to and watch both AHL and CHL games more because I could watch without really any vested interest towards the team success but was more into seeing the skills/talents that our prospects had. I am very likely to focus a lot on the AHL this season since so many of our prospects are making a leap to it. To me, it's just less stress and more relaxed watching.

Is 45 old? If so, I am old too. LOL. Either way, I certainly feel old. Ha ha.

I only started watching hockey in my late 20's and didn't seriously get into it till my early 30's as a Sharks fan. One of the things that really got me into hockey was actually HFBoards. I knew little to nothing about hockey before then, growing up in India all we had was field hockey which I found boring.

But the camaraderie on the Sharks boards is what really got me into it. GDT's were amazing and fun to follow back then. Complaining, commiserating, celebrating as a group is what really got me into hockey. Back then, there was little Reddit, Twitter/X, TikTok, Instagram, etc. so the HFBoards were such a good place to meet like minded folks.

I think the above is one reason more people are likely not joining us on these boards. It sucks, because as a team in a pretty good sports city, we should have more people here but it is what it is. I like our small community and it makes losing so much more better but as I get older, I just have little patience for watching train wrecks. We all knew last season was going to be a disaster, and it was. I am optimistic for this season but I expect we should know a lot of what to expect before we go into our 1st game based on what happens this off-season.

TLDR:

AHL/CHL games are less stressful because I don't care about team success. Started watching hockey in my late 20s and got into it through the Sharks' HFBoards community due to the camaraderie. I believe the decline in forum participation is due to the rise of other social media platforms. Despite enjoying our small Kraken HFBoards community, I have little patience for watching losing teams but am cautiously optimistic about the upcoming season. I won't be leaving HFBoards ..

 

[Fuhrious]

I did not watch a lot of Kraken games last season. I subscribed to and watch both AHL and CHL games more because I could watch without really any vested interest towards the team success but was more into seeing the skills/talents that our prospects had. I am very likely to focus a lot on the AHL this season since so many of our prospects are making a leap to it. To me, it's just less stress and more relaxed watching.

Is 45 old? If so, I am old too. LOL. Either way, I certainly feel old. Ha ha.

I only started watching hockey in my late 20's and didn't seriously get into it till my early 30's as a Sharks fan. One of the things that really got me into hockey was actually HFBoards. I knew little to nothing about hockey before then, growing up in India all we had was field hockey which I found boring.

But the camaraderie on the Sharks boards is what really got me into it. GDT's were amazing and fun to follow back then. Complaining, commiserating, celebrating as a group is what really got me into hockey. Back then, there was little Reddit, Twitter/X, TikTok, Instagram, etc. so the HFBoards were such a good place to meet like minded folks.

I think the above is one reason more people are likely not joining us on these boards. It sucks, because as a team in a pretty good sports city, we should have more people here but it is what it is. I like our small community and it makes losing so much more better but as I get older, I just have little patience for watching train wrecks. We all knew last season was going to be a disaster, and it was. I am optimistic for this season but I expect we should know a lot of what to expect before we go into our 1st game based on what happens this off-season.

TLDR:

AHL/CHL games are less stressful because I don't care about team success. Started watching hockey in my late 20s and got into it through the Sharks' HFBoards community due to the camaraderie. I believe the decline in forum participation is due to the rise of other social media platforms. Despite enjoying our small Kraken HFBoards community, I have little patience for watching losing teams but am cautiously optimistic about the upcoming season. I won't be leaving HFBoards ..

I'm 52, and wont begrudge you referring to yourself as old.

The only reason I was following games post TDL last season was to chat with you guys about it in our GDTs. The community here is pretty much my primary lifeline as far as continued motivation to support this team. I was hopeful that off-season moves would reinvigorate my enthusiasm but thus far they (specifically, hiring both Botterill and Lambert) distinctly havent. I appreciate that some of you are wired to be more optimistic. I guess I'm just not like that. As I said, it's been very disheartening.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

I'm 52, and wont begrudge you referring to yourself as old.

The only reason I was following games post TDL last season was to chat with you guys about it in our GDTs. The community here is pretty much my primary lifeline as far as continued motivation to support this team. I was hopeful that off-season moves would reinvigorate my enthusiasm but thus far they (specifically, hiring both Botterill and Lambert) distinctly havent. I appreciate that some of you are wired to be more optimistic. I guess I'm just not like that. As I said, it's been very disheartening.

I 100% am not. LOL. I deal with general anxiety and have to try real hard to just not worry about it till it happens. I love hockey so prospect development and the draft are what I follow to keep myself excited about the game. I just give Botterill and Lambert a pass to start because I always hope people learn from their past mistakes and are better. Didn't seem to be the case so far with many of the choices the Kraken have made. Both with management and team building. And yeah, my level of patience with every change gets smaller and smaller too.

But if the season starts going bad, I choose to take breaks just to keep myself from getting too worked up and upset. Sometimes I just jump on games if we are ahead by a couple of goals and only a period or so to go, simply to get the "kick" of winning. I don't consider myself a fairweather fan at all but since I can make a choice, take a break and prevent anxiety, I just choose to do so.

Like you HFBoards is my lifeline to continue watching hockey too.

 

[Fuhrious]

I'm glad nobody immediately called me out for hitching my wagon to a team whose first significant hires were much-maligned second chance GM Francis and wildly maligned second chance HC Hakstol and then complaining about "rudderless organizations".

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

I'm glad nobody immediately called me out for hitching my wagon to a team whose first significant hires were much-maligned second chance GM Francis and wildly maligned second chance HC Hakstol and then complaining about "rudderless organizations".

Why would anyone call you out for that? If anything you are to be commended rooting for the Kraken despite those choices, LOL.

 

[kihei]

I wouldn't describe myself as optimistic, but I am caustiously hopeful that the off-season will somehow manufacture a team that is both more fun to watch and more competitive. I'd settle for one that shows up every night and gets younger. I am in a "wait-and-see" mode trying deliberately to ignore the seeming inability of upper management to choose a direction. I'm hoping things get better resolved over the next few weeks.

But I'm not even remotely close to the point that I would consider stop watching the vast majority of Kraken games, let alone ditch the team. For one, I want to see how the kids develop and watch Wright and Beniers hopefully grow as players. For another thing, I think rooting is tougher on hometown fans, especially younger ones, who have more emotionally invested in the success of their team. There is likely a deeper attachment at play and a greater sense of frustration. But, carpetbagger that I sort of am, I do nonetheless feel deeply committed to the long run of this franchise. I'm too old to switch allegiances again. This is where my hockey interest has landed and this is where it is going to stay.

 

[CLW]

Some time ago I said that the worst thing the org can do is to settle on some lukewarm middling road to nowhere, which is *exactly* what they are doing right now. I'm all for giving Botterill and Lambert a chance to succeed, but those chances cannot be made based on *exactly* the same model that led to failure for their predecessors. I'm also older now and at this point I hate stupidity in ownership/management and the BS directed at fans that inevitably follows most of all.

Now we have Botterill already speaking out both sides of his mouth e.g. "we are going to give the kids a chance" to "the coaches job is to win games, not develop kids". Yeah, more of the same old same old recipe for failure... I want to see this org build a winner - a Florida type team, not faff around with making the playoffs like a Toronto only to get squished year in year out, since that will also lead to fan unrest and frustration.

No matter how you slice it this team, for the next few years, will rise or fall with the kids and the draft and with how well the professionals in charge develop the kids individually and as a TEAM. People talk about adding a Marner type UFA to push the team to the playoffs, but that road is also futile (unless management only cares about making the playoffs for "funsies" (and profit) as the end goal, if so, then bloody well come out and say it straight to the faces of the fans).

Since the team blatantly lacks the fundamentals for a real cup winner adding a superstar is only going to make the team a wild card playoff team yet ultimately a no hoper. The only thing that happens is that the team may or may not make the playoffs, but in reality, the team is NOT ONE INCH closer to winning the cup. Spare me the hoopla and gong show of making the playoffs with an eternal pretender - that road only leads to more rebuilds and endless hunts for the playoffs with an inferior, unbalanced team... endless decades long repeating cycles of stupidity. Spare me.

 

[Quackenator]

they’re assimilating the mariners and I hate it. I follow prospects for my decades long fantasy leagues and just love hockey. Most of the Seattle fans don’t know hockey so I get to spew my knowledge to a few coworkers but this is my outlet as well for the kraken. We are in a fork in the road moment for the organization and like most of you want them to stop staring at the fork and go down one of the paths.

 

[The Marquis]

they’re assimilating the mariners and I hate it. I follow prospects for my decades long fantasy leagues and just love hockey. Most of the Seattle fans don’t know hockey so I get to spew my knowledge to a few coworkers but this is my outlet as well for the kraken. We are in a fork in the road moment for the organization and like most of you want them to stop staring at the fork and go down one of the paths.

Well, I'll be damned if you didn't just make the most realistic analogy about this teams current situation. They are just sitting at the fork, expecting something to happen while looking up every path and seeing what comes down it rather than moving down a path themselves. That kind of sucks.

I'm actually relatively positive, but I'm also a realist. If something isn't good, it isn't good and the Kraken are NOT GOOD. The optimists that think otherwise I don't think are grounded in reality. They ARE NOT GOOD. Every single objective thing about the team says this. Their record, the team stats, the player stats, the underlying stats. This is just not a good team. That said, when we get something new I do tend to try and give it a chance to settle in before declaring it as bad. When something changes, you always know where it's starting from. Does it improve? Yes, that's good. No, that's bad. It's pretty simple.

So while I'm not thrilled with the Botterill hire, I will happily give him some time. For a GM, that's a lot longer than a coach. As for Lambert, I don't see where the negativity is coming from at all. The guy has only been successful. He had a pretty decent record at the time he was fired. If he can get that out of the Kraken that far into the season, we'll all be extremely happy. All he needs to do is get better results from the players. That's not easy, but if they are BOTH doing their job well, we can count on it.

 

[gstommylee]

they’re assimilating the mariners and I hate it. I follow prospects for my decades long fantasy leagues and just love hockey. Most of the Seattle fans don’t know hockey so I get to spew my knowledge to a few coworkers but this is my outlet as well for the kraken. We are in a fork in the road moment for the organization and like most of you want them to stop staring at the fork and go down one of the paths.

dude a 4th year team in a hard cap league vs a team that has no salary cap. Do not compare the kraken with the mariners....

 

[RainyCityHockey]

According to Freidman the Kraken might look to sign guys to offer sheets.

Kraken Are A Threat To Offer Sheet Available Restricted Free Agents

Throughout the season, the Seattle Kraken's front office has been keen on their mindset to be aggressive in their pursuit of upgrading the roster, and according to recent reports, that pursuit includes possibly using offer sheets.

ca.sports.yahoo.com

 

[Fuhrious]

It’s unfortunate the Kraken can’t engage in the sorts of “buy low” deals like the recent Kreider trade. He may not have much left in the tank but he’s the type of player the Kraken could probably use. It’s the sort of “missed opportunity” second or third order of effect from leveraging themselves to the gills blowing cap on bad contracts for players like Stephenson, Oleksiak and Grubauer coming home to roost, and deserves mention when these opportunities necessarily pass them by.

 

[The Marquis]

Who are the big RFA’s?

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

It’s unfortunate the Kraken can’t engage in the sorts of “buy low” deals like the recent Kreider trade. He may not have much left in the tank but he’s the type of player the Kraken could probably use. It’s the sort of “missed opportunity” second or third order of effect from leveraging themselves to the gills blowing cap on bad contracts for players like Stephenson, Oleksiak and Grubauer coming home to roost, and deserves mention when these opportunities necessarily pass them by.

That is a good deal for Anaheim. But let's be honest. He is another retread and aging vet. If he bounces back, that deal could look great BUT our roster already has so much mediocrity, that adding Krieder could add even more cooks in the kitchen. Even worse, he would likely take more time away from Wright and Nyman.

 

[RainyCityHockey]

Who are the big RFA’s?

https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/free-agents/_/year/2025/type/rfa

 

[The Marquis]

https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/free-agents/_/year/2025/type/rfa

Thanks,

It's really not that great. We've got one of the most "pluckable" assets this off-season from an offer sheet standpoint.

As for the others, it's unfortunately a lot of what we already have unless we wanted to part ways with somebody that does the same thing.

Bouchard is an improvement, but who was he playing with? That's going to take a massive dip on the Kraken, so I don't think that's a move you make because I don't think you get to Montour or Dunn levels of production without the forwards Bouchard had to work with.

Dobson is intriguing because of his production on a pretty similar team to the Kraken, but you aren't putting him on the 3rd pairing, so who do you drop, Larsson or Montour? His game is closer to Montour's and losing Larsson drops a giant anvil of "you need defense" on the club, and then what?

Hughes, well... I don't think that he's worth it yet, especially in light of what we have and need. He's not it, but maybe you buy for potential.

Then on the offensive side. Matthew Knies. Look at his linemates and tell me that's a good idea. We have no idea what the guy will look like without a world class player on his line. He doesn't produce enough in that scenario.

Peterka... who do you move to make that one make sense? Well, I know who you TRY to move, but I don't think anybody goes for that.

tl;dr - Sounds like Friedman is throwing darts again.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Thanks,

It's really not that great. We've got one of the most "pluckable" assets this off-season from an offer sheet standpoint.

As for the others, it's unfortunately a lot of what we already have unless we wanted to part ways with somebody that does the same thing.

Bouchard is an improvement, but who was he playing with? That's going to take a massive dip on the Kraken, so I don't think that's a move you make because I don't think you get to Montour or Dunn levels of production without the forwards Bouchard had to work with.

Dobson is intriguing because of his production on a pretty similar team to the Kraken, but you aren't putting him on the 3rd pairing, so who do you drop, Larsson or Montour? His game is closer to Montour's and losing Larsson drops a giant anvil of "you need defense" on the club, and then what?

Hughes, well... I don't think that he's worth it yet, especially in light of what we have and need. He's not it, but maybe you buy for potential.

Then on the offensive side. Matthew Knies. Look at his linemates and tell me that's a good idea. We have no idea what the guy will look like without a world class player on his line. He doesn't produce enough in that scenario.

Peterka... who do you move to make that one make sense? Well, I know who you TRY to move, but I don't think anybody goes for that.

tl;dr - Sounds like Friedman is throwing darts again.

Didn't Botterill insinuate in one of his earlier press conferences that trades and offersheets could both be on the table this off-season?

In that list, the names of Peterka, Byram and Miller have already been mentioned as being available. Peterka sounds interesting but the main Buffalo need appears to be top-4 RHD's, and I don't see us being open to moving Montour or Larsson. Especially the former.

I am actually wondering if we should move Dunn. My concern stems mainly from how hard he has always been to negotiate with and he is a UFA after this season. His last season was bad and I do expect him to bounce back this season, he will likely want something in the 9M+ range which I am not sure we should commit to long term. That being said, I doubt management wants to move Dunn.

 

[Quackenator]

dude a 4th year team in a hard cap league vs a team that has no salary cap. Do not compare the kraken with the mariners....

I’m no mariners fan and I don’t want the kraken to be sucking for as long as the mariners have. Trust me I don’t want to compare them

 

[The Marquis]

I’m no mariners fan and I don’t want the kraken to be sucking for as long as the mariners have. Trust me I don’t want to compare them

That ship already sailed with the second year playoff berth. It took the Mariners 18 for the first.

 

[kihei]

I am actually wondering if we should move Dunn. My concern stems mainly from how hard he has always been to negotiate with and he is a UFA after this season. His last season was bad and I do expect him to bounce back this season, he will likely want something in the 9M+ range which I am not sure we should commit to long term. That being said, I doubt management wants to move Dunn.

A year ago I would have thought this heresy, but he wasn't just bad last season. Too often he looked like it was just too much to ask for him to give an honest effort, like he just gave up the ghost voluntarily. So, yes, I would be open to dangling him and see what kind of offers came back.

 

[Fuhrious]

I think it worth mentioning that another problem (potentially of Francis’ own making) is that Dunn and Montour didn’t appear to pair very well. Kind of understandable since they both sort of play the same game?

I think you move Dunn and then look for a good physical LHD to pair with Montour. I feel like that alone would help this defensive group immensely

 

[CLW]

I think it worth mentioning that another problem (potentially of Francis’ own making) is that Dunn and Montour didn’t appear to pair very well. Kind of understandable since they both sort of play the same game?

I think you move Dunn and then look for a good physical LHD to pair with Montour. I feel like that alone would help this defensive group immensely

I've been banging that drum. If the Kraken want to improve fast they need to fix the d zone and D core balance. I'd move Dunn (for the reasons stated by the posters above) since he has real value. Management nailed their colors to Montour and kind of painted themselves into a corner by doing so.