Friedman: Oliver Bjorkstrand & Andre Burakovsky

[BKarchitect]

Bjorkstrand is surprising, Burakovsky rumbles should be expected.

I expected these names over Bjork... Tanev, Oleksiak, Tolvanen... Grubauer.

I don't think Seattle comes out a winner making a Bjorkstrand trade.

I think it would simply be a matter of him returning quite a bit more than those other names. At the end of the day a guy like Bjorkstrand is a significant step above a guy like Tolvanen, but if your franchise is just treading water - what’s the real difference between having one or the other being one of your middle six forwards? Especially if one can return a 1st or something else legitimately valuable and the other one is gonna get you a mid-pick.

 

[SteelCityCannon]

not defending it but the context is that they were over the cap after signing gaudreau + extending laine.

in hindsight they should have traded laine that summer – that's the bigger issue imo.

My timeline might be messed up, but the move would have been figuring out something with Voracek. Nobody had the cap space to give.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

My timeline might be messed up, but the move would have been figuring out something with Voracek. Nobody had the cap space to give.

they traded bjorkstrand the same day that they signed laine's extension because it was the last day laine could sign his qualifying offer. IIRC, laine signing his QO would have both put them over the cap and walked him to UFA.

they had to shed something like $3m of cap and had no takers for guys like voracek or elvis. it was also speculated that, given the cap situation, they would've had to add an asset to move nyquist.

meanwhile seattle offered draft capital for bjorkstrand. they waited until the last possible minute to do it, which means they were probably pushing to find a taker for nyquist and couldn't.

the trade itself isn't necessarily the issue. the return was underwhelming but contextually made sense, as the team's cap situation cost them leverage. the issue was jarmo hitching his wagon to laine.

 

[majormajor]

they traded bjorkstrand the same day that they signed laine's extension because it was the last day laine could sign his qualifying offer. IIRC, laine signing his QO would have both put them over the cap and walked him to UFA.

they had to shed something like $3m of cap and had no takers for guys like voracek or elvis. it was also speculated that, given the cap situation, they would've had to add an asset to move nyquist.

meanwhile seattle offered draft capital for bjorkstrand. they waited until the last possible minute to do it, which means they were probably pushing to find a taker for nyquist and couldn't.

the trade itself isn't necessarily the issue. the return was underwhelming but contextually made sense, as the team's cap situation cost them leverage. the issue was jarmo hitching his wagon to laine.

I don't mean to open up that whole can of worms again, but at the time, I calculated it out and the team could have squeaked under the cap with a 20 or 21 man roster (the way Toronto and Vegas frequently do). They just had to dump like Boqvist or Bean or something, I can't remember. And as was expected, players started the year on IR anyways, so there was never a cap issue. Obviously Jarmo was not comfortable getting that close to the cap, or comfortable being over the cap during the summer (which teams sometimes are).

It was all for nothing, from my perspective. Just Jarmo not understanding who his best players were and trying to make a face saving move with the Bjorkstrand deal (a 3rd + 4th might as well be zero for a player of his caliber).

I don't think Seattle comes out a winner making a Bjorkstrand trade.

It's a rebuilding move, which is unfortunately the situation the team is in. Let's see if Francis recognizes it. Our speculation on HF Seattle is mostly that Francis wants to focus on long term and that it's ownership that doesn't get it with where the team is at. Whether they see it or not, the team will not be on good footing for 2+ years. Bjorkstrand will be well into his 30s and on his next deal by then.

 

[Palmu]

Kekäläinen favouring Laine instead of Björkstrand still pisses me off. It should have been the end of Kekäläinen.

I would love to have The Great Dane back in Columbus.

 

[ryan callahan]

Burakovsky and Grubauer need to be off the team like yesterday and Stephenson isn't a PP1 guy. Team is constructed like ****. They need skill guys. Too many two way middle 6 boring types.

 

[majormajor]

Burakovsky and Grubauer need to be off the team like yesterday and Stephenson isn't a PP1 guy. Team is constructed like ****. They need skill guys. Too many two way middle 6 boring types.

Burakovsky and Stephenson are Francis' attempt at adding skill guys. Not good enough obviously. Paradoxically the team was much better when they were unpretentious boring middle 6ers and just cycled opponents to death. The players quit on Hak though, and with the coaching change the team has embraced going in a skill direction, they're just bad at it.

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

...poor Burakovsky; soo much skill, soo little hockey sense...

 

[gprep93]

I think the injuries the last couple year have broken Burakovsky. He continuously turns the puck over entering the opponent's offensive zone, and refuses to go anywhere near the front of the net. I would not be sad to see him go.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Burakovsky and Grubauer need to be off the team like yesterday and Stephenson isn't a PP1 guy. Team is constructed like ****. They need skill guys. Too many two way middle 6 boring types.

I don't think there is a single Kraken fan who disagrees with you on any of this. Depending on how Francis proceeds, we could be in a pretty good shape by the start of the 2026-27 season.

 

[CLW]

I think the injuries the last couple year have broken Burakovsky. He continuously turns the puck over entering the opponent's offensive zone, and refuses to go anywhere near the front of the net. I would not be sad to see him go.

This could simply be a sign of vet-check-out sickness on a team that's going nowhere. The Kraken have a lot of vets who are semi-checked out, which is not a good thing on a team that's as top heavy on 30/30+-somethings as Seattle. It's year four now and time for Francis to start to cycle the expansion draft players out of the roster before their value is completely shot, which the vets no doubt are perfectly aware of.

The roster is also weirdly balanced with a huge gap between the up and coming drafted kids and the blob of vets at the top. A couple of players at around 25/27, ie physically developed but still relatively fresh, would not go amiss as long as they don't block any important kids.

 

[majormajor]

This could simply be a sign of vet-check-out sickness on a team that's going nowhere. The Kraken have a lot of vets who are semi-checked out, which is not a good thing on a team that's as top heavy on 30/30+-somethings as Seattle. It's year four now and time for Francis to start to cycle the expansion draft players out of the roster before their value is completely shot, which the vets no doubt are perfectly aware of.

The roster is also weirdly balanced with a huge gap between the up and coming drafted kids and the blob of vets at the top. A couple of players at around 25/27, ie physically developed but still relatively fresh, would not go amiss as long as they don't block any important kids.

I've been talking about this issue since the expansion draft. The problem is built in. The team wasn't allowed to draft young roster players or prospects. It was almost all 24+ year old players, who are now 28+ years old. Mostly now in their 30s. And the first amateur draft picks were of course 18 and just now starting to turn 22. So that's a six year gap with nothing in it, and as I was saying, that was going to lead to problems when there's no one on the team in their mid 20s peak years. Which is right now.

They've acquired Kakko and Tolvanen and those are nearly the only guys between 22 and 28. You can add in recent signee Mahura and Ryker Evans who was an overager in the first draft and is now 23. It is a weird balance. I was saying on the Kraken board 2-3 years ago that the team needed to be very aggressive in taking the Vegas remodeling approach, or that we were going to peter out and eventually have to rebuild. It wasn't a popular stance.

 

[johnjm22]

Bjorkstrand and 2026 1st (top 5 protected)

for

Fiala


Kings need a right shot. Kraken need more skill.

 

[DackellDuck]

Bjorkstrand and 2026 1st (top 5 protected)

for

Fiala


Kings need a right shot. Kraken need more skill.

Why would the Kraken add a 1st when they're not the ones dumping salary?

Fiala has 22 points in 40 games and makes $8M a season.

 

[DEANYOUNGBLOOD17]

My God that's terrible for the nucks. I get that EP rubs a lot of people the wrong way with even nuck fans, he's clearly not a 100% and if this was JT or Quinn a lot more slack would given.

In fact the last game was the first game this season where he looked like his old self. He was quicker mentally and physically, wasn't afraid to try skilled puck plays and engaged especially in the dzone.

His two way game is star quality and I will be shocked even despite his slow start if he doesnt cack 85+ points and going forward especially if we could get a playmaker on his wing, he will get back to his 100 point production.

Beniers is only four years younger and after one good season has declined the last two years. EP has the resume to back it up, is a beast on D and despite everything is still out producing him.

Trading EP will be the next Cam Neely and all this trade talk is media generated bullshit backed up by Allvin saying never say never about a trade which is a response any GM answering honestly would give.
Teams I'm sure are calling about lots of nucks hoping to capitalize on the drama but any EP trade would literally have to be a massive offer that plugged multiple holes and while downgrading at C would make the team significantly better overall. Since I think that would be a very tall order, especially mid-season Its just highly unlikely.

It really baffles me how shortsighted and overdramatic so many nuck fans can be, nevermind actually buying into a bunch of media hens clucking for clicks.

That’s a lot of words to say the opposite.

EP is vastly overpaid and as a Seattle fan I would not make this trade.

As a Vancouver fan I would jump on it …. Solves a lot of problems with EP leaving town.

 

[johnjm22]

Why would the Kraken add a 1st when they're not the ones dumping salary?

Fiala has 22 points in 40 games and makes $8M a season.

Kings aren't dumping salary.

Fiala being locked up for longer and being the better player makes him more valuable.

 

[DackellDuck]

Kings aren't dumping salary.

Fiala being locked up for longer and being the better player makes him more valuable.

That contract is a negative not a positive.

 

[TheNumber4]

Bjorkstrand and 2026 1st (top 5 protected)

for

Fiala


Kings need a right shot. Kraken need more skill.

Horrible for Seattle.

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

Kings aren't dumping salary.

Fiala being locked up for longer and being the better player makes him more valuable.

...imo, the problem moving Fiala is that, talent-wise, the Kings should be asking a "ransom" for him however he also never comes across as a "smart" hockey player or an "engaged" player; just asn extremely talented guy who never seems to fully live up to that talent, at least consistently...