Ron Francis and his Free Agency signings

[Interior Cascadian]

Yeah man, extra credit if he makes sure they cant pay Beniers because he boat anchored the team's cap to watch the last fumes of Stamkos' career. That makes a ton of sense.

Someone had to say it.

There’s this pesky thing called a salary cap, see…

 

[Interior Cascadian]

Is this actually true, though? I mean Edmonton signs both McDavid and Draisaitl, the Pens sign Crosby and Malkin, the Leafs sign four mega- contracts, and we can't sign Beniers and Stamkos?

Don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic we passed on Stamkos, but this argument has me shaking my head.

Players only take hometown discounts if they’re signing with a legitimate contender or they wore that team’s themed pajamas as a little kid. Seattle is neither of those to Stamkos.

 

[majormajor]

Is this actually true, though? I mean Edmonton signs both McDavid and Draisaitl, the Pens sign Crosby and Malkin, the Leafs sign four mega- contracts, and we can't sign Beniers and Stamkos?

Don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic we passed on Stamkos, but this argument has me shaking my head.

Players only take hometown discounts if they’re signing with a legitimate contender or they wore that team’s themed pajamas as a little kid. Seattle is neither of those to Stamkos.

We could have fit Stamkos under the cap. The Kraken have very few big ticket players. Let's say he would have come here for $8.5m x 4. So just forego signing Stephenson and either 1) bridge Beniers around $4m x 1*, or 2) dump Tanev (might cost a pick) or put Schwartz on LTIR or something. When teams like Toronto or Vegas want a player they find a way to make room.

Of course I'm in agreement with kihei that Stamkos is a bad target. I think the Stamkos and Marchessault signings might end up hurting Nashville.

*Looking forward to a lot of comments about how unrealistic it is to bridge Beniers that low, but he's starting his second contract and just scored 37 pts. In any case, you can do it without bridging Beniers.

 

[kihei]

Players only take hometown discounts if they’re signing with a legitimate contender or they wore that team’s themed pajamas as a little kid. Seattle is neither of those to Stamkos.

My point wasn't about getting or not getting Stamkos. My point was in response to Fuhrious' argument concerning how signing Stamkos might preclude us from signing Beniers. But never mind, happy to move on.

 

[Fuhrious]

My point wasn't about getting or not getting Stamkos. My point was in response to Fuhrious' argument concerning how signing Stamkos might preclude us from signing Beniers. But never mind, happy to move on.

I was referring to 3 years from now when optimistically Beniers will be exiting his anticipated "bridge deal" having blown up to a true tentpole franchise center, and not wanting the shriveled husks of Stephenson, Montour AND Stamkos tying up $22m+ of the team's cap

 

[Interior Cascadian]

My point wasn't about getting or not getting Stamkos. My point was in response to Fuhrious' argument concerning how signing Stamkos might preclude us from signing Beniers. But never mind, happy to move on.

Yeah, I re-read what you posted and see what you’re saying now. My bad.

 

[Kat Predator]

Of course it's possible to have big contracts. It's simple math, in fact. Instead of 2 players on ~$4.5M contracts, you replace them with 2 players, 1 on a $8M contract and one on an ELC at < $1M.

The trade off is whether that one $8M guy is enough of a positive bump and the kid isn't that big of a drag over the average Joes to tilt the scales one way or the other.

Our roster was initially assembled with wall-to-wall average Joe contracts. It was a given with how the expansion draft was handled. But as time goes on, one would hope we acquire elite talent—either through the draft or some other way. And that talent will have to be paid market prices or the Kraken will be a perpetual farm team, developing players to be stars and paid elsewhere.

 

[kihei]

I've been thinking about this since before the draft, but I was looking to start a discussion about how Ron Francis has done with signing FA's since he became our GM.

Grubauer
Burakovsky
Schwartz
Oleksiak
Larsson
Schultz
Dumolin

I would consider Larsson and Schultz as positive signings but other than that neither of them have been great. Schwartz and Grubauer have probably been the worst signings.

Not putting Stephenson and Montour in this discussion for now as they are new signings. I know there is a lot of concern about either of these contracts aging well but I am willing to give it a few years to see how it goes first.

By year, if I've got this right, it's kind of interesting:

Grubauer
Larsson
Oleksiak
Schwartz

Burakovsky
Schultz
Hayden
Jones

Dumoulin
Yamamoto
Bellemaire

Montour
Stephenson

Am I forgetting anybody important, relatively speaking? In terms of the first three years, one could argue that the signings have been less impressive each succeeding year. Let's hope this year breaks the trend.

 

[The Marquis]

By year, if I've got this right, it's kind of interesting:

Grubauer
Larsson
Oleksiak
Schwartz

Burakovsky
Schultz
Hayden
Jones

Dumoulin
Yamamoto
Bellemaire

Montour
Stephenson

Am I forgetting anybody important, relatively speaking? In terms of the first three years, one could argue that the signings have been less impressive each succeeding year. Let's hope this year breaks the trend.

You should probably include Mahura in this years. He's an NHLer.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Obviously, the Kraken hold the edge over Matt Beniers since he is a RFA, but how close are the two sides and what is realistic to expect in his next contract?

 

[Irie]

Obviously, the Kraken hold the edge over Matt Beniers since he is a RFA, but how close are the two sides and what is realistic to expect in his next contract?

I have no clue how close the sides are (or far apart), but due to the nature of Beniers season in 2023-24, he probably doesn't have a lot of incentive to sign a long term contract at what would be perceived as fair value.

Francis has historically been a pretty tough RFA contract negotiator. I am sure he would like to get Matty signed long term on what would be considered a team friendly deal, but it just feels like a bridge deal would tend to make the most sense as a compromise for both sides.

1-2 years should be a pretty cheap AAV. If they go 3-4 years, I think it shakes out in the 4.5-6M range. 5 years would walk him to UFA status, so I don't think Francis has any desire to offer up a deal in that 5-6 year range. If he signs for more than 4 years, I think it will have to be for 7 or 8 years, and while I do believe there is a slight possibility they work something out in that range with an AAV between 6.5 and 7.5, my gut tells me there will be a short term bridge and it will be announced fairly soon.

 

[GrungeHockey]

I got this from another team's site. It's from an Athlete article. The ranking of how happy or satisfied fans are with their team's front office. Seattle fans not too happy with Ron it seems. Not too surprising the cup winner is at the top.

The list:

1. Florida
2. Dallas
3. Tampa Bay
4. Utah
5. Vancouver
6. Montreal
7. New Jersey
8. Carolina
9. Colorado
10. Nashville
11. Vegas
12. Chicago
13. San Jose
14. Boston
15. Washington
16. Anaheim
17. New York Rangers
18. Calgary
19. Winnipeg
20. Philadelphia
21. Detroit
22. Ottawa
23. St Louis
24. Minnesota
25. Edmonton
26. Buffalo
27. Seattle
28. Columbus
29. Pittsburgh
30. Toronto
31. Los Angeles
32. New York Islanders

 

[The Marquis]

Edmonton being at 25 says a lot about their fans.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Surprised to see us that low. I expected it to be more middle-of-the-pack than the bottom-10.

 

[kihei]

Jumped to the conclusion that the list was a ranking of prospect pools and was all set to wax indignant with ruffled feathers. Then I read the posts....seems sort of surprising, though, again, I don't have a feel for the local scene. Not much of a honeymoon period.