Seattle Kraken expectations for 2022-23

[Curufinwe]

Low with Hak still there.

 

[krutovsdonut]

grubauer is the wildcard. if he plays much better then they are a correspondingly better team.

but that defence cannot shelter a goaltender at all, and is going to have trouble holding leads.

 

[TheOrangeDesk]

They don't have a single first line or first pairing player. You could argue they barely have a 2nd line player. They had one player hit 50 points last year (exactly 50) . Beniers looks good but they will struggle to score again this year. Probably fighting with sharks for bottom of division

 

[banks]

I expect them to not embarrass themselves every night, properly introduce/insulate the youngsters like Beniers into the NHL, and make some trades to gain futures.

 

[finnishflash13]

Along with the discussion about the Kraken's forward group, the Kraken also do not have a true #1 defenseman. Dunn, Oleksiak, Larsson, Soucy, Schultz, Borgen? I don't think so.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Signing a vet center would go a long ways for this team. Isn't the ancient Joe Thornton still available?

 

[Goptor]

I think they'll make a push for the Calder Trophy. It'll take a full team effort but certainly is attainable.

 

[majormajor]

They don't have a single first line or first pairing player. You could argue they barely have a 2nd line player. They had one player hit 50 points last year (exactly 50) . Beniers looks good but they will struggle to score again this year. Probably fighting with sharks for bottom of division

Beniers looks like he'll be 1st line caliber and Bjorkstrand has produced like a first line winger for years.

Second line wingers in the NHL score between 35 and 50 pts on average and they do have a lot of players that fit that range. I know a lot of folks mistakenly think you need to score 50+ to be a second liner but there's only about 60-70 wingers in the league who do that, about two per team.

They lack elite talent and lack any top pair D but middle of the lineup depth scoring should be a strength of the Kraken.

 

[RainyCityHockey]

Signing a vet center would go a long ways for this team. Isn't the ancient Joe Thornton still available?

The Kraken have Beniers, Gourde, Wennberg, Wright and Geekie at center with McCann being able to play there as well.

So I doubt we'll need another "veteran center" but rather Benieres and Wright to develop over time.

 

[SurferBroChad]

last place in the nhl/relocated

 

[SoundAndFury]

see the deepest forward group in the West

not sure if serious

 

[North Cole]

last off season I insisted the Panthers had the best roster on paper in the league. they won the president's trophy.

this year, I look at Seattle and I see the deepest forward group in the West. IF Shane Wright can be an impact player. (50ish pts)

Burakovsky - Berniers - Bjorkstand
Schwartz - Wright - Eberle
McCann - Gourde - Donskoi
Tanev - Wennberg - Geekie

The defense is a little weaker, but if you look outside of Colorado and Calgary the West isn't exactly a powerhouse on the blue line so..

Dunn - Larsson
Oleksiak - Schultz
Soucy - Borgen

Grubs
Jones

Grubauer had a somewhat rough first season in Colorado. I see him turning it around this year with Seattle.

What do you guys think?

How are you defining deepest forward group? The claim that you say you made about the Panthers doesn't really lend credibility to this claim because you can verify the Panthers had the best team by the measure of points, since they won the presidents. What are you going to use to measure whether you were right nor not in this case, at the end of this year?

 

[Gurglesons]

How are you defining deepest forward group? The claim that you say you made about the Panthers doesn't really lend credibility to this claim because you can verify the Panthers had the best team by the measure of points, since they won the presidents. What are you going to use to measure whether you were right nor not in this case, at the end of this year?

GF top three in the west I guess?

not sure if serious

I am serious. In terms of depth.

 

[North Cole]

GF top three in the west I guess?



I am serious. In terms of depth.

Okay that's fair. I just ask because EDM/VAN had a big argument in some other thread about which team had deeper forward groups and some people used different measures. My contention was that EDM looks like it has less depth scoring because McDrai are so far ahead of everyone else on the team, but the depth scoring actually rates pretty well against the rest of the league.

Conceivably using top 3 GF, that might not work for some teams if they get carried in GF by a super line like CGY and BOS had/have, but that's probably less of an issue with the Kraken. Will be interesting to follow and it's certainly possible. They will have some tough competition from EDM/VAN/STL/COL/VGK/MIN for aggregate GF though.

RE the other part of your post:

 

[Gurglesons]

Okay that's fair. I just ask because EDM/VAN had a big argument in some other thread about which team had deeper forward groups and some people used different measures. My contention was that EDM looks like it has less depth scoring because McDrai are so far ahead of everyone else on the team, but the depth scoring actually rates pretty well against the rest of the league.

Conceivably using top 3 GF, that might not work for some teams if they get carried in GF by a super line like CGY and BOS had/have, but that's probably less of an issue with the Kraken. Will be interesting to follow and it's certainly possible. They will have some tough competition from EDM/VAN/STL/COL/VGK/MIN for aggregate GF though.

RE the other part of your post:

I’m super high on Berniers, I think he hits 70 this season. Throw in Wright hitting 50. That gives them some damn good C depth with Gourde and Wennberg as their bottom six Cs and then the wing depth is definitely top 5 in the league.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I’m super high on Berniers, I think he hits 70 this season. Throw in Wright hitting 50. That gives them some damn good C depth with Gourde and Wennberg as their bottom six Cs and then the wing depth is definitely top 5 in the league.

Wright might not even make the team out of camp and you're penciling him in for 50 points.

I'll be honest, pixie. It seems you're looking at all these 30 and 40 point guys they have and projecting 50 and 60 point seasons out of them for no other reason than ... not really sure then calling that offense one of the deepest in the West. The reality is they're likely going to struggle to score just like last season, save for maybe one or two guys breaking out.

 

[Gurglesons]

Wright might not even make the team out of camp and you're penciling him in for 50 points.

I'll be honest, pixie. It seems you're looking at all these 30 and 40 point guys they have and projecting 50 and 60 point seasons out of them for no other reason than ... not really sure then calling that offense one of the deepest in the West. The reality is they're likely going to struggle to score just like last season, save for maybe one or two guys breaking out.

Not sure what you mean by this..

Schwartz - Berniers - Bjorkstrand (Schwartz and Bjorkstrand are 50-60 guys if healthy, Berniers ye)
McCann - Gourde - Eberle (all of these players are 40-50 point guys if healthy at minimum)
Donato - Wright - Burakovsky ( Donato is a 30-40 pt guy, Burky isn’t.)
Tanev - Wennberg - Donskoi (lots of depth here offensively for a 4th line)

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Top 5 draft pick. I'll never understand what the GM was thinking on day 1.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Not sure what you mean by this..

Schwartz - Berniers - Bjorkstrand (Schwartz and Bjorkstrand are 50-60 guys if healthy, Berniers ye)
McCann - Gourde - Eberle (all of these players are 40-50 point guys if healthy at minimum)
Donato - Wright - Burakovsky ( Donato is a 30-40 pt guy, Burky isn’t.)
Tanev - Wennberg - Donskoi (lots of depth here offensively for a 4th line)

So by your own evaluation, you have a top line that scores 150-180 points this year. Edmonton has a top line that's not unreasonable to expect to score close to 300 points this season. So that's 40 goals more from one line alone. AND they have the same 30-50 points guys below that. So where is this "depth" I'm not seeing? Where is this overmatch where you make up for those 40 goals you are missing from the 1st line?

Having 3 third lines isn't depth. Not to mention that center depth is a complete joke.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Not sure what you mean by this..

Schwartz - Berniers - Bjorkstrand (Schwartz and Bjorkstrand are 50-60 guys if healthy, Berniers ye)
McCann - Gourde - Eberle (all of these players are 40-50 point guys if healthy at minimum)
Donato - Wright - Burakovsky ( Donato is a 30-40 pt guy, Burky isn’t.)
Tanev - Wennberg - Donskoi (lots of depth here offensively for a 4th line)

I mean exactly what I said. You're bumping up guys by 10 or more points to say they've got a deep and potent offense when the fact is you've got a bunch of middle sixers filling out their roster. The top offensive teams have that kind of depth to go along with actual elite talent. The fact you list guys who barely scored 40-50 or less as being 40-50 points "at minimum" is exactly what I mean.

Again, it's pretty much the same depth they had last year with the additions of Bjorkstrand and Burkovsky and a full year of Beniers. And neither guy has ever shown he's more than, at best, around a 60 point player. Bjorkstrand has a career high of 57 points and Burakovsky has a career high of 61 points playing with a high offense Colorado team.

This goes back to my argument before. It's typically the elite talent that makes a team high scoring and potent. Having a bunch of 40 or 50 point guys doesn't trump teams having 90+ point players along with some depth.

You keep comparing them to Florida but ignore the fact a massive contributor to Florida's potent offense last year was Huberdeau and Barkov. No one on Seattle comes close to either of those two. Florida wouldn't have been the offensive powerhouse they were if you removed Huberdeau and Barkov just because they had "depth" guys scoring in the 40-50 point range on their 3rd line.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

The Kraken have Beniers, Gourde, Wennberg, Wright and Geekie at center with McCann being able to play there as well.

So I doubt we'll need another "veteran center" but rather Benieres and Wright to develop over time.

All those centers are fairly unproven and above average though. I thought Ron Francis said in the summer that they were going to open up their pocket books? They really should have made a strong offer for Malkin. Adding him would have made this team much more interesting while allowing time for Wright to develop.

 

[GhostfaceWu]

Bottom of the division again.

 

[SoftDumpNtheCorner88]

For what it's worth, I got Gourde and Soucy in my fantasy pool. Do Seattle fans predict a better season for these 2?

Does Soucy get more looks on offense this year? Is Gourde getting more playing time?

 

[gstommylee]

All those centers are fairly unproven and above average though. I thought Ron Francis said in the summer that they were going to open up their pocket books? They really should have made a strong offer for Malkin. Adding him would have made this team much more interesting while allowing time for Wright to develop.

Welcome to Wright falling onto their lap. That changes how the FA window was going to be for them.

 

[Hoek]

Well I expected a better mascot than this, so they're already failing in my book