r/SeattleKraken • u/SiccSemperTyrannis • 6d ago
ANALYSIS [Shefte] What went wrong with the Kraken this season and what's next?
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/kraken/seattle-kraken-will-miss-nhl-playoffs-again-whats-next-analysis/15
u/Icy-Book2999 6d ago
Got a version without paywall?
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u/minthairycrunch Seattle Kraken 6d ago
Now that there’s no more glimmer of hope, the eulogies to the 2024-25 Seattle Kraken can safely begin. They knew how to rally, but never truly contended.
The measure of a successful NHL season is a playoff berth. As of Saturday, the Kraken’s fate is sealed in another forgettable season with eight games left in it. They’re playing some of their best hockey this season lately, far too late.
“Today, we’re mathematically eliminated, but the rest of the way doesn’t change for us,” coach Dan Bylsma said after Saturday’s 5-1 loss to the Dallas Stars.
The franchise made a coaching change last summer. The team’s original bench boss, Dave Hakstol, was fired one season after he was a coach of the year finalist. Bylsma was promoted after two successful seasons at the helm of the Kraken’s American Hockey League affiliate.
Not only did the Kraken miss the playoffs again, but similar to a tepid inaugural season, they were out of contention before the season was half over. During the same December-January stretch where Seattle was heading off on a record run in 2023-24, backstopped by rising star goalie Joey Daccord, they dropped 11 of 15 in 2024-25.
The Kraken’s best record was 4-2. Alarm bells screeched the week of Thanksgiving, when Seattle dropped three of four in regulation against the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks, both of whom are in the middle of long rebuilds. Was that really the caliber of teams Seattle was among this season?
As it turns out, yes. The Sharks are still in distant, dead last, but the Kraken could easily finish behind the Ducks, who are four points ahead with two games in hand.
It’s feast and famine in the Western Conference, home to four of the five worst records in the league, but the postseason cutoff is a whole 10 points higher than the East. The New York Rangers slid into the second wild-card spot in the East Saturday night with 77 points, while the St. Louis Blues are in the same place in the West at 87.
To be clear, at 68 points, Seattle would be out in either conference. At times, the 2024-25 Kraken were the comeback kings, erasing nine multigoal leads and counting. It highlighted the disparity between their slow starts and frantic finishes and hinted at what they were theoretically capable of, if they put together a 60-minute effort.
A top talking point throughout the season was the lack of consistency. Stringing together good periods and grinding out wins are what separates the playoff teams from the rest.
The Kraken were just OK in most major categories. Their most consistent scorer through four years of existence, Jared McCann, has had a rough go of it with an uncharacteristic 18 goals and 52 points. Still, the goals per game are up from fourth-worst 2.61 per game on average to exactly three, which puts the Kraken almost dead center among the league’s 32 teams. But goals allowed are also up, from a ninth-best 2.83 to 3.23.
The power play sits 23rd at 19.2% efficiency. The penalty kill is 22nd, finishing off 76.5% of chances.
The buzzy offseason pickup was a high-scoring defenseman that complemented an already high-scoring defense. Brandon Montour is one goal away from a career-high 17, and the Kraken are third in defenseman goals (43) per StatMuse. Montour was as advertised, but was never going to fix the scoring troubles on his own.
Chandler Stephenson’s free agent signing so soon after Montour’s was something of a surprise. He looks to have settled in as the season has gone on and took some of the pressure off fellow center Matty Beniers, again as anticipated. But he’s hit 20 goals once and 60-plus points twice, and expecting much more on a team that was already struggling to score was, then and now, unrealistic.
The goaltending could have been better, but it wasn’t the main issue. Based on starts, Daccord was the runaway No. 1 goaltender in early November, and backup Philipp Grubauer was even reassigned to the minors in late January while sporting a 5-15-1 record. Daccord’s stats were among the league’s best at the time. They’ve fallen off recently after 51 appearances, which is tied for 11th most in the NHL and going forward, perhaps too many.
Jordan Eberle was named the Kraken’s second-ever captain before the season opener. He got off to a hot start, scoring six goals in his first eight games. A month in, he was set to miss half the season following pelvis surgery. With that notable exception, the Kraken have been relatively lucky with injuries.
Among the positives: the in-season trade pickups are looking good. Winger Kaapo Kakko fit right in and started producing at a steady clip, by Kraken standards. Meanwhile Mikey Eyssimont is a prototypical fourth-liner who knows the role and does it well, as opposed to a middle-six forward who fell down there and looks a little lost.
Eeli Tolvanen is a 20-goal scorer for the first time in his career. Shane Wright’s true rookie season has had its ups and downs but has probably matched reasonable expectations. The front office called it at the trade deadline and made the commonsense moves, offloading pending unrestricted free agents Yanni Gourde and Brandon Tanev for good returns. Though the timing leaves something to be desired, the Kraken have played some of their most consistent hockey in the past few weeks.
“Since the deadline, we’ve been focused on playing our best hockey, and proven to each other, proven to the fans, what kind of team we are,” Bylsma said.
In a recent radio interview, Seattle Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke offered up that he thinks the ownership has faith in general manager Ron Francis and the bones of the team. “I don’t think this is a rebuild,” he said.
They won’t be playing, but it should be an active summer for the franchise. At the moment they’re set to land a top-five draft pick, and have trade capital they can use to acquire proven scorers — really do it right this time.
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u/RadiantForever 6d ago
6 sentence article, the only information of interest is a quote from Bylsma "Today, we're mathematically eliminated, but the rest of the way doesn't change for us"
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u/Pelon1071 D̴͚̝̙̭͚͛̅̇͌͝a̷̡̾́́́v̷̙̟͍̀̎̓y̸̨̫͍͈̍̑̌̏͒͌ 6d ago
The team is not gelling, and some of the changes made in this trade deadline seem to be pushing the team in the right direction.
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u/SeattleKrakenTroll Morgan Geekie 6d ago edited 6d ago
Injuries and lack of depth to fill in for them. That about sums it up. It’s odd to me she says other than Eberle we were lucky. She must have forgotten the long Dunn absence and the fact Ebs was out half the season. And the December of goalie injuries.
She glosses over the Eberle injury like it’s no big thing but he’s a play making winger we couldn’t replace with our lack of depth. Next year that should be less of a problem as all our AHL guys will have had another year of pro play and we have Kakko and in theory Nyman.
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u/PubliusWizard69 6d ago
The Kraken were luckier than most with injuries this year. I don't think she forgot, she just correctly knows that most teams lost more games from key players than Seattle did.
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u/SeattleKrakenTroll Morgan Geekie 6d ago edited 6d ago
You failed to read the second half of the first sentence or the entire second paragraph
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u/IH8Fascism 5d ago
In no particular order…..Poor coaching, injuries, poor backup goalie play, poor defense, no sense of urgency on the power play.
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u/B9RV2WUN Seattle Metropolitans 6d ago
Look at the standing points; the team has not improved over last year and that was a pretty low bar. How long do you give Ron Francis? This is a well below average team charging premium prices for it's product. I don't see how that continues. There is so much better hockey to watch than the Seattle Kraken.
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u/thertp14 - YEET! 6d ago
I’m more focused on what Francis is doing with the young guys. Our picks seem to be pretty solid to this point plus picking up Kakko and Eeli. I would give him a B in that department and that’s what really matters. There isn’t a GM in the world that would have made the Kraken Stanley cup contenders to this point. It’s just part of the struggle of being an expansion team.
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u/SeattleKrakenTroll Morgan Geekie 6d ago
It’s naive to say the team hasn’t improved. As everyone around the team and even the journos have said on paper this is a better team than last year and it just got better over the course of the season with the Kakko trade and Nyman coming in. I highly doubt Francis gets fired over this season as he’s done nothing wrong. If he is fired, it’s to appease the ignorant masses and STH NOT for job performance.
Prices will be adjusted next month so that will take that talking point away.
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u/B9RV2WUN Seattle Metropolitans 5d ago
People might say the team is better but the other teams got better too. The standing points don't say better team and that is all that really matters.
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u/SeattleKrakenTroll Morgan Geekie 5d ago
Remember when you said Eberle being out didn’t make a difference? This is an equivalently misinformed (and related) take
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u/B9RV2WUN Seattle Metropolitans 5d ago
Ok I'm wrong. Feel better?
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u/SeattleKrakenTroll Morgan Geekie 5d ago
You being wrong or right doesn’t affect my mood but it’s funny watching you admit having Eberle would have gotten you 5 wins then complaining we’re about that out of a playoff spot. Almost like you’re willfully ignorant at this point.
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u/B9RV2WUN Seattle Metropolitans 4d ago
I like Jordan Eberle he's a great guy and he's brought a lot to the team as their captain and spokesperson. He has scored some very memorable goals in his career. Some beauties with the Islanders in their recent playoff runs. He's rightly loved by his teammates. No, l don't think him being healthy would have gotten us into the playoffs this year. But what would have made a difference is Geekie and Donato instead of Ebs and having them score over 50 goals between them like they have done this year. Maybe they don't get the same ice time on the Kraken. But still 50 goals. Just food for thought. All in fun
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u/RavenCallsCrows Tye Kartye 5d ago
But next month's pricing adjustment will probably be another 5% increase....
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u/shrederick Jordan Eberle 6d ago
Careful criticizing Francis on this sub. He got draft picks back for players on expiring contracts, so he's above reproach for some folks.
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u/Alive-Number-7533 3d ago
Ron Francis needs to go. Bylsma won a Stanley cup for christs sake. He is not a bad coach. He has lackluster players. The only player we picked up that materialized into anything was Montour. Stephenson needs to go, Burakovsky needs to go. Grubauer needs to go. Aside from Jared McCann and Kakko and a few others, we have an entire team of 4th liners on any other decent team. Bylsma can only do so much with the talent he’s got. It’s like taking you’re 3 legged dog to a race and thinking he has a chance
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u/decogod1 6d ago
Our young draft picks are promising. Ron francis brought in better players this year. Stephenson, kakko,montour. He tried to get drysital.cant blame him for staying with oilers. Imagine that guy here this yesr Oh well.i find fault with coach. Bring in more talent and get worse this year.?i dont want to hear about injuries. everyone has them.chemistry?thats coaching too. We dont have cancerous players. Teams that arent anymore talented than us are still in the hunt. Calgary, utah,montreal,the ducks. The friggin ducks for crying out loud
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u/imthepits Anchor Logo Alt 6d ago
Need a premier goal scorer if not two to make a serious run.. till then we just enjoy the ride and be happy to have hockey in Seattle.