A season long heater in their sophomore season convinced the Seattle Kraken that they’re just a couple of tweaks away from contending for a Stanley Cup. They got off to a hot start this season and were in a playoff position when I looked through the Pacific Division teams in February. It was enough to continue the charade and convince them to add Bobby McMann at the trade deadline.
It’s been 3 season now of adding cup winning experience and complementary pieces to a mediocre roster still trying to find it’s Dudes. Their latest add, McMann, is another one. A solid complementary piece that could be a puzzle piece a contender might look to add. The issue is he dropped into the Kraken roster as one of it’s top forwards.
The Kraken desperately need to find their Dudes – the elite players that can drive their success. While they’ve made some moves that seem contrary to building through the draft over the past few seasons, they do still have a crop of young players that they can build from. Matty Beniers and Shane Wright lead the way as homegrown talents and their prospect pipeline is well stocked. It’s starting to bubble into the NHL in a meaningful way with players like Berkley Catton, their 2024 8th overall pick, finding their way into the NHL early in their pro careers.
With the pipeline producing, the Kraken’s path to contention runs through their young players. They need to be patient and avoid clogging up their cap sheet with questionable UFA deals. As is, they have significant commitments already for next season. They need to make room on the roster for their prospects to test the NHL waters and let their Dudes emerge with a cohort of complementary talent.
Building around the young guns would be a departure from the Kraken’s apparent strategy from the past few seasons. Their strategic direction didn’t seem to change last summer when Ron Francis moved upstairs and Jason Botterill took the GM seat. In Botterill’s second offseason at the helm, is another aggressive free agent signing spree on deck or will the Kraken pivot to built around their emerging young cohort.
