Thoughts and Predictions on the Pacific Division
5. Seattle Kraken
Last season the Kraken had 81 points which had them sixth in the Pacific.
This offseason the Kraken were pretty big players in free agency. They added Brandon Montour, Chandler Stephenson and Josh Mahura. Now I know three additions including Josh Mahura who is just going to bring depth to their blue line doesn't make it sound like they were big players but they handed out two of the biggest contracts on July first. While I didn't like the deals they handed out to Montour and Stephenson, it does improve their roster.
They also drafted Berkly Catton with the eighth overall in this past draft. Caton had a monster year with the Spokane Chiefs in his draft year. He isn't projected to play in the NHL this season however so he is a player to track throughout the year for Kraken fans.
They lost Chris Dreidger, Tomas Tatar, and Brian Dumoulin. As you can tell they're running back a very similar roster as they did last season.
The reason I see Seattle moving up a spot from last season in the Pacific division has a lot to do with the weakness in the teams around them. Calgary got worse and could get worse again around the deadline as they sell, Anaheim could be a fun team to watch but they aren't a good team and San Jose is San Jose.
Adding Stephenson does help their forward core regardless of how overpriced the contract is. He is a good player and is pretty much a lock for around 55 points a season which is not worth the 6.25 million dollars he is getting (All salary statistics from PuckPedia.com).
With the cap going up each year the deal has the potential to be more palatable but right now it is a rough one. Montour will help their defence core. He can run a powerplay and can also play big minutes however I'm not quite sure what his point totals are going to look like. His last two seasons in Florida were pretty solid but before the past two seasons, his totals fluctuated. With Ron Francis giving him 7.142 million a season Seattle is going to need him to be great.
There are other pieces on the roster I like. Jared McCann has hovered or passed the 30-goal mark in each of the last three seasons which includes a 40-goal season two years ago. Matty Beniers is currently projected as the first-line centre on dailyfaceoff.com and Seattle needs a bounce-back season from him after a sophomore slump last season. I like Beniers a lot and think we can see him get back to the production he had in his rookie year this season. Vince Dunn is a great piece on the blue line and I have always been a fan of him.
The Kraken's goaltending situation does scare me. Grubauer isn't great and is being paid 5.9 million a season. Last season he had a .900 save percentage, -3.13 goals saved above average, and -0.04 goals saved above expected in 36 games. Joey Daccord had a great year last year where he played 50 games and posted a .916 save percentage, 16.21 GSAA, and a 15.9 GSAx.
There is no denying he was great for Seattle but that is the first year he has played that many games and the first time he has ever posted stats like those. If he can replicate it for a second straight season that would be huge for them but that is a question mark for me.
This team is very average. There is some upside with guys like Beniers and if Shane Wright can finally show his talent and produce over a sustained period of time but I don't see them finishing higher than fifth in the Pacific and missing the playoffs.